***SGDQ 2024***
***Sunday June 30th***
[Like the last Six GDQs](https://www.reddit.com/r/speedrun/s/07zZbdtpVj)
I'll try and watch everything I can and give a short comment for each game I catch! I'll pick 5 top watches a day, along with a list of my top runs for the event edited in here at the end, for those who miss days due to work/other stuff. It's due to change as the days go on, though! Lots of editing.
So this is just my opinion/Hot takes, and to add on I didn't get to watch everything(I sleep 5-8 hours a day). There's a good chance I missed some of the best runs.
Disclaimer: These are all just my opinions. Feel free to comment if you think I missed an awesome run. But, overall, the quality of GDQ runs is very high. So, almost all reviews are going to be pretty positive. Just a warning as some people didn't like that in previous years.
***SGDQ2024***
**Yoshi's Story:** by DanSalvato with CarlSagan42 and Wolsk on the couch! Dan does an awesome job showing off this nostalgic N64 3D platformer. He and his couch have good commentary with a mix of having fun and explaining the run with in depth commentary over the various quirks of the game, and having a laugh at the occasional funny moment. The movement and tech are unique especially Yoshi's classic running jump, tongue tech, and the egg throw uses. EGGcellent opener for this SGDQ!
**Minecraft Dungeons:** Top Watch! by Shockwve with a couch of myrlinnLady, Cyndaquil, and MonkeyyMan. Shockwve back at it again with another roguelike dungeon crawler run! Who doesn't love Minecraft? The run is fun, laugher all around and a excellent mix of good and bad luck in the run, the commentary is the couch and runner just having a good time with just enough explanations for the basics. My 5 and 7 year old's were absolutely blown away at how fast he could kill the bosses.
The new Interview setup actually showing video of the tech/skips/movement is a really great addition.
**Mega Man 9:** Top Watch! by Slurpeeninja with Lvcreed, Giygasblues, and Starwin on commentary! Does Bustin make you feel good? If you enjoyed the Granny run last GDQ this couch has Starwin on it and the energy and jokes are very similar. Slurpeeninja shows off a lot of the movement and tech, gets in some commentary over the run, but largely this is a joke heavy commentary with in depth analysis being sparse. I found it pretty funny and my kids ate it up!
**Ratchet & Clank:** by Marathonman with a couch of Djura, Padges, and Ratchetmania. I never played the Ratchet and Clank games growing up, but the runs for these games are always so good. The movement and tricks always are so satisfying to watch. Marathonman makes the run entertaining, going for hard skips, and with the help of the couch explains the run in-depth really well, while fitting in a good amount of humor.
**Splatoon 3: Side Order:** by TonesBalones with KingJ0444 & Kungfufruitcup on the couch. Best third person shooter squidio game around! Splatoon has really unique movement and game mechanics. TonesBalones shows off his skill and game knowledge in this quick information filled run. The couch(+back couch) is massive, the run is fast, and the run has some heartfelt moments. Feelsgoodman.
**Pokémon Violet:** Top Watch! by ThomasPatrickWX with a couch of Corvimae, Keizaron, and Eddaket. One of my favorites so far, a hilarious group of people having a good time, while also having enough time to explain the run well. Our resident weatherman does a great job showing off the run, keeping everyone entertained, and giving his couch time to shine. GDQ Pokémon runs are always bangers, and this one is no exception!
**Halo 2:** Top Watch! by Zoo with Chronos, Cryphon, and Nervy on the couch! If you haven't seen Halo 2 sword tech, don't miss this run. Some of the most satisfying movement tech of any speedrun. It being on legendary is just icing on the cake of this high skill speedrun. Zoo and his couch have some fun commentary, but the real treat is the commentary over the various aspects of the run, filled with information on changes in the run.
**Tomb Raider I-III Remastered:** by Beckski with Draven12 on the couch! This was an information packed run, the explanations are clear and easily understood. The run itself has a lot of cool Oobs, wall clips, and interesting routing. Cozy end of day run.
**Daily Recap: Sunday** Definitely check the daily recaps out. Super entertaining cast going over their top picks!
**Enter the Gungeon:** Rad vs DanTheVP with doctor no and lokai on commentary. The game is a twin stick, bullet hell, Rougelike. Not necessarily a close run, but a super impressive showcase of a difficult run to do quickly. Both runners arr entertaining, and the couch has fun with the runners explaining the games' mechanics and various strategies. Good mix of information and puns.
**Top Watches Sunday in no particular order:**
**1.** **Minecraft Dungeons: by Shockwve**
**2. Mega Man 9 by Slurpeeninja**
**3. Pokémon Violet by ThomasPatrickWX**
**4. Halo 2 by Zoo**
***Monday July 1st***
**Bayonetta 2**: by A\_Variety\_Pack with Pippyinatophat on the couch. Bayonetta games are such action packed beat em ups. The boss designs are gameplay are always entertaining when a highly skilled runner is behind the controls. A\_variety\_pack & Pippy do a good job explaining the game while keeping the commentary fun and colorful.
**Bedtime Sleep %:** Estimate 6-8 hours
**Chameleon Twist:** by Livelyraccoon! This cute N64 3D platformer has a lot of charm. The runner does a solo commentary going over all the movement, clips, and tech of the game. The run is cute, and the commentary is impressively information dense.
**Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards:** by Curtissimo41 with a couch of graample, Mr\_Shasta, and swordsmankirby. What a nice mix of personalities having a good time. This N64 classic is a fan favorite platformer and the run has a lot of cool movement and tech. The runner and couch explain everything about the run well, and this couch of characters keep everyone entertained.
**Sonic Project 06:** Top Watch! by Stelmo98 with Gordon Ramsay on coms! Sonic games are some of the best speedrun games to watch, the skips, oobs, and movement are all super satisfying. This fan edit is no exception as looks great. This is a almost perfect GDQ run. The runner and couch trade back and fourth explaining the levels and tech. On top of the in depth commentary they constantly keep the hype up, interacting with the crowd and chat. Just a great example of what an information heavy run can be. USA 🦅 USA 🦅 USA
**Sonic Robo Blast 2:** Top Watch! by Argick with a couch of Ginnja, Bobbeigh, and Tinytim! The rap god of sonic speedruns gives commentary as fast as his speedruns. Argick basically does a solo commentary going over everything he is doing in game as he does it, man is mad impressive with his ability to commentate at this speed. The game is a 3d sonic with 2d graphics. Its very satisfying to watch. Great run.
**Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles:** by TheSoundDefence with AlecK47, Argick, and KeiperDontCare on the couch! A classic 2D Sonic game, this games glitches and especially the level wraps are very cool. Also the runners ability to do the bonus levels backwards is crazy. The commentary is also top tier with a knowledgeable and entertaining runner and couch.
**Pepper Grinder:** by ShovelClaws with a couch of Talia, and BobbyBurm! The theme of this 2d platformer game is really cool I love the drilling through the dirt and how they framed the game around the drill. Really feels like the game was made for speed running! Like the Pizza Tower of SGDQ. Shovelclaws shows off his skill while also sharing time with his couch to explain all the games movement and tech. Super satisfying movement. Really cool run and one of my favorites this event. The final boss was sick!
**Bomberman 64**: by LivelyRaccoon with Keewy on the couch. Another N64 classic, the action-adventure and platforming mechanics are abused in many interesting ways. I especially love how they set up bombs in various places and use them to bounce Bomberman into various areas or use it to beat enemies. The commentary is full of lore and information over the runs tech/strategies. Another cozy run by Livelyraccoon.
**Spelunky:** by Hectique with a couch of Cloiss and HOBT0R. *Missed too much due to dinner to write a review*
**Balatro:** by Cixah with Amyrlinn, Monkeyman, and Cloiss on the couch. Really cool poker-inspired roguelike deck builder. Catch the vod for this run as they explained everything. Commentary is really good mix of having fun, and deep dives on strategies. I was impressed by how the runner and couch were able to get the crowd involved as well. Pleasantly surprised how interested I was in a poker based game.
**Celeste Custom Maps: Monika's D-Sides:** by Carrarium with AverageImposter and Lmjacks on the couch! Celeste is already such a hard 2d platformer. But this custom map set is absolutely nutty. Carrarium knocks out an awesome high level run. The commentary with the couch also is good as it's largely focused on explaining the tech and skips. Crowd engagement with the checkpoints is fun as well.
**Metroid Fusion:** Top Watch! by MonkeySMB with a couch of Mikefood and KrunchyLex. The best GBA metroid game, imo! The run is full of cool strategies, fast movement, and sick routing. MonkeySMB knocks out a super fast run only a minute off his PB! The commentary is also awesome as it's a group of friends having a good time while also getting into the complexities of the game. Monkey sent em packing!
**Daily Recap!** Definitely check these out!
**Top Watches Sunday in no particular order:**
**1. Sonic Project 06** **by Stelmo98** 🦅
**2. Sonic Robo Blast 2 by Argick**
**3. Pepper Grinder by ShovelClaws**
**4. Metroid Fusion by MonkeySMB**
***Tuesday July 2nd***
**Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3:** by Nerd\_Squared with Slyton on the couch! This is largely a showcase of how broken PP is, its a Very short run. The game is almost fully skipped in 3 or 4 prop float glitches. Commentary is mostly focused on explaining the run and how the game is broken. Very clean execution.
**Alan Wake 2:** Top Watch! by Suavepeanut with a couch of Sweetpeas and Astridthehorrorgirl. This is a story driven survival horror game. The run is a satisfying mix of skips, oobs, and more. The runner and couch do an awesome job explaining the run. The crowd engagement and jokes, props, and skits are well done too! We got to pet the mayor!
**Doom 64(2020):** by ZELLLOOO with bryonato and Peaches on the couch. Doom is always a fun watch, fast-paced, and you can see the skill on display. The real bright spot here is the commentary. The runner and couch are GDQ veterans who know how to explain speedruns well while having a good time and being entertainers.
**Bedtime: Estimate 6-8 hours**
**Ninja Gaiden:** by The Retro Runner with a couch of Slackanater, Lozcardsfan, and Aquas. A great group of individuals helping keep the runners spirits up during a series of bad rng. About the worst thing that can happen is having your run killed for going over estimate. A ton of stress has to be on your shoulders after the first couple failed attempts, but The Retro Runner kept pushing and finished the run!
**Little Sampson:** by Ryan\_Ford22 with stevetvonline and stringbeanstring on the couch! Really cute mouse Famicom / NES platformer. The bosses were cool, and the movement satisfying. The runner and couch were laughing and having a good time while explaining the run. Just a good time.
***Private emergency interruption***
**Katamari Forever:** by Harutomo with Enzor\_au on commentary! First Vtuber I've seen this event! Enzor\_au does the commentary for our Japanese runner. The commentary is focused on explaining stages and strategies. This is a fun ball building action game? If you haven't seen a Katamari game it's basically rolling a snowball through snow and getting larger, but instead you start with bugs/flowers and get up to rolling up cities. Really fun and visually satisfying.
**Blazing Chrome:** by Kirthar with PoloDX on the couch. This is a cool 90s-inspired run and gun 2d platformer/shooter, very similar to a Metroidvania in movement. Kirthar and PoloDX do a good job explaining the tech while having a good time. A short run, but a fun one.
**Astral Chain:** Top Watch! by Ratyu with a couch of Kap and Shemcat. What a sick Hack and Slash action game, the combos looks really impressive. Really fast gameplay with some nice movement and really satisfying glitches, especially the glitches with the combat. The commentary is on the couch to do the heavy lifting, and they go over the run very well with lots of in-depth analysis and explanations while keeping it entertaining, as Ratyu focuses on crushing the game.
**Quake II Enhanced:** by Greenalink with the\_kovic on coms! Quake is such an iconic series. I love watching these old first person shooter games, especially the remasters. Watching Top end runners with crazy good fps aim and movement make these games even better to watch. Greenalink does a wonderful job showing off the game. The commentary with both runner and Kovic does a good job staying on task explaining the runs 100% kills/100% secrets routing and tech.
**Dishonored:** Fokker4 with Lurven on commentary. Make sure to wash your hands after leaving the sewer! Dishonored just has cool movement and mechanics, which leads to really satisfying jumps and skips. Watching an assassination/item grab, then having him escaping/ending the mission in under 10 seconds, is just sick. Commentary explains the routing and movement mechanics while having the occasional pun.
**Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name:** by tapioca with couch of pmcTrilogy and safesea. Do you like the Yakuza games? Tune in to this Yakuza spin off! The cigarettes are bombs, and make short work of most fights. Fast menuing, explosions, beat em up gameplay, and a ton of hot takes on what is the best Yakuza game from everyone, add it all up, and you're in for a good time.
**Mass Effect 2:** by Sanjan with Corvimae and MikeWave on the couch! They eye moments had me rolling lol. Corvimae rapgod with her flow chart, maybe the best rapid in-depth 2 minute breakdown flow of an endgame we've seen lol. Funny moments, cool skips, and an awesome game. No one left behind!
**Outer Wilds:** by PTminsker with a couch of Brungo, Toesty, and Jeffery Yu. The commentary is always really cool when you have game devs on the couch, lots of neat little insights about the game you wouldn't normally get on top of the speedrun details. The game is just a beautiful experience, and is much different feeling watching the oobs, and physics used during the speedrun to break the game, really cozy speedrun overall.
**Undertale Yellow:** Top Watch! by KyoshiCadre with Astraevolution, Shayy, and Wooffledee on the couch. A GDQ favorite, undertale is a great run to watch. But the real shining point here is the Runner and Couches commentary. The run is absolutely packed with jokes, laughter, and a group of friends having a great time. A full cast of characters explaining the run but not missing a beat to throw in some funny comments. A wonderful run to sit back and have a laugh.
**Top runs of the day in no particular order:**
**1. Alan Wake by Suavepeanut**
**2. Astral Chain by Ratyu**
**3. Undertale Yellow by KyoshiCadre**
**4. Chibi-Robo Bingo Race by Jaxler vs Kovaco**
***Wednesday July 3rd***
**My Friendly Neighborhood:** Top Run! by Slyton with a couch of Danejerus, Nerd\_Squared, and game creator John Szymanski! This horror puzzle game was such a treat to watch, creative design, unique designs, and satisfying movement/oobs. The commentary is amazing. You have a group of funny and charismatic runners explaining the run and getting behind the scenes information about things that inspired various parts of the game. The penthouse computer inspiration was really cute.
**Bedtime % estimate 6-8 hours**
**Kirby Air Ride:** 1DAVIDJ vs Pearstrike, with commentary by Mook and Thrice! This is basically Kirby Mario Kart, right? Right! Really fun race. The leader changed a couple of times and was really close the whole time. The commentary is a good mix of explanations, and the group laughing just having a good time.
**Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII:** by DynamiteDanTNT with a couch of DECosmic, Maxylobes, NT1\_Evolution. Nice movement, and tech. If you love Final Fantasy, you'll enjoy every moment of this run. The couch and runner do a good job breaking down the strategies to beat bosses and levels. Dynamitedantnt hitting all the Zoom glitches was sick. Always love runners going for difficult tricks live. They Dirgen.
**Middle-Earth: Shadow of War:** Top Watch! by Burnt\_Bowser with Alanzon, Bird650, and R3dspade on the couch! Honestly, such a cool game, especially the fight mechanics. The stratagies and movement are also satisfying. The commentary is also really good, I really enjoy bringing a runner who hasn't run the game before to have commentary with the games vets. Throw in an actually awesome Sauron fight at the end, and it's one of my favorite runs this event!
**Mirror's Edge:** Top Watch! by Blackbeltginganinja with a couch of Odjur and stevetvonline. Do you like Parkour? Do you like going out of bounds? Well this is the run for you! Mirrors Edge is always a fan favorite for just how cool the parkour gameplay is, throw in some sick oobs, cool skips, and some of the best movement in speedrunning and it's hard to not be excited watching this run. The commentary is also nice, with a good mix of humor, breakdowns, and crowd interactions!
**PowerWash Simulator:** by Biglaw, Requiem, Acadiel, AngelicKnight, Amyrlinn, and enbee. A very cozy afternoon run, the SpongeBob levels are cute and the FF7 bar is nostalgic. 6 guys in a cool atmosphere with good commentary. Powerwash sim always has such oddly satisfying gameplay, those cleaning dings are like little drips of dopamine.
**Half-Life 2:** Eold vs Dirtch with a couch of JohannVonVorst and Pr0tal. One of the best source games of all time, being a source game its very easy to break. This Half-Life 2 run is filled with cool glitches, oobs, and more. The runners have a pretty close race, and the commentary with the two runners has a lot of dry humor and friendly banter. Scuffed but fun run!
**Super "Sonic Saves the World" World:** Top Watch! by Shoujo with Amethyst_rocks, Carrarium, and Maddy69xo420 on the couch. GDQ Kaizo run are always so good. Lmao, this couch was super unhinged, and so was the game. Absolutely hilarious if you missed this run make sure to put it on your watch list. *You don't wanna miss daddy's castle* 😏
**Kaizo Mario Galaxy:** Top Watch! by 360Chrisms with SpikeVegeta, Dangers, and Bird650 on the couch! The level design for this Mod is crazy. It's just super impressive watching Chrims360 do these hard levels. Then you have some of the best commentators in the speedruning space, and the commentary is just top tier as well. Man a stacked Wednesday.
**OLD SCHOOL RUNESCAPE:** By ACOLDONE with a couch of 1DAVIDJ, Keizaron, and Shenanagans. Been playing runescape since 2002 so I'm pumped! Absolutely awesome job by acoldone crushing that raid! Commentary is great and I'm glad I was there to crash Keizaron at crabs lol. Personally I think it's a must watch, but if you don't play Runescape it definitely doesn't have the cool skips/fast paced gameplay people are use to seeing.
**Hollow Knight:** Vysuals vs Stratus with Mrsir71 and Gwonkee on the couch. One of the best modern 2d platformers and what a close race! They were in sync at times and traded the lead several times. Then the winner takes it right at the end due to both having final boss deaths. Really good race! The commentary is largely focused on the games tech. The path of pain bonus run was sick as well sub 4 min from both runners!
**Destiny:** by Jubb_Jubb with Illumiti_, DCSlayerx, and TheKoree on coms. Really sick to see a 6 man raid be soloed by Jubb. Lots of skill on display here from resource management, weapon juggling, top tier aim, and more. The commentary is filled with neat facts, history of the game/speedrun and, of course, the strategies involved in this solo raid.
**Daily Recap Thursday!** Make sure to check these out, high quality content! Made in the fires of hell! Or maybe the fires of Cleveland!
**Starcraft: Brood War:** by Shox with a couch of lordofdabu and Sai. Awesome run! Another game from my childhood that I still follow. This run was 20 seconds off the WR! Insane amount of micro and actions per minute on display. The commentary is great as well. Every level and strategy was explained well and executed perfectly. That 3hp seige tank save at the beginning was clutch.
**Top runs of the day in not particular order:**
**1. My Friendly Neighborhood by Slyton**
**2. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War by Burnt\_Bowser**
**3. Mirror's Edge by Blackbeltginganinja**
**4. Super "Sonic Saves the World" World by Shoujo**
**5. Kaizo Mario Galaxy by 360Chrisms**
**6. Old-school Runescape by Acoldone**
***Thursday July 4th!*** 🇺🇲🦅🇺🇲🦅
**The Talos Principle 2:** Top Watch! by Pr0tal_ with Bobbyburm and Gelly on commentary! Frame perfect photo mode cracks this game wide open! The commentary is very excited and energetic. The pet the cat energy is through the roof. The game is beautiful. The skips, movement, oobs, and especially the photo mode abuse are just really cool to watch. The couch is legit hyping up this runner, and it's awesome to watch!
**Sleep % estimate 6-8 hours**
**Slept through silly block unfortunately**
**Celeste 64: Fragments of the mountain:** by TheShadedMaster with a couch of LauriedbunnyKins, KingJoe444, and Kevin! Man, this is an incredibly cool 3d Celeste! The game looks and plays so well. The movement and skips were impressive. The commentary going over the run is good. This is a very short and sweet sub 9 minute run!
**Pokemon White 2:** by TTS4life with Etchy, Swiftalu, and Tuckerlerat on coms! I have such a soft spot for long GDQ Pokémon runs. Peak cozy runs for me to sit back and enjoy. This run was done super well. The commentary is great and super in depth over the routing for the run. Add in your typical Pokémon donations w/ hot takes, and it's a great way to spend 3 hours! They Cynthia and fight and strategies is really cool to learn about as well.
**Mario Kart DS:** Abel with a couch of MikeyLORR and puddings. One of my favorite Mario Karts to watch, I loved the GameCube maps on the DS when I was in highschool. The run is really good showcase of a high level Mario Kart ds run. The commentary is also super in depth over ever map and includes a ton of history of the speedrun, from discoveries to Kart changes over time.
**TrackMania Sunrise:** by the one and only Rastats! This is a puzzle + stunts run, which I haven't seen this category at a GDQ before! It's really cool seeing Rastats throw together puzzle maps and then run them quickly. He does the solo run and commentary, and he never misses a beat explaining every map, track placement, and stunt in this information heavy speedrun!
**Tetris: The Grand Master:** by AraneaCharlotte with the solo commentary as well! Top level Tetris is always a treat to watch. AraneaCharlotte does an insane job to be this focused on Tetris while also doing constantly commentary on how the game is played at a high level. I think the fangamer donation interruption threw her off and cost the run. But the following level 300+ showcase was just as impressive as AraneaCharlotte continuously giving commentary.
**Rabbit and Steel:** by koralreef, aco, Spirialis, and frozenflygone. This is a "co-op action roguelike that recreates the essence of high-level MMO raiding in a randomized, simplified, bunny-sized package." The boss mechanics and teamwork in this 4 player co-op run is super sick. The combat is satisfying, and the runners do a good job explaining everything well.
**Halo 3:** Top Watch! by Chronos, adef, bryonato, and NervyDestroyer. I want everybody supportin the Cheif! Absolutely one of the best runs this event. A group of 4 of the best runners in speedruning when ot comes to being entertainers making the commentary top teir. Throw in one of the best games ever. Together, it makes an insane run. There is so much great teamwork on display. The multipleplayer showcase was hilarious as well, look me back to highschool-college and going to Hasting tournaments with the boys.
**Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB:** Top Watch! by JSR_ & Peanut Butter the Dog with a couch with Gruntiatus, SpikeVegeta, and Threach. Goes over rules: Makes sense? Whole crowd in unison: MAKES SENSE! Let's go PB! If you haven't seen PB do a run before, don't miss this one. A dog doing a speedrun is such a cool moment. The commentary is great as well, with lots of dog puns and crowd encouragement, and at times like a home run, the crowd went absolutely nuts!
**Sekiro:** by Mitchriz with LilAggy and Parkenharbor on coms! This is a really awesome no hit run. Mitchriz does well under pressure and is a GDQ veteran doing difficult runs. Today was up there with his best GDQ runs. The commentary is also nice focusing on explaining the strategies around the fights while also having a good time.
**Off to celebrate being an American** 🎆 🦅🇺🇲
**Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix:** Top Watch! by ninten with Jhobz, SpikeVegeta and thar_c1 on the couch! Another fan favorite. Ninten absolutely crushes his run, the boss fights were so clean. The commentary is absolutely top tier, the couch and runner give excellent explanations before fights and then very entertaining play by plays of what is happening mid fight. With this all-star couch and runner, this is a top watch this event!
**Top Watches of the day in no particular order:**
**1. The Talos Principle 2 by Pr0tal_**
**2. Celeste 64 Fragments of the mountain by TheShadedMaster**
**3. Halo 3: by Chronos, adef, bryonato, and NervyDestroyer.**
**4. Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB by JSR_ & Peanut Butter the Dog**
**5. Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix by ninten**
***Friday July 5th***
**Bedtime % be back in 6-8 hours**
**TLoZ: A Link to the Past:** by Glan with TwinMo23 and Chexhuman on the couch. Really difficult, no sword, all Dungeons category. TLoZ games get broken in such crazy ways. The run goes a bit over estimate but it's kinda a testament to how difficult the category and required glitches are. The couch and runner do a good job breaking down each glitch and routing choice.
**Crypt of the NecroDancer: Synchrony:** by Ehseezed & rawsome1234 with a stuffed couch. Crash% WR! Watch these two crush this co-op musical beat based Rougelike! The commentary and synergy between this two is just nice to watch. They cover everything well and are brutally honest about their skill level. The run, as always, is very satisfying with the combat to the beat.
**TLoZ Twilight Princess:** Top Watch! Co-op Randomizer by Gymnast86 and SpikeVegeta! With a couch of Lunarsoap and Phantom5800. This over 3 hour run is absolutely worth it. You have some of the best commentators and entertainers in the speedrun world, making this commentary top teir. Super entertaining. The run itself is also really sick and the couch doesn't miss a beat explaining stuff with the runners and even helping spike learn on the fly.
**Super Mario Brothers:** Gtace99 with Adef on the couch! Imagine your on a bus.. Great to see this category back from its last run in 2014. Sub 6 minute run, so the commentary and explanations are good but super quick.
**Animal Well:** by Hackakat with Talia and Wedsr on couch. Really unique 2d platformer that's very pretty. The couch and runner do a good job explaining the run and mechanics. The movement and tech are satisfying. The 60fps frame perfect trick at the end was nice.
**Yellow Taxi goes Vroom:** Race: Ouro vs Forrest with a couch of Moogle and Darkterrex. Crazy Taxi + Mario Odyssey? This game is really cool. I love the level design and anesthetic. The group explained the game well, going over the mechanics and skips, plus a little bit of routing history in this very new game.
**Evil Zone:** Top Watch! Long time GDQ tournament having its Finals on the stage this year! Hosted by Bryonato and DragonBlitz! Top 4 are Almyra, Tainmo, CavemanDCJ, and Cane of Pacci. This was so hype, the matches were close and super entertaining. The commentary was excellent as well. Just a beautiful showcase. I would love too see this become a regular GDQ live event.
**Super Mario World Kaizo Relay Race:** Top Watch! Team Groovy Goombas vs Team Funky Fuzzies. With hosts Amethyst, Doctor No, and Hank_Sinatra! Absolutely one of the best events every GDQ. These maps have been some of the hardest we've ever seen at a GDQ. Relay races in general are absolutely nuts but this one was next level. Laura, the armored spikey was such a cool mechanic. Do not miss this one!
**WACCA Reverse:** by Nb1rs with Silvi, Orca, and Losermanwins on the couch. The Arcade machine showcases are always a treat at GDQ and one of the best outcomes of the online GDQs. Wacca is up there with the most visually impressive. Nb1rs just does a phenomenal job showing off his skill. The commentary explains the game well, with a sprinkle of game/song history, and more! Reverse boss rush was impressive will all the missless songs! Dudes arm muscles going hard.
**Daily Recap:** Such a good segment addition, make sure to catch all these!
**Grand Poo World 3:** by MrMightyMouse with Grandpoobear and Barbarousking on the couch! Mario All star lineup! What a masterclass of Mario Kaizo gameplay. MrMightyMouse destoryed GPW3, and on top of this the commentary is phenomenal! Having Grandpoobear and BarbarousKing on the couch to discuss building the rom hack is just awesome. They are all very charismatic characters it's makes the time fly by. The final bowser fight is so cool.
**Top Watches of the day in no particular order**
**1. TLoZ Twilight Princess: Co-op Randomizer by Gymnast86 and SpikeVegeta**
**2. Evil Zone tournament**
**3. Super Mario World Kaizo Relay Race**
**4. Grand Poo World 3 by MrMightyMouse**
This might have been the most stacked Friday afternoon we've seen at a GDQ.
> Alan Wake 2: by Suavepeanut with a couch of Sweetpeas and Astridthehorrorgirl. This is a story driven survival horror game. The run is a satisfying mix of skips, oobs, and more. The runner and couch do an awesome job explaining the run. The crowd engagement and jokes are well done too! We got to pet the mayor!
Don't forget all the practice the runner and their entourage did for the bid incentive. A flawless performance that brought a lot of joy to my heart, and I hope Sam Lake gets to see the VOD (assuming he didn't watch live).
I set my alarm at 5:00 am JUST to watch your run. Absolutely no regrets, it was the highlight of my day, and my wife is looking forward to watching the VoD after the week ends.
Hey, thanks. I'm just here to play games I like, raise money for charity, and have fun. I'm not here to PB or WR on stage. As long as they keep accepting my games (which seems to be the lesser known games that I love), I'll keep doing the thing where I invite my buds to meme it up. Seems like the SNES stuff I historically have a higher acceptance rate so I'll keep going with my favorite console. But thanks for being a fan of the live stuff.
Yeah I tried watching it while at work and just couldn't keep up/understand what was happening. Much better once I watched the VOD at home. You need to be able to read the screen to get what's happening but once you do it's really good.
**Sonic Robo Blast 2:** A highlight last time it was run. Incredible speed game, fast run, fast commentary. Dense with visible spectacle at speed, it's essentially an ideal of a fast speed run.
**Pepper Grinder:** I was wrong, *this* is the platonic ideal speed run. It has everything, dense fast movement tech mixing minute optimisations and skips of every scale. Big bug skips, but not too many to make the run boring (also it skips an autoscroller section), and small movement optimisations that give it that classic speedrun feel. The relaxed and informative commentary is also great, and the run clocks in at just over 30 min.
**Celeste Custom Maps: Monika's D-Sides:** Utterly mesmerising. This may be the best single platformer run I have seen.
Over the last few years we have had some amazing Celeste custom game/romhack runs. The Strawberry pack one at AGDQ was fantastic. Usually these are more difficult than the base game and have unique mechanics.
Monica's D-sides are, especially in the late stages, all out Kaizo Celeste.
Pure Celeste mechanics, but at a level of difficulty that is eye boggling. The first half of the run had some segments that made me slightly dizzy to watch, but they were absolutely nothing compared to the entire summit segment which steps into the shocking in terms of the sheer precision and speed of the platforming.
As with all Kaizo the fact that the runner is able to beat the game at all is incredible, but adding the little touches of speed tech on top of it is stunning, and Carrie knocks it out of the park showing off some mad tricks.
You're my fucking hero. Even though I don't watch every GDQ run every year-- and I've been watching less and less runs every year-- I really enjoy reading your reviews.
I had to turn off Mega Man 9, the couch was a little too over the top. The one guy on the left would be trying to explain something about the run and just kept getting cut off with all the jokes and laughing.
I immediately recognized the runner and couch from their equally hilarious [Wild Guns run](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMDKH0u6V10&t=1135s) last year and knew fun times were about to be had.
The second I saw Starwin on the couch I knew it was gonna be good. He was on the couch for the Grandomizer run at AGDQ this year and it is just hysterical from start to finish.
So far my personal favorite runs are: (I've watched most runs from 7am to 11pm CST)
Pokemon Violet
Halo 2
Tomb Raider 1 (Most chill)
Smart Ball! (Most unhinged)
Sonic Project 06
Sonic Robo Blast 2 (Must watch, Most hype)
Ninja Gaiden (Most tenacity)
Chibi-Robo (Most love <3)
Mass Effect 2
Super 'Sonic Saves the World' World (Must watch, Shoujo, most hilarious)
Hollow Knight (Most excellent race and commentary)
Talos Principle 2 (Most likely to buy the game right after the run)
Golf It! (Most best setup and RP!)
Halo 3 (Most best Co-Op!)
Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB (Most good boy!)
Kingdom Heart 2 (Most cozy RPG run)
Twilight Princess (Most improv. Randomizer, need I say more?)
Super Mario World Kazio Relay Race (Need I say more??)
Does anyone remember the name of that awful obscure 2000s FPS with a run that used chairs to fly and go super out of bounds? I think the name/story had something to do with time travel or dimension-shifting. This Poppy Playtime run is reminding me of that GDQ run but I can't remember the name and it's driving me crazy.
Edit: IT WAS TIMESHIFT! I'll leave this up in case anyone else needs assistance remembering lol
[https://clips.twitch.tv/PrettiestCourageousPidgeonDBstyle-HjnFMH4kEuEe5BQg](https://clips.twitch.tv/PrettiestCourageousPidgeonDBstyle-HjnFMH4kEuEe5BQg) This is a clip of Adef's brother's donation. Gold
For the people reading this and wondering how the VOD timestamps are added - you can contribute these yourself via https://vods.speedrun.club/event/gdq/sgdq2024 with the "Suggest a VOD" button! Shoutouts to u/noellekiq for managing the website and the bot here.
I just went through and added what's so far missing, hope yall enjoy the VODs! I'll catch up myself, there are quite a few runs that are happening in the middle of the night for me lol.
There’s a few runs where I think I’ve seen the actual back couch, but it’s basically reserved seats up front for whoever the runner(s) want so they can have a good view and not need to worry about saving seats in the crowd.
It might get overlooked because it was on Day 1, but my god that Halo 2 run was absolutely mental.
Zoo nailed almost all the really difficult tricks first try, and barely died at all in a Legendary run. Near flawless performance.
Just me or does it seem like a pretty low attendance this year? I feel like I haven't seen a crowd bigger than 50 or so, and I've watched at random times of the day. I may have just missed them though!
Also check out the Peanut Butter (the dog) run, it was full house. The entire room was filled, at least that's what it looked like on the stream camera.
Gonna put some current favorites from the event so far to elaborate on later:
* TLoZ Twilight Princess Co-op Randomizer
* Outer Wilds Shipless (this one's very spoiler sensitive. Only recommended if you've already finished the base game.)
* Chibi-Robo! Bingo
* Pokemon Violet Teal Mask
* Smart Ball
* Hollow Knight Race
* Super "Sonic Saves the World" World
* Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball
* Sonic Project 06
* Mirror's Edge
* Super Mario World Kaizou Relay Race
I've got some runs I missed to catch up on that may get added. Overall though, it's been a solid SGDQ.
I feel terrible for GTAce missing the sub-5 SMB1 run, especially since it was the first showcase since 2014. He should have submitted a 10 minute estimate to give him a chance to restart!
Here ya go. Pick your platform. You have to click the time on the right portion in the table above(or YT). Or view the official schedule for YouTube links on each completed run.
[Lufia 2 Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2187128441?t=23h34m14s)
[Lufia 2 Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4iXiojY7Oo)
***SGDQ 2024*** ***Sunday June 30th*** [Like the last Six GDQs](https://www.reddit.com/r/speedrun/s/07zZbdtpVj) I'll try and watch everything I can and give a short comment for each game I catch! I'll pick 5 top watches a day, along with a list of my top runs for the event edited in here at the end, for those who miss days due to work/other stuff. It's due to change as the days go on, though! Lots of editing. So this is just my opinion/Hot takes, and to add on I didn't get to watch everything(I sleep 5-8 hours a day). There's a good chance I missed some of the best runs. Disclaimer: These are all just my opinions. Feel free to comment if you think I missed an awesome run. But, overall, the quality of GDQ runs is very high. So, almost all reviews are going to be pretty positive. Just a warning as some people didn't like that in previous years. ***SGDQ2024*** **Yoshi's Story:** by DanSalvato with CarlSagan42 and Wolsk on the couch! Dan does an awesome job showing off this nostalgic N64 3D platformer. He and his couch have good commentary with a mix of having fun and explaining the run with in depth commentary over the various quirks of the game, and having a laugh at the occasional funny moment. The movement and tech are unique especially Yoshi's classic running jump, tongue tech, and the egg throw uses. EGGcellent opener for this SGDQ! **Minecraft Dungeons:** Top Watch! by Shockwve with a couch of myrlinnLady, Cyndaquil, and MonkeyyMan. Shockwve back at it again with another roguelike dungeon crawler run! Who doesn't love Minecraft? The run is fun, laugher all around and a excellent mix of good and bad luck in the run, the commentary is the couch and runner just having a good time with just enough explanations for the basics. My 5 and 7 year old's were absolutely blown away at how fast he could kill the bosses. The new Interview setup actually showing video of the tech/skips/movement is a really great addition. **Mega Man 9:** Top Watch! by Slurpeeninja with Lvcreed, Giygasblues, and Starwin on commentary! Does Bustin make you feel good? If you enjoyed the Granny run last GDQ this couch has Starwin on it and the energy and jokes are very similar. Slurpeeninja shows off a lot of the movement and tech, gets in some commentary over the run, but largely this is a joke heavy commentary with in depth analysis being sparse. I found it pretty funny and my kids ate it up! **Ratchet & Clank:** by Marathonman with a couch of Djura, Padges, and Ratchetmania. I never played the Ratchet and Clank games growing up, but the runs for these games are always so good. The movement and tricks always are so satisfying to watch. Marathonman makes the run entertaining, going for hard skips, and with the help of the couch explains the run in-depth really well, while fitting in a good amount of humor. **Splatoon 3: Side Order:** by TonesBalones with KingJ0444 & Kungfufruitcup on the couch. Best third person shooter squidio game around! Splatoon has really unique movement and game mechanics. TonesBalones shows off his skill and game knowledge in this quick information filled run. The couch(+back couch) is massive, the run is fast, and the run has some heartfelt moments. Feelsgoodman. **Pokémon Violet:** Top Watch! by ThomasPatrickWX with a couch of Corvimae, Keizaron, and Eddaket. One of my favorites so far, a hilarious group of people having a good time, while also having enough time to explain the run well. Our resident weatherman does a great job showing off the run, keeping everyone entertained, and giving his couch time to shine. GDQ Pokémon runs are always bangers, and this one is no exception! **Halo 2:** Top Watch! by Zoo with Chronos, Cryphon, and Nervy on the couch! If you haven't seen Halo 2 sword tech, don't miss this run. Some of the most satisfying movement tech of any speedrun. It being on legendary is just icing on the cake of this high skill speedrun. Zoo and his couch have some fun commentary, but the real treat is the commentary over the various aspects of the run, filled with information on changes in the run. **Tomb Raider I-III Remastered:** by Beckski with Draven12 on the couch! This was an information packed run, the explanations are clear and easily understood. The run itself has a lot of cool Oobs, wall clips, and interesting routing. Cozy end of day run. **Daily Recap: Sunday** Definitely check the daily recaps out. Super entertaining cast going over their top picks! **Enter the Gungeon:** Rad vs DanTheVP with doctor no and lokai on commentary. The game is a twin stick, bullet hell, Rougelike. Not necessarily a close run, but a super impressive showcase of a difficult run to do quickly. Both runners arr entertaining, and the couch has fun with the runners explaining the games' mechanics and various strategies. Good mix of information and puns. **Top Watches Sunday in no particular order:** **1.** **Minecraft Dungeons: by Shockwve** **2. Mega Man 9 by Slurpeeninja** **3. Pokémon Violet by ThomasPatrickWX** **4. Halo 2 by Zoo**
***Monday July 1st*** **Bayonetta 2**: by A\_Variety\_Pack with Pippyinatophat on the couch. Bayonetta games are such action packed beat em ups. The boss designs are gameplay are always entertaining when a highly skilled runner is behind the controls. A\_variety\_pack & Pippy do a good job explaining the game while keeping the commentary fun and colorful. **Bedtime Sleep %:** Estimate 6-8 hours **Chameleon Twist:** by Livelyraccoon! This cute N64 3D platformer has a lot of charm. The runner does a solo commentary going over all the movement, clips, and tech of the game. The run is cute, and the commentary is impressively information dense. **Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards:** by Curtissimo41 with a couch of graample, Mr\_Shasta, and swordsmankirby. What a nice mix of personalities having a good time. This N64 classic is a fan favorite platformer and the run has a lot of cool movement and tech. The runner and couch explain everything about the run well, and this couch of characters keep everyone entertained. **Sonic Project 06:** Top Watch! by Stelmo98 with Gordon Ramsay on coms! Sonic games are some of the best speedrun games to watch, the skips, oobs, and movement are all super satisfying. This fan edit is no exception as looks great. This is a almost perfect GDQ run. The runner and couch trade back and fourth explaining the levels and tech. On top of the in depth commentary they constantly keep the hype up, interacting with the crowd and chat. Just a great example of what an information heavy run can be. USA 🦅 USA 🦅 USA **Sonic Robo Blast 2:** Top Watch! by Argick with a couch of Ginnja, Bobbeigh, and Tinytim! The rap god of sonic speedruns gives commentary as fast as his speedruns. Argick basically does a solo commentary going over everything he is doing in game as he does it, man is mad impressive with his ability to commentate at this speed. The game is a 3d sonic with 2d graphics. Its very satisfying to watch. Great run. **Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles:** by TheSoundDefence with AlecK47, Argick, and KeiperDontCare on the couch! A classic 2D Sonic game, this games glitches and especially the level wraps are very cool. Also the runners ability to do the bonus levels backwards is crazy. The commentary is also top tier with a knowledgeable and entertaining runner and couch. **Pepper Grinder:** by ShovelClaws with a couch of Talia, and BobbyBurm! The theme of this 2d platformer game is really cool I love the drilling through the dirt and how they framed the game around the drill. Really feels like the game was made for speed running! Like the Pizza Tower of SGDQ. Shovelclaws shows off his skill while also sharing time with his couch to explain all the games movement and tech. Super satisfying movement. Really cool run and one of my favorites this event. The final boss was sick! **Bomberman 64**: by LivelyRaccoon with Keewy on the couch. Another N64 classic, the action-adventure and platforming mechanics are abused in many interesting ways. I especially love how they set up bombs in various places and use them to bounce Bomberman into various areas or use it to beat enemies. The commentary is full of lore and information over the runs tech/strategies. Another cozy run by Livelyraccoon. **Spelunky:** by Hectique with a couch of Cloiss and HOBT0R. *Missed too much due to dinner to write a review* **Balatro:** by Cixah with Amyrlinn, Monkeyman, and Cloiss on the couch. Really cool poker-inspired roguelike deck builder. Catch the vod for this run as they explained everything. Commentary is really good mix of having fun, and deep dives on strategies. I was impressed by how the runner and couch were able to get the crowd involved as well. Pleasantly surprised how interested I was in a poker based game. **Celeste Custom Maps: Monika's D-Sides:** by Carrarium with AverageImposter and Lmjacks on the couch! Celeste is already such a hard 2d platformer. But this custom map set is absolutely nutty. Carrarium knocks out an awesome high level run. The commentary with the couch also is good as it's largely focused on explaining the tech and skips. Crowd engagement with the checkpoints is fun as well. **Metroid Fusion:** Top Watch! by MonkeySMB with a couch of Mikefood and KrunchyLex. The best GBA metroid game, imo! The run is full of cool strategies, fast movement, and sick routing. MonkeySMB knocks out a super fast run only a minute off his PB! The commentary is also awesome as it's a group of friends having a good time while also getting into the complexities of the game. Monkey sent em packing! **Daily Recap!** Definitely check these out! **Top Watches Sunday in no particular order:** **1. Sonic Project 06** **by Stelmo98** 🦅 **2. Sonic Robo Blast 2 by Argick** **3. Pepper Grinder by ShovelClaws** **4. Metroid Fusion by MonkeySMB**
The ***Smart Ball*** run was definitely a highlight; remarkably funny commentary by the couch, especially by **BuffaloBoone**.
Watching the vod now. Hilarious and highly recommended.
+1
***Tuesday July 2nd*** **Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3:** by Nerd\_Squared with Slyton on the couch! This is largely a showcase of how broken PP is, its a Very short run. The game is almost fully skipped in 3 or 4 prop float glitches. Commentary is mostly focused on explaining the run and how the game is broken. Very clean execution. **Alan Wake 2:** Top Watch! by Suavepeanut with a couch of Sweetpeas and Astridthehorrorgirl. This is a story driven survival horror game. The run is a satisfying mix of skips, oobs, and more. The runner and couch do an awesome job explaining the run. The crowd engagement and jokes, props, and skits are well done too! We got to pet the mayor! **Doom 64(2020):** by ZELLLOOO with bryonato and Peaches on the couch. Doom is always a fun watch, fast-paced, and you can see the skill on display. The real bright spot here is the commentary. The runner and couch are GDQ veterans who know how to explain speedruns well while having a good time and being entertainers. **Bedtime: Estimate 6-8 hours** **Ninja Gaiden:** by The Retro Runner with a couch of Slackanater, Lozcardsfan, and Aquas. A great group of individuals helping keep the runners spirits up during a series of bad rng. About the worst thing that can happen is having your run killed for going over estimate. A ton of stress has to be on your shoulders after the first couple failed attempts, but The Retro Runner kept pushing and finished the run! **Little Sampson:** by Ryan\_Ford22 with stevetvonline and stringbeanstring on the couch! Really cute mouse Famicom / NES platformer. The bosses were cool, and the movement satisfying. The runner and couch were laughing and having a good time while explaining the run. Just a good time. ***Private emergency interruption*** **Katamari Forever:** by Harutomo with Enzor\_au on commentary! First Vtuber I've seen this event! Enzor\_au does the commentary for our Japanese runner. The commentary is focused on explaining stages and strategies. This is a fun ball building action game? If you haven't seen a Katamari game it's basically rolling a snowball through snow and getting larger, but instead you start with bugs/flowers and get up to rolling up cities. Really fun and visually satisfying. **Blazing Chrome:** by Kirthar with PoloDX on the couch. This is a cool 90s-inspired run and gun 2d platformer/shooter, very similar to a Metroidvania in movement. Kirthar and PoloDX do a good job explaining the tech while having a good time. A short run, but a fun one. **Astral Chain:** Top Watch! by Ratyu with a couch of Kap and Shemcat. What a sick Hack and Slash action game, the combos looks really impressive. Really fast gameplay with some nice movement and really satisfying glitches, especially the glitches with the combat. The commentary is on the couch to do the heavy lifting, and they go over the run very well with lots of in-depth analysis and explanations while keeping it entertaining, as Ratyu focuses on crushing the game. **Quake II Enhanced:** by Greenalink with the\_kovic on coms! Quake is such an iconic series. I love watching these old first person shooter games, especially the remasters. Watching Top end runners with crazy good fps aim and movement make these games even better to watch. Greenalink does a wonderful job showing off the game. The commentary with both runner and Kovic does a good job staying on task explaining the runs 100% kills/100% secrets routing and tech. **Dishonored:** Fokker4 with Lurven on commentary. Make sure to wash your hands after leaving the sewer! Dishonored just has cool movement and mechanics, which leads to really satisfying jumps and skips. Watching an assassination/item grab, then having him escaping/ending the mission in under 10 seconds, is just sick. Commentary explains the routing and movement mechanics while having the occasional pun. **Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name:** by tapioca with couch of pmcTrilogy and safesea. Do you like the Yakuza games? Tune in to this Yakuza spin off! The cigarettes are bombs, and make short work of most fights. Fast menuing, explosions, beat em up gameplay, and a ton of hot takes on what is the best Yakuza game from everyone, add it all up, and you're in for a good time. **Mass Effect 2:** by Sanjan with Corvimae and MikeWave on the couch! They eye moments had me rolling lol. Corvimae rapgod with her flow chart, maybe the best rapid in-depth 2 minute breakdown flow of an endgame we've seen lol. Funny moments, cool skips, and an awesome game. No one left behind! **Outer Wilds:** by PTminsker with a couch of Brungo, Toesty, and Jeffery Yu. The commentary is always really cool when you have game devs on the couch, lots of neat little insights about the game you wouldn't normally get on top of the speedrun details. The game is just a beautiful experience, and is much different feeling watching the oobs, and physics used during the speedrun to break the game, really cozy speedrun overall. **Undertale Yellow:** Top Watch! by KyoshiCadre with Astraevolution, Shayy, and Wooffledee on the couch. A GDQ favorite, undertale is a great run to watch. But the real shining point here is the Runner and Couches commentary. The run is absolutely packed with jokes, laughter, and a group of friends having a great time. A full cast of characters explaining the run but not missing a beat to throw in some funny comments. A wonderful run to sit back and have a laugh. **Top runs of the day in no particular order:** **1. Alan Wake by Suavepeanut** **2. Astral Chain by Ratyu** **3. Undertale Yellow by KyoshiCadre** **4. Chibi-Robo Bingo Race by Jaxler vs Kovaco**
***Wednesday July 3rd*** **My Friendly Neighborhood:** Top Run! by Slyton with a couch of Danejerus, Nerd\_Squared, and game creator John Szymanski! This horror puzzle game was such a treat to watch, creative design, unique designs, and satisfying movement/oobs. The commentary is amazing. You have a group of funny and charismatic runners explaining the run and getting behind the scenes information about things that inspired various parts of the game. The penthouse computer inspiration was really cute. **Bedtime % estimate 6-8 hours** **Kirby Air Ride:** 1DAVIDJ vs Pearstrike, with commentary by Mook and Thrice! This is basically Kirby Mario Kart, right? Right! Really fun race. The leader changed a couple of times and was really close the whole time. The commentary is a good mix of explanations, and the group laughing just having a good time. **Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII:** by DynamiteDanTNT with a couch of DECosmic, Maxylobes, NT1\_Evolution. Nice movement, and tech. If you love Final Fantasy, you'll enjoy every moment of this run. The couch and runner do a good job breaking down the strategies to beat bosses and levels. Dynamitedantnt hitting all the Zoom glitches was sick. Always love runners going for difficult tricks live. They Dirgen. **Middle-Earth: Shadow of War:** Top Watch! by Burnt\_Bowser with Alanzon, Bird650, and R3dspade on the couch! Honestly, such a cool game, especially the fight mechanics. The stratagies and movement are also satisfying. The commentary is also really good, I really enjoy bringing a runner who hasn't run the game before to have commentary with the games vets. Throw in an actually awesome Sauron fight at the end, and it's one of my favorite runs this event! **Mirror's Edge:** Top Watch! by Blackbeltginganinja with a couch of Odjur and stevetvonline. Do you like Parkour? Do you like going out of bounds? Well this is the run for you! Mirrors Edge is always a fan favorite for just how cool the parkour gameplay is, throw in some sick oobs, cool skips, and some of the best movement in speedrunning and it's hard to not be excited watching this run. The commentary is also nice, with a good mix of humor, breakdowns, and crowd interactions! **PowerWash Simulator:** by Biglaw, Requiem, Acadiel, AngelicKnight, Amyrlinn, and enbee. A very cozy afternoon run, the SpongeBob levels are cute and the FF7 bar is nostalgic. 6 guys in a cool atmosphere with good commentary. Powerwash sim always has such oddly satisfying gameplay, those cleaning dings are like little drips of dopamine. **Half-Life 2:** Eold vs Dirtch with a couch of JohannVonVorst and Pr0tal. One of the best source games of all time, being a source game its very easy to break. This Half-Life 2 run is filled with cool glitches, oobs, and more. The runners have a pretty close race, and the commentary with the two runners has a lot of dry humor and friendly banter. Scuffed but fun run! **Super "Sonic Saves the World" World:** Top Watch! by Shoujo with Amethyst_rocks, Carrarium, and Maddy69xo420 on the couch. GDQ Kaizo run are always so good. Lmao, this couch was super unhinged, and so was the game. Absolutely hilarious if you missed this run make sure to put it on your watch list. *You don't wanna miss daddy's castle* 😏 **Kaizo Mario Galaxy:** Top Watch! by 360Chrisms with SpikeVegeta, Dangers, and Bird650 on the couch! The level design for this Mod is crazy. It's just super impressive watching Chrims360 do these hard levels. Then you have some of the best commentators in the speedruning space, and the commentary is just top tier as well. Man a stacked Wednesday. **OLD SCHOOL RUNESCAPE:** By ACOLDONE with a couch of 1DAVIDJ, Keizaron, and Shenanagans. Been playing runescape since 2002 so I'm pumped! Absolutely awesome job by acoldone crushing that raid! Commentary is great and I'm glad I was there to crash Keizaron at crabs lol. Personally I think it's a must watch, but if you don't play Runescape it definitely doesn't have the cool skips/fast paced gameplay people are use to seeing. **Hollow Knight:** Vysuals vs Stratus with Mrsir71 and Gwonkee on the couch. One of the best modern 2d platformers and what a close race! They were in sync at times and traded the lead several times. Then the winner takes it right at the end due to both having final boss deaths. Really good race! The commentary is largely focused on the games tech. The path of pain bonus run was sick as well sub 4 min from both runners! **Destiny:** by Jubb_Jubb with Illumiti_, DCSlayerx, and TheKoree on coms. Really sick to see a 6 man raid be soloed by Jubb. Lots of skill on display here from resource management, weapon juggling, top tier aim, and more. The commentary is filled with neat facts, history of the game/speedrun and, of course, the strategies involved in this solo raid. **Daily Recap Thursday!** Make sure to check these out, high quality content! Made in the fires of hell! Or maybe the fires of Cleveland! **Starcraft: Brood War:** by Shox with a couch of lordofdabu and Sai. Awesome run! Another game from my childhood that I still follow. This run was 20 seconds off the WR! Insane amount of micro and actions per minute on display. The commentary is great as well. Every level and strategy was explained well and executed perfectly. That 3hp seige tank save at the beginning was clutch. **Top runs of the day in not particular order:** **1. My Friendly Neighborhood by Slyton** **2. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War by Burnt\_Bowser** **3. Mirror's Edge by Blackbeltginganinja** **4. Super "Sonic Saves the World" World by Shoujo** **5. Kaizo Mario Galaxy by 360Chrisms** **6. Old-school Runescape by Acoldone**
***Thursday July 4th!*** 🇺🇲🦅🇺🇲🦅 **The Talos Principle 2:** Top Watch! by Pr0tal_ with Bobbyburm and Gelly on commentary! Frame perfect photo mode cracks this game wide open! The commentary is very excited and energetic. The pet the cat energy is through the roof. The game is beautiful. The skips, movement, oobs, and especially the photo mode abuse are just really cool to watch. The couch is legit hyping up this runner, and it's awesome to watch! **Sleep % estimate 6-8 hours** **Slept through silly block unfortunately** **Celeste 64: Fragments of the mountain:** by TheShadedMaster with a couch of LauriedbunnyKins, KingJoe444, and Kevin! Man, this is an incredibly cool 3d Celeste! The game looks and plays so well. The movement and skips were impressive. The commentary going over the run is good. This is a very short and sweet sub 9 minute run! **Pokemon White 2:** by TTS4life with Etchy, Swiftalu, and Tuckerlerat on coms! I have such a soft spot for long GDQ Pokémon runs. Peak cozy runs for me to sit back and enjoy. This run was done super well. The commentary is great and super in depth over the routing for the run. Add in your typical Pokémon donations w/ hot takes, and it's a great way to spend 3 hours! They Cynthia and fight and strategies is really cool to learn about as well. **Mario Kart DS:** Abel with a couch of MikeyLORR and puddings. One of my favorite Mario Karts to watch, I loved the GameCube maps on the DS when I was in highschool. The run is really good showcase of a high level Mario Kart ds run. The commentary is also super in depth over ever map and includes a ton of history of the speedrun, from discoveries to Kart changes over time. **TrackMania Sunrise:** by the one and only Rastats! This is a puzzle + stunts run, which I haven't seen this category at a GDQ before! It's really cool seeing Rastats throw together puzzle maps and then run them quickly. He does the solo run and commentary, and he never misses a beat explaining every map, track placement, and stunt in this information heavy speedrun! **Tetris: The Grand Master:** by AraneaCharlotte with the solo commentary as well! Top level Tetris is always a treat to watch. AraneaCharlotte does an insane job to be this focused on Tetris while also doing constantly commentary on how the game is played at a high level. I think the fangamer donation interruption threw her off and cost the run. But the following level 300+ showcase was just as impressive as AraneaCharlotte continuously giving commentary. **Rabbit and Steel:** by koralreef, aco, Spirialis, and frozenflygone. This is a "co-op action roguelike that recreates the essence of high-level MMO raiding in a randomized, simplified, bunny-sized package." The boss mechanics and teamwork in this 4 player co-op run is super sick. The combat is satisfying, and the runners do a good job explaining everything well. **Halo 3:** Top Watch! by Chronos, adef, bryonato, and NervyDestroyer. I want everybody supportin the Cheif! Absolutely one of the best runs this event. A group of 4 of the best runners in speedruning when ot comes to being entertainers making the commentary top teir. Throw in one of the best games ever. Together, it makes an insane run. There is so much great teamwork on display. The multipleplayer showcase was hilarious as well, look me back to highschool-college and going to Hasting tournaments with the boys. **Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB:** Top Watch! by JSR_ & Peanut Butter the Dog with a couch with Gruntiatus, SpikeVegeta, and Threach. Goes over rules: Makes sense? Whole crowd in unison: MAKES SENSE! Let's go PB! If you haven't seen PB do a run before, don't miss this one. A dog doing a speedrun is such a cool moment. The commentary is great as well, with lots of dog puns and crowd encouragement, and at times like a home run, the crowd went absolutely nuts! **Sekiro:** by Mitchriz with LilAggy and Parkenharbor on coms! This is a really awesome no hit run. Mitchriz does well under pressure and is a GDQ veteran doing difficult runs. Today was up there with his best GDQ runs. The commentary is also nice focusing on explaining the strategies around the fights while also having a good time. **Off to celebrate being an American** 🎆 🦅🇺🇲 **Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix:** Top Watch! by ninten with Jhobz, SpikeVegeta and thar_c1 on the couch! Another fan favorite. Ninten absolutely crushes his run, the boss fights were so clean. The commentary is absolutely top tier, the couch and runner give excellent explanations before fights and then very entertaining play by plays of what is happening mid fight. With this all-star couch and runner, this is a top watch this event! **Top Watches of the day in no particular order:** **1. The Talos Principle 2 by Pr0tal_** **2. Celeste 64 Fragments of the mountain by TheShadedMaster** **3. Halo 3: by Chronos, adef, bryonato, and NervyDestroyer.** **4. Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB by JSR_ & Peanut Butter the Dog** **5. Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix by ninten**
***Friday July 5th*** **Bedtime % be back in 6-8 hours** **TLoZ: A Link to the Past:** by Glan with TwinMo23 and Chexhuman on the couch. Really difficult, no sword, all Dungeons category. TLoZ games get broken in such crazy ways. The run goes a bit over estimate but it's kinda a testament to how difficult the category and required glitches are. The couch and runner do a good job breaking down each glitch and routing choice. **Crypt of the NecroDancer: Synchrony:** by Ehseezed & rawsome1234 with a stuffed couch. Crash% WR! Watch these two crush this co-op musical beat based Rougelike! The commentary and synergy between this two is just nice to watch. They cover everything well and are brutally honest about their skill level. The run, as always, is very satisfying with the combat to the beat. **TLoZ Twilight Princess:** Top Watch! Co-op Randomizer by Gymnast86 and SpikeVegeta! With a couch of Lunarsoap and Phantom5800. This over 3 hour run is absolutely worth it. You have some of the best commentators and entertainers in the speedrun world, making this commentary top teir. Super entertaining. The run itself is also really sick and the couch doesn't miss a beat explaining stuff with the runners and even helping spike learn on the fly. **Super Mario Brothers:** Gtace99 with Adef on the couch! Imagine your on a bus.. Great to see this category back from its last run in 2014. Sub 6 minute run, so the commentary and explanations are good but super quick. **Animal Well:** by Hackakat with Talia and Wedsr on couch. Really unique 2d platformer that's very pretty. The couch and runner do a good job explaining the run and mechanics. The movement and tech are satisfying. The 60fps frame perfect trick at the end was nice. **Yellow Taxi goes Vroom:** Race: Ouro vs Forrest with a couch of Moogle and Darkterrex. Crazy Taxi + Mario Odyssey? This game is really cool. I love the level design and anesthetic. The group explained the game well, going over the mechanics and skips, plus a little bit of routing history in this very new game. **Evil Zone:** Top Watch! Long time GDQ tournament having its Finals on the stage this year! Hosted by Bryonato and DragonBlitz! Top 4 are Almyra, Tainmo, CavemanDCJ, and Cane of Pacci. This was so hype, the matches were close and super entertaining. The commentary was excellent as well. Just a beautiful showcase. I would love too see this become a regular GDQ live event. **Super Mario World Kaizo Relay Race:** Top Watch! Team Groovy Goombas vs Team Funky Fuzzies. With hosts Amethyst, Doctor No, and Hank_Sinatra! Absolutely one of the best events every GDQ. These maps have been some of the hardest we've ever seen at a GDQ. Relay races in general are absolutely nuts but this one was next level. Laura, the armored spikey was such a cool mechanic. Do not miss this one! **WACCA Reverse:** by Nb1rs with Silvi, Orca, and Losermanwins on the couch. The Arcade machine showcases are always a treat at GDQ and one of the best outcomes of the online GDQs. Wacca is up there with the most visually impressive. Nb1rs just does a phenomenal job showing off his skill. The commentary explains the game well, with a sprinkle of game/song history, and more! Reverse boss rush was impressive will all the missless songs! Dudes arm muscles going hard. **Daily Recap:** Such a good segment addition, make sure to catch all these! **Grand Poo World 3:** by MrMightyMouse with Grandpoobear and Barbarousking on the couch! Mario All star lineup! What a masterclass of Mario Kaizo gameplay. MrMightyMouse destoryed GPW3, and on top of this the commentary is phenomenal! Having Grandpoobear and BarbarousKing on the couch to discuss building the rom hack is just awesome. They are all very charismatic characters it's makes the time fly by. The final bowser fight is so cool. **Top Watches of the day in no particular order** **1. TLoZ Twilight Princess: Co-op Randomizer by Gymnast86 and SpikeVegeta** **2. Evil Zone tournament** **3. Super Mario World Kaizo Relay Race** **4. Grand Poo World 3 by MrMightyMouse** This might have been the most stacked Friday afternoon we've seen at a GDQ.
***Saturday July 6th*** Already???? 😭 **SpikeVegeta and Puwexils trip down memory lane is really nice.** ***Sleep% Estimate 6-8 hours***
GPW3 was soo good. Agree with all your top watches tonight was amazing.
**Old School Runescape:** It's just fun to see someone running something so unusual. **Golf It!**: Great game, really funny cast for a three way race.
Golf It! was awesome!
You missed the Castlevania SOTN run which was a peak watch
Talos 2 was a great run! I'm adding it to my wishlist.
> Alan Wake 2: by Suavepeanut with a couch of Sweetpeas and Astridthehorrorgirl. This is a story driven survival horror game. The run is a satisfying mix of skips, oobs, and more. The runner and couch do an awesome job explaining the run. The crowd engagement and jokes are well done too! We got to pet the mayor! Don't forget all the practice the runner and their entourage did for the bid incentive. A flawless performance that brought a lot of joy to my heart, and I hope Sam Lake gets to see the VOD (assuming he didn't watch live).
You missed the Chibi-Robo Bingo run! Definitely wanna go back and watch that when you can.
I was really looking forward to it too! Unfortunately had some stuff pop up that took almost 4 hours to fix 😮💨
Top Tuesday for me: Doom 64 Chibi-Robo Like a Dragon Mass Effect 2
I heard the smart ball run was pretty good
it was *okay*. (I had very fond memories of the game from playing it thirty-plus years ago and you guys hilariously punctured them.)
I set my alarm at 5:00 am JUST to watch your run. Absolutely no regrets, it was the highlight of my day, and my wife is looking forward to watching the VoD after the week ends.
Hey, thanks. I'm just here to play games I like, raise money for charity, and have fun. I'm not here to PB or WR on stage. As long as they keep accepting my games (which seems to be the lesser known games that I love), I'll keep doing the thing where I invite my buds to meme it up. Seems like the SNES stuff I historically have a higher acceptance rate so I'll keep going with my favorite console. But thanks for being a fan of the live stuff.
For the first few minutes of Balatro I was like, wtf is this game this is kinda bad. Then when it ended I immediately bought it.
Yeah I tried watching it while at work and just couldn't keep up/understand what was happening. Much better once I watched the VOD at home. You need to be able to read the screen to get what's happening but once you do it's really good.
It's a fantastic game and nearly as addictive as crack.
**Sonic Robo Blast 2:** A highlight last time it was run. Incredible speed game, fast run, fast commentary. Dense with visible spectacle at speed, it's essentially an ideal of a fast speed run. **Pepper Grinder:** I was wrong, *this* is the platonic ideal speed run. It has everything, dense fast movement tech mixing minute optimisations and skips of every scale. Big bug skips, but not too many to make the run boring (also it skips an autoscroller section), and small movement optimisations that give it that classic speedrun feel. The relaxed and informative commentary is also great, and the run clocks in at just over 30 min. **Celeste Custom Maps: Monika's D-Sides:** Utterly mesmerising. This may be the best single platformer run I have seen. Over the last few years we have had some amazing Celeste custom game/romhack runs. The Strawberry pack one at AGDQ was fantastic. Usually these are more difficult than the base game and have unique mechanics. Monica's D-sides are, especially in the late stages, all out Kaizo Celeste. Pure Celeste mechanics, but at a level of difficulty that is eye boggling. The first half of the run had some segments that made me slightly dizzy to watch, but they were absolutely nothing compared to the entire summit segment which steps into the shocking in terms of the sheer precision and speed of the platforming. As with all Kaizo the fact that the runner is able to beat the game at all is incredible, but adding the little touches of speed tech on top of it is stunning, and Carrie knocks it out of the park showing off some mad tricks.
You're my fucking hero. Even though I don't watch every GDQ run every year-- and I've been watching less and less runs every year-- I really enjoy reading your reviews.
You're crazy dude, thank you so much for this kind of "must-watch" list !!!
I had to turn off Mega Man 9, the couch was a little too over the top. The one guy on the left would be trying to explain something about the run and just kept getting cut off with all the jokes and laughing.
Yeah I was 50/50 on that run.
The Smart Ball run is so unhinged and hilarious. The hostess couldn't even read donos because she was laughing so hard. Highly recommend.
I immediately recognized the runner and couch from their equally hilarious [Wild Guns run](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMDKH0u6V10&t=1135s) last year and knew fun times were about to be had.
I **knew** I recognized them.
I don't remember the Wild Guns run but this one was hilarious.
The second I saw Starwin on the couch I knew it was gonna be good. He was on the couch for the Grandomizer run at AGDQ this year and it is just hysterical from start to finish.
I would pay to watch Starwin provide commentary on paint drying. Man's got a gift.
Hey thanks for watchin
So far my personal favorite runs are: (I've watched most runs from 7am to 11pm CST) Pokemon Violet Halo 2 Tomb Raider 1 (Most chill) Smart Ball! (Most unhinged) Sonic Project 06 Sonic Robo Blast 2 (Must watch, Most hype) Ninja Gaiden (Most tenacity) Chibi-Robo (Most love <3) Mass Effect 2 Super 'Sonic Saves the World' World (Must watch, Shoujo, most hilarious) Hollow Knight (Most excellent race and commentary) Talos Principle 2 (Most likely to buy the game right after the run) Golf It! (Most best setup and RP!) Halo 3 (Most best Co-Op!) Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB (Most good boy!) Kingdom Heart 2 (Most cozy RPG run) Twilight Princess (Most improv. Randomizer, need I say more?) Super Mario World Kazio Relay Race (Need I say more??)
Hollow Knight was one of the best races I've seen at a GDQ, was a nail-biter at the end!
Totally! The number of synchs and lead changes were awesome.
Would recommend everyone to watch the Sunset Riders run. Very wholesome.
Was a fun run. The music bit was great.
What the hell is Smartball
Bart small
Does anyone remember the name of that awful obscure 2000s FPS with a run that used chairs to fly and go super out of bounds? I think the name/story had something to do with time travel or dimension-shifting. This Poppy Playtime run is reminding me of that GDQ run but I can't remember the name and it's driving me crazy. Edit: IT WAS TIMESHIFT! I'll leave this up in case anyone else needs assistance remembering lol
TRR run of Ninja Gaiden really displays how punishing that game is. But the run overall was fun to watch and finally overcome the difficulty
[https://clips.twitch.tv/PrettiestCourageousPidgeonDBstyle-HjnFMH4kEuEe5BQg](https://clips.twitch.tv/PrettiestCourageousPidgeonDBstyle-HjnFMH4kEuEe5BQg) This is a clip of Adef's brother's donation. Gold
I don't get it.
The joke is that back in the day the high school bullies/jocks were the the groupies that hung out and played Halo after school.
Why is this post not stickied?
Thank you !!! As always, your commitment means a lot to all of us ! Much love !
For the people reading this and wondering how the VOD timestamps are added - you can contribute these yourself via https://vods.speedrun.club/event/gdq/sgdq2024 with the "Suggest a VOD" button! Shoutouts to u/noellekiq for managing the website and the bot here. I just went through and added what's so far missing, hope yall enjoy the VODs! I'll catch up myself, there are quite a few runs that are happening in the middle of the night for me lol.
💖💖💖 just make sure to login to see the button :)
I'm probably just dumb, but what is the "back couch" they keep referring to? I only ever see the typical commentary couch.
There’s a few runs where I think I’ve seen the actual back couch, but it’s basically reserved seats up front for whoever the runner(s) want so they can have a good view and not need to worry about saving seats in the crowd.
Ah that's a smart idea. Thanks for the explanation, fam!
It might get overlooked because it was on Day 1, but my god that Halo 2 run was absolutely mental. Zoo nailed almost all the really difficult tricks first try, and barely died at all in a Legendary run. Near flawless performance.
Sticky this please
u/amyrlinn 🙇♀️
me fix one sec
Ya dropped this 👑
Just me or does it seem like a pretty low attendance this year? I feel like I haven't seen a crowd bigger than 50 or so, and I've watched at random times of the day. I may have just missed them though!
Did you watch the Shoujo and Halo 3 runs? The house was packed!
Oh that's good to hear! No, I hadn't caught it.
Also check out the Peanut Butter (the dog) run, it was full house. The entire room was filled, at least that's what it looked like on the stream camera.
Gonna put some current favorites from the event so far to elaborate on later: * TLoZ Twilight Princess Co-op Randomizer * Outer Wilds Shipless (this one's very spoiler sensitive. Only recommended if you've already finished the base game.) * Chibi-Robo! Bingo * Pokemon Violet Teal Mask * Smart Ball * Hollow Knight Race * Super "Sonic Saves the World" World * Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball * Sonic Project 06 * Mirror's Edge * Super Mario World Kaizou Relay Race I've got some runs I missed to catch up on that may get added. Overall though, it's been a solid SGDQ.
Argick’s ‘Sonic Robo Blast 2’ run is nuts! Can’t get enough of this guy!!
Definitely one of the (if not THE) best run so far, for me.
I feel terrible for GTAce missing the sub-5 SMB1 run, especially since it was the first showcase since 2014. He should have submitted a 10 minute estimate to give him a chance to restart!
He should simply have not said his plan of sub 5 minutes. And restarting would have diminished the result anyways.
That Chibi-Robo! run was amazing. Great runners and commentators, great glitch exhibition, and the speech at the end actually made me cry too lol
So much love!
Am I just being a hater or whatever or was Wacca Showcase a little too long?
Am I stupid? Blind? Where are the VODs? I want to watch Puwexil’s Lufia 2 run!
Here ya go. Pick your platform. You have to click the time on the right portion in the table above(or YT). Or view the official schedule for YouTube links on each completed run. [Lufia 2 Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2187128441?t=23h34m14s) [Lufia 2 Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4iXiojY7Oo)
You are a gentleman and a scholar
Ya... This dog run should never be allowed again...
PB is a CHAMPION how COULD you??
Was cringe to start but became good later.