AGDQ 2025 Starts This Weekend, Featuring Crazy Taxi With a Live Band, Elden Ring on a Saxophone, and Much More

At last, it’s time for the most exciting live competitive event of the year. No, I don’t mean the Super Bowl – it’s time for Awesome Games Done Quick, the annual charity speedrunning marathon that features a week of talented gamers showing off the wildest things they can do with video games.Games Done Quick (GDQ) has been running for 15 years now, since 2010. The event is a live broadcast speedrunning marathon, during which speedrunners take turns showing off beating video games as fast as possible, and often in wacky and especially impressive ways. In recent years, the events have shown off increasingly ambitious performances, including blindfolded or one-handed runs, two players using a single controller, showcases of tricky arcade games, and even speedruns performed by dogs. The annual event is held to raise money for the Prevent Cancer foundation, having previously raised a record high of $3,442,033 in 2022, and $2,539,832 just last year. And this year’s marathon has some pretty ridiculous runs on the docket. There’s a run of Crazy Taxi backed by a live band, someone playing Elden Ring with a saxophone, new Super Mario Bros. Wii run while simultaneously playing piano, a two-players-one-controller run of Breath of the Wild, loads of randomizer races, and it all wraps up with a Map Randomizer Race between some of the best Super Metroid runners out there. If you’ve never watched GDQ before, it’s really worth tuning in.AGDQ 2025 kicks off at 9:00 AM PT on Sunday, January 5 with a run of Pikmin on Nintendo Switch, followed by Portal 2. In fact, Sunday’s full of bangers: Kirby’s Air Ride follows, there’s an Astro Bot run, then The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, a run infamous for appearing at GDQ every years and getting shorter each time as the community discovers new, run-changing skips.Awesome Games Done Quick 2024, photo by Wes “Fish” ChanIf I keep going I’ll just list every single run in the entire event, so here’s a quick list of highlights you should definitely check out. Definitely peak at the official website for a look at the full schedule, because there’s tons of great runs I didn’t list here, and the timing will be subject to change constantly throughout the week.Sunday9:00 AM PT: Pikmin – All Parts10:24 AM: Portal 2 – Single player No SLA1:56 PM: Ori and the Blind Forest – Randomizer World Tour 113:30 PM: Astro Bot – Any%6:19 PM: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – Any%9:14 PM: Alan Wake 2: Night Springs – All Episodes10:01 PM: Alan Wake 2: The lake House – Any%Monday9:54 AM PT: UFO 50 – Various Games Showcase10:51 AM: Super Meat Boy – Any%11:37 AM: Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS – SMC Any% No Auto3:00 PM: Metroid Prime – Any% Inbounds Race4:42 PM: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Any% 2 Players 1 Controller6:45 PM: Horizon: Forbidden Rest – NG+ StoryTuesday7:47 AM PT: Unicorn Overlord – Any% Story8:26 AM: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana – All Story Bosses10:18 AM: Spyro: Reignited Trilogy – Spyro 1, Any% NBS1:25 PM: Super Mario Bros. – Any% STA6:20 PM: The Last of Us: Left Behind – Remake – Grounded8:05 PM: Silent Hill 2 (2024) – New Game Light RestrictedWednesday8:51 AM PT: Sonic X Shadow Generations – Any%10:23 AM: Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu!/Eevee! – Any% Pikachu/Eevee1:43 PM: New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Any% While Playing Piano3:30 PM: Donkey Kong Counry: Tropical Freeze – Any% Original Mode5:07 PM: Fallout: New Vegas – All Romances5:52 PM: Super Mario 64 – A-Button Challenge TAS Showcase6:27 PM: Rocket League – Workshop Map Speedrun Showcase7:24 PM: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Main QuestAt 8:24 PM PT, GDQ will kick off a block of games that have been affectionally referred to in past years as “Awful Games Done Quick” or the “Awful Block.” These are games that are silly, janky, broken, or otherwise of questionable quality, and always make for some hilarious speedruns. The first run, Superman 64, you’ve probably heard of before, but the rest you may have not. The Awful Block runs throughout the night on Wednesday into very early Thursday morning. Speaking from experience, I highly recommend having insomnia and staying up all night to watch it. The block concludes with Kevin Costner’s Waterworld at 3:11 AM on Thursday.Thursday10:55 AM PT: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – All Dungeons3:00 PM: Lies of P – Any% Glitchless5:02 PM: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Any%6:55 PM: CHUNITHM LUMINOUS PLUS – Arcade ShowcaseFriday2:36 AM PT: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – Any% Easy9:21 AM: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – Tightened Vice3:00 PM: Tetris: The Grand Master – Multi Game Showcase4:00 PM: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 48 Tracks (DLC) 200cc, No Items5:45 PM: Kaizo Mario World 3 – 100%6:52 PM: jubeat copious APPEND – Showcase8:07 PM: Super Mario World – 96 Exit RaceSaturdaySeriously, just stop sleeping and watch the entire day Saturday. I want to list every game here. It starts with Peggle Extreme and Metal Gear Solid, for pete’s sake! There’s not a bad thing on the schedule! Fine, fine, my editor said I have to narrow it down:6:57 AM PT: Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire – Any% Race10:32 AM: Elden Ring – DLC Lockout Bingo12:52 PM: Elden Ring – Saxophone Controlled Boss Showcase1:27 PM: Crazy Taxi with Live Backing Band – Crazy Box2:30 PM: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – No Logic Randomizer6:35 PM: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – Any%7:55 PM: Super Metroid – Map Randomizer RaceRebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.



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