Metal Gear Solid streamer stumbles upon game-changing glitch, speedrunners lose their minds

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Those two minutes might not seem like much to a casual fan, but it's everything to a speedrunner

Metal Gear Solid
(Image credit: Konami)

A Metal Gear Solid streamer has discovered a game-changing time skip glitch and speedrunners are absolutely losing their heads.

Here's how it all started. Streamer Boba was casually playing the original 1998 Metal Gear Solid when she reached a locked door at the top of a staircase. Bad guys quickly close in on her as she backs into the door, shots are fired, and then, *poof*. Suddenly, she's on the other side of the locked door having incidentally skipped past a bunch of gameplay and into the next part of the game. Boba celebrates with an impromptu performance of her 'I Am The Best At Video Games' tune.

Less than 24 hours later and there's a new claim to the world record for fastest MGS playthrough thanks to Boba's glitch, which the speedrunning community has lovingly dubbed 'the Boba Skip'. The trick seems to work by standing at a specific area in front of this particular locked door (it hasn't been tested successfully in other locations) and letting the guards shoot you right on through. All in all, you can expect to shave about 2.5 minutes off your playtime if you pull it off.

At the time of writing, the Boba Skip is the top post on the /speedrun subreddit, and for good reason. Even to a casual viewer, it's fascinating that a 23-year-old game can still surprise a community that's been looking for something just like this for years. It makes you wonder how many other classic games are hiding game-changing secrets still waiting to be discovered.

Find out where Metal Gear Solid ranked on our list of the best PS1 games.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.