AWESOME GAMES DONE QUICK 2026
as i type this up, it's one of the worst days of the year again; a Sunday after a Games Done Quick. but it's also one of the best days of the year, because Games Done Quick was really good! writing these introductory segments is always a little weird, because i think if you're reading this post, you know what's up. you know i care an awful lot about this delightful corner of video game culture, you probably know that GDQ just raised oer $2.4 million dollars for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and you DEFINITELY know i'm going to have some stuff to say about the event as a whole. this time, i've got a lot of scattered thoughts, some of which are hitting, in a very literal sense, increasingly close to home! i've been watching GDQ for somewhere around eight years now, and while i've reflected a lot in the past about how the event has grown and changed, i'm also thinking a lot about how i've grown with it. giving this kind of stuff some structure is what the blog's for, though!
in a world not too different from our own, i'm not sure how i would have handled this post. this whole ordeal thankfully never had to bleed through into the positive energy on-camera, and has come to a resolution i find at least satisfying enough for the time being until it rears its head again, but there was a pretty notable road bump on AGDQ's path this year if you knew where to look. early on in the week, while touting their various accomplishments over on Bluesky, the Prevent Cancer Foundation made the extremely tone-deaf move of starting by telling everyone about a grant they'd given for a generative AI chatbot meant to communicate to patients about their cancer diagnosis. to be blunt about it, that fucking sucks! of the two big charities GDQ works with, i've always resonated a lot more with Médecins Sans Frontières, but i do normally trust PCF to do good work when it comes to working on enabling better preventative care and screening, especially in underserved communities.
the last thing i want to do is project intentions that aren't there on anyone in this situation, especially on GDQ's side of things, but as a bystander, the following few hours definitely felt like PCF had not communicated to their fundraising partners that this was a thing they were going to be doing, let alone shouting from the rooftops. the post went up around 12pm CST, and by 7pm, the Prevent Cancer Foundation had already issued a follow-up statement, detailing that the immediate concerns expressed by GDQ's community had been heard and that they were going to reallocate the funds raised through AGDQ 2026 to make sure none of it went towards this grant. on the one hand, nothing they said actually claims that PCF will stop trying to fund this type of dead-end extreme-air-quotes "research" with other money. on the other hand, they've always talked a lot about how GDQ is one of, if not the biggest fundraiser event of the year for them, and within a couple of hours, without any big public disruption from the marathon or its staff, they were successfully strongarmed into not wasting any of the $2.4 million raised.
a lot of people who i personally admire for their work with Games Done Quick were still willing to get back to cheering for PCF once this whole thing was done; i don't want to use that as too much of a shield against the reality of the situation, and i honestly wouldn't be shocked if this becomes a more notable point of friction down the road. for the time being, though, i at least know that the money raised at AGDQ 2026 will be directed towards actual good causes, and that the week went smoothly otherwise, with none of this ever really surfacing on stream. the whole ordeal really got me thinking about how much Games Done Quick has developed into a magnifying apparatus for good. they've cultivated a team and a community that is not only extraordinarily generous, but capable of keeping their charity partners honest and using leverage when they aren't. it's heartening to think that, when push comes to shove, GDQ is more than capable of shoving right back.
that fortitude of character really was all over this marathon. even as the world outside got actively, alarmingly worse during the marathon, Awesome Games Done Quick was unapologetically true to the people who make it happen, once again espousing their support for the LGBTQIA+ community in ways that earnestly mean a lot to me. thanks to a sponsored "science block" on Tuesday night, we got to see runners showing some of their non-speedrunning talents to talk about things like clean energy production, something which might sound (and probably is) a little dorky, but i do sincerely think normalizing education about these topics and showing that people we think of as entertainers can be effective communicators is a really good idea in a streaming ecosystem that all too often gets flooded with chuds. if the last few marathons left me thinking about how much i appreciate the structural growth of GDQ, this one left me appreciating how far the people in front of the camera have honed their craft and what that means for their capacity to put good into the world.
enough of that sappy stuff for now, though! i know there's even more at the end of all this, and i've gotta tell you about the actual runs themselves somewhere in the midst of it all! as usual, here's ten speedruns that i loved from throughout the week; chronological order, extra recommendations, honorable mentions, the works.
MARIO KART WORLD
look, it's that game i wrote about that one time! Mario Kart is hardly a stranger to the GDQ stage, with a rich history of time trials and a dedicated community, but World and its... well, world, definitely lend themselves to a very different side of speedrunning. Helix has put a ton of work into this particular category from day one, right up to setting a new world record in the practice room just hours before her run, and it really shows. as someone who has a weird begrudging love for this game and its open environments, seeing it played in a way that emphasizes its platformer-based roots and pushes them to their logical limits is a real delight. even the smallest stuff in this run, like grabbing ? Panels off-screen during fast travel loads, feels incredibly slick and stylish, and that's without even getting into the actual meat and potatoes of navigation and execution. fittingly enough, this run really is non-stop forward momentum.
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the other big Mario Kart showcase of AGDQ 2026 swung hard in the other direction to take a look at the game in perhaps its most traditional form. Mario Kart 64 was shown off with classic four-player splitscreen, gathering four top players for a tour of all 16 tracks. if you have any fondness for huddling around a TV for a grand prix, seeing the same done by experts playing at the highest level is a really fun experience.
LEGACY OF KAIN: SOUL REAVER
a quick trawl back through my previous GDQ write-ups tells me that i've never had a Jaxler run on my big headliner list, which is wild, because he's been all over the place with deep cut games and i'll always make sure to carve out some time whenever he's got a run on. Legacy of Kain is no different, and despite only knowing about it third-hand (and partially confusing it with The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, i think?), i'm very glad i tuned in. there's something about weird little games made in the wake of the 1990s' leap to 3D that hits different, and this run is a great showcase of just what can happen when you find the right way to break through these games' ambitious plans, with some shockingly satisfying flight glitches and realm-jumping exploits. there's a lot of very sincere passion for this very strange game on display, and i think it comes through loud and clear and really elevates the run.
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if you want more weird little games that Jaxler knows a lot about, you've got a treasure trove of options! Cavern of Dreams is a lovely little Banjo-Kazooie-like that i'm tempted to check out for myself soon, and Mushroom Men has imprinted itself deeply into my brain as someone who read too much late-stage Nintendo Power, so seeing that it has an excellent speedrun was a real treat. i'm also willing to link Misc: A Tiny Tale sight unseen, just off the promise that Jaxler got called up to do a backup run at 5am (in a hotel in Pittsburgh) and that things got very weird along the way.
CURSED HALO AGAIN
normally, i'm very strict about listing these runs exactly how GDQ themselves does out of some weird unnecessary sense of archival integrity, but i have to put some respect on InfernoPlus('s hack)'s name, just as much as Shockwve's. despite an increasingly strained relationship with Halo and its community, it's hard to deny that this particular mod is really great, with an unreasonable degree of polish put into even its silliest features. factor in some additional modifications specifically targeted at the runner, and you have a run unlike any other Halo game, with its unhinged energy proving to be both a blessing and a curse; for every time a Garry's Mod tool gun opens up a new out-of-bounds trick, an inverted upside-down Magnum sets things further astray.
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we've got a bit of a crossroads on our hands here, so here's two wildly different recommendations!
if you want more FPS action, i think DOOM Eternal is your best bet, run by long-time legend KovaaK of aim-trainer fame. it's a beefy 100% run, but the whole thing feels like a constant ballet of high-octane gameplay. it really pushes one of the most intensive shooters i can think of right up to the limit of human execution, complete with an absurdly cool doohickey built for optimal comfort.
on the other hand - and do hear me out here - Psychonauts 2, somehow? Halo was part of the aforementioned 'science block', which saw real-world experts sitting in on the couch to commentate and occasionally relate the subject of the game back to their own work. it's definitely very dorky, but i actually kind of love it and i hope Games Done Quick keeps doing it, because i already love having outside perspective on runs, and bringing in unlikely professionals created a really fun energy in the room.
of these runs, i think Psychonauts 2 was probably the most gracefully incorporated, tying back the very stylized portrayal of the human psyche to real-world concepts in a way that was tactful and engaging without drowning out the commentary of the run. it's a real good time and i'm selfishly boosting it because i want GDQ to see good numbers on that stuff.
AMERICAN TRUCK SIMULATOR
look, if you're anywhere in the orbit of AGDQ, you've probably heard about the truck yuri. i get it. i know i'm preaching to the choir about the truck yuri. but it is just that good!
as a long-time lover of all things awful and silly at GDQ, i'm ashamed to admit that i conked out pretty hard for Awful Block this year. thankfully, Big Ranch and Heavy Chevy hauled that same delirious energy into an afternoon race, complete with commentary from buffalo_boone, a man who i can only describe as a cryptid cowboy that i've only previously seen manifest for some 4am kusoge. it only takes a few minutes for things to get truly off the rails (or rather, forcibly stuck ON the rails), and you can see the run change in real-time, going from a competition to a mission to save Big Ranch's big rig from truck damnation. aside from how absurd the situation gets, i do just earnestly want to say that runs like these do a lot to round out the feel of GDQ for me. for as much as speedrunning is high-level execution and expertise, these are still video games, and i love to see when speedrunning meets sheer dumb fun you can have with friends.
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again, i slept through Awful Block this year, so i can't provide first-hand accounts of its awfulness. however, if you're in the mood for more fun with automobiles, American Truck Simulator formed something of a double-feature with Richard Burns Rally. it might not be as ridiculous, but it's brimming with just as much passion and love for the game, with a full homemade VR rig and even a real rally racing expert providing commentary. it was really cool to see this unlikely pair of simulators take the stage together, even if they fill two very different niches.
JOKERSHELLOK
if you've read any of my previous write-ups, you know i'm all about some kaizo. i don't know that i have it in me to master this type of gameplay, but the precision and flow of watching someone who has is one of the most engaging aspects of speedrunning to me, and the culture that's developed around the scene is one that i feel a sort of remote camaraderie with, as someone who is also carrying the torch of doing things your own way and carrying on weird esoteric traditions on the internet. shovda happens to be one of the best of the best, both in terms of her skill and her contributions to the kaizo community, and if you aren't familiar with her skills, watching her crush a previously "too hard to do at GDQ" hack to the point of having spare time to flex another handful of kaizo games should give you a sense of the kind of talent you're dealing with. as always, seeing the creativity and expertise of the kaizo community is an absolute joy, and in keeping with the tradition, there's a joke in the commentary that caught me so off-guard that i got lightheaded. if you know, you know.
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if we're talking weird ways to play 2D Mario, nothing's quite as intense as JokerShellOK, but two cozier runs i enjoyed a lot were backwards Super Mario World (and hey, look, there's my GOAT shovda playing SMW one-handed as an extra treat) and Return to Subcon, a rare Super Mario Bros. 2 ROM hack that got uniquely reflective on the nature of how and why these games come together.
MAIMAI DX PRISM PLUS
i promise i'm trying my absolute hardest here to not put every rhythm showcase ever on these lists. promise! i'll stop when they stop being so cool, which seems like it'll probably be never, although it'll be hard to top the sentimental value of this one.
see, way way back in the now-ancient year of 2021, when COVID-19 was still at its heights and forcing GDQ to experiment with new approaches to their marathons, Starrodkirby86 did an amazing showcase of maimai FiNALE, the best washing machine/rhythm game i've ever seen. it wasn't the first rhythm game showcase made possible by a remote run, and certainly wasn't the last, but it still might be one of the most impressive, and stands tall as one of the highlights of that era of GDQ in my mind. now, five years later, Starrodkirby86 is back, able to run the latest iteration of maimai in front of a live audience, and joined by Kirbycatcher, someone who was inspired by that 2021 showcase to start playing. it feels like, if you'll pardon the wordplay, a real full circle moment, especially when you factor in fellow remote rhythm runner Raveille coming stateside to give some absurdly energetic live commentary. the level of physicality involved in a game like this always leaves me feeling a little breathless just watching, but beyond that, this showcase really demonstrates the level of tight-knit community that's developed around these games, even featuring an eight-player co-op track played by a full international team of maimai fanatics.
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maimai was the only big rhythm showcase at this GDQ, so it's hard to find another pull quite like it! i suppose there's nothing in the rules that says you can't go back into the archives and find a rhythm showcase from previous years, though?
MINIT
i hadn't clocked this run as a must-watch when going over the schedule before the marathon, but it wound up being a bit of a sleeper hit for me! shovelclaws put on an absolute clinic with this run, teaming up with Minit's lead designer Jan Willem Nijman to give a rundown that keeps up with the game's frantic pace. you get a really great sense of what makes this game tick, and just as its time loop structure keeps getting more and more intensive, the energy of the run keeps ramping up when it becomes clear how good of a pace it's on. for as fun as it is to see the biggest games of the year get broken down, sometimes GDQ's all about the hidden gems, and i can't think of a better example than tuning in for some afternoon runs and seeing something this excellent.
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i ultimately wanted to give the nod to Minit because of how much it surprised me, but if we're talking fast-paced impressive speedruns of games where you have a sword in a time loop, it's going to be hard to ignore Bubzia's blindfolded run of Majora's Mask. it's a very different energy, much more akin to being mission control on the first moon landing and praying nothing goes wrong, but it's one of the most impressive things that happened all week and it's absolutely worth the watch.
DONKEY KONG BANANZA
back during SGDQ 2025, i made the called shot that we were living in the summer of Donkey Kong, with Bananza just days away. it is winter now, but we harvested a bountiful crop. we've made Donkey Kong preserves, is what i'm saying. we've turned Donkey Kong into a jam and stored him away for later. a mellified Kong, if you will.
...wait, right, i'm writing about speedruns. i don't really do 'game of the year', but for the record, Donkey Kong Bananza is the best game of 2025, and less than half a year later, it already has an extraordinary speedrun to match. i intentionally went into this as blind about the strats as possible, knowing that the next game from the Super Mario Odyssey team would surely have some surprises in store for me, and i'm very glad to be proven right. this run is full of constant momentum, barrelling forward and utilizing the game's extensive terrain manipulation to do everything from jumps to clips to impossible-looking air stalls. more than any other run this week, Bananza had me going "wait, you can do that?!" just about every minute, and made me want to fire the game up just to prove to myself that what i was seeing was possible.
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there is only one possible run that could go in this box; the long-awaited Donkey Kong 64 randomizer, of dk64randomizer.com fame. i can't claim much personal familiarity with Rare's final outing with the Kongs, so some of the finer details went over my head, but after years of excited murmurs over this randomizer, i was delighted to see it make it to the big stage, and you can feel the passion of this niche community pouring through the screen.
SUPER MARIO 64
in the past, i've said that Super Mario 64 is kind of "the default speedrun" in my mind, and that, in turn, GDQ's been pretty selective about when and how they show it off. even now, as we head into the game's 30th anniversary, we're still seeing new ways to see it run, and while this might be the recency bias talking, this one might be my favorite. KingJO444 organized a full cavalcade of over seventy runners to each cycle out and tackle a Star, ranging from experts who can literally do it without looking to first-time players who learned their segment on-site in less than a week. the result is something of a rogues' gallery, pulling together talented runners who play all sorts of games and letting them shine in one of the all-time classics. there is, for lack of a better term, a solidarity to it, celebrating speedrunning as a larger community and trying to spread the message that, for as much as it might seem intimidating, anyone can learn how to do this stuff with the right attitude and approach. all that sappy stuff up top about how Games Done Quick has grown as a broader community capable of doing good? that all reflects back into this, wherein that same community gets to band together and share their love of the hobby.
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unfortunately, there were no other runs done by over 70 people, but good news! off the top of my head, this might be the first GDQ in a hot minute to feature the original "big three" 3D Mario games, with Super Mario Sunshine as the event opener and an excellent showcase of how far Super Mario Galaxy has come in a post-"velcro two Joy-Cons together for optimal strats" world.
POKÉMON EMERALD
as we went into the last few runs of finale Saturday, i was at an impasse for what the last game on this list might be, because they were closing strong with some real bangers. ultimately, though, i have to give the nod to the final game of the marathon. is that decision biased by the general good vibes of seeing the crowd make their big final push, celebrating a week's worth of amazing runs for an amazing cause? yeah, probably. but those good vibes are a foundational part of what i love about GDQ, and in this case, you have to admit it's impressive that not even a fire alarm going off and interrupting the run could stop them.
it also helps that the run itself was a really interesting one that i have a lot to say about. over the past few years, adef has quickly climbed my personal mental ranks and become one of my favorite GDQ regulars, as an incredibly talented presenter and runner. this particular run of Pokémon Emerald - modded with some additional QoL features and some hotswapping action for the run's main conceit - really plays to his strengths, and feels like an interesting bridge between the classic speedruns GDQ was built upon and more modern high-concept 'challenge runs'. it took a minute to recognize the appeal here, because right off the bat, a lot seems to have been made easier, but what's really going on here is essentially a massive logic puzzle, with adef having to contend with donation-chosen Pokémon and figure out the one route to victory in each Gym Leader's battle. of course, you can already guess the audience's tastes range from "actively putting the runner through hell" and "adorable little guys" (two categories that overlap more than you'd expect), but the specific order they play out in and the interesting problems they raise is fascinating to watch unfold; Shedinja's tough to work with no matter what, but seeing why the lead-up to Wattson might be uniquely bad creates some real suspense about how the run will go. it may not be the same as a traditional speedrun, but it's a really interesting demonstration of knowledge, expertise, and improvisation, all done by one of GDQ's finest.
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of course, Pokémon always has a large presence at GDQ, and this marathon with no different, with both a "manipless" run of Pokémon HeartGold and an appearance from the new hotness, Pokémon Legends: Z-A. if you want more 'mons, you're spoiled for options here.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
as i said before, Saturday closed the marathon out with some real bangers, and i absolutely have to give a nod here to Hades II. i haven't gotten back into this game since before its first big patch, and watching this run really put me in the mood for some dash-and-slash action. BehemothSteve is an extraordinarily talented runner, capable of taking on the game's full arsenal in the same time it'd take me to make up my mind about which boon to pick up, and their message at the end about finding space in this community even when they didn't feel ready really sincerely resonated with me in ways i wasn't emotionally prepared for.
it would also be downright irresponsible of me to not mention that right between Hades and Pokemon, there was a run of Hollow Knight: Silksong. you know, that silly bug game everyone loves but also hates because it's hard as hell? i'm not much of a Metroidvania person, but even as someone way way outside of the zeitgeist this game has carved out, i can tell this was an absolutely absurd accomplishment, especially with how fresh the game still is.
and, as always, my biggest honorable mention, the one i want you to take the most seriously, is that you should just go check out the schedule for yourself. i am only human and i have my own biases. there's runs i only halfway caught like Split Fiction or Lylat Wars that seem like absolutely excellent recommendations, and there's games i quite literally slept on, because i was asleep. AGDQ 2026 had somewhere around 250 runners in total, and i'm sure you can find one that did something amazing that you'll love to watch.
AGDQ 2026 was a great time, and even before it had ended, it got me thinking a lot about these events' place in my life. i've never speedrun anything and i'm absolutely embarrasingly awful at keeping up with both speedrunning culture and all the talented streamers i love seeing at these events, but GDQ in and of itself does hold a special place in my heart. the passion that goes into every single game at these marathons, and the way that passion gets channeled into genuine positive change in a bleak world, does a lot. as things started to wind down, i was doing a lot of reflecting on how i feel like i've grown with these events, and how maybe i ought to make more of an effort to do something with that.
and then, as if reading my mind, their big final announcement came. SGDQ will still be happening in Minneapolis, as is tradition, but AGDQ 2027 will be held in Atlanta. and then i couldn't sleep for another three hours after that, because my brain was scrambled with adrenaline. not to be too specific, but Atlanta is close enough that i could feasibly go for the entire week, and i definitely don't have an excuse not to try.
there's a lot i want to get lined up before that happens. the prospect of actually going has come up a lot in the last few GDQ writeups, but it always felt distant, like i always had to fix stuff about me before i could justify going. now, there's kind of a deadline on that, to some extent? it's gone from an "oh, one day, eventually" to an "oh shit, probably in 12 months". that's a lot to take in for me and it's something that kind of changes how my 2026 is going to go. at the same time, though... what have i taken away from AGDQ 2026, if not an reflection on how much i admire the courage of the people who make these events possible? maybe the best thing i can do with all this nervous energy is to channel it into being a bit braver like them?
i can't hard-guarantee i'll be on-site at AGDQ 2027; there's always the chance things don't work out. i think i'd regret it if i didn't try to make it happen, though. usually, i walk away from GDQ feeling a little tired, a little melancholy, but ultimately focused on how much good was put into the world. for AGDQ 2026, though, i feel energized. this event has meant a lot to me, but i think for the first time, it's really gone past that and started inspiring me.