Awesome Games Done Quick 2018: Day 2 Schedule and Runs to Watch

It's a new year and that means it's time, once again, for the folks at Games Done Quick to get together to raise some more money for charity. Awesome Games Done Quick is an annual event, held in the month of January, where the world's best speedrunners come together to blaze through games of the past and present as quickly as possible.

This year, Awesome Games Done Quick has touched down in Herndon, VA. They will be raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The event has begun and has already raised over $100,000! As the week goes on, Shacknews is here to offer a look at some of the noteworthy runs from throughout the week that should not be missed.

Before getting into the Day 2 schedule, let's look back at a Day 1 highlight:

Here's the full schedule for Day 2, taken from the Games Done Quick website, along with a handful of noteworthy runs to check out:

8:04 AM - Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Donkey Kong Country 2 still stands among the best video game sequels ever made. That's why it was so sad to see it omitted from last year's SNES Classic. But the game is still great to play and it'll be a lot of fun to watch this speedrun race to kick off Monday morning. Just watching V0oid and waffle42 try to blaze through Bramble Blast alone should be an event in itself.

12:36 PM - Sonic Mania

Sonic Mania's appearance is noteworthy, just because it's the first time the new Sonic game has made it into a Games Done Quick event. The retro flavor means it'll fit in like a glove here. Claris will attempt a Sonic & Tails run, though a one-hour target time feels unusually long for a Sonic game. It'll be interesting to see if this target time can potentially get shattered.

3:46 PM - Mega Man X

As is the case for most Games Done Quick events, the Mega Man X run is one of the big highlights. And yes, it's time for a three-way race! GDQ mainstays ColonelFatso, Tokyo90, and Walrus_Prime will race one another and try to finish in 36 minutes. As has been seen in the past, there are plenty of places where the runners can get tripped up, so let's see if they can avoid any of the MMX pitfalls.

Awesome Games Done Quick 2018 will take place from now through Saturday, January 13. For more, check out the Games Done Quick website and be sure to watch all of the action from Twitch.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?