New Dragon Quest 3 speedrun strategy involves swapping around other cartridges

No more hot plates, hopefully

Speedrunners have a knack for finding new ways to mess with games in the search of faster clear times, and the latest Dragon Quest 3 strategy is no exception. Runner Hitshee has now cleared Dragon Quest 3 in under seven minutes by swapping the cartridge around wit💙h a few other games while playing.

In a video, Hitshee broke down their strategy, which involves pulling the cartridge for Dragon Quest 3 and inserting several other games: Dr. Mario, Final Fantasy, and Kirby’s Adventure. They recorded their , but the video in the tweet below highlights the cartridge-swapꦑping action.

ドラクエ3 ãªã‚“ã§ã‚‚ã‚ã‚ŠRTA å˜ç™ºæœ¬ä½“ãƒãƒ£ãƒ¼ãƒˆæ™‚ã®æœ€é€ŸRUN 動画アップã—ã¾ã—ãŸã€‚
(実æ³å‹•ç”»ï¼‰FC版 ドラゴンクエスト3 ãªã‚“ã§ã‚‚ã‚ã‚ŠRTA ä»»æ„コード実行ãƒãƒ£ãƒ¼ト 6:47

— Hitsheegame＠ホットプレート使ㄠRTAinJapan (@Hitsheegame)

broke down Hitshee’s explanation of the technique. By swapping in new cartridges and inputting specific commands, it will result in some rewrites that result in maxed-out party members, item codes being rewritten, and the game getting a little buggy. Once the right swaps and inputs have happened, the player can simply Zoom to the castle in Tantegel and, with a few finishing moves, be greeted with the ending of Dragon Quest 3.

Dragon Quest 3 runners are no stranger to odd techniques. It wasn’t that long ago that some in this “anything goes” category were after discovering they could bug saves when their cartridges reached a specific temperature.

Not only does this seem a little bit safer, it also has some real results. In the video above, Hitshee sets a time of 6:47.10, and they’ve . The ingenuity of speedrunners to not just find fast methods for beating a game on its own terms, but to discover any way they can shave minutes off a run—even resorting to hot plates and hot swaps—will always amaze me.