Summer Games Done Quick 2026, this year’s incarnation of the annual speedrunning charity event, isn’t over just yet, and typically the final two days are positively stuffed with the event’s most anticipated and exciting runs. However, with five days down, there are already plenty of incredibly good (and goofy) runs that you’ll wanna go back and watch after the event ends on late Saturday, July 11th. Here are some of my favorites.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is always one of my favorite speedruns to watch. I enjoyed Dr4gonBlitz’s short Any % category run because it prioritized precision movement techniques and efficient combat tricks over snagging all the collectibles and fighting all the bosses. In order to beat the game as fast as possible, Dr4gonBlitz attempted a trick that required him to make it to a specific room in Dracula’s castle within a nightmarishly tight window of time. To do that, he had to platform through the game nigh perfectly as any bump or missed jump would waste the precious little time he had to pull off the trick, making the run an incredibly stressful but entertaining watch.
Don’t Stop, Girlypop!
I was sold on this game by its name alone. I had no idea what kind of game Don’t Stop, Girlypop! was and I certainly had no inclination it could be a first person Doom-like with movement elements that remind me of Titanfall 2. Another plus is that it’s gay and irreverent as hell. There are pink shotguns adorned with sharks that shoot hearts, and difficulty settings with names like “Girl Wearing a Skirt as a Top” which is no doubt a reference to the over-the-top difficulty naming conventions of Wolfenstein. And yet, though obviously inspired by the blood-and-guts boomer shooter, the game is filled with bubblegum pop songs and everything is neon, electric pink.
Gordon & Daxter
Gordon & Daxter is another one of those “Hmm, this name makes no sense but intrigues me” kind of runs, and it doesn’t disappoint. The game takes the PS2 platformer Jak & Daxter, replaces the titular Jak with Black Mesa’s Gordon Freeman, and sticks the whole game in Half-Life 2‘s Source Engine—guns and all—because why the hell not. Gordon & Daxter is also in the category of runs where the runner and the couch are just cracking jokes left and right, enhancing the shenanigans going on on-screen.
Dunkadillo
Dunkadillo is a precious little platformer that looks deceptively simple before later levels ratchet up the complexity. You play as one of a collection of adorable round armadillos, bouncing and rolling and button-pressing through levels. But my favorite moments in the game come at the end of the level, when you yeet yourself through a basketball hoop and do a happy little dance at the end. More games need to let you be a cute creature doing a happy little dance, Kirby can only do so much.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Cute is not a term one would use to describe Hollow Knight: Silksong. Hellish, enraging, and impossible are more apt, yet the category of this run of the Metroidvania roguelike had me tearing up every five minutes. In addition to completing the game as fast as possible, runner mathulu also had to collect all thirty of the game’s fricking adorable puppy-like fleas. The fleas are hidden in tricky spots throughout the game’s expansive map, requiring precise platforming skills. Every time a flea was found, the couch and the audience joined in a happy chorus of “Awoo-ing” and it was so cute, I teared up every time. Yes, every time.
Manual Samuel
A much-beloved tradition at any Games Done Quick event is the “Silly Block,” where a chunk of time in the schedule is dedicated to games that are weird, funny, or not the most well-made. Manual Samuel is firmly in the “funny” category, taking the gameplay of Bennet Foddy’s QWOP and mashing it together with the kind of in-game narration The Stanley Parable made famous. The result is a hilarious experience in which individual button presses control everything from Samuel’s limbs to his blinking, all while you endure a narrator who yells at you when you skip a cutscene.
Total Nuclear Annihilation
GDQ is historically about video games, and while we’ve seen arcade cabinets, dance games, and other surprising setups at the event in the past, Total Nuclear Annihilation is the first time an analog game, specifically pinball, has made it onto the main stage. In the Total Nuclear Annihilation run, Ryan McSquid had to destroy nine nuclear reactors before running out of balls. I know nothing about pinball, and the runners could have done a better job explaining what exactly was happening, but it was fascinating watching pinball played at such an elite level. Ryan was banging the hell out of the cabinet, timing his strikes just right to send balls in the desired direction while avoiding the dreaded tilt. After completing his run in less than 20 minutes, he did a special, sillier run where he controlled the pinball flippers with a giant wooden spoon and a whisk.
Sonic Dream Team
I am a simple, Sonic-loving creature, if there’s a Sonic race, I’m gonna watch. If it’s one with Scottish runner Argick playing, with his heavily accented mile-a-minute banter, I’m definitely going to watch it. Sonic Dream Team has fantastic level design that’s dripping with color and personality. Meanwhile, the runners showed me that the game looks like it’s purely about speed, favoring continuous movement without bogging Sonic and the gang down with perspective-switching or too much combat. This race actually made me mad, because I was drawn in by the existence of a 3D Sonic game that I don’t automatically hate, only to find out it’s locked behind an Apple Arcade subscription. Sega, this would kill on the Switch 2, what are you doing?
This is only a smattering of the quality runs I’ve enjoyed during SGDQ 2026 and once the show is over, there will be more to add to this list.
