Going to Awesome Games Done Quick is a very different experience from seeing it on stream at home. For one thing, you see far fewer runs when you’re there in person.
I’ve got a lot of catching up to do and I’d love to hear what your favourite runs from the event were.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/01/the-best-speedruns-from-agdq-2019/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/yopiduwoabf5wr5lufgf.png” title=”The Best Speedruns From AGDQ 2019″ excerpt=”Awesome Games Done Quick 2019 finished this weekend, raising $US2.3 million ($3 million) for charity. There were countless speedruns but if you missed the marathon, here are some of the best ones. Whether it’s difficult tricks or charming commentary, these speedruns stood out from the crowd.”]
I was only able to watch a handful of runs live this year, although all of the ones that I watched were pretty special.
The Super Mario Odyssey run by Bayleef was not just a fantastic speedrun but the atmosphere in the room for it was like being at an AFL final. I was standing in the crowd, counting along with everyone else as the donation total ticked up to US$2 million. I don’t think we even realised that he needed to collect some backup moons, we were so swept up in the moment.
That run was followed by a big, community-driven thank you to Vulajin for his work and that was also a truly great moment to be a part of.
For @Vulajin, #AGDQ2019 marked the end of his time as staff. To commemorate his hard work, members of the staff surprised him with a red card filled with signatures and well wishes from various members of the speedrunning community. It was really sweet. pic.twitter.com/zZJitnDksA
— Esteban Martinez (@TheBesteban) January 16, 2019
Other runs that I loved were CovertMuffin’s Warcraft 3 which was both a great run from an amazing person, and the commentary gag of giving three unprepared people carefully written scripts was perfect.
Virtual Hydglide, which was run by Gyre, was a great example of why some of the most awful games make for great marathon runs.
The run of Celeste by TGH was an amazing showcase of skill, although hands down the most difficult – and impressive – run of AGDQ 2019 was SpootyBiscuit’s Crypt of the Necrodancer Coda Low% run which should not have been physically possible and that he was able to complete the game with backup strats was still remarkable.
A lot of preparation went into that run. Every single time I was in the practice room, Spooty was grinding out attempts.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/01/agdq-why-speedrunner-halfcoordinated-has-gotta-go-fast/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/01/AGDQ-halfcoordinated-410×231.jpg” title=”Why Speedrunner Halfcoordinated Has Gotta Go Fast” excerpt=”In the build up to Awesome Games Done Quick 2019 and in a lot of the general discussion around speedrunning, there is a fair amount of focus on world records. There’s so much more to speedrunning than just the top times and I was fortunate enough to sit down with halfcoordinated during Awesome Games Done Quick to talk about what he loved about speedrunning.”]
The constant chants of ‘Orb!’ from the crowd have their roots in other games but Halfcoordinated gave that meme new life during his Semblance run.
And then there was Under the Knife 2, the whole reason I was there. I was delirious from sleep deprivation and really in no state to play that game, let alone play it in front an online audience of over 100,000 people. Yet somehow I managed to get it done. There’s no way that I couldn’t count that run as one of my personal favourites, selfish as it is, and that other people also enjoyed it is immensely gratifying.
Enjoy the top of my head.
So those are some of my favourite speedruns of Awesome Games Done Quick 2019. What were yours?
The author participated in Awesome Games Done Quick 2019 as a volunteer at his own expense.
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