Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
If this past Sunday felt just a little emptier, it's because Awesome Games Done Quick 2025 had come to a close the night before. It was an incredible week of live speedrunning fun, but one that carried more of a "party time" atmosphere than normal. That's because what was on display this week was the new normal for Games Done Quick. Things have changed for the organization as a whole. While the mission to raise money for charity remains the same, the manner in which it's being done has shifted slightly. Having seen it unfold over the past few years, it's a change that looks to be the best for everyone, including the staff, the runners, and GDQ's rapidly changing audience.
This year marks the official 15th anniversary of Games Done Quick. Initially starting as Classic Games Done Quick, GDQ would soon adopt the semiannual tradition that it operates under to this day. Awesome Games Done Quick kicks off the new year in January while Summer Games Done Quick helps usher in the summer season. Over time, bonus events helped fill the yearly schedule. Games Done Quick Express would grace TwitchCon. GDQ would attend events like PAX. Sudden disasters like Hurricane Harvey and the COVID-19 pandemic would lead to impromptu marathons. Frame Fatales and Unapologetically Black and Fast (now known as Back to Black) would celebrate women and African-Americans in the community, respectively. GDQ has even come to fill the time between marathons with regular content known as the Hotfix.
All of those things have something in common. They would spotlight traditional speedrunning for games released throughout the ages. Sometimes, there would be gimmicks like races or exhibitions, but they'd mostly center around a straightforward sprint through a game in pursuit of a personal best time or even a world record. As the events gained notoriety, people began recognizing more names from the community. People like Narcissa, Trihex, Grand POOBear, Darbian, SpikeVegeta, and GDQ founder (and runner) Mike Uyama are among those who became recognizable faces among viewers and the growing GDQ landscape. Mario runner MitchFlowerPower was famously invited onto The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to showcase his Super Mario Bros. 3 skills against the Columbia University men's relay team and Colbert eating a Hot Pocket.
Games Done Quick during that period felt like a moment in time, in which many of the people who helped make it a phenomenon became intertwined with one another. Having said that, nothing lasts forever. Time is many things. It can be fickle, it can be harsh, it can be beautiful, and it can be all of that and so much more. The runners who helped make GDQ a stalwart in gaming soon began growing up and moving into the next phases of their life. Kasumi 'Sumichu' Yogi summed it up beautifully during the Awesome Games Done Quick 2020 Finale. Speedrunners have grown older, gotten married, and started families. Some have parlayed their skills into full-time content creation, while others have retired gracefully. Regardless, the old Games Done Quick guard has gradually stepped away from the intensity of these marathons. However, those old, recognizable faces fading to the background have also led to a shift in the GDQ audience, leaving room for something new to grow.
That is the challenge that has faced a new generation of GDQ staff over the past few years. Games Done Quick is not the same as it was 15 years ago. By the laws of nature, it can't be. There is no replicating that same magic, especially because the thrill of traditional speedrunning isn't the same as it was during that time. How many times can somebody run Super Mario Bros.? How many times can viewers watch the same Super Metroid race? How often can classic 8-bit era games provide the thrill that they did before? It presents the problem of a "been there, done that" sensation. The solution to that isn't an easy one, but it's one that the new GDQ staff has looked to answer with new, exciting runs that occasionally venture outside of the traditional definition of speedrunning.
If the first few live events following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown were meant to reestablish Games Done Quick live events and remind audiences of what they could be, the last few marathons have been a stark display of the event's evolution. While GDQ marathons are still mainly comprised of traditional speedruns, viewers have also been graced with gimmick runs, exhibitions, and new category ideas.
What began last year partly thanks to runs like the ones from JSR_ and his furry companion Peanut Butter the Dog has blossomed further with last week's Awesome Games Done Quick, which featured Crazy Taxi with a live band, New Super Mario Bros. Wii played simultaneously with a live piano, Elden Ring lockout bingo, and even an Elden Ring boss rush played on saxophone. While it's not the same as GDQ in its early days, it does capture that captivating must-see spirit that the original marathons had, as well as the type of party atmosphere that one can enjoy with people online. Speaking as somebody who has been inundated with increasingly dire news regarding the Los Angeles fires, the GDQ discourse from Saturday was a much-needed respite and a reminder of what a positive place the gaming world could be. Who could possibly disagree that Elden Ring bosses getting taken down with a saxophone isn't the coolest thing to come along in 2025 so far?
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"The moral at the end of the day for us is that we love trying all these new things and we're so excited to see what's next and we want to have you all be a part of it," Interstitial Talent Co-Lead Kungfufruitcup said prior to the start of Saturday's final run.
Her fellow Interstitial Talent Co-Lead adef moments earlier echoed the desire for GDQ to branch out and do something different, specifically citing the Crazy Taxi run from that afternoon. His hope is that these new ideas will inspire a fresh generation of runners willing to try something outside of the norm. Of, if nothing else, maybe these runs can help lead to some more pitches.
"To me, what [Saturday's Crazy Taxi run] says is, if you are a speedrunner or a creative person with a cool speedrunning idea, submit!" adef added. "Submit to our event! We have open submission periods for our events. SGDQ will have a submission period in a few month's time. Start cooking! And then, once the thing is cooked, present it to me... and by 'me,' I mean 'us.'"
When she announced her departure from Games Done Quick in 2022, Sumichu said that Games Done Quick would always be destined for great things. Nothing encapsulated that more than a mosh pit breaking out in the middle of a Crazy Taxi run or a live audience watching in awe as Dr. Doot took down an Elden Ring boss with his trusted saxophone. The old Games Done Quick isn't coming back, but the new Games Done Quick promises to be an exciting chapter in the event's history. Will it be as memorable? Will it have the same appeal as these marathons did during the event's infancy period? Who knows? But I've never been more excited to tune in and find out what's next. The ultimate goal of Games Done Quick remains to raise money for charity, even if the way it does so looks a little different than it did before.