Allan Alvarez | |
|---|---|
 Alvarez performing a speedrun at Summer Games Done Quick, 2016 | |
| Born | February 26, 1995 Venezuela |
| Occupation(s) | Livestreamer, speedrunner |
| Years active | 2013–present |
Allan Alvarez (born February 26, 1995), [1] more commonly known as cheese (originally cheese05 until 2018), is a Venezuelan-born Trinidadian-Spanish speedrunner and podcaster known for his Super Mario 64 records.
Born in Venezuela, Alvarez moved to Trinidad when he was two years old. His parents divorced early in his life, which proved to be difficult for Alvarez in his speedrunning endeavors, as his step-father was not supportive at first. This has since changed. Alvarez now describes his step-father as someone he can recognize as his real father and someone who has taught him in life how to be persistent and disciplined at whichever craft he wants to pursue. He always was a very strict and tough figure towards Alvarez, but Alvarez said it helped him to be the strong person he is today. [2] Alvarez is openly gay, [3] and he grew aware of the anti-gay culture in Trinidad and Tobago and felt he could not live his true life in the country. He felt more inclined to live a city life and decided to move closer to his father's side of the family in Madrid, Spain. Alvarez made the move in February 2016, just before his 21st birthday, and he currently lives with his grandmother, mother, and brother. [2]
Cheese began streaming his Call of Duty gameplay on Twitch in 2013. [4] In 2014, he started speedrunning and publishing videos to his first YouTube channel. [5] He started uploading to his main channel in 2016. [6] He typically streams around midnight in Spain, which is peak viewing hours for the United States. [2]
In May 2017, Cheese achieved the world record time (one hour, 39 minutes, 57 seconds) in Super Mario 64 120-star category (essentially 100% completion of the game), and the first time in the category to reach under 100 minutes. [7] In June, fellow streamer Puncayshun set the world record time, beating Cheese's world record time by eight seconds, but lost the world record the following day, after Cheese obtained a time that was 20 seconds faster than Puncayshun's time. [8] Cheese was recognized by Red Bull that month for his Super Mario 64 gameplay. [9]
In Super Mario 64, Cheese achieved the world record time in the 70-star category in January 2018. [10] He focuses mostly, however, on the 120-star category, where he has held the world record on many occasions throughout his career. [11] [12]
In February 2018, Cheese uploaded the first episode of his podcast with speedrunner Ryan Reeves, better known as "Simply", titled Two Dads One Show, a podcast centered on speedrunning and the mentality and work ethic associated with speedrunning. The name was later changed to The Two Dads Podcast. [13] The following day, cheese broke the 120-star world record time for Super Mario 64. [14] It was later taken by speedrunner Liam in March. Later that year, he officially changed his username from cheese05 to his current username.
Cheese held the world record time in Super Mario 64 120-star category from February 28, 2022, to November 18, 2022, when it was beaten by speedrunner Weegee. [15] [16] As of August 15, 2024, cheese is ranked 3rd in the 120-star category.
In addition to Super Mario 64, Cheese has also completed speedruns for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time , Super Mario Odyssey , and Celeste . [17] [18]
Cheese is featured in the 2023 documentary film Running with Speed , narrated by Summoning Salt. [19] [20]
Speedrunning is the act of playing a video game, or section of a video game, with the goal of completing it as fast as possible. Speedrunning often involves following planned routes, which may incorporate sequence breaking and exploit glitches that allow sections to be skipped or completed more quickly than intended. Tool-assisted speedrunning (TAS) is a subcategory of speedrunning that uses emulation software or additional tools to create a precisely controlled sequence of inputs.
A tool-assisted speedrun or tool-assisted superplay is generally defined as a speedrun or playthrough composed of precise inputs recorded with tools such as video game emulators. Tool-assisted speedruns are generally created with the goal of creating theoretically perfect playthroughs. This includes but is not limited to the fastest possible route to complete a game and/or showcasing new ways to optimize existing world records.
Mychal Ramon Jefferson, better known online as Trihex, is an American professional gamer, speedrunner, and Twitch streamer. He is best known for his runs of Super Mario and Yoshi games—including several notable appearances at Games Done Quick events—and as the face of TriHard, one of Twitch's most popular emotes.
Narcissa Wright is an American speedrunner and co-founder of the website SpeedRunsLive, which allows speedrunners to race with one another in real time. She previously held the records for the fastest completion of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on the GameCube, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the iQue Player, Paper Mario on the Wii using Virtual Console, and Castlevania 64 on the Nintendo 64.
Aaron James Loder, professionally known as Bananasaurus Rex, is a Canadian Twitch streamer and a video game speedrunner.
Piotr Delgado Kusielczuk, better known as The Mexican Runner or TMR, is a speedrunner who specialises in Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games. After three years, on February 26, 2017, TMR was the first player to play through the entire NTSC and PAL NES catalogue, completing 714 officially-licensed titles in a project he called NESMania, which earned him a Guinness World Record. TMR is also known for his speedrunning accomplishments in Contra, Battletoads, and Cuphead.
Alex Tan, better known under the screen names PangaeaPanga, PePanga and formerly penangbenny, is an American ROM hacker, speedrunner and tool-assisted speedrunner. He is best known as the creator of difficult Super Mario World ROM hacks and Super Mario Maker levels. His notable work includes Super Mario World ROM hack Super Dram World and Super Mario Maker levels "P-Break" and the "Pit of Panga" series. He has also played through Super Mario World blindfolded.
Scott Buchanan, known online as Pannenkoek2012, pannenkoek2012, pannenkoek or pannen, is a YouTube personality who specializes in highly in-depth and technical Super Mario 64 videos. He is best known for his "A-button challenge" videos, in which he attempts to play Super Mario 64 while pressing the A-button as infrequently as possible. The A-button is the "jump" button, and a normal playthrough of Super Mario 64 can be expected to take thousands of A-presses.
Jacob Rabon IV, better known by his online name Alpharad, is an American YouTuber, Twitch streamer, Esports personality, and musician. He is known for his gaming videos, especially on the Super Smash Bros. series along with his participation in the fighting game community as an announcer/commentator. He is also known for his "Nuzlocke" content, a variation on the game Pokémon to make it more difficult. Currently, he focuses on creating variety content, commonly with his friends.
David Hunt, known online as GrandPooBear, is an American video game streamer, speedrunner, and creator of Kaizo Super Mario levels. A Red Bull athlete, Hunt is primarily known for playing and creating levels for Super Mario Maker. He has also performed at various Games Done Quick events and TwitchCon, and has hosted his own in-person and virtual speedrunning events.
TASBot is a tool-assisted speedrun mascot created in 2013, developed by a team led by dwangoAC. A replay device takes a list of controller inputs which it then sends to a console such as a Nintendo Entertainment System or Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) directly via signals to the controller ports.
Zfg is an American speedrunner and streamer known for his The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time gameplay. He has held various records in speedrunning the game and its alternative version Master Quest, most notably the 100% completion category for the original game, for which he had held the record since mid-2015. He was the first person to complete Ocarina of Time to 100% in under four hours. He currently holds the record in the 100% SRM category with a time of 3 hours, 0 minutes, and 39 seconds, as of December 2022.
Carl Wernicke, known online as Gymnast86, is an American speedrunner and streamer notable for his speedrunning world records and discovery of exploits in various 3D Zelda games.
Clay, popularly known by his online alias Dream, is an American YouTuber, Twitch streamer, speedrunner and singer who is known primarily for creating Minecraft content.
European Speedrunner Assembly, formerly European Speedster Assembly, is a semi-annual video game speedrunning charity marathon held in Sweden. Held since 2012, the events have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for several charities.
Karl Jobst is an Australian GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark speedrunner, YouTuber, and investigative journalist whose work has primarily focused on exposing cheating and fraud in the gaming community. He also covers other speedrunning and challenge-related feats, including world record histories. As of February 2024, he has over one million subscribers on YouTube.
Douglas Scott Wreden, better known by his pseudonym DougDoug, is an American YouTuber, Twitch streamer, and former Hearthstone caster and producer. He makes gaming videos that revolve around him doing various gaming challenges, often involving the use of artificial intelligence, modifications to games, or giving his viewers on Twitch heavy control of the game or stream. In 2023, he won the "League of Their Own" award at The Streamer Awards, and in 2024, he was nominated for the "Best Software and Game Development" award.
Summoning Salt is an American speedrunner and YouTuber known for his video documentaries about the history of speedrunning records. As of June 2024, his channel has over 1.9 million subscribers and more than 213 million views.
Niftski is an American speedrunner who was the fastest person in history to ever complete Super Mario Bros. at 4 minutes, 54 seconds and 631 milliseconds. He also holds other world records for the video game and was the first person to beat it in less than 4 minutes and 55 seconds.
Running with Speed is a 2023 documentary film about speedrunning directed by Patrick Lope and Nicholas Mross. It was written by Lope, Mross, and Summoning Salt, the latter of which also narrated the documentary.
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