My Highlights from AGDQ2020
Jan. 14th, 2020 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flamebyrdI spent most of last week with the TV set to AGDQ. I enjoyed 90% of what I watched, the energy of the event is great. There's a fair amount of audience participation and memes, which some people think is beating a dead horse but I think is wonderful. Counting down to $3M raised towards the end was fantastic.
If you're at all interested in learning what speedrunning is, GDQ runs are a great place to start because there is commentary, usually geared towards people unfamiliar with the game or the run. They do their best to explain what they're doing and, if they can, why it works.
Some speedruns are just practicing the game a lot so that you can beat it really quickly. A lot of them also involve exploiting oversights in the game environment to clip through barriers and move ahead to other parts of the game. In 3D games this means they end up the dead spaces that exist behind the walls, which I find very visually challenging. These kinds of tricks also involve a lot of practice. I generally prefer watching the former kind, but the latter can also be fun!
There may be a part 2 to this once I catch up on some runs I missed. The archive of runs from this AGDQ can be found on GDQ Vods here.
Individual Runs
Myst Trilogy - realMyst: Masterpiece Edition (2014), Riven: The Sequel to Myst (1997), Myst III: Exile (2001) | PC
All Pages, Any%, Best Ending | Gelly, Zaustus, Admiral_Flapjack
For all that I don't enjoy out-of-bounds clipping in 3D games, as somebody who struggled with Myst as a teenager this was incredibly satisfying.
Final Fantasy VI (1994) | SNES
Any% New Game + | Neerrm | 0:23:07
I had to watch this twice just to understand what they were doing, and even now I'm not sure I do. It's extremely broken and well worth your 0:23:07.
Celeste (2018) | PC
Farewell | flarebear | 0:20:35
This is the final chapter of the game, which was released last year. I will always love Celeste speedruns. (There are no story spoilers here.)
Clone Hero (Guitar Hero) (2017) | PC
Guitar Hero Showcase | FrostedGH | 0:51:32
I don't know if Guitar Hero can exactly be called a "speedrun", but this is incredible. Just... how!
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (2019) | Switch
Any% | TGH | 1:17:08
This game has some incredible glitches (why do those things have collision!) and I think it's worth watching just for that, but I also really enjoy this runner. Warning for terrible German.
Races and Co-Op
I really love speedrun races, especially when both runners are in the same room.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990) | NES
100% Race | mitchflowerpower, TheHaxor, stewie_cartman | 1:14:28
Sonic CD (2011) | PC
Tails: Beat the Game | Three-way race between Sonikkustar, flying fox, Finalflame | 0:20:18
I am always here for a Sonic race, and this one was really close!
Cadence of Hyrule (2019) | Switch
Story Mode | Race between SpootyBiscuit, Goof | 0:17:29
I haven't played this game, but it looks really cute and the music is really fun, plus this race is extremely close.
Super Mario World (1991) | SNES
One Mind 11 Exit Coop | authorblues, lackattack24 | 0:14:48
This is a co-op run using a mod that swaps control of the single character between the two players every half a second. It's hilarious.
Super Mario Maker 2 (2019) | Switch
4v4 Blind Relay Race | Carl Sagan, GrandPOOBear, PangaeaPanga, Barbarian, juzcook, ryukahr, Aurateur, Thabeast721 | 1:15:00
"Blind" here means that the runners haven't seen the courses before. This is an incredible race, it's so, so impressive to see how well the players can sight-read these levels.
Awful Block
The part of the marathon where they only play "bad" games. Runners take great glee in pointing out the game's flaws, usually that it's completely unpredictable. YMMV as to whether you find it funny.
Animorphs (2000) | Game Boy Color
125% | Keizaron | 0:52:31
Animorphs is a Pokemon clone with only superficial resemblance to the books that share its name. It is not a good game. This was a meme and a donation incentive, and the final run was incredibly funny.
Super Hydlide (1990) Genesis
Any% | Mike Uyama | 0:53:13
All it takes for a game to become good is for the runner and couch to have a sense of humour. IT'S A JOKE!
Mega Man 3: The Robots are Revolting (1992) | PC
Any% | Lizstar | 0:18:37
It's one of the infamous DOS MegaMan games! There was a donation incentive to play it in "glorious CGA"! Lizstar played the first one last year and for some reason AGDQ decided they wanted more!
If you're at all interested in learning what speedrunning is, GDQ runs are a great place to start because there is commentary, usually geared towards people unfamiliar with the game or the run. They do their best to explain what they're doing and, if they can, why it works.
Some speedruns are just practicing the game a lot so that you can beat it really quickly. A lot of them also involve exploiting oversights in the game environment to clip through barriers and move ahead to other parts of the game. In 3D games this means they end up the dead spaces that exist behind the walls, which I find very visually challenging. These kinds of tricks also involve a lot of practice. I generally prefer watching the former kind, but the latter can also be fun!
There may be a part 2 to this once I catch up on some runs I missed. The archive of runs from this AGDQ can be found on GDQ Vods here.
Individual Runs
Myst Trilogy - realMyst: Masterpiece Edition (2014), Riven: The Sequel to Myst (1997), Myst III: Exile (2001) | PC
All Pages, Any%, Best Ending | Gelly, Zaustus, Admiral_Flapjack
For all that I don't enjoy out-of-bounds clipping in 3D games, as somebody who struggled with Myst as a teenager this was incredibly satisfying.
Final Fantasy VI (1994) | SNES
Any% New Game + | Neerrm | 0:23:07
I had to watch this twice just to understand what they were doing, and even now I'm not sure I do. It's extremely broken and well worth your 0:23:07.
Celeste (2018) | PC
Farewell | flarebear | 0:20:35
This is the final chapter of the game, which was released last year. I will always love Celeste speedruns. (There are no story spoilers here.)
Clone Hero (Guitar Hero) (2017) | PC
Guitar Hero Showcase | FrostedGH | 0:51:32
I don't know if Guitar Hero can exactly be called a "speedrun", but this is incredible. Just... how!
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (2019) | Switch
Any% | TGH | 1:17:08
This game has some incredible glitches (why do those things have collision!) and I think it's worth watching just for that, but I also really enjoy this runner. Warning for terrible German.
Races and Co-Op
I really love speedrun races, especially when both runners are in the same room.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990) | NES
100% Race | mitchflowerpower, TheHaxor, stewie_cartman | 1:14:28
Sonic CD (2011) | PC
Tails: Beat the Game | Three-way race between Sonikkustar, flying fox, Finalflame | 0:20:18
I am always here for a Sonic race, and this one was really close!
Cadence of Hyrule (2019) | Switch
Story Mode | Race between SpootyBiscuit, Goof | 0:17:29
I haven't played this game, but it looks really cute and the music is really fun, plus this race is extremely close.
Super Mario World (1991) | SNES
One Mind 11 Exit Coop | authorblues, lackattack24 | 0:14:48
This is a co-op run using a mod that swaps control of the single character between the two players every half a second. It's hilarious.
Super Mario Maker 2 (2019) | Switch
4v4 Blind Relay Race | Carl Sagan, GrandPOOBear, PangaeaPanga, Barbarian, juzcook, ryukahr, Aurateur, Thabeast721 | 1:15:00
"Blind" here means that the runners haven't seen the courses before. This is an incredible race, it's so, so impressive to see how well the players can sight-read these levels.
Awful Block
The part of the marathon where they only play "bad" games. Runners take great glee in pointing out the game's flaws, usually that it's completely unpredictable. YMMV as to whether you find it funny.
Animorphs (2000) | Game Boy Color
125% | Keizaron | 0:52:31
Animorphs is a Pokemon clone with only superficial resemblance to the books that share its name. It is not a good game. This was a meme and a donation incentive, and the final run was incredibly funny.
Super Hydlide (1990) Genesis
Any% | Mike Uyama | 0:53:13
All it takes for a game to become good is for the runner and couch to have a sense of humour. IT'S A JOKE!
Mega Man 3: The Robots are Revolting (1992) | PC
Any% | Lizstar | 0:18:37
It's one of the infamous DOS MegaMan games! There was a donation incentive to play it in "glorious CGA"! Lizstar played the first one last year and for some reason AGDQ decided they wanted more!
no subject
Date: 2020-01-14 02:17 am (UTC)I'm currently watching the Link's Awakening run, and it's delightful; adorable and cute and everyone's having so much fun.
I think I saw most of the bits that you're linking to! I agree that the Clone Hero stuff was just stunning, even if it's not particularly speedrunning; it's still hella impressive and was super cool to see.
I might need to see the FFVI run, though -- I missed that one, but if it's really that wild I wanna check it out. :)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-14 01:17 pm (UTC)Link's Awakening 2019 has the cutest art style, I love that they kept the top down perspective even though it's 3D, and the tilt-shift and toy-like styling are adorable. (Hilariously, TGH actually took a break from Any% late last year because the big glitches are too unreliable to pull off... but they all worked first time at GDQ, of course XD)
Definitely check out the FFVI run if you are at all into glitches, it's ridiculous!
no subject
Date: 2020-01-14 09:36 pm (UTC)I'll definitely try and remember to check out the FFVI run!
no subject
Date: 2020-01-14 08:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-14 10:43 am (UTC)The FFVI one (and one of the Zelda ones I didn't link) really reminds me that games are computer programs running on physical hardware and subject to all kinds of memory-related exploits and other weirdness...
no subject
Date: 2020-01-14 10:52 am (UTC)Yeah, and it's fun as someone who has made games to think about what must be going on under the hood. Though the ffvi "every 2.5 seconds doors and NPCs cycle everywhere" was a bit much for my head haha.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-14 01:00 pm (UTC)Although I must confess that beyond a general understanding of how memory functions, and "wiggle the character until the game thinks they're inside the wall", most of this is beyond my comprehension.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-15 05:17 pm (UTC)nods I don't understand the specifics either. I have just programmed enough to have experienced my fair share of bugs causing weird-ass random effects on things they absolutely should not be able to affect, and yet. So it's kind of fun to imagine those becoming beneficial features to certain extra creative users :)