| This article is written from the Real Life point of view |  |
| “ | I recall as a child having much difficulty completing a lot of the tasks the original game required. At many points in the game, I used other means to accomplish certain tasks. For example, to get the Varia Suit, one would need to acquire the High Jump Boots. However, I was able to figure out if I could get a flying monster to follow me through a small passage, I could freeze the monster in place and make the jump to get the Varia Suit. | „ |
—Lee Garasich | ||
Garasich on Nintendo Week.
Lee Garasich is a Super Metroid speedrunner. He held the Twin Galaxies record for fastest 100% completion from February 21, 2006 until July 1, 2010. He guest starred on the August 23, 2010 episode of Nintendo Week, where he revealed several tricks he used and discovered. Garasich was approached to appear on the show through a mutual friend of the producers.
Garasich first played Metroid around 1987 or 1988 and was taken by its graphics, sound and free-roaming gameplay. He found playing the game to be quite difficult, and discovered simpler ways to acquire items, such as by freezing a Reo to reach the Varia Suit without the High Jump Boots, one of the series' earliest Sequence Breaks. He played Super Metroid in its release year and fell in love with it, but did not decide to speedrun the game until 2005. He decided to take up speedrunning when he played through it one day with a friend watching him. Garasich studied speedrunning, learned the Mockball and performed the Early Super Missiles glitch for the first time.
Garasich was interviewed by Shinesparkers the following month about his experiences with Metroid, and reflected on his Nintendo Week appearance.
In his professional life, Garasich works as an information technology and services professional in Pennsylvania.
Trivia[]
- The first time Garasich reached Tourian was New Year's Eve in 1994. He describes jumping each time he saw a cloned Metroid, and the sound of Mother Brain's Control Capsule shattering as an "eerily real sound effect".
- He was taken aback by the final battle with Mother Brain, which was the moment that sealed Super Metroid as his favorite game.
- Garasich's first clear time of Super Metroid was around 8 hours, with roughly 58% of items collected.
- His hobbies include building, racing high performance cars, camping, hiking, cycling and walking, collecting video games and consoles and visiting The Gamemasters Realm in Hopewell, Pennsylvania.
- Garasich advises aspiring Super Metroid speedrunners to learn Wall Jumping and the Map, in order to know which extraneous rooms should be avoided.