Disaster Relief Done Quick 2024

Full Games List

Starts on 10/11/2024

Developed by Treyarch using Infinity Wards IW3 engine, this game has a very similar movement set to Call of Duty 4. After 7 years of it being relatively untouched it has recieved a lot of love in the last month and had 7 minutes shaved off of the record with new skips and out of bounds tricks. It has little to no downtime but still plenty of opportunity to read out donations during stealth sections

50 Pinch Barrage is a short trap/challenge platformer, originally released on the 3DS eShop, but recently getting releases on Switch and Steam. It has 50 short stages with various small traps, and a very catchy title song.

Devil Dumper Doris is a doujin (aka "japanese indie") game, very similar to classic Castlevania games but much jankier, with a strong XBLIG vibe.

A Bug's Life is a 3D platformer video game based on the Disney/Pixar 1998 film of the same name.

Released in 1999, Pepsiman is based on the eponymous Japanese superhero mascot for the American carbonated soft drink Pepsi. It focuses the player on avoiding obstacles by running, dashing, and jumping, while Pepsiman automatically runs forward through each of the game's stages.

AEW Fight Forever is an arcade wrestling game released in June 2023 from the wrestling company All Elite Wrestling. It is their first video game since starting as a wrestling company, and features many of the wrestlers from said company. The game allows for many match types, silly weapons, and iconic wrestling moves.

Night Springs is Alan Wake 2's first DLC (the second of which, Lake House, is coming later this month). It is a 3-part episodic game. All episodes can be played individually or together. This DLC is tonally completely different from Alan Wake 2--very funny and pretty unhinged--and would be a fun surprise for folks who maybe only know the series by reputation.

First of two expanded editions of the 1991 Team 17 title . Few of the 12 levels are from the original (and even then they are modified). Key aspects of the run is money management (needing 48k credits by end of level 3), health/life management and being quick on the feet in terms of reacting to the unpredictable movement patterns of the titular alien breed. This run is performed on a Commodore Amiga 1200.

D/Generation is a Action Puzzle game that documents a mail courier's job of delivering a package to a man at the top of a building. An easy task, were it not for the fact there is a outbreak of biological weapons roaming about the place, including one that can alter reality. This run involves hitting switch with laser blasts, enemy despawn manip and walking out of maps, all while working around a randomize item pickup set. This submission pertains to the original releases of the game, particularly the OCS/ECS chipset release for the Commodore Amiga. This run is performed on a Commodore Amiga 1200.

1994 FPS by Bungie. Considered the spiritual predecessor to Halo, this is a Objective-based game originally only for Macintosh but later made available for modern systems via source ports. This is also one of the first games in the "Doom Clone" period to feature Dual-Wielding, Rocket/Grenade Jumping and absolutely NO HITSCAN. The run takes the above in mind and utilizes the engine's floaty physics and 2.5D/5D nature to breeze through the 28 levels.

A game from Harmonix that isn't Guitar Hero or Rock Band? Don't Freq out! You're in good hands with ateatree through a showcase of high level play of Amplitude, the 2016 spiritual sequel to the 2001 and 2003 rhythm games Frequency and Amplitude. This three-lane rhythm game focuses on house, electronic, and techno-style music as we string together successful combos across multiple instruments to 'build' each track, meaning that every playthrough (and especially any misses or overhits) can lead to a unique journey through each song compared to any other playthrough. Incentives include bonus songs from 2015 and 2016 indie games (est: 10-15m) and a difficulty increase for the entire showcase, as well as a ship color bidwar.

Welcome to Misery Land! Here at the center of the earth, ateatree & Amber Cyprian will guide two fox-shaped protagonists using a whole mess of box-like objects as they solve puzzles, avoid traps, and defeat 7 sinister bosses in order to rescue their kids! This game's "retro" aesthetic isn't just for show; it was developed to be completely compatible with the Atari 7800, and had a limited release on cartridge for that console back in 2018. Submitted as a co-op run from the category's world record holders.

Cowabunga! Featured at AGDQ 2023, Shredder's Revenge has been updated with new DLC modes, new characters, and a whole lot more!

An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs is a silly game about the last 2 humans remaining in the universe. The player must navigate between 6 different airports to speak with their partner, Krista, to progress the story, all the while interacting with different dogs who run the various airports. The dogs are 2-D stock images that are billboarded to always face the player, and they can be pet, causing various silly looking hands to appear as well as silly sounding barks and howls. The challenge in navigating the airports is that all the text is in an alien language which the player must learn to be able to efficiently make their way around.

A classic cozy life sim for the DS......that is completely broken wide open by writing absolutely insane letters to your neighbors

A strategic take on the Star Fox formula utilizing quick doodling on the DS (or in this case, Wii U) and has 9 different endings to potentially go for.

A 'Sonic Heroes style' 2D platformer based on a popular 90s cartoon. The Warner Brothers, and Warner Sister, have different abilities that will aid them throughout their quest. We traverse through 5 studio stages retrieving movie memorabilia from the clutches of Ralph the Security Guard and Pinky & The Brain.

A classic 2D platformer that started it all for the video game industry.

Anomaly Collapse is a linear, rogue-lite tile based strategy game that leans heavily into its furry side! Utilizing characters such as a bear guard, avian ranger, and lamb medic, you make your way through four chapters of diverse enemies, each with a stage boss. Gear up from a massive library of equipment drops. And, of course, the final multi-phase boss is an all-out race to the finish!

A remake of a beloved but kind of stinky RPGMaker horror game about being chased by a giant blueberry demon. The main draw is that the remake allows you to increase the internal speed of the game up to the unhinged amount of 1500%, resulting in the game being barely playable as even slight taps of the keyboard will rocket you across the map. This speedrun will complete the whole game under that condition and it'll do it super fast. It's silly and short, but sweet.

The dinosaur flavored survival horror series and fan favourite of said series. I will tank control my way around dinosaurs with utmost precision. Notably this game can be finished without firing a single bullet in the "No Weapon" category.

Ark Thompson's very bad no good romp through a weird first person Resident Evil where object permanence is fake and the voice acting is even faker.

Can you fry eggs on Mount Everest?Arctic Eggs is a physics-based frying simulator set in a post-apocalyptic Arctic base. The gelatinous-skinned denizens of the base are hungry for eggs, cigarettes, bacon, cockroaches, sausages, bullets, sardines, and other staple breakfast foods. The physics controls are janky and difficult to control at first, but then become quite intuitive. The dialogue is very strange, but is unfortunately skipped in the speedrun. If you can "stomach" the difficult physics and unusual dishes, this game is super-fun. Order up! Offering as Solo or a race with DiggleWrath.

YEE HAW! Cactus Cowboy returns in this "lovely" Portal knock-off VR title. Enjoy several complex puzzle chambers from Cacti Laboratory, including lava pits, moving portals, snarky AI-voiced commentary, and absolutely solid walls with no chance of clipping through them. (That last one was a lie).

The classic action survival horror speedrun like few have ever seen - Resident Evil 4 VR puts an even faster-paced first-person twist to this beloved game. The New Game+ Fast-Forward is currently the fastest category for this version of the game, with both Leon and the Los Illuminados moving about twice as fast as normal, requiring faster reflexes than ever before. This version also includes unique speed tech, such as run 'n' gun, walk boosting, lockpick clipping and airwalking, which allows for large sequence breaks never before seen in the series.

Arctic Eggs is a dystopian cooking game that requires equal amounts of balance and flavor. We are responsible for feeding an entire population of hungry Antarctic residents, and speedruns of this game provide fast flipping and feeding of silly ingredients. This highly technical run has many movement optimizations, cooking strategies, and difficult recipes - all leading up to our hungry final boss.

Sticking to the shadows is our specialty in this 2024 puzzle-story game. Our shadowy friend quickly leaps between shadows in order to complete all 64 of these unique levels. The speedrun of SCHiM requires quick-thinking, fast reaction times, and deep knowledge of the global shadow cycles to rapidly complete each level. With its mesmerizing pastel color palettes and variety of glitches/skips throughout, this run is a treat to play AND watch.

The highly anticipated Plucky Squire from Devolver Digital truly combines 2D + 3D environments in creative and novel ways. The sword climbing glitch breaks the speedrun wide open by performing near-frame perfect inputs to navigate out of bounds in almost every 2D level in the game. This is used to skip hours of puzzles and surpass most enemy hoards you are normally forced to fight. This game tells a phenomenal story through traditional storybook pages and incorporates 3D spaces around it flawlessly.

Can you fry an egg on Mount Everest? You are a poultry prepper in 2091 in an Antarctic Colony, punished by the saint of six stomachs for attempting to escape the colony. You are given the job to cook for the hungry stomachs in the colony, and just maybe you'll be able to win an audience with the Saint of Six Stomachs and earn your freedom... you've got a frying pan, some eggs and other edibles (or non edibles) and a very janky control scheme. Can be very RNG, but in a fun way!

Fromsoft has released many games over the years, and Evergrace is perhaps the least out of all of them. Take the crudest possible iteration of Dark Souls' basic design, pare it down for the PS2, then make it feel like a PS1 game despite originally being designed for the PS2, add in a dash of the most turn of the millennium bad dubbing, and you've got Evergrace. Despite all of that, Evergrace is a deeply fascinating and interesting look at Fromsoft's past games and the evolution of their design language, it genuinely feels like Demon Souls alpha 0.1!

A loving tribute to some of the most notorious games of all time, Arzette asks the question that nobody was asking--what if the Zelda CDi games were good? Arzette features the same charming hand drawn style and...eccentric cutscenes wrapped around a mechanically solid 2d adventure platformer.

Astro Bot is the new PS5 3D platformer with everyone's favorite robot mascot that includes a TON of Playstation references. The game came out fairly recently on September 6th, 2024 and it has seen immense success with many heralding it as one of the best platformers ever made. Astro Bot also just so happens to be an awesome speedgame too as the run is very fast paced and filled nonstop action from start to finish. We have incredibly tight jumps, diverse routing to collect the 200 bots we need to finish the game, a pretty difficult out of bounds trick and more!

Celeste 64 is a small bite-sized free 3D version of the first level in Celeste that was made in the span of 1-2 weeks by the Celeste developers to Celebrate the game's 6 year anniversary. Even though it's small in scale, it still holds plenty of challenge with tons of precise jumps and tricks, making it insanely difficult but fun to watch at a top level just like the original game in that regard!

Mario Kart 7 is the game we all remember playing on road trips in the car. It easily has some of the worse item balancing in the series which makes it pretty entertaining to watch me suffer from the AI. It has a pretty fun strat called SSMT's which is our main way to go faster than usual! This game also never gets as much love as other Mario Karts due to it being on the 3DS unfortunately.

At Dead Of Night is a really well-made point-and-click horror made by a solo indie dev where you try to escape with your friends out of a hotel owned by a madman, all while figuring out the backstory of his victims.

Banban is an indie horror series made by two brothers who decided to try making a horror game in light of the success of games like Poppy Playtime and FNAF. What resulted are games that are the definition of "it's so bad, it's good", that also turn out to be pretty fun speedruns.

The third chapter in an episodic mascot horror series by Mob Entertainment, with a fourth chapter on the way that got teased very recently. The game has changed a fair bit since the Any% run I did at SGDQ, with the longer categories having new skips implemented and becoming more optimized.

The remake showcases both the classical turn-based combat and the main premise of item crafting. The main aim is to craft a superbomb enough for Marie to pass the exam. The strat is mainly optimal pathing and movement. You will also be surprised that the run is over in the blink of an eye.

The sequel of the 2021 RPG of the Year offers a short speedrun which is like a boss rush mod that you see in action RPGs (close enough to the Souls series). The main strategy is to unlock the most powerful skills in early game (as noticed, this is certainly not NG+) needed to deal the most damage. This game is particularly exciting for boss fights as it features both the quickest and the longest difficult fights of the game (both the prequel and the sequel). DODGE AND ATTACK!

Under the banner of Tales of Series, this 2015 game features both linear battle system and an armatization mechanic which fuses two characters with a powerful elemental specialization. Speedruns of this game feature stun and mystic arte (powerful move) festivals and a movement glitch in which the character moves faster when travelling diagonally.

Based on the nostalgic movie of the same name, Barbie takes on the role of Princess Annika brandishing the Wand of Light to free the village people from stone and take down the evil warlock, Wenlock. This game is a classic platformer developed by WayForward in which you travel from world to world and gain powerups to save the day. Powerups include a fire/melting ability, forest magic, and more! When someone asks what I think the best Barbie video game is, this game is always my answer. This game is the perfect cozy, nostalgic game, especially for those who grew up with Barbie in the early 2000s. The run may seem simple on the surface, but requires a lot of practice due to having to memorize the placement of each villager in every level, and has a precise glitch which, if executed perfectly, can save up to 5 minutes!

A new Princess Peach game in 2024?! I must be dreaming! In Princess Peach: Showtime!, you follow along Peach and her new companion Stella to rescue the Theets and Sparkla from the evil Madame Grape, her Sour minions, and the various bosses found on each floor. Princess Peach will need to use the power of Sparkle in order to save the day. Peach also gets to try different roles in order to defeat bosses, such as a swordfighter, a thief, and more! The aesthetic of this game can be compared to Paper Mario. The game is set in a theater, so the enemies, backgrounds, and other characters are usually made of wood, cardboard, and/or held up by strings just as if they were props on a theater stage. That is one of my favorite part of this game since it really puts the player in the point of view of starring in a play.

A classic Super Mario World shell kaizo from 2022 by shaoshao, Baron of Shell is often considered one of if not the best in the subgenre. Featuring intense tricks, high input density, unique gimmicks and ideas and a difficult midair shelljump - this game is a fan favorite among shell enthusiasts and viewers alike.

Super Sheffy World 2 is an extremely difficult kaizo mod of Super Mario World for the SNES released in 2019. Its level design heavily features stylish tricks with shells and other items with quirky custom mechanics on top, making it a blast to play and a spectacle to watch. It's considered a landmark "shell kaizo" game within the community and has inspired countless others in the genre, including Baron of Shell. At the time it was released, it was one of the most difficult human viable kaizo games out there.

One of the original match-3 games. Bejeweled 3 is replayable for speedrunning with several unique quests, and glitches like Negative Moves for safety.

Wii Play is a Wii Remote pointer tech demo with frame-perfect Tanks tricks, dual controller strats, and knitted cow riding. Tanks has inspired fan-made toy tank games with the same gameplay formula.

A great follow-up to my "Bionicle: Quest for the Toa" run at AGDQ 2024, but now with more lore, more exciting cutscenes, and more Bionicle Nostalgia. MNOG is a point-and-click-adventure Flash game that was available on the Bionicle website since the beginning of the franchise in 2001, and is potentially the single most iconic piece of Bionicle media, as well as one of the most fleshed-out and well-put-together Flash games of all time. If any viewers are Bionicle fans, they will likely recognize this game. Submitting as Any% with an incentive to upgrade to All Cutscenes - Video covers both, explains what the difference is, and also includes timestamps in the description of notable moments in the run.

One the best games to be released in a long time in my opinion and if you're a fan of souls games then it's a must play. In this run we will be abusing a ton of cool out of bounds skips that I found that significantly lower the time compared to glitchess and it's a lot more interesting than Any% because you don't just fly to the end of each chapter.

Dead Space 3 does not get anywhere near enough love, and it's still the only game in the series that hasn't had a solo run featured at GDQ. In this run we abuse tons of out of bounds, wall clips, mine boosts as well as launching ourselves across the map to skip huge portions of the game.

The game has changed A LOT recently. Around 4 months ago I picked up the game and found a ton of glitches and skip, previously the run was glitchless and I dropped the WR by 25 minutes. We abuse the slow motion mechanic allowing us to jump slightly higher which completely broke the game, skipping certain levels entirely from start to finish. It's a very unique and interesting run now compared to how it used to be!

One of the classics from the olden days. This platformer metroidvania is well known for being one of the more difficult NES games as well as its amazing Sunsoft soundtrack. Travel to each dungeon in your tank, hop out of the tank and enter a top down shooter dungeon, beat the boss, get the item, go to the next stage. All to get your frog back.

Sierra's most infamous title of King's Quest 5, except we are playing it on the..... NES? Wait, is that right? How does this game work on the NES? In some ways better than you'd think. In others, well, they clearly had to make some sacrifices to make this actually work.

The Quest for Glory series is one of Sierra's better known series and combines RPG mechanics with point and click adventure. One of the unique mechanics of Quest for Glory was the ability to export your character at the end of each game and import into the next game. This naturally leads to what we call the collection run - take one character through all 5 games. The rules are that you must start at the first game, do each game in order, export at the end of each game and import into the next one.

Classic exploration platformer.

Run-n-gun with gravity flip mechanics.

This game hasn't seen GDQ action since Skav ran it in 2018 but has since gotten two epic sequels! Through a collaboration between Inti Creates and Sunsoft, the first of three games rebooted the cult classic Blaster Master series once again since 2010's Blaster Master Overdrive on WiiWare. The result was Blaster Master Zero, now confirmed as an official sequel many years after the original Japanese incarnation, Chô Wakusei Senki Metafight's story. Jason Frudnick boards Metal Attacker Sophia 3rd to search for the mysterious frog-like lifeform he names Fred, starting a life-changing adventure.

While I showcased this game for SGDQ this year, the intent behind submitting it once more is to showcase the 100% category. As the final Game Boy game of the Castlevania series, Legends intended to be the entry that marked the first Belmont crucial to the clan's history, plus the only known playable female Belmont protagonist of the franchise, Sonia Belmont. While Koji Igarashi deemed the game non-canon, likely due to the decent but lackluster result from a completely different development team and possibly from the implications of the true ending, I feel Legends still deserves a bit of recognition in its own right.

While this game has been showcased in this year's SGDQ, as well as through a couple of Hotfix events, my hope to submit it for Disaster Relief Done Quick is to either showcase the second playable character in Bonnie, or the Cannonless run for Belle. Neither of which have seen a GDQ appearance. As the second game launched by indie dev, Colorgrave and clearly inspired by the Game Boy Color's aesthetic, Curse Crackers: For Whom the Belle Toils is a super fun platformer where you play as a former performer, Belle in the same world as Prodigal. Acrobatic and accompanied by her bell companion, Chime, the gameplay allows you to zoom and fly by the seat of your pants.

Blaze Blue Entropy Effect is a fast paced 2D roguelike using the character from the Blaze Blue series. From dash canceling attacks to dash canceling shopping this is a very fast paced game with 4 stages with 8 rooms each, and a final stage to beat the final boss.

Vampire lady go slash, kick, walk/roll out of bounds and destroy a world-ending cult.

A new Jet-Set-inspired graffiti-platformer, BRC is a breakout indie hit from last year that keeps it old-school in New Amsterdam. With open-ended levels, unique story progression, and some absurd speedrun glitches, BRC makes for a fantastic speedrun. However, it makes for an *even better* bingo game. Removing all the annoying skips? Check. Keeping all of the sauce? Also check. Introducing a huge depth of strategy on top of it all? Well, duh, it's bingo.

Cry of Fear is a psychological horror game that uses the Gold Source engine. You play as Simon who is desperately searching for answers in the cold Scandinavian night, finding his way through the city as he slowly descends into madness.

A new Jet-Set-inspired graffiti-platformer, BRC is a breakout indie hit from last year that keeps it old-school in New Amsterdam. With open-ended levels, unique story progression, and some absurd speedrun glitches, BRC makes for a fantastic speedrun. However, it makes for an *even better* bingo game. Removing all the annoying skips? Check. Keeping all of the sauce? Also check. Introducing a huge depth of strategy on top of it all? Well, duh, it's bingo.

Top contender for Ugliest Protagonist Award™ 2024, Gori is a 3D horror-platformer Slash-n-Bash. I have to end the game description here because I only know what I need for the speedrun. Its story continues to be a mystery. But it's a surprisingly great speedrun! I think it might be nominated for the Most Time Spent Out of Bounds Award?

What's better than a dog speedrun? What about TWO dogs in the SAME speedrun? Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines is the sequel to 2022 indie platformer Grapple Dog. The duology is a pair of highly technical 2D platformers that take speed and momentum conservation to the max! In Grapple Dogs, you play as Pablo and Luna, two dogs with their own unique movesets. They can grapple, dash, punch, bounce, and bunny hop, taking us through 5 worlds that encompass countless dimensions - all on a quest to defeat Vyr and reunite the Alkrystal.

This is a Traditional RPG that is all about good vs Evil. We play as a party of various adventures with their own special skills, and we are off to save the world from the Dark Dragons.

This game is a RPG from 1994, that blends notes of nostalgic, Absurdity, and the esoteric, into a light hearted loveable RPG that will tug on the nostalgic hearts of every 90s kid. Playing as Ness journey through the world to save it from an unknowable evil that threatens the land with Feral Beasts, and even worse...Grumpy old men. Journey with your new friends who each have their own skills, see the sights, and save the world.

We all know the Film has a "Reputation", but it's Videogame Counterpart is an interesting piece as well. As a Racing Game, not only do you Race across Over-The-Top Tracks, but also escape Enemies, & kick Car Butt with a Selection of Spy Gadgets. Plus, after 13 Years, anyone down to talk about the Film?

A good old fashioned Swordfighing Game that's fun, & intriguing to play. All in just a little over an Hour.

Anyone can cook, but sometimes you need help. This time it's about helping Remy not just with Cooking, but on how to exist well while Platforming.

Submitting as part of the TASBot showcase (we are limited to 3 games and I have been asked by dwangoAC to add a couple more :P). Castlevania is a classic NES game originally released in 1986. In 2020, a technique known as the Scroll Glitch was discovered which allows altering the level layouts at will. The TAS makes very heavy and flashy use for it.

Submitting as part of the TASBot showcase (we are limited to 3 games and I have been asked by dwangoAC to add a couple more :P). Gimmick! is a game by Sunsoft originally released in 1992, only in Japan and a few nordic countries. It has the peculiar gimmick (hah) of being able to use a star both as a projectile and as a rideable platform. The TAS can make unreal use of it.

Submitting as part of the TASBot showcase (we are limited to 3 games and I have asked SBDWolf to submit this one). SBDWolf and dwangoAC will provide commentary for this run. Castlevania is a classic NES game originally released in 1986. In 2020, a technique known as the Scroll Glitch was discovered which allows altering the level layouts at will. The TAS makes very heavy and flashy use for it.

Submitting as part of the TASBot showcase (we are limited to 3 games and dwangoAC is submitting this one because TASBot ran out of slots). Dogecyanide and dwangoAC will provide commentary for this run. zelpikukirby & Goldfire use tools to show just how nimble the famed plumber can be. Focusing on revenge rather than reparation, they bring the perpetrator to justice after collecting only 43 shine sprites, leaving plenty of time for Mario and his friends to indulge in the rest and relaxation they originally set out to enjoy.

Classic 2d platformer that started the series that we all know and love.

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Played on the newly-released Dominus Collection, Dawn of Sorrow is a direct follow-up to the beloved Aria of Sorrow. It's best known for two things: its engaging soul system gameplay loop, and its "What if?" Julius Mode scenario. The two runs I'm submitting for this game try to highlight these strengths with a couple of very enjoyable speedrun categories.

Portrait of Ruin remains one of the most fascinating Metroidvania speedgames, and it's been given new life thanks to the Dominus Collection. With four different character modes and all kinds of technical tricks, there are countless ways to run (and break) this classic.

The face of the newly released Castlevania Dominus Collection, Order of Ecclesia Glitchless is the best Castlevania speedrun period. It is a run with heavy emphasis on combat, movement, and menuing. The first half of the run features quick backdash cancels through all the levels with intense boss fights, and the second half features mind boggling movement involving throwing yourself around with magnets (47:00 VOD timer) and "blink of you miss it" boss quick kills (37:00 VOD timer) that are sure to impress. Willing to do this as a bid war with Portrait of Ruin All Bosses if desired due to their similar length.

Portrait of Ruin is an amazing speedgame that features management of both characters. Using both characters, we can utilize unique speed tech such as slide cancels and partner jumps. For a run on the collection see: https://youtu.be/wza-tLxzwF8

FSA is the best Zelda Any% run. This is a run that has been a huge success in GDQs before. Highly technical with the management of all four links being a top priority.

This game has all of the best movement and combat techniques the Castlevania series is known for as well as brand new glitches discovered due to the wider availability of the game from the release of the Dominus collection.

Submitting as part of the TASBot showcase (we are limited to 3 games and dwangoAC asked me, TASBot, to submit this one). Dimon12321 (an author of the TAS) and dwangoAC will provide commentary for this run. This run illustrates the advantage of using two-player mode, which Dimon12321, Aglar & dragonxyk improve upon the previous movie by 00:41.33 by exploiting the collision physics between the two chipmunks which causes them to zip across the levels, as well as some other neat tricks.

Submitting as part of the TASBot showcase (we are limited to 3 games and dwangoAC asked me, TASBot, to submit this one). Tompa (an author of the TAS) and dwangoAC will provide commentary for this run. This run is 00:25.39 seconds faster than the previous TAS, mostly due to new routes using glitches in the levels Jungle Hijinx and Platform Perils. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are on a quest to retrieve the former's banana horde from the Kremlings. They are doing it as quickly as possible, without bothering to enter all the bonus rooms.

Submitting as part of the TASBot showcase (we are limited to 3 games and I have asked SBDWolf to submit this one). SBDWolf (an author of the TAS) and dwangoAC will provide commentary for this run. Gimmick! is a game by Sunsoft originally released in 1992, only in Japan and a few nordic countries. It has the peculiar gimmick (hah) of being able to use a star both as a projectile and as a rideable platform. The TAS can make unreal use of it.

The first kart racing style game in the Chocobo sub-series to the Final Fantasy series. Similar to Diddy Kong Racing, you can "stack" levels of items to make them more powerful.

A farming simulator similar to the Bokujou Monogatari/Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon series, but a little more realistic. You play as a traveler who moves to the town of Shepherd's Crossing, tasked with running a farm. Trade and farm your way into becoming a trusted member of the village!

A point and click adventure game designed by Christy Marx and published by Sierra On-Line in 1991.It features VGA graphics and Sierra's standard icon-driven interface first (as seen in previous GDQ speedgame King's Quest V). The player assumes the role of the legendary Robin Hood in his efforts to restore King Richard I to the throne of England. To do so, he must collect enough money to pay the king's ransom while avoiding the efforts of the Sheriff of Nottingham to capture and hang him and all his men.

In the developer's own words: Laugh your way through the toughest adventure you'll ever love. Hot off the heels of Big Bad Game-a-thon, Maddog Williams is a gem of a point and click adventure game perfect for any of your Silly Block needs. Goofy puzzles, exhilarating "combat", and an incredible sense of fashion. Maddog must be seen to be believed.

Corpse Party is one of the most iconic RPG Maker horror games of all time. It's a nostalgic, charmingly 16-bit horror that involves a lot of precise routing, tight dodging around ghosts and some silly tricks and ziplines to escape Heavenly Host Elementary as fast as possible and return to the normal plane.

A legendarily rare PS2 horror game, this game was taboo for a long time for various reasons. Which is disappointing because this is one of the oldest instances of a sapphic romance that I know of. The game revolves around a girl going back to her abusive orphanage to process her trauma and told in a storybook format. The game is fantastical, scary, and fun while also having some really interesting exploration of trauma and fun speedrun tech.

The speediest raccoon you've ever seen. Watch Sly fly across Wales, Utah, Haiti, China and Russia in the quest to get back his family's legacy as fast as he possibly can. Any% provides the fastest possible means, combining some fun world skips and tight platforming. All keys visits every level "as the devs intended" (wink) and showcases the nostalgia that viewers love in their PS2 platformer. And finally, the premier category of coinless 100% is the ultimate challenge to keep an audience on the edge of their seat the entire time. The routing for coinless 100% is mechanically in depth and incredibly precise for the whole run to provide amazing content.

Crow Country is one of the hot new indie games of the year! Crow Country is a modern game with a classic survival horror PS1 experience akin to the Resident Evil games but with the blocky aesthetics of Final Fantasy 7. The story is about a girl named Mara who travels to the abandoned amusement park, Crow Country, in search of the park's owner and to get answers about the park's mysterious closing. The speedrun features your typical survival horror speedrun beats: Optimal lines and movement, close call enemy dodges and inventory management all in a quick jog through pure PS1 era nostalgia.

Hylics 2 is the wackiest game you've probably never heard. With a graphic style that includes hand molded clay models, pixel art and stop motion animations, there is truly nothing else like it. At it's core, Hylics 2 is a turn based RPG with some light platforming elements. The story is about a crew of strange but likeable characters who are trying to stop the big bad from turning the world into a bunch mindless gibberish speaking people.

Rhythmic beatdowns! While no stranger to the GDQ stage, Crypt of the NecroDancer has a huge variety of ways to experience the game, some of which push the boundaries of what is possible in a live marathon setting.

Old-school first person shooter with 6-degrees-of-freedom movement! Decsent Maximum is the level set from the PSX port of the classic Descent II (which made an appearance at AGDQ 2017), featuring much smaller levels and a smoother powerup curve throughout the run, making for a shorter run with a bit more variety on the weapons front. A challenging and disorienting run with very difficult-to-optimize movement tech.

Night at the Museum certainly doesn't do a lot to escape the cliches about the quality of video game adaptations of movies, but it still makes for a fun little speedrun! Would fit in a silly/bad games block.

Cult of the Lamb is a cute, cozy, comfy Cult simulator! The Lamb shall take overs your life and rule the cult with the Gentle Wooly Will of the One Who Waits.

A roguelike and city builder where you play Lambert, the promised vessel of The One Who Waits! Build your cult, recruit followers and battle the bishops of the old faith to free your patron and unlock the power of the Red Crown!

A procedurally generated Roguelike where you escape hell, get some payback, and maybe just bring your family back together. Just remember - There Is No Escape…

This is a brand new hack made by Slopcore, that is visually stunning and very beginner friendly. This hack is short and sweet but shows a very entry-level look at kaizo while still looking impressive.

A new kaizo Intermediate hack by RandomType192. This hack is very fast and flashy but also short and consistent. This hack focuses primarily on fast pipe transitions and shell tricks.

An older but fantastic hack by Margot for SMW. This hack is very pretty, visually impressive, and difficult. This run is hard and not super short, but makes for a fantastic speed game when done well!

What happen when you add another Dead Rising to the 18 year old Dead Rising game? You game DRDR...or Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. This remaster from Capcom brings back Frank West as he traverse through the zombies in the Willamette Mall. Do you like the original Dead Rising speedruns? Well you're in luck! Timeskip mod? More like timeskip ADDED INTO THE GAME! No autosaves? We now have autosaves! The quality of life is so refreshing when you watch a DRDR speedrun!

Think Punch Out, but slapping! The Dark Souls of slapping. This is Rose and Camellia, a flash-game-turned-Switch-port about royalty, power, and being able to slap your foes to destruction! There's ACTUAL TECH in this game such as a "slap rush buildup" or the "slap technique" because it's done on the joycon's motion controls.

Death's Gambit Afterlife is an Indie Metroidvania that has seen a recent surge in popularity (based on increased activity in its subreddit and Discord server) following a sale on Epic in which it was available for free. It features RPG-elements (such as distributable skill points and various ability trees), challenging boss battles, exceptional voice acting (including prominent voice actors such as Matthew Mercer) and a top-tier soundtrack. At the time of this submission, I am the World Record holder for Ending A on Speedrun.com, and hold 2nd place for Ending C. This run may be particularly engaging for viewers because, early in the run, we activate perma-death. However this run is very consistent and marathon safe; if the runner dies, it loses little time to force-close the game and reload from the last save point. Viewers may not know this, and be on the edge of their seat with concern over the run being lost if the runner dies. Thank you very much for considering this run!

The breakout 6-degrees-of-freedom FPS features difficult movement with a trichording technique to move 73% faster at the cost of reduced ship control and weapon accuracy, surprisingly very few sequence breaks in this game and mostly relies on efficient combat and map knowledge to handle the labyrinths. Since the last showcase at AGDQ 2015, a new glitch has been applied to freeze the boss enemies and their timers and the route has been overhauled to both include more deathwarps and safer combat strats for a smoother run. Who doesn't want to pilot a ship called the Pyro-GX anyways?

Mega Man.EXE dives into the net once again to save the world but this time in a 2D platformer reminiscent of the classic series while maintaining RPG elements of the Battle Network universe, randomized chip draws make for some interesting improvisation moments and the solid slide movement combines with the amazing soundtrack to create a stunning run! Since the last showcase at AGDQ 2017, more consistent strategies and better play have dropped the record by over 3 minutes and the run is far more marathon-safe thanks to better backup improv strats.

I smash arrows really quickly to awesome music, sometimes up to 8 at the same time! Pump It Up's diverse songlist ranges from K-Pop licenses to commissioned original songs composed for the series to even more sometimes bizarre licenses and the flow of the 5-panel arrow layout leads to a very flashy showcase no matter what is played, always a bop to show off! Since the last PIU showcase at SGDQ 2020, a new version of the game has released and over 100 new songs have been added to the game; this showcase will focus on songs that were not in the SGDQ 2020 songlist.

Dicey Dungeons is a deck building, roguelike, dungeon crawler where humans have been turned into dice to play in Lady Luck's game show, "Dicey Dungeons". Little do they know that the game is rigged against them.

HONK!!! WHO STOLE MY SANDWICH?! Duck Detective: The Secret Salami is a detective game where down-on-his-luck duck Eugene McQuacken is hired to solve the case of a missing lunch. However, this mystery soon turns into something much larger and sinister. Who is the Salami Bandit and what is their goal? With Paper Mario-like visuals, influences from Return of the Obra Dinn and classic film noir detective stories, and plenty of silly puns, this game is sure to get a honk of approval from every viewer!

The Sims 4 is a free-to-play life simulation game with endless possibilities and some wild secrets.

One of the most iconic and fast racing game speedrun out there, plenty of tricks and glitches to showcase on top of the amazing ost. Very technical for all 3 vehicul with completly different styles of driving. It also had quite a few out of bounds and wrong warps to spice up the route.

Not only one of the most well known mario karts, but one of the most well known kart racing game there is, MK64 seems like a simple game on the surface, but speedrunning tricks has turned this gem of a game into something truly impressive when the rng lines up!

How do always win a board game? Well if its Disney themed, with Friendship! You still need to play well to win all the overall awards, but in order to end the game quicker help your friends, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, or Billy the Ghost Furnace (he's new) so that one of them gets bingo first. The route in which we move in the map is completely random, the mini games too everytime, so there's no telling to which part of the park we will be moving to and playing mini games in. I know chat will enjoy the entry and the sillyness and magic that's waiting for them in this speedrun.

Final Fantasy 7 Characters meet Tetsuya Nomura's other original character in one of the most slept on Battle Arena Games ever. The game is even made by the famous Seiichi Ishii, of Tekken and Virtua Fighter. This time around we use a variety of tricks and our cool arsenal of attacks to close out the fights. A Nostalgic kick to the face, but one that chat can get excited about, especially the incentive!

Project Arms is a 3D Beat Em' Up Game, that has one of the coolest unlock systems in the game. Nearly any enemy you fight against in the game is playable, so that is our main incentive. This game uses hitbox abuse to 1 hit traps and some big enemies, instant air jumps and some actual platforming around enemies to navigate to the correct room. Its the standard battle of good vs evil with non stop action.

Roll your Kongs part 2

One of the most technical 2D speedruns out there. Definitely a fine test of thinking on the fly, and execution The game casual viewers know for save vs kill the animals at many GDQs

Zelda LADX is an enhanced re-release of Link's Awakening and a sequel to ALttP. It's a 2D Zelda game with a lot of unique movement and a wild amount of different tech

DOOM (2016) was the reboot of the classic boomer shooter series from id Software. It features fast-paced combat and a ton of skips and speedtech. Fans of glitches love this game for just how silly broken it is.

Fashion Police Squad is a colorful boomer shooter where you assume the role of officer Desmond of the Fashion Police Squad. You go around fashionizing errant dress code criminals who where drab or ill-fitting suits, socks with sandals, or... speedos [shudders]. The game is silly and always seems to have another joke waiting just around the corner.

Nex Machina is a shmup from Housemarque, the makers of Returnal, and is a love letter to Super Smash TV, the NES classic. Players must work their way through a series of rooms, controlling a character from an isometric camera and collecting powerups and subweapons to more quickly dispatch the hordes that constantly spawn to swarm you.

The 2016 reboot of the DOOM series completely revitalized the arena shooter subgenre, paving the way for many more arena shooter FPS titles in the years since just like its 1993 predecessor.

Developed by id Software, and originally released in 1993, DOOM pioneered and popularized the first-person shooter, setting a standard for all FPS games. The critically acclaimed sequel, DOOM II, followed in 1994. Now the definitive, newly enhanced versions of DOOM + DOOM II are available as a combined product.

Doronko Wanko (or Muddy Puppy) is a cute and silly destruction simulator. A small Pomeranian moves into a new house with its family and promptly destroys the place while the family isn't paying attention. Featuring hidden paintings, paint guns, and a mysterious summoning circle, this game has a lot of fun packed into a small package ... just like a Pomeranian! WOOF! WOOF!

This game is a spinoff of the Dragon Quest RPG series, where you command a team of monsters from the series in 3v3 turn-based combat. Viewers may compare the combat and monster fusion mechanics to Pokemon or SMT/Persona. This game has a lot of content in it that you can skip if your monsters are powerful enough to survive the next area, so with good routing and understanding of the mechanics, you can blaze through the game.

This humble piece of arcade lore is quite the gem. We will be playing as Dirk the Daring to rescue Princess Daphne from the evil dragon Singe across a series of quick time cutscenes designed to ruin our livelihood, but we will fight until the end! The version being offered was released on Steam as part of the Dragon's Lair Trilogy and features the same gorgeous animation, quirky characters, and laughs o'plenty of the arcade original, with a slightly upscaled HD look.

With the release of the Marvel vs. Capcom collection in 2024, this little known gem has been reintroduced into the world, and it has a heck of a speedrun to boot. With the release of the collection imminent, I took it upon myself to learn the run Capcom really pulled out all of the stops with the presentation of this game with the gorgeous sprite work and topnotch soundtrack, but the real selling point is the combat. There isn't much you can't do in this game, though admittedly, a lot of our spare time is used for dropping grenades. The quest to bring down the Kingpin will feature some wonderful-looking fast boss kills, enemy grouping of many varieties, and of course, the best character in the game... the bus driver. I will also be offering a character bidwar as donation incentive, as both Punisher and Nick Fury have respectable and similar runs with some minor tweaks, with no changes in the estimate.

An arcade classic featuring America's favorite family brawling their way to rescue baby Maggie from the diamond-stealing Mr. Burns. The run has been showcased in the past by yours truly at SGDQ 2020, and it's due for a return! To speedrun the game is to 1CC it since fast strats don't deplete resources, though RNG does have the chance of depleting time. I will also be offering a character bidwar as donation incentive for all four playable characters: Marge, Homer, Bart, and Lisa.

DuckTales Remastered is the 2013 remake of the classic 1989 NES game based on the hit animated TV series DuckTales. This remake stays true to the original while also expanding upon it, featuring much of the original cast of the show. With a hand drawn animation style, it feels like playing an episode! Scrooge McDuck, armed only with his trusty cane, explores the world searching for treasure with his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to solve 32 Wordles at once? Let me introduce you to Duotrigordle. Casually, Duotrigordle already demands a high level of word/pattern recognition to complete, and often requires players to have an extensive vocabulary. But in a speedrun, you need to demonstrate your puzzle-solving prowess both quickly, and with a rather thin margin of error. It takes a great deal of practice to single out the words required to solve a puzzle, and since you only have 37 guesses to determine 32 words, mitigating unnecessary risky guesses is crucial. Each puzzle provides a randomly generated set of 32 words, making every run improv-heavy, yet runs are still consistent, at a high level. In my case, I have a success rate of over 95%, with an average solve time of about 1.6 minutes per puzzle. With this in mind, I'm confident this would be a great way to showcase how well Wordle-based games can fit into a speedrun marathon setting.

ElecHead is a 2D puzzle-platformer focused around using the power of electricity to manipulate your environment and return energy to the world. You play as Elec, a robot whose head constantly pours out electricity. When combined with his ability to throw his head, removing it from his body completely, these mechanics combine to make a superbly designed experience, with retro-inspired graphics to give the game a healthy dose of charm.

With its quirky humor, modern setting, memorable graphics, and fantastic soundtrack, there's no wonder that everyone is always looking for the next "Indie-developed Earthbound-inspired" game of the year. While the RPG genre is typically chock full of knights and swords and spears and magic, with brooding Dark Knights and purple-clad spearmen who betray you, Earthbound instead brings pizza pies, baseball bats, yo-yos, trashburgers, arcade machines, and so much more! As a speedgame, Earthbound demands players carefully plan around a limited, cumbersome inventory while navigating tight corridors through swamps and deep water full of enemies that serve to wear you down before the game's tough bosses. This all culminates in a final boss fight where Paula, who is often the character with the least defense, must survive for you to win. If that's not enough challenge, Pokey% trades the party leader away for literally no combat power, and leaves Paula at level one, to boot!

Link's fourth adventure set a long list of series firsts, not the least of which being the first handheld title. While earlier games had instruments, this was the first game to make the instrument central to the plot with multiple songs to play. Fishing minigames and long trading sequences make their debut in Link's Awakening, but the titular Zelda is nowhere to be found. What started out as a side-project porting Link to the Past to Game Boy turned into a fun game full of easter eggs and cross-references and a welcome change of pace for the series. As a speedgame, the original feels much more fast-paced than the remake (mostly due to a teeny screen), and requires careful inventory management to swap your multitude of items while navigating precisely, sometimes with sub-pixel perfection, to get where you want to quickly. The original also offers many glitches over its successors, allowing for interesting out-of-bounds and sequence breaking opportunities for those who know the way.

In a typical RPG world, your typical RPG party of a typical fighter, typical cleric, typical rogue, and typical some-other-class-i-forget set out on a typical adventure to defeat the typical dark lord. But the true adventure lies in the journey, not the destination or the friends we make along the way. This completely non-typical """""RPG""""" defies the very definition of the genre, nay, of RPG Maker itself, and demands the player bring their best reflexes to the table if they want to survive.

Echo Point Nova is an open world FPS with a big focus on combat and movement. With a boundless open world and a tool-kit built for speed, there's a world of opportunities to tackle the platforming challenges, colossal bosses, and world-spanning adventures of every corner of this game. It's also got a grappling hook! Every great fps has a grappling hook!

Peglin is a Pachinko Roguelike. All the fun of pachinko, with all the decision making and randomness of a roguelike deckbuilder. Has some of the highs of the other great games of the genre, along with a spherious amount of orb puns.

This is a muscle-fueled rampage of defeating buff dudes, sharks with legs, buildings with arms, with all the hallmarks of a great fps speedrun. Balancing high stakes combat, rocket jumping, and other wacky hijinks, there's no indie boomer shooter quite like Super Buff HD.

Elden Ring! GotY 2022, the most recent of FromSoft's "Souls" games, and with a recently released DLC "Shadow of the Erdtree", this game is one of the most difficult and expansive experiences you will ever see. Some bosses are so difficult that many players will spend tens of hours just to best them a single time, especially with some of the final bosses in the DLC that many would call the hardest bosses of all time. My submissions focus on the DLC content, either showing off how to set up and defeat the DLC from a new character, or focusing entirely on the DLC through a randomizer.

Kannagi Usagi is very heavily inspired by Sekiro, using the same system of deflects and counters. However, the game is non-stop action, with the entire game being one big boss rush through the 8 bosses in the game, each taking around a minute and a half. The speedrun is more interesting than it may seem at first, because there are so many options to speed up the fights with risky punishes, sometimes only having a single frame to get a punish within the window. It's a quick, colorful, cute, and fun run that doesn't overstay its welcome.

Game of the Year 2019 and my favorite speedrun game of all time, Sekiro remains an enduring staple of FromSoft speedrunning. Its unique twist on the "souls" style of game ramps up the speed, focusing on back-and-forth deflection based combat, and creating quick vertical world traversal with the introduction of the grappling hook. There is almost no time wasted, no matter the category, as the game is filled with skips and intense boss fights back-to-back. It should come as no surprise that it is the most actively speedrun FromSoft game, one of the top 100 most active games on speedrun.com, and continues to have huge innovations in the routes to this day, including a new skip that was discovered just a few months ago.

Eliminator Boat Duel is the greatest 1-on-1 boat racing game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, yet has astonishingly never been featured in a GDQ before. A speedrun of this game looks *very* unlike a casual playthrough, with lots of aggressive quick-kill strats that save huge amounts of time. I pioneered this run and route myself, so I will have lots of game mechanics to explain throughout the run.

Escape Goat 2 is a lovely Indie puzzle platformer that hasn't been seen at a GDQ since 2016. This game has no RNG, and tons and tons of impressive speedstrats that makes short work of the game's many levels through precise movement tech and clever routing. At the core of the speedtech is something called a "Boost Jump" - a technical trick that allows the player to jump one tile higher than the intended solutions were designed for. This movement is both challenging, and leads to some very impressive looking solutions. Another major piece of tech, called "Rat Shielding" is regularly used in very precise ways to block lethal attacks from enemies, rather than relying on the intended routes. These levels are always very impressive to watch, as it is often only a matter of a few pixels between death and the optimum strat.

Marble Madness II is the unreleased time capsule that shocked the community by appearing on the Internet in May of 2022 and making debut on the big stage at AGDQ 2024. Unlike its predecessor, Marble Madness II uses power-ups and single-tap boosting to create a brand new experience that is amazing to behold. Runners will use precise glitches and shortcuts to save frames while navigating mazes at speeds far beyond the original Marble Madness.

Enter the Gungeon is a top-down, roguelike, bullet hell game with a robust speedrun following. Every run is unique and we must collect items, battle bosses, and solve floor RNG layouts to proceed quickly. Viewers both familiar & not will enjoy the showcase of skill required defeat the Gungeon's challenges.

Étoile Princesse is an action RPG for the Sharp X68000. It is one of the few games in this style for the system and is an excellent showcase of the hardware and the unique gameplay mechanics this game has. It's a stage-based game with an emphasis on platforming and navigation of each stage, solving puzzles and clearing out enemy obstacles with a giant boss battle at the end of each stage. The game has a mechanic that has you collecting and swapping active party members during each stage allowing for a variety of moves and actions to attack each obstacle.

Evoland is an indie game inspired by many genre-defining old school classics like The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and even Diablo. The main gimmick of the game is that the game and its graphics, music, and even mechanics evolve as you progress through the game, starting out as a black & white 8-bit title with no sounds, and ending in a fully 3D world with a full soundtrack and multiple gameplay mechanics.

Levelhead is a 2D platformer maker game with a robust level editor and a devoted community. The game's main unique gameplay feature is the package, which is a grabbable object that is required to bring to the goal of every level. It is also used for platforming, and a lot of tech revolves around it as well, like the Super Jump, where you jump off of the package in midair while regrabbing it. The editor allows for complex level design, mainly through the game's switch and channel system.

Rebel Transmute is an indie Metroidvania inspired by all of the greats of the genre, coming together into its own fun package. You play as Moon Mikono, searching for her mother after crashlanding on the planet where she was last seen. Along the way, you'll collect upgrades, fight bosses, platform all over, everything you'd expect from a game in the genre, but with a good slew of movement tricks and difficult combat as well. Between bomb bounces, super bounces, super bomb bounces, lots of schmoovement and more, the game is a pleasure both to speedrun and watch.

The arcade counterpart to F-Zero GX, now featuring unique speedtech! Blast through 6 courses without your hands breaking from snaking!

The first handheld entry in the fast-paced F-Zero racing series on Nintendo systems. Abusing the mechanics normally meant to make you slower to go faster and allow for speedy and cool driving lines around corners at high speeds. Hyper-aggressive cpus and randomly spawning mines allow for a very intense risk-reward system to either kill your speed or send you speeding ahead for great advantage.

The F-Zero everybody wanted when Nintendo wouldn't give it to us on the Wii. Break the boundaries and perform broken skips on 12 tracks!

Fable Anniversary was released to celebrate 10 years since the release of Fable for the Xbox back in 2004. I invite you to embark on a nostalgic journey through the remaster of a game that started a beloved action-RPG series and traverse the hills and forests of Albion, a land as diverse as it is hazardous and beautiful, as we assume the role of the Hero of Oakvale in his quest to right the wrongs the malicious Void entity Jack of Blades wrought upon him and his family.

A short licensed platformer based on the failed cartoon; perfect for a kusoge or jank block.

Final Fantasy VI Worlds Collide is an open world randomizer of the beloved Square classic. Runners start with an airship and access to both worlds and can freely traverse both. Runners race to beat the game by acquiring the requisite pieces of magicite and character to unlock the final battle. Once the final battle is unlocked, runners head to Kefka's tower and attempt to beat the game. In this edition of the randomizer bosses, chest contents characters abilities and item shops are shuffled. Players attempt to find 6 characters along with 9 magicite. Bosses and enemies scale based on the number of pieces of progression the runner has acquired.

Final Fantasy XVI is more action-oriented than its predecessors which lends itself to some interesting aspects of its speedrun. The run is full of interesting fights, abilities, and movement tech that reward deep learning of the game's systems. The game is also full of memorable cinematic fights between the main protagonist and iconic (or Eikonic?) foes familiar to longtime Final Fantasy fans. Speedruns of the game move at a breakneck pace through these various modes.

Run and gun platformers staring hololive vtubers

Mega Man fan game whose run stands out from the rest due its use of Nitro Man, who has a glitch allowing him to fly in the air and fall through floors.

The x game with swapping characters and 3d sections. Run uses the most powerful weapons constantly

Expanding beyond the first Game Boy Color arcade port of Frogger 1, Frogger 2 has our favorite Frog embark on a brand new adventure! Unlike Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge, Frogger 2 (GBC) is its own thing, with the task of hopping your way through five vast worlds in a mission to rescue all five baby frogs! With each area having it's own sets of varied levels, distinct themes, and heavy usage of the game's soundtrack as metronome to go for fast and meaningful routes from level-to-level, there's a lot to experience in this game!

Martial Artist and action-hero Jackie Chan has chip on his should, as his uncle's scrolls have been stollen by a shadowy organization known as the Dark Hand. Relive the renowned 2000s TV series Jackie Chan Adventures in an action-adventure beat em' up game that sees our hero handle all the baddies, retrieve the lost goods and travel around the world. Speedrunning GBA Jackie Chan Adventures requires a good understanding of combat techniques, enemy AI behavior, and stage design to discern where they'll be most swift and efficient in dismantling each and every single enemy encounter.

About half a decade ago, Wild Animal Sports Day was showcased at AGDQ 2020...well, the creator of that game also made an another game called Wild Animal Racing, and it's just as goofy! The premise of this game is as straightforward as it sounds: you and five other wild animals are racing to win. Of course, watering it down to just that wouldn't do justice to the absurdity this game reaches in its gameplay, racing physics engine, and CPU interactions!

Frogun Encore - the sequel to Frogun - takes Froguns concept of moving around 3D plattforming by slinging yourself towards walls and other stuff and turns it up to eleven. By adding a sling jump, the main character Renata's movement becomes super fast allowing for loads of risky jumps and tricks to skip large sections of the game's 20 levels while looking incredibly swaggy (if you hit the tricks 1st try haha).

Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy is a Nintendo DS tie-in game released two days before the first FMA movie. It recounts the story of the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime (not Brotherhood), featuring audio and graphics taken directly from the show. Gameplay is mostly a side scrolling beat-'em-up, where one screen is used for the combat and the other is used for casting alchemy, solving puzzles, and completing mini-games. The run is fairly precise and mimics runs like Mega Man in terms of precision and execution.

Midnight Fight Express is essentially John Wick the game - an isometric modern beat-'em-up with extensive motion-captured animations that bring its frenetic weapon and martial arts combat to life. It also has an amazing sense of humor, including everything from fighting Chef Favreau with a flamethrower to game developers wearing onesies and wielding nerf guns. It is a fairly challenging run and always super entertaining.

Small Saga is a turn-based RPG featuring amazing hand drawn art and is reminiscent of older Final Fantasy games. Beneath the streets of London, an angry mouse named Verm seeks revenge against the god of death (exterminator) who stole his tail. The story takes place throughout the kingdom of Rodentia, with worldbuilding focused on the lives of mice, birds, squirrels, and other small creatures living amongst the giant landscape of humanity. The gameplay is highly choreographed RPG-fare and the incredible artwork will make it super entertaining for everyone.

The Super Sentai that came to the US as Power Rangers Turbo, for when you've gotta go fast, save the "Earsh" and "fight for traffic safety," this is the game for you!

how to become a god 101

hello kitty or bad badtz-maru saving sanrio from the evil block army

romhack of super metroid that gives you a completely new experience. the map is completely new, new music has been added, new items and much more.

Hard Corps Uprising is a Prequel Contra game on the ps3 & xbox systems. Your goal is to get through 8 stages. with the fastest end game time without losing power ups from pit falls or knock downs.

3D platformer starring Hello Kitty as she rolls around on skates to save her friends and family. This game is all about movement and combat, using special moves to take down bosses quickly.

Sonic the Hedgehog's first big 3D game with multiple characters in this case, Tails! High speed flying and some wall clipping makes for a crazy run!

A 2D racing game with Unicycles, all about performing tricks and going fast on many varied tracks and stunt courses.

this game is if tony hawk was combined with hades. this game is in early access but it is so interesting as an extreme sports game with combat, combos, and so so so much style.

this is the like boomer shooter to inspire modern movement shooters. this game has snappy movement with great flow and interesting levels.

this is a new indie grafitti platformer with so much style and tech. the game lets you animation cancel which can be applied to almost anything in the game, without becoming overly dependent on 1 trick for the whole half hour run.

Hey You Pikachu! is a virtual pet spinoff game from the Pokemon series, and is one of two games for the N64 to use the Voice Recognition Unit accessory. In this game we are tasked by Professor Oak to speak to a wild Pikachu and be friends with it, using a series of in game tools and completing a series of missions to deepen the bond between Pokemon and child.

Shadow of War is the sequel game to Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, both set in the Lord of The Rings film franchise and drawing from the original literature. This game features returning Lord of The Rings characters along with brand new ones. The runs for this game feature distinct stories of 3 characters. Those characters being, the main character Talion: possessed by the Elf Wraith Celebrimbor after having forged a new ring of power. The side character Eltarial: directly after the end of Talion's story, and a minor character Baranor: who went elsewhere on his own during the main story. Each character within their story has their own unique tools and mechanics, but are all focused on defeating the Dark Lord Sauron and his Armies of Orcs, Ologs and Nazgul.

Horizon Forbidden West is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Horizon Zero Dawn. We continue Aloy's journey to save the world as signs of it dying continue throughout the world. She'll encounter new dangerous machines in the West and uncover the secrets of an evil that threatens the state and livelihood of the world even further. Time is running out, which means we need a speedrunner to get through this game quick and restore the planet. This run includes lots of little movement tech and weapon handling strategies to push Aloy's heroic potential to the second. As a sequel, this game presents TONS of new gameplay features and quality of life additions over Zero Dawn that adds a lot of new spice to runs from valor surges, new mounts, new personal effects and buffs, new weapons, and more combat improvements.

Rift Apart is the latest entry in the Ratchet & Clank Series that released in 2021. Play between Ratchet and Rivet as we confront interdimensional portal shenanigans with a whole arsenal of weapons (and an arsenal of strats and glitches). It's a high quality modern PlayStation platformer that has amazing movement tech that lets you soar the skies and flows so well from checkpoint to checkpoint.

Horizon Zero Dawn follows Aloy, a charismatic character on the search to find out who she truly is and stop a machine conspiracy, in a tribal landscape filled with glorious and angry machines. The game features a variety of fun combat options ranging from traps, giant machine gun arms, electricity cannons and the good ole fashioned bow and arrow. Mount up on dangerous machines and travel the vast lands

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered as the title implies is the remastered version of the classic Insomniac game from 2018. including better graphics, faster performance and over all a better experience. We will be using all of Spidey's cool gadgets and tools to take down bad guys and beat the game as fast as possible. NOTE: Can also be Run on PS5, for better quality and faster loads

Rift Apart is the latest adventure between the Dynamic Duo, featuring amazing new traversal tech and cool new gadgets and weapons. Join Ratchet Clank and newcomer Rivet as they try to save the multiverse in classic Ratchet and Clank Style! Rift Apart features Satisfying movement with the hoverboots and impressive skips

Horizon Zero Dawn is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game was released for PlayStation 4 in 2017 and Windows in 2020. As the first game of the Horizon video game series, the game follows Aloy, a young hunter in a world overrun by machines, who sets out to uncover her past.

Icarus is a Super Mario World fan mod focused on precision platforming. This relatively new fan mod was released earlier this year by CircleFriendo, featuring a series of 8 short levels comprised of one screen precision obstacles. The game takes place in space, and features a great deal of custom graphics and aesthetics. As a speedrun, this game is a short, sweet, blink and you'll miss it sprint through a variety of very hard precision challenges.

Mycelium is an intermediate difficulty kaizo Super Mario World fan mod. The game is unique by being structured without an overworld, rather a series of hub areas which must be explored to find and beat all of the levels. In addition to the unique structure, the game is incredibly well designed with novel, interesting setups and great aesthetics, custom music, and a coded from scratch custom boss. Not only is this one of the highest quality and mot quintessential SMW fan mods, this was also the creators first mod, showcasing just how skilled and talented the creators of the SMW community are. This run is, in short, a fun short romp through several well designed levels.

Superstar is a high difficulty Super Mario World fan mod styled as an EP created by Margot. Made and released in 2022, this mod has 6 levels with very difficult obstacles tempered by short sections and frequent checkpoints. Each of the game's 6 levels features a unique gimmick regarding the notorious superstar state of invulnerability the Mario franchise is known for. In addition to the custom gimmicks and challenging obstacles, this game features Margot's popular bright aesthetic flair, making the game as visually appealing as it is challenging to play and beat. While hard, the frequent checkpoints make the game marathon friendly, and make the run go by fast even if there are several deaths or mistakes.

A neat retro-style run n' gun game that came out a few weeks ago. Has great reviews, and is easy for anyone to pick up and learn as a speedrun. Great music and visuals. If accepted, the developers are willing to be on call for this run.

Jazzpunk is an indie absurdist satirical comedy game published by Adult Swim where you play as Polyblank, a secret agent who is sent on various missions issued to him by the director. The game has several glitches we take advantage of including save load glitches and out of bounds sequences and also has new save/load and out of bounds glitches that have been implemented since its last showing at SGDQ2021 This game also has a variety of ridiculous segments and side quests that are parodies of other games while still maintaining a unique style all while the player completes the missions by any means necessary.

Lightmatter is a unique, Portal-inspired puzzle platformer with a twist as the player escapes an abandoned science facility... touching the shadows will kill you. This run highlights a huge array of skips in nearly every level, as well as minor glitches allowed in this category that abuse level geometry and also abuses the way the game reads when a player should or shouldn't die when they touch shadows. This run is a highly optimized, keep-you-on-your-toes run that shows constant strats that skip over entire puzzles and abuse game mechanics and props in incredible ways that allow for a fun run to watch and perform.

Lovely Planet is an indie precision FPS that progressively gets harder as the levels continue. Going through 5 worlds, the run contains several skips that makes each and every level go faster than you can blink! The main mechanic? You must kill every enemy before moving onto the next level. With new game mechanics and obstacles and new enemy types being introduced in every world, combining that with abusing level geometry, getting precise snipes, and abusing how the game reads kills by getting rid of civilians instead of enemies leaves us with one of the fastest paced runs you'll ever see!

A mobile rhythm game based on Konami's arcade game of the same name. In Jubeat, there are 16 buttons that will occasionally have markers appear on them. Hitting them on time will grant you a perfect, and the further you are off, you will get great, good, or poor judgment instead. Missing a note entirely will result in a miss. With the mobile port’s gameplay being different due to the smaller playfield size and the number of exclusive songs it has over the arcade version, I think this is going to be a fun game to showcase in GDQ.

The puzzle bombs are back, and more difficult and dangerous than ever! Procyon has make sure the marathon doesn't come to an explosive end inside KTaNE!

Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix is an Action JRPG that combines DIsney and Square Enix characters. It has a very detailed combat system that allows the player to improvise on the fly.

Kingdom Hearts III is the most recent action RPG installment of the KH series. The base game revolves around real-time combat—in both large mob battles and intense boss fights—in worlds based on various Disney and Pixar properties. The Re Mind DLC adds a new story scenario, fourteen(!) superbosses, and the Premium Menu to spice up base game playthroughs.

Actual main theme lyrics: "Close your fist, take my hand - don't forget your underpants!" This is a game about a cute kitty that becomes a bodybuilder with the head of a cute kitty when wearing mythical underpants. It has the backdash movement tech SotN WISHES it had. You fly using a pink unicorn that shoots laser farts at enemies. There's DDR, litter boxes, shmups, fangirls, and surprisingly tight cycle-based platforming. No one is prepared for what they're about to witness.

Sound Shapes is a unique and mesmerizing music-based platformer from 2012. This deceptively-difficult speedrun combines musically-timed, cycle-based gameplay, momentum management, very tight platformer movement, and a banger of a soundtrack by greats like deadmau5 and Beck that will live rent-free in your head. Vibe out as I stress out and jump, slide, and bounce through this visual and aural delight. Regarding potential content restriction concerns on the deadmau5/Beck albums, Twitch highlights and YouTube uploads have never been flagged at any time and have always remained public.

Amazing Mirror's unique among the Kirby games for making four Kirbys run around and for its less linear approach for the game itself. It's more maze than a proper metroidvania, and makes heavy use of Wheel and its fantastic movement to get around, while swapping as needed for certain fights or obstacles that Wheel struggles to overcome. Runs of the game take a freeform nature and allow for many different routes to complete it, meaning runners each have their own style of sorts. Also one of the only games to get to finish a run by using UFO!

This game was the first to include modes to play as characters other than Kirby, and was the first time that allowed players to play as Meta Knight! Having different physics and forced to use his sword, Meta Knight allows for a harder, yet satisfying playstyle that keeps up a high pace throughout the run!

Squeak Squad does several unique things for its time, using the touch screen to show Kirby's stomach as an inventory for treasures and extra items/abilities! Throughout the run, we have to balance managing it alongside the usual platforming for the series, but this lets us carry spare/extra abilities as needed and even invincible candy! We put this to great effect in a number of fights, while flying with a Wheel. It makes sense in context.

Kitsune Tails is a truly wonderful queer platformer that has a ton of heart and personality, released just back in August of this year! We play through the game as a pair of kitsune in the service of Inari, running and jumping our way through various elemental-themed worlds. The game's story is one of finding and being true to oneself, and the game itself was crafted with players of all skill levels in mind. If you've played and enjoyed SMB3, this game will fire up the nostalgia machine bigtime!

Klonoa 2 is one of the hidden gems of the PS2 and 2022's remaster breathed new life into it. A superb platformer with a unique mechanic whereby you temporarily capture enemies and reuse them to throw at objects, launch yourself into the air or use their unique powers. These mechanics of these powers provide excellent puzzles to solve or platforms to traverse and it's a wonder to see how those mechanics are used in different ways to provide both experiences. It boasts gorgeous visuals that really pop in the remaster, an awesome soundtrack, and really tight controls. The speedruns are mostly about tight movement and avoiding errors, finding innovative ways to bypass some of the puzzles and using the occasional glitch to our advantage. But Support mode breaks the game even further - a Player 2 assist function that gives Klonoa a boosted jump - we use the Support Mode to make big skips and traverse the world in ways the designers never considered.

A masterpiece of game-making and storytelling, MGS3 takes us back to the 1960s and into the jungle as we witness the origins of Big Bosses story! Thanks to the Master Collection, we finally have a native version of the game on PC which runs amazingly well and keeps loading times to a minimum. We sneak through the jungle and take on some epic boss battles on the way to saving the world from a terrible nuclear war. As the submitted runs are done on the European Extreme difficulty, it's an instant game over if spotted by a guard, so movement must be kept tight and controlled at all times to avoid being seen whilst still being speedy. Boss battles also become quite the gauntlet, whether that's through sheer force and good aim, or employing the wackiest combinations of attacks to keep them looped long enough to defeat them.

UnMetal is a 2D indie action game that pays homage to the 2D Metal Gear games on the MSX and is itself a successor to an MSX game. It tells the comedic story of Jesse Fox, who is definitely NOT an elite commando, under arrest for a crime he didn't commit, and must escape a covert military base using his wits, fists, and ability to MacGyver mundane objects together to create weapons and tools. The game plays on tropes of the stealth and action genre to hilarious degrees, but retains the right of being a very tightly designed action game in its own right. If you thought Solid Snake had some weird boss fights, wait until you've seen what Jessie Fox has to go up against! The speedrun is very light on glitches, its mostly about great movement and abusing mechanics. Guard positioning in every room is random, adding a unique level of on the spot thinking that you don't get from Metal Gear's rigid guard patterns. No two runs are ever quite the same.

This game is 2D Monkey Ball. Controls are simple -- left and right to spin the world, hold a button down to spin faster -- and you have to keep things angled so that the protagonist is constantly dashing down slopes. It's a really intuitive system that feels absolutely incredible to go fast in. It also has a hilarious cast of enemies, including the rich girl who screws up the weather so we can have our requisite ice world; the evil newspaper-hating Cyber Toiletpaper Brigade; and our love interest, who purchases a battleship off of Ebay in an attempt to stop us. It is a heck of a trip.

Spooky Photos is a game about a girl who exorcises ghosts remotely using photographs people send her. This is done by first detecting a ghost and then doing a series of aggressive QTEs to defeat the ghost.

The rarest game on the PS2, and the *objectively* best From software game (I am not biased, promise). Kuon is what happens when Demon's Souls and Resident Evil have a baby, and then *that* baby has a baby with Fatal Frame. A very interesting, wild game from the time before FromSoft knew how to make lips move, but *after* that fact started getting weird.

What do you get when you combine JRPG and Resident Evil? Why, Parasite Eve of course! This is the sequel to the infamous Parasite Eve, and though it steers more towards the Resident Evil side of the formula, PE2 is still a riot of a Speedrun. From enemy dodging to blowing up the final boss with a massive canon, the run is full of great moments.

Revelations before Revelations and Dead Aim before Dead Aim. Gaiden is the first Resident Evil game that takes place on a cruise ship (isn't it weird there's three of them?) and the first with good ol' sandwich man Barry Burton as a playable character! Glitches abound, from bugging out bosses to turn them into regular enemies, to sprite bugs, to infinite ammo grenades that explode specifically while running away! It's a riot of a time, and could absolutely be played with a very special controller... *Chainsaw sounds*

Legend of Mana is a classic PSX release during Square's Summer of Adventure, alongside Threads of Fate and Chrono Cross. Replacing the ring system and overhead combat that we were familiar with in the SNES days with closer to a sidescrolling brawler's mechanics, it was an unexpected addition to the Mana canon. Like Trials, there are 3 paths through the game, but with completely different endpoints, and more side events than main events, a casual playthrough will be a unique adventure for every player. The speedrun categories focus on which of the 3 quests you take on, or taking on all of them, or all of the events in the game. The HD remaster added autosaving and save anywhere mechanically, as well as the ability to turn off monsters, along with the graphical and musical update, and has become the preferred way to run Legend of Mana nowadays.

Virtual Hydlide is a classic, a display of early CD-based gaming, graphics akin to Tomb Raider and other early attempts at more realistic polygons. A remake of the original Hydlide's story, it's a solidish action RPG with seeded world generation, the full MAX_LONG_UNSIGNED 2^32-1 options for your adventure. Unfortunately, they forgot they weren't putting on a slideshow and the framerate makes an average game into a legend. Always draws a crowd to at least see what it's all about, and inflict pain on the runner if incentives allow!

If nothing else, Wu-Tang is for the children. This PSX 4 player 3D fighting game is a bit of a footnote in history, but is an example of resurrecting a dead game into a live one thanks to an unbelievable license. Follow the Wu-Tang Clan as they travel from Staten Island to Chinatown (NYC) to China following a paper thin plot's mystery. The Wu-Tang Clan's kung-fu-sonas have a wide range of attacking and different styles, no clones in the main cast! This means that for speedrunning, each of them has their own category. That said, the best two categories' times are pretty close!

I couldn't not. I've been speedrunning this game for over 6 and a half years and it just feels like the perfect game for me. That's why it's my favorite, and the category I'm submitting is a great watch for people unfamiliar with the game.

An isometric beauty, not shy of out of bounds and unique strats, such as a different quick kill for almost every boss. This game has almost gone on a world tour with me this year, and I'm prepared for a great showcase on short notice. One of the standout parts of this game is that it's a very difficult game even casually, which is not something you expect from the LEGO series. A death resets the room, which leads to plenty of risky endeavors. The GBA storytelling is also fun to share.

Embark on an adorable adventure, discover new friends and uncover everything the island has to offer. Climb, Swim, Glide and slide your way into the hearts of the many different characters you meet on your travels! This game's movement is really cool and it's better the BOTW

PlateUp! is a 1-4 player indie roguelite where you and your friends open a restaurant together. You choose what dishes you serve, any buffs/debuffs that come up, and can customize the layout of the restaurant to your hearts extent. Every in-game day the number of customers you receive increases, and if any of them run out of patience you lose the restaurant permanently. There's a "soft ending" at day 15, but you can play infinitely, if you can keep up with the demand. Every 3 days you get a choice between two cards that give you a buff/debuff or give you an extra appetizer/side/dessert option to serve.

A silly indie about a rabbit on a pogo stick going the game with the same style difficulty with other rage games such as "jump king" and "getting over it". Where this games gimmick is all mouse

Did you know that Luigi's Mansion contains the most significant regional differences of any GameCube game, and that despite being 22 years old, those differences have NEVER been showcased in a mainline GDQ before? If you're from Europe, then you might have noticed! As a launch title, LM received a few extra months of development time ahead of the PAL release, which effectively makes that version the definitive edition of the game, complete with a proper new game+ mode that makes everything more difficult, much darker, and... mirrored for some reason? Similar to SMB's Lost Levels, PAL Luigi's Mansion is a bit devilish and slightly unfair, making it home to some of our most difficult speedrunning categories. Ghosts that normally appear only in the final area of the game now debut in the very first room, and waves of 6+ enemies become not just a feature, but a staple of this haunted house. Expect double damage, updated boss fights, and more in this first-party ROMhack of an experience!

Lastest Macross franchise game. Shmup requiring 3 different gameplay styles alongside amazing music. Has a lot of fan favorite characters and the soundtrack is amazing. Using all 3 of our Valkyrie's modes we go fast while enjoying some amazing music. Despite the franchise's first game outside of Japan it's been around for well over 40 years.

Based on a Japanese Manga from 1988, Taruruuto-Kun sets on a quest to save the lovely lady Lyona from the forces of evil. Damage boosts and ceiling clips are used in this speedrun, on top of looking very adorable! Taruruuto-Kun can also glide, which grants additional movement options to your arsenal. Did you know Game Freak, the creators of Pokemon made this game?

Marina Liteyears flies and boosts her way to save her beloved creator Professor Theo from those pesky Clancers! A beautiful 2D platformer created by the geniuses at Treasure. This speedrun provides buttery smooth movement with a bunch of clips and strategies to speed up levels and boss fights. An underrated gem that is definitely eye candy for anyone that adores pixelart mixed with 3D environments. Shake Shake!

That rapscallion Dr. Robotnik is up to no good again, so Sonic and Tails sets off on an adventure to stop his malarkey! This speedrun has developed a tremendous amount over the years, involving some impressive boss skips and smooth movement optimizations. With the aid of the Chaos Emeralds, we can transform into Super Sonic, which will allow extra methods in performing glitches like never before! Gotta go at an above average velocity!

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch is a party-style racing game that features characters and tracks inspired by the Mario franchise. Players compete on the game's 96 tracks using items like Bananas, Fire Flowers, Blue Shells, and Bullet Bills to gain an edge over their opponents and take home the gold! This is also the first game in the series to introduce the 200cc engine class, which is the fastest that Mario Kart has EVER been

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe released in 2017 as an enhanced port of the best-selling Wii U title Mario Kart 8. It includes the 48 Tracks from the original game and an additional 48 from past games and Mario Kart Tour. This game is now 10 years old and a lot of aspects have changed over the course of the years, most notably the speed buff to the Yoshi weight class and certain vehicles, rendering them as at the current meta. I'd like to have a character bidwar between Yoshi, Birdo, Peach, Daisy, and Peachette. For this event, I'm submitting base game and DLC as separate categories, rather than 96 Tracks.

Puyo Puyo 2 released in 1994 on a multitude of platforms, primarily as an arcade sequel to Puyo Puyo. It establishes the famous Tsuu rule, where you can now counterattack/offset damage inflicted by your opponent, rendering building chains a top priority. For the speedrun, you have a couple of options: Hellfire chains or setups. I could ideally learn very fast Hellfire setups, yet my comfort zone for consistency is setting up GTR, quick L-shape, or stair-stacking chains.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD released in 2019 as a remaster to the Wii launch title. It removed motion controls in favor of the usual analog controls, improving the jumping mechanic, as well as the boss fights. Additionally, Sonic the Hedgehog is playable and is the fastest character in the game!

Mega Man 10 this time released in 2010, returns to the same formula as MM9 but with a twist, we now have quick weapon swapping last seen in Mega Man 8 for the PlayStation 1, otherwise, its the same deal, new sets of fun stages, great music and new weapons

Mega Man 9 released in 2008 witnesses the return of our blue friend in his original 8-bit form, and by original I mean no charging or sliding, but what the game lacks in movement ability, it makes up for with great music, fantastic weapons and fun stages

Mega Man stops new villain Dr. Cossak who is definitely not deflecting blame from Dr. Wily in any way

Rockman & Forte (Sometimes called Mega Man & Bass) is a unique later Mega Man game. Widely considered one of the harder Mega Man games, there are no E-Tanks, a unique stage select system, and a speedrun calls for managing critical health to increase damage output. Like many Mega Man games, there are difficult zips to save chunks of time along the way. Jump & slide and stop Dr. Wily.

The first game in the series is sort of a black sheep, but still incredibly fast paced and dynamic as a speedrun. Numerous extra requirements in the end game change how the entire run is played out and this game does not take itself lightly as even a small mistake can result in defeat.

Paper Mario is a beloved RPG from the N64 where Mario must save 7 Star Spirits in order to defeat Bowser and save Peach. Combat is very basic in style yet complex in execution and depth of strategy that sets Paper Mario apart from other turn based RPGs.

Pikachu is on an adventure to save the planet from the wrath of Mew who has threatened total armageddon if the Pokémon don't stop fighting and become friends with each other. Through various minigames, Pikachu must find the true meaning of friendship, defeat Mew, and save the world.

Mega Man X4 is the first entry in the X series for the playstation, and also the first to feature Zero as a fully playable character. It's a side scrolling platformer where stages can be completed in any order. You gain additional weapons/abilities by killing bosses which allow you to more fully explore the stages in the game.