The return of the Speed King is not what one expected, but fair play to Fair Play Labs, they’re doing it.
Announced during the Triple-I Initiative Showcase, SpeedRunners 2: King Of Speed is a unique take on what publisher TinyBuild say is a “competitive platformer” and what we say a “racing game”.
Players must outrun the competition as they jump, run, grapple hook, slide and parkour their way through a loop of 2D course. Fail to keep up and you’ll eliminated, last standing racer gains a point.
SpeedRunners is essentially Micro Machines or Mashed, but as a side-scroller. And no cars. Just really fast speedsters in their superheroic costumes running on their two feet. And access to cheeky power-ups to turn the tide.
It’s technically a racing game, though it would appeal more to platformer fans than to racing game fans (that are mostly fans of car racing, the predominant flavour of that genre).
What’s more surprising, SpeedRunners has over 10 million players since its release in 2016, with a community still thriving with an active tournament scene still.
Fair Play Games, developer of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl takes the mantle from original devs DoubleDutch Games for this sequel. A new artstyle (“retrofuture superhero utopia of the 1960s”), new heroes joining the returning cast, and double the player count (up to 8 players local and online, from the original’s max of 4 players), SpeedRunners 2 will be bringing its brand of competitive platforming not only to PC, but this time on consoles as well.
SpeedRunners 2 will also have tournaments, custom challenges, leaderboards (of course people would do speedruns of SpeedRunners), and the ability to host private lobbies. Plus, it’s getting an improved netcode as well.
SpeedRunners 2: King Of Speed will be out on PC (Steam) later this year. The game will later be released on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch in 2026.