In the immortal words of Sonic, “I’ve got to go fast,” and it’s in this mindset that gamers from across the United States and the world are looking to gather starting January 8 for Awesome Games Done Quick 2023. AGDQ 2023 is a seven-day broadcast that will feature action from Non-stop speed racing where players will complete their rank in front of a couch of other accomplished members of the speed game community and an audience of speed game fans.
It can be hard to know which games to tune into, so we’ve compiled a list of Games Done Quick classics and highlighted some of the newer runs that we recommend you check out.
What is speedrunning?
Speedrunning is the process of completing an objective in a video game extremely quickly. The most basic of these objectives is any% run, where you just need to beat the game at any completion level. Completion goals can range from something sensible like completing a game with 100% completion to needing to beat Super Mario without using any of the warp pipes to jump worlds, all the way to crazy completion goals like Dog% in breath of the wild where your career is complete when you pet all the dogs in the world.
If you are interested in learning more about the history of speedrunning, a documentary called Running with speed: the fastest players in the world covering the beginnings of speedrunning, prominent players in the speedrunning space such as mitchflowerpower Y granpoobearas well as the story behind GamesDoneQuick and its impressive track record of donation achievements over the years.
Before moving on to the schedule, please note that all times listed below will be in EST. If you want to check what the times are for you locally, or if you want to see if any of the times have been updated, be sure to check out the full schedule on the GamesDoneQuick website.
classic speed running
If you’re in the mood for some good speedrunning, from the beginning of the game to the end in the shortest possible time or with a few stipulations, then these are the races for you.
fallout 3 (All Missions) by BananaPegasus
Monday at 20:24
No one has any belief that fallout 3 it’s a perfect game technically or not, which leads to any % of this game lasting less than 20 minutes. Alternatively, the fallout 3 All Quest speedrun takes players from the very beginning of the game, when you are a baby waiting to grow up, to the moment you complete the final mission of the game’s main story “Take it Back!” Not only is this race an excellent showcase of everything speedrunners have learned about the game and how to manipulate it, but it’s also an impressive race overall, clocking in at just over an hour.
Whether you are intimately familiar with fallout 3 If you’re new to this, this is the perfect speedrun if you’re new to the genre showcasing a wide variety of basic gameplay optimizations like crazy glitches that show you out-of-bounds areas or how breaking sequences can help you get through missions faster. .
frog (any%) by traitor
Tuesday 1:39 a.m.
While this run doesn’t have as great a timeslot if you’re in the EST time zone, it’s still a game worth trying. frogun was It only launched a little over five months ago and already people are cleaning it up in less than an hour. As a new speed game, it’s one with a new and active community, and the individual level structure makes it good for newcomers to practice, not to mention it also has a built-in speed race mode. Modeled after PS1-era platformers, it’s a refreshing blast of nostalgia in a whole new package.
pokemon red or yellow (any% no fails) by pokeguy
Wednesday 5:11 PM
something similar to fallout 3 run, it’s easy to do a standard fail run of pokemon red Y Yellow; With the ability to overflow menus, it’s possible to start the game, collect your first Pokémon, and travel to the Hall of Fame in 10 minutes. Heck, it’s even possible to program the game to run Twitch chat. However, the any% glitchless category allows speedrunners to demonstrate incredible knowledge about Pokemonsuch as where they should move to manipulate encounters, which trainers they should or shouldn’t fight, and the exact math on how much damage they’ll need to deal. If you thought you were good at the classic Pokemonthen you will learn a lot from this.
Tony Hawk HD Pro Skater (All Goals) by Biglaw
Friday 9:48 a.m.
Here’s another speedrun for all those fans of the original game who might have thought they were pretty good at the time. Watching a Tony Hawk speedrun is a blur of menus and great combos. Unlike the times you’ve played the game at home, started a race, and tried to beat a few challenges in the 2-3 minutes the game gives you, a speedrunner will take out all targets in a highly efficient run and still have 90 seconds. . to spare Your homemade combos will be in shame…
super mario bros 3 (any% Warpless) by mitchflowerpower
Saturday 22:47
This will be one of the final races of the week and will showcase mitchflowerpower’s incredible gaming skills in super mario bros 3. Dealing with increasingly difficult platforming while moving at top speed, Mitch will also have to take into account some of the more random elements of the game, such as Hammer Bro moves, in order to complete the entire game from start to finish. Since this is the Warpless category, it means there won’t be any use of Warp Whistles, just good old fashioned ones. Mario.
An added level of mayhem is the five RNG hands that can trap Mitch in the final world, this could mean the difference between a world record or just another great run.
How do they do it?
Speedruns don’t always have to be about completing the game, and these upcoming races are some that showcase mind-blowing technical achievements or entirely new ways to play a game. Below is a collection of some of the more unique ways Quick Races are created and completed to showcase gameplay perfection or add extra replayability to games that might normally be linear.
stepmania (Technical Exhibition) by Dimo
Friday 7:55 p.m.
Dimo and other rhythm game speedrunners will make your wildest dreams of playing rhythm games like stepmania either GDR and it will absolutely embarrass you. This community is constantly pushing the game and their own skills to the limit, creating all kinds of ridiculous dance tracks. This is a speedrun that you can put on and watch as you gawk at the chaos that unfolds on the screen.
zero katana (any %TAS) by Bar0ti
Friday 23:15
A TAS, or Tool Assisted Speedrun, is a race where there is no human playing, but a human has written a script playing the game frame by frame. This reproduction on a real system allows for all kinds of gameplay and glitches that a human could not achieve on any consistent level. Expect to see exact damage dealt, frame accurate tricks, and who knows what else while playing Bar0ti’s TAS.
Metroid Prime 1+2 – Multiworld Randomizer Co-op by UncleReggie and BashPrime
friday 10:25
While scramblers continue to be incredibly popular in the world of sprinting, another way they’ve been improved is through player cooperation in completing games. A unique aspect of this speedrun of Metroid Prime 1+2 is that being a Multiworld Randomizer, players will not only play their own games and unlock items in random places, but one player will be able to randomly unlock items in another player’s world. It may be that the latest upgrade or weapon UncleReggie is looking for is hidden in the world of BashPrime. Both players aim to complete the game together, making this a unique cooperative speedrun.
Spyro 2: Ripto’s Wrath! (2v2 Lockdown Bingo) by slvr__, zacharylawrence, Spudlyman and Wed
Wednesday 21:34
Taking the idea of a speedrun even further, this 2v2 Lockout Bingo gives both teams a random target bingo board; the first to complete an objective can claim it from the board, preventing their opponents from winning it. Where Multiworld Randomizer puts all the cooperative and random aspects into the game, 2v2 Lockout Bingo puts the onus on racers to analyze what objectives they need to complete and create a path to mark them in the most efficient way possible. Seeing speed runners who know a game like the back of their hand forced to route speed really shows the ultimate level of play.
do it for the memes
Portal (air ship%) by Msushi
Monday 18:59
It wouldn’t be an AGDQ without a speedrun meme or two, and the big one this year is the Portal Hovercraft% run. In this race, Msushi will complete the entirety of the first Portal game without firing a single portal; they won’t even get the portal gun. Instead, Msushi is allowed to use an in-game command to spawn the Airboat from half life 2 in the game and complete the game with it. You’ll see Msushi using boost throws and weird geometry to get in and out of walls and launch Chel around these puzzles. This race will be good for laughs.
These are just ten of the hundred races that will take place during the week, so be sure to check out the full schedule for any game from your childhood that you loved or hated, and want to see destroyed in front of a live audience.