The Skater is a major character in the Run series, appearing in all 3 either as an unlockable or as a starting character. He likes to challenge himself, and will happily attempt to pass a level the hard way, just to improve his skills. He claims to have finished 49 "laps," presumably meaning he's finished each level 49 times. He is apparently still close to his family, but has never been gone for as long as in Run 3's plot.
Gameplay
Run (Kongregate Version)
The Skater in Run behaves almost exactly the same as in Run 2. Unlocked after beating Level 50, he retains his abilities from the future installments. He can jump slightly farther than any other costume, and can skate along tiny gaps when needed, making him very useful for Infinite Mode.
Run 2
In Run 2, the Skater plays a little differently than Run 3. He doesn't get frustrated and has less of a difference from the Runner, however this is mostly because the Runner is completely different in Run 3. He moves fast and jumps farther with limited sideways movement. Similar to the Runner, he can use the wall jump trick.
Run 3
The Skater can be unlocked by beating level 10 or by buying him in the shop for 300 power cells.
The Skater is one of the fastest characters in the game, at 21m/s, second only to the Bunny at full speed. He has a lower-than-average jump height, but his high speed means he can still jump extremely far. The Skater suffers from low maneuverability and struggles on levels where he has to move sideways often.
After failing a single level several times in a row, the Skater becomes frustrated and pushes himself harder, until he quits or beats the level. When pushing himself like this, his top speed matches the Bunny's.
Unlike in the first two games, he is very different from the Runner, this is due to his frustration mechanic, and the overhaul the Runner got.
Personality
The Skater is mainly athletic, and is, most of the time, challenging himself. He is always finding new ways to improve himself, and often tries new tactics to gain self-esteem. He can also be ignorant, as shown in The Next Big Thing when he ignores the Angel’s request to go home, only caring about the possibility of tunnel racing and focusing on improving himself, implying his young age, confirmed to be aged somewhere between the Child and the Student.
Despite this, the Skater is happy, joyful, and kind, and is easy to make friends with. He is also willing to go out of his way to help others. This is shown in Coming Through and Don't Question It, where he assists the Runner and Student respectively with their goals.
However, the Skater is also a pushover, making him hard to deal with. He can get aggressive at times, as seen in gameplay with the Skater. If you fail a level too many times, he will get angry and start to rage, and thus, will go as fast as the Bunny. This is also shown in Don't Knock It when he yells at the Angel for criticizing his love for skating.
He has a somewhat low intelligence, but is a good problem solver, whether he decides to be strategic, or use brute force.
He also seems to enjoy living life freely, as seen in Truancy, when he says he is just going to stop attending school to focus on other goals, which the Student replies that is not how the concept exactly works.
He also has an interest for trying new things, as seen when he tries ice skating, possibly being interested in it.
The Skater has been confirmed by Player 03 to be 16. This has been used as a basis to determine other characters ages.
Although he circumnavigated the entire Planet and met everyone there, he wasn't able to earn some fame along with his achievement. He feels jealous that the Runner was able to get fame because of her mapmaking and excellent construction skills and trying to find out why he remains unnoticed.
Costumes
The Skater has one unlockable costume, a winter costume.
Ice Skater
"Everyone tries new things sometimes." -In-game description
Skater, while wearing the Ice Skater costume, looks quite joyful.
The Skater's winter costume is unlocked by beating the Winter Games, which is found after beating Level 15. Alternatively, it can be bought in the shop for 500 power cells. When the winter costume is equipped, the Skater wears a red bobble hat with a red pompom, and ice skates rather than roller skates. He is officially known as the Ice Skater when wearing his winter costume.
You may want to consider using him for any ice levels as his mobility is, coincidentally, best on ice. Using him on normal tiles will render the same effect ice has on other characters.
Appearance
The Skater has the appearance of the Runner, with roller blades with 3 wheels in a line.
The Ice Skater has a red bobble hat and ice-skates which have 2 blades on each skate.
Statistics
| Ability rating | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | 4.5/5 | ||
| Jump length | 4/5 | ||
| Jump height | 1.7/5 | ||
| Maneuverability | 2.2/5 | ||
| Special ability | 2/5 | ||
| General | 2.9/5 | ||
| Ability rating | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | 4.5/5 | ||
| Jump length | 4.5/5 | ||
| Jump height | 2/5 | ||
| Maneuverability | 2.5/5 | ||
| Special ability | 2.2/5 | ||
| General | 4/5 | ||
Achievements
Planning Makes Perfect - Finish part 4 of the River without jumping and without using any tunnel-powered abilities. (For instance, the Skater's skates are allowed, yet the Duplicator's duplicates are not.)
Ramping Up - Beat part 16 of the Winter Games without jumping. (Hint: ice skates may help!)
A Bumpy Ride - Dislodge at least 40 tiles in Level 53.
A Glimpse of New Places - Locate the Wormhole
Cutscenes
The Skater appears in 12 (13 Included If Counting The Upcoming Ones) of the 66 cutscenes (66 is the total number of cutscenes if including all of the hidden, Upcoming and optional ones). Here is a full list of his appearances throughout the story in chronological order.
- Coming Through
- Batteries
- Heavy Sleeper
- Gold Medal
- Don't Knock It
- Cheating
- Change the Subject
- Playing With Fire (Upcoming)
- Wormhole in Sight
- The Next Big Thing
- Don't Question It
- Truancy
- Fame
Infinite Mode Trivia
- Since he wanders so much, there was a brief time when the Skater had met everyone on the Planet.
- The Skater likes to travel, but mostly he just hates staying still.
- Tunnel running could be the next big sport, and the Skater intends to get a head start.
- The Skater’s philosophy: challenging yourself helps you improve. Once you improve, you can challenge yourself even more!
- He enjoys challenging himself almost as much as he enjoys going fast.
- The Skater is faster than anyone here. Well, maybe not that rabbit, but animals don’t count.
- The Skater takes a few minutes each day to maintain his skates. His last pair ran out at a bad time, and he can't afford to lose this pair.
- Ramps convert speed into jump height. Guess who benefits most?
Other Trivia
- On the Angel's list for going home, he is referred to as "The Show-Off".
- The Skater wants to be famous like the Runner but the Runner doesn't want to give an "incomplete map" on how to become famous.
- The Skater is assumed to carry rings with him by the Student.
- The Ice Skater can be unlocked earlier in the W-Tunnel. This is intentional.
- If he continuously fails a level, The Skater will push himself and skate faster, boosting his performance for better or worse.
- During the cutscene Truancy, the Skater is seen taking off his skates. This is also the only time he took off his skates in-game.
- The Skater is the only character in Run 3 to have his own theme, Unsafe Speeds.
- The Skater is in an upcoming cutscene, Playing With Fire.
Sprite sheets
The thinking Skater is unused, along with the waving, select pose after the "T-Pose", the angry one, and an earlier version of his sprite in "Batteries".
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