Speedrunning is a sacred art that is cherished by a majority of the fanbase, and for good reason. The art of using glitches, exploits, and in-game mechanics to complete a game that usually takes hours in just mere minutes is astounding, and goes to show just how dedicated — and perhaps stubborn — gamers can be when it comes to setting and meeting their own goals, some of which might seem positively insane from an outsider's point of view.

RELATED: 10 Of The Hardest Games To Speedrun (That Gamers Tried To Do Anyway)

However, not all speedruns have a happy ending. The weeks and months — if not years — that speedrunners take to prepare for their run can be completely destroyed in moments due to bad RNG, a small misstep, or anything else along the same lines. Some of these failures are particularly hard to see, with the following ten speedrunning fails being some of the hardest things to watch due to their sheer heartbreaking nature.

10 A Critical Hit At The Worst Possible Time (ExarionU — Pokémon FireRed)

Pokemon center entrance in Pokemon FireRed

ExarionU is one of the most legendary Pokémon speedrunners around, with him having multiple excellent times across a host of Pokémon games. One of his FireRed runs that was on track for a Personal Best ended up being hampered at the very last second.

RELATED: 10 Most Iconic Pokémon In The Franchise, Ranked

At the very end of his run, ExarionU is in the process of increasing Charizard's special attack but gets hit with a critical hit that completely wrecks his entire run. This is not the only time ExarionU has experienced a speedrunning heartbreak.

9 The Worst Example Of RNG Going Against A Player (ExarionU — Pokémon Colosseum)

RNG is the scariest word any speedrunner can hear, and ExarionU will go on at length ranting about just how much of a major factor these three letters play in making or breaking a speedrun.

His run of Pokémon Colosseum was particularly heartbreaking, with his opponent's surviving an Earthquake attack by just 1 HP — an anomaly, given the fact that the move would've decimated Tyranitar 99 times out of 100.

8 The Controller Breaking At The Very Last Moment Of The Run (weegee14 — Super Mario 64)

Super Mario 64 Bowser

Weegee14 was at a very good pace in an All-Star Run of Super Mario 64, to the point where he could've possibly shattered the world record. However, things took a turn for the worse when he defeated Bowser and just needed to pick up the last star.

Unfortunately, weegee14's controller broke at the very last second, and Mario ended up careening off the side of the stage. This effectively destroyed the run for good.

7 The Possibility Of A World Record Shattered By One Mistake (SSBMstuff — Spyro 2)

One of the greatest Spyro runners of all time, SSBMstuff was on track for a massive Personal Best and the World Record as well on a Spyro 2 Any% run. However, things took a turn for the worse when he tried to use an out-of-bounds hack to skip a major portion of the level.

While gliding across the underbelly of the map, SSBMstuff just narrowly misses the ledge and ends up falling off the map. This fail completely ruined was was poised to be a legendary speedrun otherwise.

6 The PS2 Losing Power At The Very Last Shot Of The Game (mcvinn — Ratchet And Clank: Up Your Arsenal)

Ratchet And Clank Up Your Arsenal cover art with protagonists

Mcvinn was on a pretty respectable pace when it came to a speedrun of Ratchet And Clank: Up Your Arsenal. All he had to do was hit the last boss of the game with 16 sniper shots.

Unfortunately, in what can only be described as a horrible stroke of luck, mcvinn's power converter ended up overheating after he fired his 15th shot! His PS2 lost power right after this, essentially killing the entire run.

5 Nailing A Glitch That Fails 99 Times Out Of Hundred... Only To Lose To The Final Boss (Linkus7 — The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker)

Ganondorf (The Wind Waker)

Linkus7 has some pretty hilarious reactions when he fails his speedruns, and the agony he experiences upon screwing up the Wind Waker speedrun by dying to the last boss is definitely gold comedy material.

One can understand as to why he reacts in such a manner — he nailed a zombie hover glitch that fails more often than not... but ended up losing quite spectacularly in the final fight against Ganon.

4 The World Record Holder Misses A Chance To Best His Own Time (Inthedarkness5 — Conker's Bad Fur Day)

xbox franchises on xbox series x

Inthedarkness5 was on a pretty good run of Conker's Bad Fur Day — a game for which he already held the World Record — and was setting the pace to possibly break his own record... but ended up going through an unfortunate turn of events that made him lose the run.

Basically, during a level in a nightclub, Inthedarkness5 goes past a loading screen and hovers too quickly, causing a chain of events that moves a rock enemy before it should and leads to the speedrunner panicking and losing the run.

3 A Classic Fail Moment In Speedrunning History (ClintStevens — The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time)

One of the most legendary and unfortunate fails of all time, ClintStevens was on track to break his own Personal Best in Ocarina Of Time... but unfortunately, the gaming gods were against him on this fine day.

During the final sequence of the game, the game crashes, causing all of ClintStevens' hard work to pretty much go to waste. Ocarina Of Time has seen some heartbreaking speedrun fails at the very end of the game, but nothing triumphs this moment.

2 The World Record Time Thwarted By A Lava Bubble (somewes — Super Mario Bros.)

During a particular quick playthrough of Super Mario Bros., somewes had easily recorded the best time anyone's ever had during a playthrough of this game. However, just before reaching Bowser, the entire run ground to a halt because of one small lava bubble.

RELATED: The 10 Best 2D Super Mario Games, Officially Ranked

There are certain factors that govern when the bubble is about to appear at the last level... and, in somewes' case, none of these factors played in his favor.

1 A Great Run Ruined By A Dog (sinistralt314 — Earthbound)

Imagine being more than three hours into a speedrun... only for the entire run to completely collapse because a dog runs over your keyboard.

This unfortunate occurrence is exactly what sinistralt314 has to deal with. His Earthbound run was going at an excellent pace, only for his dog to walk over his keyboard, turn on unlimited frames, and load a savestate as well. Suffice to say, his run was rendered invalid as a result.

NEXT: 10 Ridiculously Long NES Games (& How Long They Take To Beat)