Title image credited to Games Done Quick.
Ahh, SGDQ. The name is uttered by many a gamer with the same reverence as high schoolers talking about summer vacation and tired salary workers looking forward to a long break. As the estival counterpart to January’s Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), Summer Games Done Quick is an annual gathering of speedrunners who, in a week-long marathon, play games as quickly and as spectacularly as possible on live stream. In the process, they raise money for charities like Doctors Without Borders and the Prevent Cancer Foundation through viewer donations, which are sometimes spurred by incentives like naming an in-game character or receiving swag related to the game being run.
The months leading up to a GDQ marathon are filled with eager anticipation. What strange new games, some may ask, will be featured in the wee hours of the morning this year? GDQ fans can rest assured, though, as Games Done Quick revealed its official lineup and schedule for this year’s SGDQ 2016 earlier this week.
You can read the entire schedule here.
Before the featured games are revealed, Games Done Quick’s judges meticulously sort through the hundreds of submissions they receive prior to the event. Criteria for being featured in a GDQ includes fast completion times (with video proof), along with various other factors that may influence how enjoyable the run will be for a broad audience.
Notable among the listed games is the absence of the traditional “Megaman Block,” in which many of the Blue Bomber’s games are run in succession. Classic PC, SNES, and NES gamers, meanwhile, will be delighted to hear that a bounty of familiar and obscure titles from these platforms will be featured at SGDQ (this author highly recommends watching Aquas’ Gimmick speedrun).
If you’d like to read more about SGDQ 2016, you can do so on its official website. This year’s hosted charity will be Doctors Without Borders. The event will run from July 3 to July 10, and will be taking place at the Hilton Minneapolis Downtown Hotel, in Minneapolis, MN. Attendee and volunteer registration is still open, so if you’re interested in going, now’s your chance!