Games Done Quick: A Marvelous Showcase

 Another Awesome Games Done Quick has been put in the record books and what a doozy it was. A week full of speedruns has always been a fantastic time for me to relax and see games that I have never seen before or ones that I love dearly. This year I was able to witness some magnificent runs indeed. I'm going to highlight a few of the runs that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

The first run on my list is Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks that was ran on the PS2. The runner for this game was Elfinout with PND Ketchup on commentary. There are a number of reasons why I was looking forward to this early morning run. The first being the nostalgia I have for this game and the joy in getting to see the final boss rush being taken to task as this was the game breaker for many players in their playthroughs. Getting to see Shao Khan be made into a fool was something I really wanted to relish in. 

The second reason is that recently I have been watching quite a bit of the commentator's, PND Ketchup, personal videos on the channel he runs with his twin brother, PND Mustard. Many of the videos that I view talk about the competitive history of the Mortal Kombat franchise. So, the main draw for me is the analysis and the breakdown of characters and games. The research and game knowledge is prevalent and if you know about the duos commentary accolades for competitive tournaments in the Mortal Kombat scene, then you know how knowledgeable the two are. 

To get back on topic, the Shaolin Monks run was worth the wait and loss of sleep as the interesting break down by Ketchup allowed for Elfinout to flaunt what the game could do and how broken it was. The difficulty of Kung Lao, the character of choice for this run, trying to clip under the ground in order to flip kick through an entire level was amplified by the two parties bringing their A-game. To see this game that took hours to beat, be done in less than twenty minutes was extraordinary. For people who enjoy the more technical side of commentary on something they're not too sure of, this is the run for you. The next game that caught my attention was during the aptly named awful block.  

The awful block is named this because many of the games featured in this portion of the week-long marathon are just not good by standards that mainly deal in gameplay and the overall product. The game Salamander County Public Television is certainly one of the games of all time. This was run by Teddyras and commentated by Tietuesday. For people that are not avid speedrun watchers or checkout many GDQ events, the name Teddyras does nothing for you. But for those of us who have been around, the moment we see that name and face it's, "This fucking guy". I have seen multiple games and runs done by Teddy and they always leave me with a, "What the fuck am I watching" moment. It doesn't matter how innocent the game seems. There's always weird shit going around and I absolutely love it. The game plays similar to Wario Ware in which the player engages in quick minigames that are remedial tasks or just plain ridiculous. Just kick back and relax while you view this run because there is nothing to really grasp onto while you just soak up the nonsense that SCPT brings with it. The run comes in at under thirty minutes, so no time is lost on something you can just chill and vibe to, a true purveyor of the awful block ways. There is just one more run I want to discuss that features an Italian plumber.

Now you might be thinking, "Which Mario game could it be?", and that would be a good question to ponder. It's not about which but the how is this run any different from normal speedruns of Mario games. That would be through the utilization of  Super Mario All-Stars. This game features SMB1, SMB2 (US), SMB2 (JP), and SMB3. In these SNES versions, everything gets upgraded visually and another version of the game compilation even features Super Mario World. So, this run featured all five games and eventually the Special World from SMW in a manner that seems overwhelming. These games were all being played in the same run through the Shuffler implementation. I'm not completely sure on all of the technical aspects, but every 45-60 seconds or so, the game will change. While jumping over a pit in SMB1 you can get swapped into SMB3 and so forth. Remembering where you were in one game and being able to react to it is key.

The game was run by Skybilz and commentated by Authorblues, Aweglib, and Phant_TV. This was not my first experience watching the shuffler so I knew what I was getting into. Skybilz had run it at a Frame Fatales event last year. The feeling was the same as when I witnessed the shenanigans previously because I just find the reaction and timing efforts to be so interesting. The fear of not knowing when you could get swapped or put back into a perilous situation is always exhilarating. It really makes me want to try it because of my love for platformers and challenges. While this run is quite long at around an hour and a half, I highly recommend viewing the skill put on display here. 

As an avid supporter of Games Done Quick, I highly recommend checking out the videos of the runs they post on their YouTube channel. Maybe even catch an event live. They have more than the two big ones that feature people from all different backgrounds. Truly one of the best ways for video game fans to support cancer research. Thank you Mike Uyama for gathering a bunch of speedrunners in your Mom's basement, so that we could all come together and enjoy some awesome games done quick.