2026 PLANS LIST

MARATHONMAN'S 2026 SPEEDRUN PLANS

RATCHET & CLANK

The big goal for now is to make a serious return to Ratchet, after a year and a half or so of largely being away. There's a lot of categories I want to return to and also lot's of new ones that I want to try out.

Ratchet & Clank (2002)

- All Checkmarks for sub2

- NG+ runs w/Poki Skip (goal time TBD)

- All Missions for WR

- AGB for improvement

I may also return to Any% at some point because my run is highly unoptimized even for it's time so it shouldn't take me long to beat it.

Ratchet & Clank 2

- All Platinum Bolts for sub1:10 (this is a big one)

- PBSPI (would like to play this seriously)

- Any%, NG+, and NG+ No IMG are also things I would like to try again but the future of these categories all lie in BLMOD so it will take some adjusting to. I would also still like to beat my original PS2 times.

Ratchet & Clank 3

I've given a lot of time and dedication to Rac1 and 2 and always wanted to do the same for UYA. I hope this year I finally get to do that.

- All Titanium Bolts

- All Collectables

(these are the big two)

- Any% No FC

- Any% (the new category that's like 4 minutes long)

I would like to play NG+ and NG+ No QE again as well but things have changed so much that this will take some time to adjust to as well.

Non Trilogy Games

- I would like to try my hand at Deadlocked at some point because I still think I can get around like a 40 or something, I never got to learn airswings.

I also really want to try running Tools of Destruction

My big goal for 2026 would be to run All Special Bolts Trilogy and 100% Trilogy, so I want to focus on those categories for Rac2 and 3

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FORBIDDEN MEMORIES

Yeah, I know some of you are upset or disappointed that I play this game as much as I do (cry about it tbh) but I really enjoy running this, it's the game that helped me get Twitch Partner, and I really never get tired of playing it for too long. It's also kinda nice to play after runs because it's not as focus intensive as other games are.

Also, I have loose time goals for all of these but with how this game operates improvement is always the true goal.

- Vanilla for sub5

- Vanilla No THTD run (just to complete one)

- 15 Card Any% for sub1:20

- 15 Card All Duelists for sub1:40

Also, it's not really a time goal, but I would also like to keep actively racing this game in 2026.

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OTHER GAMES

KINGDOM HEARTS

KH is admittedly a hard game for me to run at this point because of some of the emotional weight attached. I'm pretty happy with my 2:19 on PS5 and what the run represents to me, but it can still easily be improved, and I still kinda want like a 2:17 or so. Time will tell I guess...

The other versions of KHFM are fun but still kinda novelty and I don't know how serious I want to take them, especially because they are much longer.

If I do play KHFM in 2026, it will definitely be All Worlds and JJ, the latter of which I still really, really want to run.

I don't think it will happen this year, but I'd still like to try a run of KH2FM at some point.

JAK AND DAXTER

I'm pretty happy with my 59 in Jak, one of my favorite runs I've ever done tbh. There are still some newer strats I wasn't doing, so I think something like a 57 could be in the cards. I did also really have fun play 100% recently, so maybe I will try and play that seriously at some point.

It's hard to say, but maybe we will also get to see more Jak II and maybe even Jak 3 in 2026.

SLY COOPER

Yeah, I've promised this almost every year since I started regularly streaming and the most we got was a 10 day grind in 2023 that I was pretty depressed during (yikes!!) I do still really want to run this, I've had plenty of people offer to help teach me stuff, HOPEFULLY 2026 will be the year we finally do this. My Any% time is extremely beatable and I would like to get sub40 and honestly probably much lower than that. I would also like to properly play All Keys.

I did like a month or so ago buy the PS5 version of the game since apparently its only like 18 seconds slower than BCPS3 as opposed to the like 50ish that PS2 was.

HALO

I said I wanted to relearn Halo CE from scratch if I ever got partner, since it was the game that got me into speedrunning and therefore the reason for any of this. When I did finally get partner, the timing wasn't really right for me, although I did practice a bunch of ILs in the summer. I would like to remain optimistic especially since CE Classic has semirecently become a category. It's gonna take a LOT of work (I was never good at this game tbh, the resources thankfully only got better in the decade since I've tried)

Halo 2 is fun in vacuum and my run is still very beatable, but I get kinda bored running the game at this point. I would still like to get sub1:20 but going for any super serious time is basically going to require a ton of time and practice that I don't know if I can dedicate at this point.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm considering trying Halo 3 again. I think I'm an infinitely better speedrunner than I was when I last tried 5 years ago or something, and so I think getting like a 1:15 or even lower should be pretty easy with a bit of practice.

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NEW GAMES

I still have lots of games I would like to try or at least try seriously, a few big ones off the top of my head would be.

Spyro 1 (did like, 3 of the most bland Vortex runs you can imagine at Ash's request last year lmao)

Spyro 2 and 3 (keep pushing these back, I hope we get to these in 2026)

CTR (did a blind run as a sub goal and it was kindve a mess, would like to try seriously and collect the "trve kvlt PS speedrunner badge of honor" with the sub1 in Any% NMG

Crash 3 (promised Rijiku I would do this legit like two years ago and then got way too busy with life and it just kinda didn't happen)

Pokemon Sapphire (still really want to try this)

Some other random games in there as well, I learned all of the Bouncer in 2022/2023 and never finished a full run, I've talked about trying some easier stuff like Ridge Racer, Medal of Honor Rising Sun, COD4, Disruptor, etc but tbh if there's one thing I learned speedrunning this year is that I really miss being competitive at a high level and so I think that is what is sparking the desire to return to Ratchet.

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I'd like to play more casual games on stream as well if there's time. There's all of the "Mr Man Saves Christmas" games that were submitted that I was too busy dealing with life to do this Christmas (no one is more bummed by this than me) that I still hope to get to in January.

I also have FF9 that I haven't touched in almost 2 months now or something I'd like to finish. I know some people were enjoying Fallout 3 but tbh the game has become pretty stale and I don't think I'm touching it again

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To summarize, I'd say the big goals for 2026 are:

- Ratchet 1 All Checkmarks

- Ratchet 2 All Platinum Bolts and UYA All Titanium Bolts

- UYA All Collectables

- Yugioh Forbidden Memories Runs (various)

- More Art Streams / attempt drawing more again

- Release new music / attempt drum streams

- Release a documentary

AND, above all else, have fun with all of this. I feel fortunate that despite getting older and ongoing personal hardships, I still get to do this and somehow still only doing it bigger and bigger every year.

Thank you all so much for an incredible year of streaming in 2025, let's keep it going in 2026.

- marathonman, Mr. Man, Nick Man Balenciaga

12.30.2025