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Or rather, it was. A few weeks ago.
But that doesn’t stop me from imagining that it’s still right around the corner. That doesn’t prevent me from pretending those great times are coming, not going. Instead of sadly accepting that the next time I'll get to enjoy 168 hours of phenomenal speedrunning awaits in the far-distant 2016, I want to linger in that tantalizingly recent past, re-living the excellence of yet another speedrunning marathon gone by. To that end, I’ve been watching and re-watching my favorite runs and compiling a list of the best runs of SGDQ 2015. As in years past, I take it upon myself to scour the speedrunning extravaganza for its most impressive, most heartwarming, and most surprising moments. I know that not everyone can spend the majority of their waking hours tuned in to the GDQ stream, but don’t worry: I did it for you. Totally selflessly. No ulterior motives. I promise.
On a sincere note, I have to congratulate the Speed Demos Archive and Speed Runs Live communities for organizing and running another knockout event and for raising over one million dollars for Doctors Without Borders. While SGDQ is traditionally the less profitable and less viewed of GDQ's yearly charity marathons, it is less in neither quality nor heart and only just less in the incredible amount of charitable funds they gather. One million was a massive hurdle to overcome, but they did it.
Without further ado, I present SGDQ 2015 Awards!
Triumph in the Face of Adversity: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time by Henneko_ — For some (perhaps even the runner himself), this run will be a painful memory, a rough patch in a sea of smooth speedrunning performances. Ill-fated runs are rare at GDQ marathons; after all, the players are some the best runners in the business and are well-practiced enough to have successfully completed many runs, which is more than can be said for most gamers. The runs that do fall short tend to be quiet and awkward, hard to watch and (I imagine) hard to complete. Which is exactly why this run deserves a shoutout. While it will break no records, it still displayed an incredible amount of challenging speed-tech, all of which was a joy to watch as a casual player. Forget about the mystical Sands of time: Prince of Persia speedrunners will show you some true world-shattering superpowers. Yet what I appreciated most about this run was the composure, poise, and humor displayed by Henneko_ as he wrestled with the constant road blocks that arose during his performance. One sees DDoSing, ragequitting, trolling, and swatting far more often than the good parts of gamer culture, making the perseverance and understanding of Henneko_ during an undoubtedly nerve-wracking and heartbreaking run nothing short of heroic. You did an amazing job, Henneko_, and don’t let anyone (yourself included) tell you that it was anything but.
Honorable Mention: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D by NOUFuzzy — Another stormy segment arose during the Majora's Mask 3D run by NOUFuzzy. After easily destroying large portions of the game, NOUFuzzy hit a stumbling block with a particular skip while acquiring Epona. The precise trick required exact timing and movement to pull off, and the lead up to the trick involved a long cutscene that the crowd had to watch quite a few times. Through this trial, NOUFuzzy was apologetic but persistent, refusing to give up or quit a run that wasn't going his way. When he finally executed the trick, the crowd’s appreciation was deafening, demonstrating (once again) the greatness of the speedrunning community. Performing on the GDQ stage must be stressful, but when there's a great crowd to back you up, I imagine it's hard to truly despair.
GOD MODE: The Tetris Block by the TGM crew — Even after seeing their performances at AGDQ 2015, I still wasn’t prepared for the awesomeness of the Tetris Gods of GDQ. After the incredible popularity of the recently-showcased “Tetris Block," there was no way it wouldn’t return to wow us all once again. One might question why Tetris is a fun speedrun to watch once, much less twice. If you are one of those people, click through the link and prepare to be astounded by what you find there. The TGM crew confounded any remaining skeptics with a spectacular display of block-busting puzzle prowess, from the insane grandmaster modes featured at AGDQ 2015 to the previously untouched “Item Mode.” Wondering why Tetris would ever have an “Item Mode” and what such a mode could possibly entail? Check out these runs. You will not regret it.
Honorable Mention: TASBot Plays Megaman, Sonic Advance, Ikaruga by TASBot — If you've seen the TASbot before, you understand the "gimmick." You know what's coming. You know that a bunch of game-loving perfectionists will use TASbot to demonstrate their craft: the art of sculpting one game’s most optimal playthrough. Even knowing all this, it's still astounding. This year's TASBot didn't go to the insane heights of displaying Twitch chat on stream through a Nintendo, but it did showcase incredible runs of Sonic Advance, Megaman, and Ikaruga and illustrated the incalculable dedication of TASers as they prod, analyze, and manipulate their games. Additionally, the block led with a small demonstration of the art of TASing itself, which served to further prove that what they do is just as amazing as what RTA runners accomplish.
Ridiculousity: Dark Souls 2 (2 Players, 1 Controller) by FearfulFerret, Oginam — For most gamers, speedrunning provides more than enough challenge. For most of us, speedrunning alone keeps us enthralled during a GDQ event. It’s a testament to the speedrunning community and to the GDQ organizers that they refuse to stop at what is simply entertaining and instead strive to provide truly unique experiences, including ones that are incredibly odd. The Dark Souls 2 Two Players One Controller run falls into that category. After all, for most of us, playing through any of the Souls games is demanding enough, to say nothing of speedrunning them. That’s what made watching this run, a run made even more ridiculous by the runners' unique and often-hilarious handicap, absolutely wonderful. These are the kinds of silly-yet-skillful showcases that I look forward to the most when GDQ marathons come around. That Doctors Without Borders made a lot of money while rabid fans such as myself donated to meet the incentive to perform this game-breaking masterpiece is merely icing on the cake.
Honorable Mention: Donkey Kong 64 (No Levels Early) by 2dos — Even without the speedrunning madness, this game could probably win a ridiculousness contest. Donkey Kong 64 is an extremely silly game, one made even sillier by its obviously shoddy coding and glitchy… well, everything. Yet the game’s hilarious brokenness only truly comes to light in the context of speedrunning. 2dos demonstrates this brokenness by gaining permanent invincibility, all move upgrades, and cutscene-less boss fight access in the early minutes of this run. How he does it is amusing, strange, and demonstrative of just how deep the DK64 glitch rabbit hole goes. While the rest of the run is worth watching for the weird tricks made possible by this game’s amusingly poor programming, the first several minutes are all you need to confirm just how ridiculous a Donkey Kong 64 run can be.
Marathon the Marathon: Chrono Trigger by Essentia, puwexil — The RPG speedrun is a strange beast indeed. The games are moderately resistant to speedrunners’ techniques due to their massive scopes and expectations of character progression, but the ways in which those roadblocks are circumvented tend create fascinating runs. Said runs are more about RNG manipulation, menu precision, and the most all-encompassing memorization in the speedrunning community (at least from my casual viewpoint because 5+ hours of concentration is insane). GDQ tends to honor these speedrunning behemoths by giving them the final spot in the marathon, as with the Final Fantasy VI run that concluded AGDQ 2015. Once again, Essentia and puwexil took on one of the greatest games of all time, Chrono Trigger, condensed it into five-or-so intense hours, and kept it entertaining throughout. Obviously, the game's undeniable charm helped a lot (who doesn’t love that music?), but without the constant commentary, the magnificent mastery (and memorization) of all the speedrunning tricks, and the end-of-marathon giddiness (ALL HAIL DEMON CHOCOBO), it would not have been the great conclusion to the marathon that it was. If you’ve got the time (and it will take a lot of time), make sure you check out the best marathon of this year’s marathon.
Honorable Mention: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Any%), The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Any%) by Chaotic_Ace — While my "Marathon the Marathon" awards have historically gone to individual runs, I had to call out Chaotic_Ace's pair of Legend of Zelda Any% runs. Any% is a category in which you'd expect runs to be measured in minutes (see Ocarina of Time), but each of these Legend of Zelda runs lasts several hours and Chaotic_Ace does both of them, displaying an incredible level of discipline and focus. It’s madness. I don't think I have space in my brain for one of these games played normally, much less two speedruns. Kudos to you, Mr. _Ace. Kudos.
Runner Tested, Developer Approved: Shovel Knight (Low %) by MunchaKoopas — If you haven't played Shovel Knight, stop reading this. Go to Steam. Buy it (it's $15 or less). Play it. ... You back now? Wasn't that great? Of course it was. Now get ready to enjoy it even more. A Shovel Knight run is always a ton of fun to watch because its mechanics are incredibly deep and its aesthetics are immeasurably pleasing. Since you've obviously played through the whole game, I imagine you'd think a "shovel-only" run would be impossible. You'd be wrong. However, the run's not all I'm here to talk about, even though it’s award-worthy on its own. What I love about this Shovel Knight run and Shovel Knight runs of years past is that the developers at Yacht Club Games call in and provide their own commentary. The developers are kind and genuinely amazed at all the things that the runners can do to their game. They're heavily invested in the speedrunning community, going so far as to ensure that their game is "speed friendly" from patch to patch. Having them on call through this run makes it that much more interesting and enjoyable to watch.
Honorable Mention: Ori and the Blind Forest (Any%) by Vulajin — Ori and the Blind Forest is an absolutely beautiful game, but that can be difficult to discern when a runner is leaping through the game at a blinding pace. As with Shovel Knight, the run of this awesome modern “Metroidvania” is only made more awesome by the inclusion of developer commentary. They don’t speak up too much during the 45 minute run, but their occasional remarks and answers to the runner’s and couch commentators’ questions offer a fun and frank look inside the development of a successful indie game. Also, I’m a big fan of Vulajin (mostly after this year’s AGDQ), so I’d encourage everyone to watch his runs in particular.
The Amazing Race: Super Mario 64 (0/1 Star) by GamerDomey, 360Chrism and Super Mario 64 (120 Stars) by puncayshun, cheese05, Simply — With two Super Mario 64 races closing out the marathon this year in addition to so many others, I knew that there’d be plenty of contenders for the SGDQ 2015 Best Race Award. What I didn’t know was that both SM64 races would be so amazing as to become entirely equal in my estimation. The 0/1-Star race between GamerDomey and 360Chrism possessed all the best qualities of an entertaining sprint: short, tense, and chock full of moments that had a casual like me wondering “How is that even possible?” After all, the shortest runs are those that break the game the most, and this was no exception. The execution of one challenging trick in this heart-pounding race was especially compelling and created a moment of unadulterated hype that defines the best moments at GDQ events. In contrast, the 120 Star race was a marathon unto itself: a grueling competition that rewarded control, mechanics, and concentration above all else. It also happened to include three of the most skilled runners of the entire marathon, runners known and respected for their Super Mario 64 performances. Yet the best element of the 120 Star race was the best element of any competitive event: it was close. The competitors were neck in neck until the very end, creating a dramatic and emotional home stretch for viewers and runners alike. I’m not always invested in the GDQ races, mostly because trying to follow what’s happening on three or four screens is a bit of a nightmare, but these two gave me everything for which I could ask.
Honorable Mention: Who needs an Honorable Mention when you have two winners!
The Best Around: Pokemon Blue (Gotta Catch Em All!) by Shenanagans — I am a huge fan of the Pokemon series. I play all the core games and enjoy them every single time. I play a homebrew Pokemon pen-and-paper RPG. I’m a bit obsessed. I’ll acknowledge that I am the perfect audience for this speedrun. Yet even if I weren’t, this run would still be incredible. When he asked his charge to “catch ‘em all," I can’t imagine that Professor Oak expected it to go down like this. “Sure Professor, allow me to just warp the very fabric of reality and I’ll get right back to you.” From start to finish, this run displayed the perfect ratio of game knowledge, glitches, and mechanical skill (admittedly mostly menu-related) that makes spectating speedruns so special. Watching the game bend to the will of the runner as he slowly collected each and every monster in Kanto was a joy, even when the nerve-wracking moments came around (for never has a Pokemon game had such high stakes!). There’s no single timestamp or segment I can point to in this run: it’s great from start to finish. Check it out when you can. It’s the kind of run that helps me remember why I love the art of speedrunning.
Honorable Mention: Earthbound (Any%) by Aurilliux — Never having played this quirky cult classic myself, I was excited to see Earthbound in the SGDQ lineup so that I could get a small taste of what so many love so much. While I certainly gleaned some of the RPG’s legendary charm from Aurillux's awesome run, I was far more impressed by the run itself. Unlike my other favorite, the Earthbound run was not so much glitch-reliant as it was a masterpiece of RNG manipulation, proof that every single player input has a massive impact on the game. I can't imagine the kind of time it took to figure out that 87 (or whatever) B presses meant this attack pattern or that enemy movement, but watching it was extremely impressive. When a single twitch can throw an entire run off the rails, it’s hard not to be amazed when everything goes as well as it did.
With a heavy heart I bid adieu to the oasis of SGDQ 2015 and look forward to the cold, dreary landscape of the months between now and AGDQ 2016. Only one thing can help me now. Tell me what your favorite runs were so that I have a light to carry myself through the dark days ahead.
You can find this GDQ worship, plus some more, and even some other stuff at the N3rd Dimension.
