Another year is here, and with it comes another Awesome Games Done Quick — the annual speedrunning charity marathon that raises millions of dollars for worthwhile causes each year.
With speedrunning as the theme, let's get stuck into our guide to the event ASAP:
A Guide To AGDQ 2023
Where and when to watch AGDQ 2023
AGDQ '23 runs from 12:30pm on Sunday, January 8th through to the finale at 2:49am on Sunday, January 15th.
You can watch AGDQ live in the following places:
- The GDQ website
- The GDQ Twitch channel
- Other languages:
You can also find the VODs on YouTube.
What is AGDQ?
Here's how their website describes the event:
Games Done Quick (GDQ) is a series of charity video game fundraising events featuring high-level gameplay. To date, GDQ has raised over 37 million dollars for charity.
AGDQ is run at the start of the year, and SGDQ (Summer Games Done Quick) is held in... you guessed it... the Summer. Each one features hundreds of speedruns from some of the best speedrunners in the business, and while there aren't usually any world record-breaking runs during the streams, you still get to see some incredible talent on show, usually accompanied by a knowledgeable commentator.
Alongside the speedruns, there are also competitions for viewers, skits, and prizes to be won.
Which speedruns should I watch?
Well, we tend to be biased towards Nintendo games, but Nintendo games also tend to make the most exciting speedruns anyway, so here's our list (all times in ET, but the schedule will automatically detect your timezone):
Anything bold and underlined indicates our ultimate picks — if you watch nothing else, watch these!
Sunday January 8th
- Splatoon 3 Any% — 11:57am
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Any% — 1:38pm
- Cuphead 300% — 7:32pm
Monday January 9th
- Superliminal All Collectables — 9:36am
- Portal Airboat% — 7:11pm
- Fable Anniversary Any% — 11:11am
Tuesday January 10th
- Goat Simulator All Trophies — 4:56am
- Transistor Any% — 2:42pm
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 Any% Race — 3:52pm
- Outer Wilds Stranger 100% — 8:27pm
Wednesday January 11th
- Stardew Valley Seeded Crafts Room (Glitchless Race) — 3:25pm
- Sonic Block
- Sonic Unleashed All Day Stages — 4:15pm
- Sonic Colors: Ultimate Egg Shuttle Race — 4:48pm
- Sonic Advance 2 Character Bidwar — 5:53pm
- Pokémon Red/Yellow Any% (Glitchless) — 6:43pm
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Any% — 8:58pm
Thursday January 12th
- Neon White White's Heaven Rush — 12:11am
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword All Dungeons — 4:14pm
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 150cc DLC 16 Tracks (No Items) — 8:19pm
Friday January 13th
- PowerWash Simulator 6 Players, All Vehicles, No Soap — 1:20am
- Celeste Custom Maps, Into The Jungle — 2:23am
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD All Goals — 11:20am
- Metroid Prime 1 + 2 Multiworld Randomizer Co-Op — 11:57am
- Cult of the Lamb Any% Easy — 3:07pm
- Super Mario Land Any% Race — 5:12pm
- Super Mario All-Stars Shuffler (All Four Games Any%) — 11:17pm
Saturday January 14th
- Metroid Dread All Bosses Glitchless Race — 1:09pm
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 100% — 7:44pm
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus All Lords — 9:14pm
Sunday January 15th
- Super Mario Bros. 3 Any% Warpless — 12:39am
You can check the schedule for yourself here on the GDQ site.
How can I watch speedruns that I missed?
AGDQ keeps all the VODs (the recordings) of each speedrun on its YouTube channel. It takes a while to edit and process these videos, so you can expect the YouTube uploads to be at least a day behind the live schedule.
Here's the Breath of the Wild speedrun from the first day of AGDQ 2023:
What charity is AGDQ in support of this year?
The Prevent Cancer Foundation, which you can read more about here.
How do I donate to PCF/support AGDQ?
There are plenty of ways to donate to the chosen charity and/or support AGDQ. Here they are:
Donate to charity
- Donate on the website
- Buy AGDQ merch from The Yetee ($5 from most sales goes to Prevent Cancer Foundation)
- Buy AGDQ merch from Fangamer (around 50% of sales goes to PCF)
- Buy a monthly membership from Humble Bundle (January profits will benefit PCF)
- Purchase the "Level Up And Learn" bundle from Humble Bundle (January profits will benefit PCF)
Support GDQ
- Subscribe to the channel
- Volunteer to help run GDQ — they need audio, video, cleaners, security, and more
What do I get for donating?
Based on how much you donate, you can be entered into sweepstakes to win prizes, with each prize requiring a threshold amount to enter — this could be as low as $5 or $10, or as high as hundreds of dollars. The pirzes are often either handmade or donated by viewers, and some of them are really gorgeous collector's items. The full list of prizes and entry thresholds can be found here.
You can also put your donation towards an incentive. These are usually "votes" for something in a game on the schedule — like voting to kill or spare a particular character, wear a particular costume, or putting your support in for a bonus game that will be played if the goal is met in time. Some incentive votes are write-ins, which means anyone can vote for anything (with their money). Right now, there's a bunch of people bidding on character names, language choices, and Pokémon names. You can see all the incentives, bids, and votes right here.
If you subscribe to the GDQ Twitch channel, you'll get 64 custom emotes, sub badges, and all the other usual Twitch perks like channel points and ad-free watching.
Which speedruns are in your diary for this year's GDQ? Tell us in the comments! Happy watching, and may the RNG be ever in your favour.
Comments 10
So far, I've watched the Splatoon 3, Breath of the Wild, Symphony of the Night, and Cuphead runs. all pretty good stuff! The players' skill is definitely impressive.
As for the more obscure runs, I watched the Ax Battler run and it was interesting. I plan to keep an eye on the Reddit r/speedrun AGDQ VOD Thread and watch any game that seems interesting.
Biggest items on my watch list this year aside from first party Nintendo stuff are Neon White, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, Trackmania Turbo, and Stepmania, which I'm probably looking forward to the most of anything.
@EarthboundBenjy I need to know, is the Splatoon 3 speedrun interesting path-wise? Because during the entire campaign I was just thinking about how much potential it has for speedrunning, so, is it worth a watch?
Looking forward to the SMB3 run at the end!
I don't watch speedrunners as much as I used to but at least it's all for a great cause.
Didn’t get to read all that but are they having a live crowd by any chance? They haven’t had that in years and I started to realize how unwatchable it is without it, even if they can be cringey.
Also missing some key games like SM64 and OOT. Those two games never get old to see a speedrun of
Haven't watched since 2014. Personally they just don't feel the same anymore.
@GreenTea
I'd say so! The majority of the game's levels are skipped, as they find creative ways around the fuzzy ooze that normally blocks progression in the hubworld. And there are a few other skips, including one that requires them to be playing on an old version, as it was actually patched...
It's certainly worth a watch if you're a fan of Splatoon.
@EarthboundBenjy Pretty cool stuff it seems, thanks! I'll definitely give it a watch
@Hero-of-WiiU Ocarina is on the "must watch" list, SM64 isn't on the schedule at all!
I think it's all virtual this year, no live crowd.
Tap here to load 10 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...