Summer Games Done Quick’s killer weekend lineup

Watch it on: Twitch
Current goal: Donate to MSF while watching some amazing speedruns

Summer Games Done Quick has been going on all week, raising money for Doctors Without Borders/MSF while showcasing a spectacular assortment of speedruns. However, the final weekend of a GDQ event is usually particularly packed, as the hype builds and the donations start rolling in faster and faster, and this marathon looks to be no different. You can check out the schedule yourself here, but let me highlight a few runs that I definitely don’t want to miss.

Mario relay races at GDQs are always a treat, and the one on Friday at 7PM ET should be absolutely bananas. It pits two teams head-to-head in a series of Kaizo levels (fan-made levels that are typically extremely difficult) that the players have never seen before, meaning they’re racing to both understand the demanding challenges before them and how to tackle them, and execute on overcoming those challenges before their rivals on the other team can do so. That’s followed at around 9:15 ET by a quick Ocarina of Time speedrun. OoT is one of the quintessential speedrun games, and seeing all the ways in which it can be broken never ceases to fascinate me.

Then on Saturday, things enter absolutely must-see territory in my opinion at around 7:10 PM ET, when two of the best Super Metroid players in the world race to see who can beat it first. That’s followed by even more Mario racing with two players racing through a series of troll levels in Mario Maker 2, and then a glitchless run of Elden Ring which should see the game finished in under 90 minutes. Closing things out with vibes that are sure to be warm and cozy, as we give all we can to support the absolutely essential work that Doctors Without Borders is doing, it’s a nice run of last year’s Switch remake of Super Mario RPG. See you in chat, folks! — Carolyn Petit