-
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (1 p.m. Easter – Sunday, July 26 — 2 hours and 55 minutes)
One of the most entertaining games to watch ‘done quickly’, even if a full 100% run takes almost three hours. A good way to start a marathon.
-
Ghosts ‘n Goblins/Ghouls ‘n Ghosts (12:55 PM Monday, July 27 — 50 minutes)
Most people can’t double-jump once through these punishing Capcom platformers. Runners error72 and Aquas are going to beat them twice each, in less than 30 minutes each. Your inner 10-year-old will be amazed.
-
Toejam and Earl (4:25 PM Monday, July 27 — 30 minutes)
Randomly generated worlds and random, unidentified items make live speedruns of this somewhat sluggish Rogue-like pretty hilarious.
-
Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (6:05 PM Monday, July 27 — 45 minutes)
This 200-plus-stage speedrun uses all sorts of physics tricks to bounce the monkey-filled marble toward the target, often in ridiculously unintentional ways. The steady nerves and sense of balance on display here is sure to be absolutely epic.
-
Tetris: The Grand Master block (7:40pm Monday, July 27 — One hour, 20 minutes)
You might think you’re pretty good at Tetris. Watching these speedruns prove you’re not. Exclusive to Japan Grandmaster series requires incredibly precise play to handle blocks that fall faster than the eye can track, eventually disappearing altogether! If you can only watch one event all week, this is it.
-
Octodad Dadliest Catch (cooperative run) (6:55 PM Monday, July 27 — 25 minutes)
One person controlling each side of the titular spastic octopus makes this a coordination test not to be missed.
-
Monster party (10:05 a.m. Tuesday, July 28 — 20 minutes)
A super weird cult classic NES game with a light horror theme, great design and catchy music. If you don’t know this one, do yourself a favor and learn about a hidden gem of the NES library.
-
The Legend of Zelda (swordless run) (7:45 PM Wednesday, July 29 — 1 hour and 5 minutes)
It’s pretty dangerous to go alone if you don’t take the sword offered in the very first screen of The Legend of Zelda. This run uses items such as the blue candle, bombs, and bows and arrows to get the triforce out of the blade. Very entertaining.
-
Oregon trail (6:45 a.m. Thursday, July 30 – 15 minutes)
Personally, I will look at this to improve my own strategy. I never know how many spare wheels to buy!
-
Shovel Knight (spades only) (15:15 Thursday July 30 — 55 minutes)
Can you really beat Shovel Knight without collecting any of the extra items and skills that normally give you access to new areas? The notes on the SGDQ web page say “yes, it really is possible”, so I guess we’ll find out.
-
Pokemon Blue (running blindfolded) (01:45 Saturday, August 1 – 40 minutes)
A blindfolded run Mike Tyson’s Punchout!! on an old Games Done Quick event is perhaps the most impressive video game performance I’ve ever seen. This will probably be a little less impressive, but I’m still interested to see how you play pokemon without being able to see the screen.
One of the best live gaming events of the year kicks off on Sunday. That’s when the Summer Games Done Quick marathon kicks off about 160 straight hours of live video game speedrunning broadcast on Twitch from a hotel ballroom in St. Paul, Minn.
During that time, you can watch dozens of runners work their way through dozens of games, both classic and modern, as fast as they can. Sometimes they abuse glitches or warps or pause to get to the end as quickly as possible. More often, they use simple frame-perfect inputs, refined over countless hours of play, to pull off a seemingly supernatural performance. It’s all for the benefit of a good cause, with viewers encouraged to donate to Doctors Without Borders to reach a million-dollar goal (additional speedruns will be added to the proceedings as fundraising milestones are reached).
Of course, you can check out many similar speedruns archived on YouTube (including many recorded from previous Games Done Quick events), and even check out “tool-assisted” speedruns where players use emulators to beat a game often much faster than a live player ever could. Still, there’s something to be said for watching a human speedrunner play in real time on real hardware, improvising through errors and nerves in front of a live audience. Plus, the Games Done Quick stream features excellent live commentary from volunteers to explain different techniques and strategies throughout the run, and a live audience cheering on the best moments.
Above is a quick selection of some of the must-see speedruns we’ll be looking at this week, along with estimated times to tune into Twitch to see them (the times may vary slightly if previous runs or setup take too long to finish). long).