The Most HYPE Moments From Summer Games Done Quick 2018
It was a record year for Summer Games Done Quick — the charity speedrun event hauled in $2,122,529 by the end, almost matching the all-time record set just six months ago with Awesome Games Done Quick’s $2,294,612. 100% of that money will go to Doctors Without Borders; the sponsors involved in the event are paying for the costs involved in running the marathon.
If you missed the marathon, you likely don’t have a solid week to spend watching everything — so, as always, let us pare down the presentation to the best moments. These are the must-watch speedruns of Summer Games Done Quick…
CUPHEAD! What more do you need to know? It was a better-than-average GDQ with some much-demanded games making their first marathon debut. As expected, TheMexicanRunner made the rest of us look like complete buffoons at this game.
If there was one game even more suited for a GDQ speedrun than Cuphead, it was Celeste, the brand-new jumping, climbing platformer full of spiked walls and hazards. As crazy as it may sound, this was topped by….
The TASBot run! This is about as perfect as a Celeste playthrough can get; it is literally not humanly possible.
Instead of Bad Games Done Quick, we had Silly Games Done Quick — much like Bad Games except the games were bad on purpose. Some truly strange experiments in interactivity were seen during this late-night block; this is just a sample.
Not that there weren’t actual bad games at the event. The NES’s Kid Kool may have been one of the worst, a pre-Sonic momentum-based platformer that looked like an absolute struggle to control. This is one of those runs that’s made classic by its commentary.
Another short TASBot run, F-Zero GX is made to run at dizzying speeds never thought possible. This video is so fast they had to warn epilepsy-prone viewers to look away.
If there is any specific moment I’ll remember most prominently from this year’s SGDQ, it’s the Super Mario Bros 3 All Forts Race between MitchFlowerPower and GrandPOOBear…specifically its climax. It doesn’t end the way you expect, but it was a great moment and a true example of sportsmanship.
Ocarina of Time BINGO? This game has been played so many times at GDQ they had to get creative. The goal isn’t to win this time, but to complete five tasks within the game in a specific row.
SUPER MARIO MAKER — how I missed you! Absent since 2016, one of the Wii U’s few remaining exclusives is finally back with over eight ridiculous and unpredictable levels. This type of game is perfect for GDQ and I have no idea why it isn’t a permanent thing.
The award for Most Inventive Speedrun goes to MeGotsThis (he had this indeed) for playing both Pokemon Blue and Yellow at the same time with one controller. Yes, whatever button he pushed registered with both games at the same time. He was able to keep both going all the way to the very end.
You’ll be repeating the word “Pausa” all week and annoying all your friends after you watch this one. Fair warning.
Who knew the 3DS’s Majora’s Mask 3D could be even more broken than the N64 original? It’s actually possible to warp straight to more than one boss. See how it’s done….
Created for a one-month Game Jam, Yo Noid 2 is not endorsed by Dominos Pizza in any way. But the game is better than you’d think, authentically creating what a Yo Noid 2 would have actually looked like — rendered in 480p, with blocky lo-res environments and a gloriously cheesy FMV opener.
The marathon ended with a 7-hour runthrough of Final Fantasy VI. I realize we’ve handed you a lot, but we’ve got one more. You’re not getting out of here until you watch one more video….
The return of PEPSIMAN!!
Games Done Quick will be back this January for its “Awesome” iteration, but the guys in charge have spoken about possibly expanding the event and adding some smaller marathons later this year. If it happens, we’ll let you know!