In the first decade of serious Pokémon speedrunning, few names were as constantly visible on leaderboards and marathon schedules as the Australian runner known as werster. From single segment records in mainline Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles to marathons that lasted an entire day, he helped define what high level monster-collecting speedruns look like on both glitch-heavy and glitchless routes.
Across his career he has described himself simply as a speedrunner of Pokémon and Sonic games, streaming them to a global audience and serving on the committee of the Australian charity marathon group AusSpeedruns. At the same time, his recorded output has grown into one of the largest individual portfolios in the hobby, with more than 450 full game runs and over 600 individual level runs recorded on Speedrun.com across Pokémon titles and Sonic platformers.
This profile traces how those runs fit together as a legacy. It moves from his early single segment records on Pokémon Emerald through the discovery and popularization of new glitches, the long marathons that became community landmarks, and his later work on Australian events and Sonic games.
Australian Roots and an Early Streaming Career
The broad outline of werster’s background comes from his public profiles. His AusSpeedruns page lists him as a runner from New South Wales with he/him pronouns, while his social media and streaming profiles present a consistent identity built around long form Pokémon and Sonic content.
On Twitch he introduces himself with a straightforward description. He tells viewers that he speedruns Pokémon and Sonic games along with other titles, and the front page of his channel promotes streams centered on FireRed, Gold, Emerald, HeartGold, White 2, and a rotation of Sonic games. That mix of monster catching and high speed platforming has remained stable even as his exact focus shifts from one project to another.
Public analytics sites show that he began streaming in the early 2010s and gradually grew an audience large enough that dedicated channels now run archived “watch party” marathons of his FireRed glitchless, Gold 97 Reforged, Stadium 2, and other runs. This archive of footage, along with decades of leaderboard entries on Speedrun.com, forms a primary record of his career.
Single Segment Records in Pokémon Emerald and the Generations One to Three Era
By the early 2010s, werster was already associated with ambitious goals in the third generation of Pokémon. A 2013 thread on the GameFAQs Pokémon Emerald board highlighted a new single segment world record time of 2 hours 50 minutes 32 seconds attributed to him and described him as the world record holder for fastest completion in everything from Generations one through three and HeartGold and SoulSilver at that time.
In context, “single segment” meant playing Emerald from a fresh file to the Hall of Fame in one continual session rather than breaking the run up into segments and stitching together best pieces. The GameFAQs discussion framed the accomplishment in terms of route planning and backup strategies, emphasizing how a significant part of the work came long before any given attempt was started.
That focus on routing appears again when looking across his recorded times. Speedrun.com’s summary lists him with first place results in categories such as Any% on Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen on console, as well as strong placements in Platinum, Emerald, and other titles. His YouTube channel hosts full length runs like a glitchless Battle Tower speedrun of Pokémon Crystal in just over four hours and multiple complete Platinum and White 2 records, showing how he translated that routing work into repeatable runs that other players could study.
Taken together, these records and uploads present a picture of a runner who, for a time, specialized in holding any% or no major glitch records across a wide stretch of mainline Pokémon games rather than just mastering one title.
Pomeg Glitches, Battle Frontier, and Emerald as a Canvas
If Emerald any% showcased his ability to refine single segment routes, his work on Emerald’s glitches and postgame Battle Frontier demonstrated a different side of his contribution. In 2013 and the years immediately after, he produced a series of videos documenting what became known as the Pomeg Berry glitch and related forms of game corruption. One of the earliest, titled “Pokémon Emerald Glitch – Pomeg Berry to give Instant Victory in battle,” walks viewers through a setup that allows the player to manipulate party data in ways that can bypass normal win conditions.
Community threads on r/speedrun and other forums circulated these videos widely. Posters summarized the situation in simple terms, telling others that Emerald runs were becoming more and more interesting and urging them to watch his “Instant Victory” video and later uploads to understand the new routes. Later compilations of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald glitches continued to cite his Pomeg demonstrations as reference material for players trying to learn the underlying mechanics and possible applications.
The same mix of persistence and willingness to sit with a game for long stretches appears in his All Gold Symbols run on Emerald’s Battle Frontier. In this category the goal is to earn every Gold Symbol from the seven Frontier facilities, which requires deep knowledge of Pokémon sets, enemy lineups, and Emerald’s battle formulas. Speedrun.com records him with a time of 19 hours 2 minutes 54 seconds, retimed under updated rules, while GameFAQs hosts an associated video link.
A thread on r/speedrun announcing that he was attempting the category captured the community response. Commenters reacted with disbelief that he not only attempted but finished the run and noted that he achieved a sub 20 hour time on a category that had previously defeated him after more than a day of play. That run, along with smaller glitch demonstrations, helped cement Emerald as both a route planning puzzle and a playground for controlled corruption.
Marathons, GDQ, and Bringing Pokémon to the Stage
While Emerald records and glitch videos circulated among dedicated viewers, much of werster’s broader reputation came from live marathons. At events organized by Games Done Quick and later by AusSpeedruns, he brought Pokémon and Sonic runs to audiences who might not have sought them out on their own.
At Awesome Games Done Quick 2013 he attempted a save corruption route on Pokémon Gold in a run that he later uploaded under the title “Pokémon Gold Save Corruption Speedrun – Live at AGDQ 2013.” In the video description he notes that he had practiced the route for more than a year, and the publicly mirrored footage shows both the possibilities and risks of aggressive glitch speedruns.
He returned to the GDQ stage for a full game run of Pokémon SoulSilver at AGDQ 2014, another long demonstration of routing and execution that gave marathon viewers a clearer look at fourth generation mechanics. The same era saw him participate in a co-op run of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, showing his parallel work on the Sonic side of his portfolio.
Outside GDQ, he played a central role in building Pokémon representation at Australian events. His AusSpeedruns profile lists runs at the Australian Speedrun Marathon and associated PAX showcases from 2015 onward, including categories such as Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team any%, Pokémon Gold any%, Pokémon Pearl any%, Pokémon Yellow any% glitchless, Pokémon White 2 any%, and multiple HeartGold and FireRed categories. These marathons also featured his Sonic runs on titles like Sonic CD, Sonic 2 on several platforms, Sonic Pocket Adventure, and Sonic Origins.
When the Australian marathon scene grew into a dedicated non-profit, he appeared not only on the schedule but also in organizational roles. His X bio lists him as a committee member for AusSpeedruns, and recordings of AusSpeedruns Open show him delivering closing speeches that discuss fundraising totals and the future of the event.
Long Sessions and Stadium 2
Alongside his Pokémon mainline work, one of the runs most closely associated with his name is a long category in Pokémon Stadium 2. In a widely shared r/speedrun post titled “[WR] Pokémon Stadium 2 complete game in 24:31:02 by Werster,” a community member linked splits and a VOD for a run that played through large sections of Stadium 2 over more than twenty four hours.
The comments in that thread emphasized both the scale of the accomplishment and the physical toll of such a long attempt. Posters joked about his ability to stay awake and focused and noted that the category required completing multiple stadium cups and challenges with rental Pokémon rather than a hand-raised team.
Later compilations of his work show the same preference for long forms. His YouTube and mirror sites list records like a complete game run of Pocket Monsters Stadium 2 in over twenty six hours, along with extended categories in games such as Pokémon Gaia, White 2, and various Sonic hacks. The persistence needed for Emerald’s All Gold Symbols carried over into these sessions, making “sitting with a game for an entire day” part of his public image.
New Generations and Shining Pearl
Even as his early fame came from older hardware, werster remained engaged with new releases. When the Nintendo Switch remakes Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl launched in 2021, he quickly turned to routing Shining Pearl any%. A games news article reported that within roughly two weeks of release he uploaded a speedrun of Shining Pearl completed in 33 minutes 10 seconds, at that time the fastest confirmed completion.
That report framed the run around the creative use of new glitches, especially a “door storage” technique that interrupts door transitions with menus, preventing certain encounters and events from triggering and allowing unconventional routes and even “landboarding” movement. In effect, he applied the same experimental approach that had characterized his Emerald glitch videos to a modern remake, helping define the early meta for a brand new category.
His later uploads and marathon appearances show similar attention to regional spinoffs and fan hacks, including Pokémon Gaia and other community projects, demonstrating that his interest in routing extends beyond official mainline games.
Sonic, Side Projects, and Variety
Although Pokémon has always been the core of his identity, Sonic games form the second pillar of his legacy. Lists of his videos show a dense catalog of Sonic titles, from Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD to Sonic Advance, Knuckles Chaotix, Sonic Pocket Adventure, and Sonic Megamix. Many of these runs are labeled as current world records at the time of upload and focus on single stages or full game completions with detailed movement optimization.
Australian marathon schedules and AusSpeedruns playlists reinforce that picture. At events from 2015 through the mid 2020s he ran Sonic 2 on both console and Game Gear, Sonic CD categories like All Good Futures, Sonic Origins showcases, and races in Kururin Squash and Mario Kart 64 that highlight his versatility outside of RPGs.
This variety matters because it shows his legacy as larger than a single game or trick. While his Pomeg glitch videos and Emerald routes are some of the most widely cited resources in Pokémon speedrunning, the Sonic catalog and assorted marathons illustrate a broader skill set in classic platformers and time attack style stages.
A Streaming Archive and Continuing Influence
By the mid 2020s much of werster’s activity has shifted from chasing new personal bests to maintaining and curating his archive. Dedicated channels host 24 hour watch parties with playlists of his FireRed glitchless, Stadium 2, Emerald Battle Factory, and other runs, turning earlier work into ambient programming for viewers and a living record for historians.
His AusSpeedruns page lists upcoming marathon roles as late as 2026, including opening speeches and manipless FireRed and LeafGreen runs. When combined with his committee position and closing speeches, this makes him not only one of the earliest prominent Pokémon runners but also one of the figures guiding how Australian marathon speedrunning presents itself to the public.
For individual games, his routes and commentary remain reference points. New runners who pick up categories like Emerald any%, Crystal Battle Tower, Platinum any%, or Yellow glitchless still watch his route explanations and learn from his treatment of RNG, backup strats, and movement. Others look to his extreme categories, such as All Gold Symbols or the Stadium 2 complete game run, as examples of how far a single player can push time, patience, and planning in a franchise that most people experience only casually.