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.