Awesome Games Done Quick Marathon Starts Tonight

You know Games Done Quick, don’t you? Now in their fourth year, the teams organised by speed gaming group Speed Demos Archive have raised over $300,000 for various charities.

This year’s Awesome Games Done Quick, the biggest charity gaming marathon of the year, starts tonight at 6pm GMT, for over 150 hours of gaming in aid of the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and with its biggest collection of Sonic games yet.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-M2tXpi6d4

The schedule is a fluid one and subject to change at any time, but the estimated times for Sonic are here:

Sonic CD: 7pm Monday
Sonic 2: 7:30pm Monday
Sonic 3 & Knuckles: 8:10pm Monday
Sonic Generations: 4:10am Thursday
Sonic Colours: 5:40am Thursday
Sonic ’06: 7:20am Thursday
Shadow the Hedgehog: 9am Thursday

Be sure to tune in if you like quality gaming, and maybe slip in a few squid for a great cause.

Awesome Games Done Quick 2013

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Sonic Center Running Sonic Marathon for Charity

With charity streaming the in thing right now, members from Sonic game superplay site The Sonic Center are joining the fun with their own marathon.

Taking place over six days, the TSC Charity Marathon will be playing through a buttload of Sonic games, along with Sonic Team classic Ristar and the NiGHTS series, in aid of the game-oriented children’s charity Child’s Play. If you want to support a good cause, be there and consider donating or spreading the word.

Also taking place on Friday will be open lobbies for Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing and Sonic 4 Episode 2‘s co-op mode – both on Xbox 360 – and Puyo Puyo VS 2, a Windows sim for the series that included Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. Have one of those games, and you could take part live on stream.

The Sonic Center Charity Marathon starts at 7PM (UK) Tuesday 21st August, and continues to Sunday. For full scheduling, see the stream channel.

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Summer Games Done Quick set to Speedrun Sonic Games

Update: The segment is over, but recordings are available: Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic Adventure DX

 

Speed Demos Archive‘s Summer Games Done Quick is running right now, a live stream speedrunning 70-some games in aid of the Organisation for Autism Research.

Their Sonic segment is set to start at around 9pm tonight (depending on how fast the preceding games are), and feature runs of the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on Mega Drive, and Sonic Adventure DX Director’s Cut.

If you like seeing games played with speed, this should be your bag.

Summer Games Done Quick (full schedule)

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Awesome Games Done Quick Running Sonic Games (Again)

It’s that time again. For the last three years, the guys at Speed Demos Archive have been doing speedrunning marathons for charities, and at 8PM GMT, their latest Awesome Games Done Quick begins in aid of the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8G9CmPiGLk

That they’ll spend over 5 days beating who-knows-how-many games is a given. What isn’t, however, is Sonic representation. This year, though, four classics from the series are going to get ruined over the course of a 3-hour segment.

The whole schedule is here, but starting at about 9pm on Thursday, the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles (does that count as two games?) and Sonic Adventure 2 (with a 2-man race) are up.

Continue reading Awesome Games Done Quick Running Sonic Games (Again)

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Marathon Monday: Speed Demos Archive running Sonic games for Japan

Thursday 7th April – Monday 11th April at speeddemosarchive.com

I’m sure some of you remember when my good friends at Speed Demos Archive raised over $52k for charity at their live speedrunning marathon back in January. Not least, a beast known only as Stanski tore up Sonic 2 on the Sega Genesis in one take.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”265″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBZMEJtRrRk#t=4m35s[/youtube]

Normally, SDA isn’t one to do marathons all the time – they usually only have one a year and put everything into it – but last month some place called Japan had its east coast wiped out by a wave reaching 23 metres high, leaving over 10,000 people dead and another half a million without a home.

So, towards the end of March, and with marathoning for Japan seemingly de rigueur right now, SDA decided to join the bandwagon and plan a top marathon in two weeks. Unlike their usual efforts, this one will be done online from the gamers’ homes, and yours truly will also be joining the party.

Japan Relief Done Quick: April 7-10 2011

This time Japan Relief Done Quick will be raising funds for Doctors Without Borders, the American branch of the international medical aid group Médecins Sans Frontières. A Nobel Peace Prize recipient, MSF has operations in over 60 countries, and is in Japan right now providing medical treatment to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

Now, January’s marathon was a bit disappointing from a Sonic point of view, but that’s not the case this time. Early Friday morning in the UK, there’s a solid four-hour slot where five Sonic games will be played through:

  • First up is the original Mega Drive title, Sonic the Hedgehog, played by MilesSMB on Genesis.
  • That’s followed by Sonic 3D on Saturn, played by Zyre who recently had a speedrun of another Sega classic, Skies of Arcadia Legends, published on SDA.
  • Next Venick will hammer his way through Amy’s story on the original Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast.
  • The greatest Sonic game ever made is next – Sonic 2006 on Xbox 360. Depending on donations, either Venick or Parax will go through one character’s story. If you’re planning on donating, personally I recommend Silver because some of the tricks will blow your mind.
  • Finally, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 will be seeing a full game run. The runner is Parax, the top single-level speedrunner for Sonic 4 in the world right now. If you’re on 360, check the leaderboards and then check your calendar.
  • This marathon starts at 9PM in the UK on Thursday, and is set to run into Monday. You can see the full schedule at the JRDQ site, though if you’re planning on watching a certain game, bear in mind times can change pretty easily.

    Be there, if only to laugh at me when I die in-game during my slot…

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    Joe Stanski Blasts Through Sonic 2 For Charity

    Earlier this month we reported on Awesome Games Done Quick, a marathon in Maryland organised by speedrunning powerhouse Speed Demos Archive.

    Over five days playing through a hundred games, SDA smashed their donations target to raise over $52,000 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. But you’re here to see Sonic, surely?

    One top guy taking part was Joe Stanski, one of – or perhaps the – top Sonic 2 player on the net. He had a simple remit – plug the game into a Sega Genesis, and get through the game as fast as possible in one attempt. On the Player 2 side providing somewhat questionable (but capsule-hitting good) assistance was MercuryZelda, who “won” a donation battle against everyone else at the marathon.

    [youtube width=”640″ height=”265″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBZMEJtRrRk#t=4m35s[/youtube]
    Gameplay starts at 4:35.

    Here’s the level results:

    • Emerald Hill: 0:22, 0:39
    • Chemical Plant: 0:24, 0:53 +0:10
    • Aquatic Ruin: 0:23, 0:59
    • Casino Night: 0:31, 1:12
    • Hill Top: 0:44, 1:06
    • Mystic Cave: 0:38, 0:47
    • Oil Ocean: 0:42, 1:04
    • Metropolis: 1:13, 0:20, 1:40 +1:23 🙁
    • Sky Chase: 2:06
    • Wing Fortress: 2:00
    • Death Egg: 0:51

    SDA are uploading all the game runs from AGDQ right now, at http://speeddemosarchive.com/marathon/schedule/, so check it out. There’s a number of good runs on there: Funkdoc’s demolition of the (S)NES Castlevania series; Kareshi taking on the ultra-hard Ghosts ‘n Goblins series; four people destroying four copies of Ocarina of Time; an Expert and Master mode run of Super Monkey Ball; Mike Uyama and Funkdoc one-credit clearing Streets of Rage 2 Mania with default lives…

    Just… pretend Halo doesn’t exist.

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    Sonic 4 Speedrun, Out Now On XBLA & EU PSN

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrkeyrU3wSw&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

    GamesRadar’s Justin Towell, who gave Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 a 9/10 in his review has put out the world’s first speedrun of Splash Hill Zone Act 1 and it’s a very impressive run at 40.79 seconds. Towell currently holds the Guinness World Record for the Xbox Live Arcade version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s Emerald Hill Act 1.

    Source: GamesRadar

    UPDATE: The game is now available on the European PlayStation Store for £9.99/€12.99 and weighs in at 197MB. /UPDATE END

    In other news, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 has just been released on the Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points and weighs in at 191MB. If you want to give the game a try before you buy, a demo is available. The PS3 version will release in Europe on the PlayStation Store later today. We’ll update when that goes live.

    Source: Xbox Live Marketplace
    (The game is not immediately visible right now. You’ll need to look under the ‘Top Rated’ section to find it.)

    Will you be buying the game today? Do you think you can beat Justin Towell’s time? Let us know in the comments.

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