David Clemens

David Clemens (born February 3rd 1987) is an American GoldenEye, Perfect Dark and Super Metroid speedrunner, streamer and one of the iconic figures of the-elite.net

Clemens is considered by most to be one of the greatest GoldenEye players of all time.

David Clemens photographed when meeting up with Austin P. (April 2nd 2022)

Clemens' debuts in The Elite (November 2006 - September 2007)

David Clemens' first speedrun : Depot Agent 0:26 - (03 November 2006)

Clemens first learned about GoldenEye speedrunning in 2006 after watching World Record videos on Speed Demos Archive, he later joined the forums under the pseudonym "eliteSAMEDI" on November 3rd 2006 and claimed that he had achieved the World Record Depot Agent 0:26 after ~12 hours of attempts.

He later provided endscreen pictures of that time on November 10th. Proof that was not sufficient for the time not to be backrolled, but Clemens would then duplicate his 0:26 on tape on November 11th.

In the following months Clemens would rapidly improve and fill up his timespage, getting all the most commonly achieved World Records in the game as well, such as Runway SA 0:23, the Archives World Record Sweep, Surface 1 World Record Sweep, Bunker 1 Sweep and other World Records.

Clemens achieved his first Untied World Record on April 29th 2007, Surface 2 00 Agent 1:28 after skipping the World Record of 1:29 set by Dan Cervone from 1:30 to 1:28. By that point, Clemens had already started to go for other Untied World Records, most obvious example being Surface 1 Agent 1:02 that he had been grinding during that month, having duped 1:03 ~70 times by the end of April 2007.

Clemen's first major breakthrough was in June 2007 after testing different strategies improvements for lowering the Bunker 1 00 Agent World Record of 1:07 found by Eddie Lovins in late March of that year, Clemens, unsatisfied from the little time Lovins' strategies were saving, decided to be the first player to use the Boris running strategy on the level.

After first failing a 1:07, three 1:06's, and a 1:04, Clemens Untied Bunker 1 00 Agent 1:06 on June 9th 2007 on the first run ever that used the Boris running strategy, every subsequent Bunker 1 00 Agent World Records would also make use of it.

Clemens' fast rise up the rankings continued as he entered the Top 10 in early September 2007, he also achieved Bunker 1 00 Agent 1:04 roughly at the same time, a 3 second Untied World Record.

The meteoric rise to Champion and proof controversy (October 2007 - February 2008)

In late 2007, Clemens would play GoldenEye and started to pile up top 5 times (at worst, most of them were higher ranked) on numerous levels at an unrivaled rate.

From early October 2007 to late December 2007, Clemens achieved 31 times across different levels, including 16 World Records, 5 of them being Untied when set.

During that rise, in October 2007, as he was reaching 2nd place Clemens was subject to extra scrutiny from the proof moderation team, after Clemens failed to provide proof for some of his times and claimed a fake time, Bunker 2 Secret Agent 0:47 as a joke, Clemens' profile was frozen and he was then unable to post any times.

As stated by then staff member Ryan Dwyer : "Someone ranked 2nd should have proof for every single one of his times, regardless of whether he's lied or not. Once all of this times are proven, the only difference is that he won't be able to update his own page. This right may eventually be returned to him. I requested a list of all proven times that Clemens had. Clemens also gave me a list of times he had on tape and were about to be proven (Bunker 1 00 included). All of these times were put on his page. Silo 00A was not on either of these lists. If a time is missing from the lists, he's welcome to let me know and I'll add it to his page. Any times on his page that aren't proven by the 27th of October will be removed." (13 October 2007)

Despite that decision, the moderation team re-considered their decision and Clemens was unfrozen on October 15th 2007.

On October 23rd 2007, some of Clemens' times seems to have been removed and were reinstated some time after (unknown when), this was kinda of an obscure and forgotten incident and there aren't too many informations about it, apart from a thread about it

Meanwhile Clemens would continue to play and during the month of January 2008, achieved 17 PRs, all of them being at least 3rd place, including 10 World Records, 5 of them being Untied when set.

During that month, Clemens sent out VHS tapes to prove his times, the situation improved as he would prove all of his time except 5 of them according to the January 2008 Proof Call.

As Clemens' situation regarding his proven times improved, Bryan Bosshardt's (the GoldenEye Champion at the time) situation was getting worse as he was stuggling to upload VHS of his times online and had to sent them out to other players to upload them online.

As stated in the January 2008 Proof Call, all of Bosshardt's times that wouldn't have a video would be removed from the rankings until they would be proven, this included 5 different times that were indeed removed on January 31st 2008, along with other times later on. This action was upopular since the timing of this incident was very unfortunate, as Clemens was getting very close to passing Bosshardt and becoming champion of the game, this removal of Bosshardt's time lead to the rankings being inaccurate, the general conscensus was that Bosshard't deserved to have his times removed as had been asked to prove them for almost two months by that time, but the times shouldn't have been removed right away, especially at that moment as Clemens was very close to passing Bosshardt. But the times were indeed removed.

Despite all of that, then proof moderator Phil McCanna kept track of the Clemens' and Bosshardt' points while including their removed times (that they would both later all prove by sending their VHS)

And so on February 7th 2008, (not considering the proof issues from both players) Clemens becamed the GoldenEye Champion for the first time, after achieving Facility 00 Agent 0:55, two days later on February 9th, Bryan Bosshardt would make a post congratulating Clemens on passing him for first place.

When Clemens became champion of GoldenEye, he had around ~ 5930 points and was also first place in World Records Leaders, simultaniously holding 40 World Records, 6 of them being Untied.

David Clemens VS Rayan Isran / Part 1 (2008)

Clemens' career is inseparable from Rayan as both players are considered the two best players ever to have played the game and shared rivalries for years to come.

When Clemens became Chamion in February 2008, Rayan had just became the Perfect Dark Champion in December 2007 and had switched to GoldenEye after that, by this point it was widely believed that Rayan was the only player who could rival Clemens' skill but he had yet to prove that he could top him.

In the following months (February 2008 - June 2008) both players would fight for first place, Clemens trying to stay at the top, and Rayan catching up, one would often achieved an Untied World Record far ahead of the competition, some of the best Untieds in the game, and the other would immidiately tie it in the following months, weeks and sometimes days.

By April 2008 as Clemens was lowering the World Records on Control Secret Agent and 00 Agent and Rayan kept following behind and tying them, both of them were in their own league ahead of Bosshardt, who was himself very far ahead of the rest of the competition. Both Clemens and Rayan were holding more than 40 World Records and both of them were the only players sitting at 5900+ points.

On June 16th 2007, after achieving the World Record Caverns 00A 1:37, Rayan became GoldenEye Champion and Dual Champion, dethroning Clemens, however the battle was not over yet as Clemens continued to play for the following months and passed Rayan again on October 31st 2008 after achieving the World Record Silo Secret Agent 1:10, after Rayan has stopped playing GoldenEye since late June.

Clemens stayed first for the rest of the year as Rayan wouldn't seriously play GoldenEye for a long time to come.

In December 2008 Clemens' started playing Liscence To Kill mode, achieving 6 World Records with 4 of them being Untied when set.

After that he took a long break from GoldenEye and switched to mainly playing Perfect Dark as he had started to do so since November.

Clemens' style of play

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