If you are a fan of watching some insanely talented gamers do what they do best, Summer Games Done Quick 2015 should scratch that itch. The week long event kicked off today with Trihax doing a speed run of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. As usual, any money raised from the event will benefit Doctors Without Borders.
Summer Games Done Quick is an annual fundraiser that brings together a huge group of speedrunners to play through games as quickly as possible. They set odd stipulations for their run (such as races between several different speed runners, or beating the original Legend of Zelda without the sword from the beginning of the game) and the entire thing is streamed live on Twitch. There is an audience of people watching and cheering on, and all sorts of raffles and prizes for people who donate. It started today, July 26th, and the finale is scheduled to be the night of Saturday, August 1st (or the morning of Sunday, August 2nd, depending what part of the world you live in. The stream, provided it has no technical issues, will run straight straight through all of these days, with a variety of speed runs scheduled for different times. That’s roughly 156 straight hours of speed runs for your viewing pleasure.
You can view the schedule of games here, but it is to be taken lightly. These times are all estimated, so if a game runs short or long it may throw off the schedule later on. The games tend to skew more towards the retro, as NES, SNES, and N64 games tend to be more popular both to make speed runs for and to watch. However, there are plenty of more modern games to tune in to as well (Dark Souls 2 being run by two players on one controller on Saturday sounds particularly interesting). All in all, this event has been a huge success in past years, it features some amazing players showcasing some amazing gaming skills, and all the money it raises goes towards a great cause. If anything, you should tune in just to see the bizarre skills, strategies, and exploits that these players have developed for this huge variety of games.
Any particular runs you want to watch on Summer Games Done Quick? Any games you are disappointed that they left out? Let us know in the comments below!
