Speedrunning is back with the seasonal edition of Games Done Quick. AGDQ (Awesome Games Done Quick) 2017 popped off Sunday with a myriad of titles. The format for the event is fairly straightforward — speedrunners of particular games sign up to showcase their skills and spotlight their favorite titles. Each title has an estimated finish time that the speedrunners strive to complete their “run” by.
AGDQ happens twice a year to raise money for various charities, and the groupGames Done Quick started as a small cult following. From its humble beginnings in 2010, Games Done Quick has raised a whopping eight million dollars over 14 events.
Let’s explore some of the more notable segments that occurred on the opening day of AGDQ 2017!
‘Shovel Knight’ Race Comes Down to the Wire
One of the more hype-inducing event types at GDQ is speedrun racing aka seeing which of two skilled gamers can finish a game first. The speedrun race between players Smaugy and Munchakoopas for the game Shovel Knight was closer than anybody could have imagined.
The 46-minute affair was full of up and downs for the duo. Smaugy wiggled out to a small lead early on in the contest. However, his counterpart Munchakoopas made up time in small increments resulting in a final boss showdown against The Enchantress.
With a critical mistake against The Enchantress, Munchakoopas ended his run 6 seconds after Smaugy had finished. It was one of the closest speedrun races in ADGQ history and the finish was a nail-biter. Check out the full speedrun race above.
‘Kalimba’ Co-Op Mode Played Solo
Perhaps one of the more impressive feats at ADGQ 2017 was the speedrun by DevilSquirrel on the game Kalimba. Using a PlayStation controller, DevilSquirrel used the left side of the gamepad to control the pair of red totems and the right side for the blue totems. Needless to say, it requires a lot of coordination! Like Shovel Knight, Kalimba is a challenging platformer. However, the puzzle elements make speedrunning it truly inconceivable.
Joined by a developer of Kalimba and commentary by two fellow speedrunners, the short speedrun is definitely worth a watch. Listening to the developer in awe over the ability of DevilSquirrel is not something you often see and a truly organic experience.
You can watch the entire speedrun on this Twitch VOD above. Skip to 1 hour and 18 minutes for the beginning of the Kalimba speedrun. Enjoy and stay tuned for any new AGDQ highlights!