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Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 roundup - What were your favorite runs, and why?
Post your favorite runs, why they were your favorites, and ideally with a link to the VODs.
(/r/speedrun VOD thread, for reference)
Post your favorite runs, why they were your favorites, and ideally with a link to the VODs.
(/r/speedrun VOD thread, for reference)
mitchflowerpower's Super Orb Bros run was quite short, and I feel like the WR was forced, but it was an amazing show of gameplay like usual, probably one of the cleanest Mario romhack speedruns I've ever seen. The game is a SMB 3 romhack, which I haven't seen before, and it does a lot of cool things which are worth seeing if you've ever played SMB 3. The commentary was excellent too.
I also watched the Pokémon Blue speedrun yesterday. I'd say the run itself is impressive, but also a bit samey after the first hour or so. The commentary and the rapport between the runner and the couch, though, was really fun. Definitely worth keeping on in the background even if you aren't interested in the run itself.
The Super Mario 64 blindfolded run is insanely impressive to me, Bubzia completes the game with very few mistakes, with a few different tricks to usual owing to his being unable to see! It's really cool to watch how he's chosen to work around different obstacles with this added constraint and impressive that it all works out. He's also just really skilled - man grabs MIPS the rabbit on his first try, which I can't even do with my eyes open.
Mr_Shasta's Wario Land 4 speedrun is very enjoyable, just a cozy speedrun of a great game, very well-executed gameplay paired with nice commentary. I also liked Muty's Half-Life run just for how breathlessly fast it is, though the commentary can;t quite keep up because of that!
I only watched about the last three days of the event, I'll have to go back and catch up - there are a lot of games that I'm looking forward to seeing.
I had the exact same thought about MIPS in the Super Mario 64 run! There were parts that were so fluid and precise I legitimately forgot he was blindfolded for a moment — it looked like the type of play you get from your standard, skilled speedrunner. It was genuinely incredible to watch.
After watching GDQ events for several years now, I've come to realize that couch dynamics make or break an entertaining GDQ run moreso than any particular game. So here are my recommendations based on couch banter (not exhaustive).
1 Pinging @TheJorro for potential interest, who recently shared their thoughts on the F.E.A.R. series
Thanks for letting me know! That was a pretty snappy run and the commentator and runner were good. I learned a few things from that, like apparently if the game runs over 144Hz, you move slightly faster. There are a lot of pretty big skips throughout the entire game too, which I didn't expect since the engine felt pretty stable playing it normally. Maybe that's not as correlated as I assume, I don't know all that much about speedrunning.
My husband and I watched the Mr. Bones run over dinner tonight. It was not only the highest quality camp gaming has to offer, but I was legitimately enthralled by what the game would offer up next. Every cutscene was a bizarre treat, and every new gameplay segment was something different from the last. Plus the runner had a great energy, and the anxiety of worrying her Sega Saturn might crap out on stream with tens of thousands of viewers watching was real.
Thanks for the recommendation!
My favorites of the event:
(off the top of my head, and I haven't watched everything yet, so may add more with time)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps VS. Battle
Ori 2 was my GOTY last year, so seeing it absolutely demolished by two insanely skilled runners was great. BTW, the ending is definitely worth sticking around for too! ;)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (All Goals & Golds All Tours)
I played the crap out of the Tony Hawk games when I was younger, so similar to the above, it was neat to watch them get effortlessly destroyed by Party Man X.
Left 4 Dead 2 (Main Campaigns Solo, Any Difficulty)
Similar to Tony Hawk I have played a shit ton of L4D+2 over the years with friends, so that's what made this solo run so damn impressive. WaifuRuns is insanely skilled; His shot precision, situational awareness, first-person platforming, and bunny hopping were especially next level though. There were also some incredibly tense (and funny) moments all throughout, and the commentators were absolutely hilarious too.
Cuphead (All Bosses (No Major Glitches))
Haven't played much Cuphead myself, but have watched a number of Let's Plays. Was neat to see it demolished as well, and I learned a bunch of things I didn't know about it (e.g. the "secret" boss phases, and how some of the bosses were inspired by other videogame franchises).
Celeste (All C-Sides with Dance Pads)
Absolutely insane run. PeekingBoo is better at the game using a dance pad than I am with a controller.
Super Meat Boy (106%)
SMB is one of my all-time favorite platformers. I played it so much back when it first came out that I basically destroyed my thumbs with blister after blister over the many months I kept playing it. This run shows how despite all that time and pain I put in to SMB, I am still not even remotely as skilled as shredberg is though.
cc: @kfwyre, since I know you were planning on sharing some recommendations as well.
I finally got around to watching that Celeste run and WOW, what a treat! I was amazed at how fluid and precise his movement was, given that he was doing it with his feet.
Plus, I’ve always loved how inclusive GDQ is, and seeing his save file titled “Trans Rights” was a special bonus, especially given that this was the first time the game has been run at a GDQ with Madeline as a confirmed trans character.
I'm late to the game, @cfabbro! Sorry! Haven't had time to sit down and list these out until now (my country needs to take a break from making the news for a while).
There's already a lot of great stuff in this thread, so I'll limit my list to run I haven't seen others mention. I'll also give my personal rule of watching speedruns: the most interesting ones are the games you're familiar with! If you're new to speedrunning or your head is spinning from trying to figure out where to start, pick a game you know, as you'll be able to better appreciate the skill and artistry that goes into playing it as fast as possible.
Here are my additional recommendations:
Mirror's Edge was a great start to the marathon. Visually and mechanically interesting, though I had to look away for sections because it triggered my motion sickness.
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is particularly impressive if you've played the game. Very fluid gameplay and a good balance of game-breaking glitches and high-skill execution.
Sonic 1 (2013) was a live world record, and the runner's reaction as she discovers that is priceless and heartwarming. The run itself is good, but it's really the ending and afterwards that makes this worth watching.
Timesplitters 2 is particularly noteworthy. To begin with, the runner had immense difficulty on the first level, including several Game Overs. You can see him sweating bullets and dying inside, but the announcer does a genuinely fantastic job at keeping the temperature of the stream positive, supportive, and affirming. The runner eventually successfully overcomes the beginning hurdles and then proceeds to pull off a great out-of-game stunt. I won't spoil it here for anyone who wants to watch it for themselves, but I've put the details at the bottom of my post for anyone who wants to know but isn't interested in tuning into the run.
The Beat Saber showcase is impressive as all hell, and I say that as someone who is pretty alright at the game myself. Kungfufruitcup displays an incredible amount of skill and has an infectious, positive personality. This run was a joy.
My husband and I will be catching up on VODs over the coming week, so I might have a few more to add over time as we get around to some of the ones we missed.
Timesplitters 2 Spoilers
There is one level where the runner has several minutes of downtime, as he has to wait around for an NPC to arrive at a location. As soon as that downtime starts, he had someone set up an additional screen behind him with a separate copy of Timesplitters 2 running. He then proceeds to try to speedrun a separate level of the game, racing to get it done before the NPC gets to their location in his main game. It was super well-executed and fun, and it's a good example of one of the benefits of the at-home GDQ setup. We likely wouldn't get something like that if it were an in-person event (though if he could somehow manage to pull that kind of thing with an audience the room would have absolutely ERUPTED).
Heh, no worries. It's been a busy few weeks, and there is no rush anyways, since the activity sort makes it possible to contribute comments days, week, or even months later and still have them be valuable contributions. :)
This is actually one of my favorite things about Tildes
Definitely agree, but I also feel like there's a half-life to GDQ runs that decays pretty quickly once the event is over. Gotta get my recommendations in while they're fresh out of the oven!
Really though I just wanted you to know I wasn't ignoring your ping. :)
Not in my world, LOL. When I am bored and have nothing to watch, I often go back to the previous GDQ events and watch more speedruns that I missed. That's why I love lists like this so much, since I can revisit them later to find more good runs to watch when I finally have the time to watch them. :P
p.s. Don't worry about missing/ignoring pings. I don't get offended or disappointed by that, and never take it personally. Real life is far more important than interneting, and I know you're a busy person... especially these days, with your school restarting in-person classes. :( Best of luck with that, BTW. Stay safe!
I'll try to stick to ones that other people haven't named - this was a super good GDQ in my mind and there were lots of top-notch runs.
Just Cause 3 - Sky Fortress DLC - this run was Just Cause turned up to 11. Props to the runner for keeping up with explanations through the chaos that developed.
Dragon Age: Origins - broken enough that you get to see some goofy overpowered jank, but not so broken that the game is unrecognizable.
Metroid Prime - 100% - Prime has always been one of my favorite speedgames, and 100% is a good opportunity to show off lots of crazy tricks.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - 100% - this is one of the most technical execution-heavy runs I know, and Calco is a machine for the performance he delivered.
Super Mario Bros. 35 - showcase - this was an unexpected high pick from me. It's a showcase instead of a "pure" speedrun, but it was still a very impressive display of platformer skill and adaptability from 4 top-notch players.