SmallAnt
| SmallAnt | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Born | Tanner Ant May 3, 1996[1] |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Twitch information | |
| Channel | |
| Followers | 1.4 million |
YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Subscribers | 3.19 million[2] |
| Views | 876 million[2] |
Tanner Ant, known online as SmallAnt,[3][4] is a Canadian[5] streamer, speedrunner and YouTuber. He is known for creating content about challenges and speedruns in video games such as Super Mario Odyssey, the Pokémon franchise, and Minecraft, among others. These often feature mods, additional rules, or competitions against other creators. He has held former speedrun world records in multiple games including the 'Minimum Captures' category of Super Mario Odyssey. He won the Speedrunner of the Year award at The Streamer Awards 2021.[6][7][8]
Internet career
[edit]SmallAnt began streaming on the 2nd of March, 2016. His first uploaded content was inspired by the content creator FearsomeFire.[3] On stream, he created levels in the game LittleBigPlanet 3, as well as doing playthroughs of video games. He began speedrunning Super Mario Odyssey by joining its first speedrunning tournament and placing third, and continued to speedrun the game.[3] He started uploading Super Mario Odyssey speedrunning tutorials on his YouTube channel in early 2018, and started uploading stream highlights later that year.
SmallAnt first speedran the Minimum Captures category of Super Mario Odyssey after he hit a sub goal on his Twitch to try a new, weird speedrun. He continued to speedrun the category, earning former world records. He also began to upload challenges such as beating Super Mario Odyssey while blindfolded, or without taking any damage.
After having some burnout, SmallAnt decided to begin uploading non-Super Mario Odyssey-related content in games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. These videos did better than expected, encouraging him to try out a wider variety of games and content.[3] He was among the first to perform a 100% speedrun of Breath of the Wild, a lengthy run lasting many hours that earned several million views on YouTube. Later, in 2023, he would beat this record by tens of hours with a second run before the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
SmallAnt completed Pokémon Platinum without taking any damage,[9][10][11] publishing a video on February 20, 2020. On July 4, 2020, he uploaded a video about his pursuit and achievement of the world record in sharpening pencils as fast as possible.[4] Later that year, on October 20, he uploaded a Pokémon challenge showing his run of Pokémon SoulSilver in which he could only use Shiny Pokémon, which have only a 1/8192 chance of spawning.[12] It achieved 17 million views and is still his most viewed video as of April 2025. SmallAnt was the first to catch every Pokémon in the video game Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, doing so less than 24 hours after the game had released.[13][14]
In 2022, SmallAnt uploaded a video showcasing Super Mario Odyssey: Online, a mod for Super Mario Odyssey that adds online multiplayer functionality into the game. The mod was created by CraftyBoss and commissioned by SmallAnt, and its hide-and-seek game mode was popular among streamers such as Cjya, Fir, GrandPooBear, and SmallAnt himself.[15][16][17][18]
In 2022, SmallAnt began a playthrough of Minecraft Skyblock, in which the player starts on an island with just a tree and a chest of items. Using Minecraft mechanics, he was able to complete a list of goals he had set for himself, and he published a video on this challenge on January 5th, 2024, titled 'I took Minecraft's Most Popular Challenge to its Absolute Limits'.[19] In May 2023, he was the second person to achieve 100% completion of Tears of the Kingdom, which took 139 hours.[20][21] Soon after this, SmallAnt collected every rock in the game after a viewer sarcastically challenged him to do so.[22][23]
In October 2023, SmallAnt competed with GrandPooBear in a Red Bull competition Settle the Score.[24]
On Feb 27th, 2024, SmallAnt released a video about his completion of the difficult 'Kaizo Ironmon' challenge in Pokémon FireRed.[25][26] SmallAnt participated in MC Championship Season 4 Kick-Off, in which his team placed 4th out of 10, and he individually placed 20th out of 40. In July 2024, he uploaded his playthrough of Pokémon Ultra Sun but with dozens of rules suggested by his Twitch chat, such as playing the game in German - a challenge he had completed in 2022.[27] Shortly after the release of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, SmallAnt uploaded a video in which he played through the game, attempting to find and exploit glitches.[28]
Awards and nominations
[edit]| Year | Ceremony | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | The Streamer Awards | Best Minecraft Speedrunner | Nominated | [6][7][8] |
| 2021 | Best Speedrunner | Won |
References
[edit]- ^ @SmallAnt (February 21, 2023). "I'm going to look like an absolute idiot if I lose this" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ a b "About SmallAnt". YouTube.
- ^ a b c d Popko, John (June 22, 2022). "Variety speedrunner SmallAnt on making content in a world where being first is all that matters". InvenGlobal. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- ^ a b Woodlock, Matthew (January 15, 2021). "The bizarre world of competitive pencil sharpening". The City Journal. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- ^ Wikipedia Speedrun Bingo is Surprisingly Intense. November 28, 2024. Event occurs at 3:17.
- ^ a b Alford, Aaron (March 14, 2022). "All the award winners at The Streamer Awards 2022". InvenGlobal. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
- ^ a b Polhamus, Blaine (March 13, 2022). "All 2022 Streamer Award Winners". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
- ^ a b "The Streamer Awards". The Streamer Awards. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
- ^ Hernandez, Patricia (March 2, 2020). "Fan beats Pokémon game without taking any damage". Polygon. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Gerblick, Jordan (March 3, 2020). "A streamer spent 140 in-game hours on a Pokemon Platinum no-hit run". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Coulson, Josh (March 3, 2020). "Streamer Beats Pokémon Platinum Without Taking Any Damage". TheGamer. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Walters, Michael (November 9, 2020). "Streamer Beats SoulSilver Using Only Shiny Pokemon". TheGamer. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- ^ Cryer, Hirun (November 23, 2021). "Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl streamer completes entire PokeDex in under 24 hours". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Galloway, Ryan (November 23, 2021). "Twitch streamer SmallAnt catches every Pokémon from Brilliant Diamond in under 24 hours". Dot Esports. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Blake, Vikki (June 19, 2022). "This Super Mario Odyssey mod adds multiplayer and moon sharing for up to ten players". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Middler, Jordan (June 19, 2022). "Fans have released a 10-player Super Mario Odyssey multiplayer mod". VGC. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Nightingale, Ed (June 20, 2022). "Mario Odyssey playable with 10 players in new multiplayer mod". Eurogamer. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Diaz, Ana (July 6, 2024). "Super Mario Odyssey is actually the best venue for virtual hide-and-seek ever". Polygon. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Bailey, Dustin (January 8, 2024). "Update ruins Minecraft streamer's 200-hour challenge just one week after he completed it: "Oh my god this whole playthrough was for nothing"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- ^ Liang, Lu-Hai (May 25, 2023). "It Took One Tears Of The Kingdom Player 139 Hours To 100 Percent It". TheGamer. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- ^ Jones, Ali (May 26, 2023). "It took this speedrunner 139 hours to 100% Tears of the Kingdom". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
- ^ Lewis, Catherine (July 8, 2024). "The second person to 100% Tears of the Kingdom has nothing left to do, so he's collecting every rock in Hyrule". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Norman, Jim (July 9, 2024). "Random: After 100% Completing Zelda: TOTK, Streamer Sets Out To Collect Every Rock". Nintendo Life. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ "Red Bull Settle the Score". Red Bull. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
- ^ Lewis, Catherine (March 1, 2024). "With an overpowered Skarmory, 1,786 attempts, and a dream, this streamer was able to beat one of the hardest Pokemon challenges ever made". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- ^ Bailey, Dustin (November 16, 2023). "After 1,786 attempts, this Pokemon streamer has completed the JRPG's "hardest challenge"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
- ^ Lewis, Catherine (July 16, 2024). "The hardest Pokemon challenge isn't a Nuzlocke, it's playing one of the RPGs in a language you don't speak with an absurd list of rules and exercising every time you mess up". GamesRadar+. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
- ^ Jones, Ali (September 28, 2024). "Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom speedrunner wasted absolutely no time breaking Echoes of Wisdom into little pieces". GamesRadar+. Retrieved May 9, 2025.