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!