glitchless
/ˈɡlɪtʃlɪs/
UncommonA speedrun category that bans intentional glitch exploitation, requiring runners to complete the game's intended content.
The boundary between 'glitch' and 'tech' is genuinely contested and varies by community. A move that's banned in one game's glitchless category might be legal in another.
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | glitchless is actually harder to watch because you have to understand the game to appreciate the optimization | Glitchless runs require game knowledge to recognize the skill involved. | |
| 02 | started doing glitchless because any% felt like memorizing tech tricks more than actually playing | The person prefers glitchless because it feels more like real gameplay. | twitch, 2024 |
| 03 | the community spent a week debating whether that ledge clip counts as a glitch in glitchless | Categorizing whether a specific movement exploit is banned under glitchless rules. | |
| 04 | glitchless WR just got cut by 40 seconds from a new movement tech | A new optimization not involving glitches improved the world record noticeably. | youtube, 2023 |
Use it when
- Describing a speedrun category that prohibits intentional glitch use.
- Contrasting a 'clean' run against an any% run.
- Discussing a run where the player has to actually complete game content.
Do not use it when
- You mean 100% completion.Use “100%” instead.
- You mean any run without bugs appearing naturally.
Glitchless vs any%
glitchless
Glitchless requires completing the game's intended content without exploiting bugs.
VS
any-percent
Any% allows anything as long as the credits roll.
Origin and context
Developed as a category within speedrunning communities to distinguish runs that use intended mechanics from any% runs that allow glitch exploitation. The specific rules vary noticeably per game community.
- First seen
- mid-2000s
- Confidence
- medium
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/glitchlessUpdated: 2026-08-28License: CC BY 4.0