There are men, there are kings, and then there are Guitar Heroes – a special class of supernatural beings that certainly belongs to. After nine months of toil, Jared recently was able to complete the world's first full combo of 'Throu🦂gh the Fire and Flames,' what's considered to be the rhythm game series' most difficult song, at 200% speed on PC clone .
In with esports personality Jake Lucky, Jared says the achievement has always been "seen as t🐠he most highly coveted world record," so he's always dreamed about nabbing it.
"Especially at 200," he continues. "That was the speed that I really wanted, because I see it as the ultimate world record for ['Through the Fire']." He originally obtained the wo🌺rld rec꧑ord at 180% speed in 2024, but it wasn't enough – he's spent the nine months since his last 'Through the Fire and Flames' achievement working his way toward 200%.
Anyone observing could see why the feat took as long as gestating a human baby. As the notoriously demanding 'Flames' begins to pick up like a gust of wind, notes begin to flood﷽ Guitar Hero's virtual fretboard, and Jared's eyes narrow.
A "full combo" requires a player to hit every single note that shoots their way, so Jared begins to slap his fingers – sometimes using both hands – against his plastic guitar's nec🌜k in a way that I never knew was anatomically possible. Moving methodically, Jared finishes 'Through the Fire and Flames' with the solemnity of a monk before realizing what he's done and erupting into a giant "YES! YES! YEEES!"
Jared tells Jake Lucky during his interview that just learning how to pꦓlay 'Through the Fire and Flames' at the intense 200% speed was a challenge, even though he'd ostensibly already mastered the song 🐈at 180%.
"To put it to an actual number," Jared says about his 200% speedrun training period, "it wa🅷s five hours, basically, five days a week [...] for nine months. I restart runs at a different rate every single day, but I would say [it took] abov🐼e 50,000 attempts." Never give up.
Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse🌺, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she🐼's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.
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