"... Because, its faster than Walking!"

[Fenra]

Mario 64 had crouch-jumping ("super long jump").

Oh gosh that brings back memories, spent that entire game hearing "Wa-hoo!" over and over, because who walks places when you can fling yourself around the castle/level and do it in half the time!

 

[Tanis]

Skyrim:

Sword in hand do a powerful attack + the shout that 'blinks' you forward.

Great for moving faster while over encumbered.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

-Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects - Characters Wink and Paragon can both use teleportation as a dodge.

Someone besides me remembers this game? Mind=blown

On topic, elder scrolls morrowind had some cleaver means of traveling. Spells could increase your speed and make you fly fast and you could teleport to temples or your own personal marker. And there's always the Scrolls of Icarian Flight to make your jump skill high enough to launch you into the skybox... for 5 seconds. Then you hit the ground and die unless you use another one or land in water. You could jump across the whole map with that

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

That or use a scroll of Icarian Flight and jump between Vivec and Ald'ruhn.

Spoiler

Remember, it's not the fall that kills you, it's the landing!

Which is why I enchanted his hat with a slowfall spell. For everything else, there is a 1 point of levitation for one second spell (which I call my Emergency Brake).

 

[Slayer_2]

In Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, I'd look at the ground when I sprinted for long stretches, I swear it increases FPS due to reduced drawn polygons and sped up the player run speed. I'm probably just being an idiot, but it did seem faster.

 

[Product Placement]

Since so many people have already mentioned Zelda:

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Am also guilty of Wuld-NAh-Kest my way through the fields of Skyrim.

Also, this thing:

Ohh! Force Speed (at least thats what I called it) from KOTOR.

Doing Flash impressions across the Tatooine desert in Sandpeople clothing. Fun times.

 

[Hawk eye1466]

The new Tomb Raider if you hit the dodge button Laura would do a kind of ducking leap thing which helped move faster whenever I got bored, it did make the fighting really funny for enemies to try and hit someone that must have looked like she had lost control of her back muscles.

 

[Souplex]

The jet pack in Cave Story.

You could also use a maxed out machine gun firing down to fly, making all platforming trivial.

 

[Valkrex]

Bunny-hopping in Painkiller. You can move INSANELY fast with that.

 

[lechat]

bit off topic but in every single game ever made (more or less) jumping while in water is faster.
this topic also raises the question. is walking speed too slow in most games?

 

[Eddie the head]

In Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer you sometimes have to carry an object (we call it delivering pizza) to a location, and at a reduced movement speed at that. There are some unconventionel methods of improving that speed. Moving backwards goes faster and the Krogan race (big Lizard-man) can move faster by continously headbutting the air (it might be his other melee-move, the massive backhand-strike, not sure). There's also a trick to moving really fast with the pizza, I think you keep dropping and picking it up quickly while moving.

The Asari dodge can be used as well. Unlike the others it drops it after you move.

 

[UBERfionn]

Jumping everywhere in half life 2.

The jump gave you a slight speed boost.

 

[Dethenger]

In Skyrim, I found out that your walk speed changes when you have your bow drawn. It's slower than your usual walk speed, much slower than sprinting or rolling... but it isn't affected by your weight burden. So if you need to walk a short distance while encumbered, draw your bow to go ever so slightly faster.

 

[Mordekaien]

Bunny-hopping in Painkiller. You can move INSANELY fast with that.

This.
Although it's satisfying as hell, to run this way with painkiller in hand into a bunch of enemies, turning them to bloody ribbons in seconds.

Also,
using dodge in Kingdoms of Amalur, especially that blink you could do later down the magic line.

 

[Denamic]

Jumping is actually slightly faster than running in Morrowind, and it raises your acrobatics skill. I was a compulsive bunny hopper in that game. I swear, I was airborne more often than not. As a result, this compulsion was also present in Oblivion. And Skyrim. And Fallout 3. And NV. I can't help it!

I must hop.

 

[R4ptur3]

Belly sliding in super Mario sunshine. Glorious.

 

[Clinky]

Rolling in Zelda for one, as well as in the Jak and Daxter games. Though it got tricky in the second one, those Krimzon Guards have such hair trigger tempers. =I

But I'm surprised that charging in Spyro hasn't been mentioned. Holy cow, I barely walk at all in that game. Charge everywhere, you'll move so much faster. Helps that the charge has no 'physics' to it so you stop as you let go of the square button so charging off ledges is much less of an issue than one would think.

Also from the same developer: Ratchet and Clank, rocket leap. Everywhere. It's faster and you have more control than using the charge boots, which have a very high chance of running you right off a ledge.

Edit: And oh yeah: Spindash/Lakilester, Baby Yoshi, and Carrie, in Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and Super Paper Mario respectively. =B

Also in Pokemon when they get introduced: Running shoes. Was so glad when they gave the option to just turn them on so you run automatically.

 

[Idsertian]

No one? I've got to be the one to do it? Alright.

Gears of War: Walldodging. Dodge into cover, tap out, dodge slide into the next wall, repeat. Not a skill I'm overly good at, but if you get it right and master it, you can slide across a level much faster than by simply running. It also makes you nigh impossible to hit in multiplayer.

 

[jamail77]

Definitely Batman Arkham City's grapnel boost glide combo. That was the whole point of the series turning sandbox. Grappling the edge of abuilding and then flying into the air at such a fast speed until you opened up your cape, heard the whoosh of the wind, and dove down head first arms to the side pulling yourself up at the last minute for another crazy speed boost, another whoosh, and an extended glide from which to pounce another crook with immense satisfaction. . Sorry if this came out weird: I typed this on my phone.

 

[C F]

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - The screw attack was my go-to thing for clearing large horizontal distances. While there are chasms which require its use, I'd always try to use it whenever I was presented a corridor to go down. Sometimes I'd time it so that I surge straight across to the other end, sometimes I'd impact some rock or piece of metal and bounce off in the wrong direction, actually costing me time.

Whatever the case, it was fun.

Ohh! Force Speed (at least thats what I called it) from KOTOR.

Ah, Burst of Speed.
Then Knight Speed and then Master Speed.

Those abilities are excellent for augmenting melee combat to quickly chop down anything that stands in your way.
Of course, that's only ever a side benefit, isn't it? I can't remember a single playthrough where I didn't spec that power tree for the sole purpose of being lazy.
I don't even know if the higher ranks give you more speed or duration in addition to the combat bonuses, it's just a reassuring psychological illusion that I can whip out something called "Master Speed" to expedite my errands.

Also: the Guardian's Force Jump ability. As soon as a far-off enemy are spotted, do a standard attack with your Lightsaber equipped. You'll instantly get the... "jump" on him, and he'll have to spend one turn switching from a blaster to his melee weapon while you can hack his shins away.
But of course the primary bonus is not having to walk the distance yourself.
Because screw walking.