History WebVideo / AwesomeGamesDoneQuick

!This page and its subpages is currently in the process of being moved to WebVideo.GamesDoneQuick and its respective subpages.
[[quoteright:343:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/super-punch-out_1432.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Yeah, [=Zallard1=] is playing Super VideoGame/PunchOut [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSr3aXd4XuQ&list=UUId5mQSBVAOrOdLdfY1J4VQ blindfolded.]] Gotta teach Cancer who's boss![[note]]He even called how long it took him to beat the first few bosses.[[/note]]]]
->''"3... 2... 1... Go."''

''[[https://gamesdonequick.com Awesome Games Done Quick/Summer Games Done Quick]]'' is a twice-yearly charity marathon, hosted by [[http://speeddemosarchive.com/ Speed Demos Archive]] and [[http://speedrunslive.com/ Speedruns Live]]. Inspired by Website/TheSpeedGamers, AGDQ and SGDQ aim to raise as much money as possible for their charity of choice by bringing in [[SpeedRun speedrunners]] from around the world and playing games non-stop in shifts over the course of several days. Viewers are offered incentives for donations that range from deciding a runner's choices in a game to entry into raffles for video game memorabilia. Throughout the experience, there is usually always a donation reader (again, working in shifts) that fills lulls with messages from donators and supporters as well as news regarding goals and incentives.

The games scheduled are often an eclectic mix; it's common for an NES platformer with an estimated run time of ten minutes to be aired several hours prior to an epic RPG with an estimate of five hours, for example. The events also feature several consistent blocks of games that have appeared in multiple marathons, such as [=WTFJapan=] (back-to-back WidgetSeries) and Awful Games Done Quick (a stream of games widely considered as terrible). It's also not uncommon to see variants on typical speedruns; multi-runner races, blindfolded runs, one-handed runs, and two-player-one-controller sessions up the excitement immensely.

To date, the following marathons have been held:

[[folder:List of Marathons]]
* 1-3 January 2010: ''Classic Games Done Quick'' -- $10,531.64 raised for CARE
** Of some note is the story behind CGDQ: It was supposed to happen at [=MAGFest=], a large convention for music and gaming. And then it turned out that the hotel didn't have the Internet connection required, so the organizers, at the last minute, moved the event to Mike Uyama's mother's basement. (Uyama was one of the organizers, and his mother lived in the same area that [=MAGFest=] took place that year.)
* 6-11 January 2011: ''Awesome Games Done Quick 2011'' -- $52,519.83 raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation
* 7-10 April 2011: ''Japan Relief Done Quick'' -- $25,800.33 raised for Doctors Without Borders
* 4-6 August 2011: ''Summer Games Done Quick 2011'' -- $21,396.76 raised for the Organization for Autism Research
* 4-9 January 2012: ''Awesome Games Done Quick 2012'' -- $149,044.99 raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation
* 24-28 May 2012: ''Summer Games Done Quick 2012'' -- $46,278.99 raised for the Organization for Autism Research
* 6-12 January 2013: ''Awesome Games Done Quick 2013'' -- $448,423.27 raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation
* 25-30 July 2013: ''Summer Games Done Quick 2013'' -- $257,181.07 raised for Doctors Without Borders
* 5-11 January 2014: ''Awesome Games Done Quick 2014'' -- '''$1,031,665.50''' raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation
* 22-28 June 2014: ''Summer Games Done Quick 2014'' -- $718,235.07 raised for Doctors Without Borders
* 4-10 January 2015: ''Awesome Games Done Quick 2015'' -- '''$1,576,085.00''' raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation
* 26 July - 1 August 2015: ''Summer Games Done Quick 2015'' -- '''$1,215,601.49''' raised for Doctors Without Borders
* 3-10 January 2016: ''Awesome Games Done Quick 2016'' -- '''$1,216,304.02''' raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation
* 3-9 July 2016: ''Summer Games Done Quick 2016'' -- '''$1,301,654.48''' raised for Doctors Without Borders
* 8-15 January 2017: ''Awesome Games Done Quick 2017'' -- '''$2,215,040.31''' raised for Prevent Cancer Foundation
* 2-9 July 2017: ''Summer Games Done Quick 2017'' -- '''$1,778,400.20''' raised for Doctors Without Borders
* 1-3 September 2017: ''Harvey Relief Done Quick'' -- $227,876.53 raised for Houston Food Bank
* 7-14 January 2018: ''Awesome Games Done Quick 2018'' -- '''$2,261,823.19''' raised for Prevent Cancer Foundation
* 24-30 June 2018: ''Summer Games Done Quick 2018'' -- '''$2,123,885''' raised for Doctors Without Borders
* 26-28 October 2018: ''Games Done Quick Express'' -- raised for TwitchCon Charity Plaza
[[/folder]]

When a Games Done Quick marathon is active, you can find the stream, schedule, donation info, and other such information at [[http://gamesdonequick.com/ the Games Done Quick website]]. You can also find the stream directly at [[http://www.twitch.tv/speeddemosarchivesda the SDA Twitch page]]. Speedrunner (and marathon coordinator) [=UraniumAnchor=] uploads highlight reels and behind-the-scenes footage to [[https://www.youtube.com/user/uraniumanchor/videos his own channel]], and there are a number [=YouTube=] channels for archive footage:

* [[https://www.youtube.com/user/SpeedDemosArchiveSDA Speed Demos Archive]], the original official channel, started out showcasing segmented speedruns. It has archives of every event from Classic Games Done Quick to AGDQ 2014. The archives are rather messy, though; the earliest marathons having segmented playlists dedicated to each individual game, and the only marathons having all-encompassing playlists are SGDQ 2013 and AGDQ 2014. Due to the creation of the Games Done Quick channel, this is now considered an unofficial channel.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/user/gamesdonequick Games Done Quick]], the new official channel, archives every marathon from SGDQ 2014 onwards.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOWDU-iokgQTudah5-4kAIQ Speed Marathon Archive]], an unaffiliated channel, has archives for SGDQ 2014 and AGDQ 2015. It originally had uploads from SGDQ 2015, but they've been removed (see below).
* [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCitK-ff2WonQhtd56Tmp0BQ Speedrunners Archive]], another unaffiliated channel, has archives for every event from 2012 to AGDQ 2015.

Despite the number of unofficial channels that have uploaded archives for past events, [[https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/regarding_future_video_uploads.html event organizers have announced]] that unauthorized uploads will no longer be tolerated from SGDQ 2015 onward.

For the European equivalent, check out the [[http://www.esamarathon.com European Speedster Assembly]].

For a related event also done by Speed Demos Archive, check out [[http://www.rpglimitbreak.com RPG Limit Break]] (formerly Crystals For Life), which focuses solely on speedrunning [=RPGs=] with all proceeds going toward the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). While RPG Limit Break is a once a year event, it also hosts franchise-based relay races throughout the year.
----
!! Awesome[=/=]Summer Games Done Quick events typically contain the following tropes:

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Runners are allowed to use "safe" strategies to avoid things that could result in the game crashing, soft-locking, or otherwise cause a massive loss in time that could kill the run.
* BlatantLies:
** "This game isn't broken at all...", followed by the runner exploiting a ridiculous/hilarious glitch. The [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] games especially are notorious for this. [=TenShotsTV=] played with this in his ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'' run in AGDQ 2014, where he built up the fake Windows error message built into the game as a potential run-ending glitch (after earlier having died to Mike Tyson because of Windows device driver pop-ups).
** Other common Blatant Lies include [[WarmUpBoss "Very technical boss"]], "Frame-perfect trick", "First try", [[GoodBadBugs "Most important trick in the game"]] and similar stuff.
** Some runners will claim that, if they mess something up or get hit, it's "manipulating RNG for later". Though occasionally, this actually ''is'' the case.
* BookEnds: The AGDQ 2016 ''Majora's Mask'' run more or less starts with them visiting Anju's grandmother and listening to her story so they can skip forward a day. Near the very end, they visit her again to get two of the remaining few heart pieces. And the last heart piece they get that isn't on the moon is the very first one they saw, but utilized a glitch to avoid (so they could more easily do a death warp later on), in front of the door to the top of the clock tower.
* BrickJoke: About halfway through the ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' run in AGDQ 2014, a donation read-off asks for everyone to shout "LEEROY!", to which they comply. At the very end during the credits, a second donation references this one, admonishing them because "there wasn't [[Machinima/LeeroyJenkinsVideo a single 'Jenkins']]" and asking for closure on that.
* TheCameo: Sometimes game developers and Let's Players donate during the event.
** [[Website/GiantBomb Alex Navarro]] ran ''VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing'' during AGDQ 2015.
** In AGDQ 2015's ''VideoGame/TheTownWithNoName'' run, LetsPlay/{{Slowbeef}} made a $100 donation saying:
--> "I decided to donate [[NoBudget equal to the game's budget]], but [[TakeThat that seemed cheap so I added an extra zero]]."
** LetsPlay/ProtonJon donated during AGDQ 2015 ''VideoGame/KaizoMarioWorld'' run, using the message to [[HypocriticalHumor call the runner crazy for playing this game]].
*** He donated again during AGDQ 2018 after the ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestI Dragon Warrior I]]'' run, putting his money towards the ''VideoGame/Superman64'' run incentive because he [[SelfDeprecation "hates himself".]]
** [[VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} Notch]] always donates and is almost always acknowledged by the announcer.
** Creator/RayNarvaezJr is a huge fan of the marathons and has attended a few of them.
** The ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdgeCatalyst'' development team donated $1,000 during a speed run of the original VideoGame/MirrorsEdge at AGDQ 2016.
** Also at AGDQ 2016, Martin Wakeley, lead designer at Creator/{{Rare}} for eight years, served as a special guest for a speed run of ''VideoGame/BlastCorps''.
** At SGDQ 2017, Raven Software donated $5,000 during Covertmuffin's stream of their game Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.
** One of the members of ''Ty the Tasmanian Tiger'' development team donated during the run at SGDQ 2016.
** Music/TobyFox donated $10,000 during the ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' run at AGDQ 2017. He repeated the feat for SGDQ 2018, donating $6,000 to meet the All Yellow Credits incentive.
** [[WebVideo/GameTheory MatPat]] donated during the ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'' run at SGDQ 2017.
** Revali's English voice actor Sean Chiplock donated during the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' run at AGDQ 2018.
** LetsPlay/TomFawkes under the guise of [[LetsPlay/TheRunawayGuys Lord Dona'tor]] donated during the Majora's Mask 3D run at SGDQ 2018.
** Lena Raine, the composer for ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'', donated during the SGDQ 2018 race while a few members of the dev team were on the couch.
* CanonDiscontinuity: SGDQ 2015's ''Crash Bandicoot 2'' run has become this, due to the [[DudeNotFunny runner's commentary]]. So far, it's been the only run they've completely skipped over uploading.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: LetsPlay/{{medibot}}, who played ''Yoshi's Cookie'' in ADGQ 2014 for the Global Yoshi's Cookie League; his attitude also ends up rubbing on everyone else, leading to very weird conversations and donations.
* CompanionCube: Plushies were often found lying on the sofa or in the hands of someone in the crowd. They're usually treated affectionately by the runners and the stream chat alike. This is best demonstrated by the [[MemeticMutation infamous]] fire alarm [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1iedHxGwwc cat rescuer]]. This was stopped around AGDQ 2014, though, due to rule changes--but they still adorn the interview table.
* DancePartyEnding: The VideoGame/Splatoon2 run at AGDQ 2018 attempted to have one of these, only for it to be one of the most cringe-worthy moments ever seen at a GDQ, not helped by the fact the runner's gyro sensor went nuts any time they tried to join in.[[note]]The UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch controllers use free-floating gyro sensors for things like, on Splatoon, moving the camera, which means that any sudden movements, like dancing...[[/note]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the runners tend to show shades of this, but special mention goes to runners such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYud4GeEF-c Breakdown]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wWnr3A2YNg Duke Bilgewater]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqCSJyFOaaw M1_Account]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo5agDyzTxM tminator64]].
* DownerEnding: Sometimes, thankfully not often, runs may come to an abrupt end due to gamebreaking glitches or even technical difficulties. On fewer occasions the runner is unable to finish inside the estimate time, like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFpJvSsiLEk werster]] during his ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' glitch manipulation run.
** The 2014 ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' run ended with the runner dying. On TrueFinalBoss Isaac. (It was a Judas run.)
** Keizarion's [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold]] run at SGDQ 2017 ended on a self MercyKill after he failed to beat Red twice due to bad luck. Though he wasn't too cut up about it, as he felt he was there to demonstrate, not break records.
** Keizarion runs tend to go over estimate in general, although it usually happens when he runs games in the awful block. When he ran ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}: Shattered Reality'' at AGDQ 2018, he ran over estimate because he [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption phased through a platform for no reason.]]
** The ''VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon'' run by teddyras saw the return of the Streamer's Curse, with relentlessly cruel RNG dispensing one of the worst possible scenarios, one that no amount of skill could get the runner through. The organizers allowed him to try again, only for RNG to dispense another terrible combination that resulted in him dying on the FinalBoss despite excellent play because the game simply never gave him the tools to fight it.
* DrunkWithPower: Joked about during the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' run at SGDQ 2018. When Sumichu came on stage to sing, everyone on the couch spontaneously moved aside to give her a seat.
--> '''Sumichu''': You don't have to do ''that''! [{{Beat}}] I'm enforcement though, can't I tell you to, like, move over?
* DVDCommentary: Occasionally, developers of the games being ran will phone in and talk about them. Examples include runs of ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'', ''VideoGame/BattleblockTheater'', ''VideoGame/TheEndIsNigh'', ''VideoGame/TheyBleedPixels'' (AGDQ 2015), ''VideoGame/{{Runbow}}'' (SGDQ 2018), ''VideoGame/{{Bound}}'' (SGDQ 2018), ''VideoGame/{{Rive}}'' and ''VidoeGame/TheGirlAndTheRobot'' (GDQX 2018)... In the case of ''[[VideoGame/WonderBoyIIITheDragonsTrap Wonder Boy: The Dragon 's Trap]]'' (AGDQ 2018), one Lizardcube staff member was physically present on the couch, while another provided commentary for the French restream. Similarly, one of the devs of ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'' was present for the TAS run at SGDQ 2018. %%invoked
* DwindlingParty: Usually happens during multi-person races. It depends on the game, but usually happens during the ''Super Metroid'' race.
** During the ''Super Metroid'' run in SGDQ 2016, 3 of the 4 runners had died, starting with [[https://youtu.be/LFI0a-uMD_U?t=2712 Sweetnumb]], Then [[https://youtu.be/LFI0a-uMD_U?t=3149 Zoast]], And Then [[https://youtu.be/LFI0a-uMD_U?t=3504 OatsnGoats]], at the FinalBoss! Luckily, [=Behemoth87=], the underdog of the race, was able to finish, in amazing fashion.
** The ridiculous [[UpToEleven 8-person]][[note]]aperturegrillz, Poochy.EXE, KevinDDR, EnchantressOfNumbers, JBroms, MxKai3, PARTY MAN X, eihoppe[[/note]] VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster race at SGDQ 2017, which saw half the pack reach GM, and the rest drop out.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** The setup for Classic Games Done Quick was much more amateurish, being completely done in event founder Mike Uyama's basement, and it was [[ClusterFBomb less family-friendly]] than what they do now.
** SGDQ 2011 and 2012 had 3- and 4-day schedules, was hosted at Essentia's house, and they raised money for the Organization for Autism Research. All subsequent Summer events have week-long schedules and raise money for Doctors Without Borders.
** Before around 2014 when the event started getting big sponsorship endorsements and switched to a family friendly image, the staff were generally alright with swearing, as demonstrated by noone even telling Werster off for saying [[NWordPrivileges something very racist]] in exchange for a $1000 donation, when these days that would immediately get him permabanned.
* EpicFail:
** The run of ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' from AGDQ 2011, which started the "Halo Rule" for future events. The runner finished almost 23 minutes after the estimate time. Then it was found out that in 2006, said runner faked a no-death speedrun of ''VideoGame/Halo2'' just so he could get into the Guinness Book of World Records.
** The AGDQ 2014 ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' run, which was so bad that the Halo Rule was renamed for it. By the time the run was ended by marathon staff, the runner was 27 minutes over estimate, with ''two missions to go''. Although to be fair, the only reason it bombed so badly was due to bad RNG.
** The ''Crash Bandicoot 2'' run during SGDQ 2015 was a complete and utter clusterfuck. Runner gamepro11 had already completed a run for ''Sonic Adventure DX'' earlier in the marathon, but he was still so nervous that he spent the entire ''Crash 2'' run making poorly-received jokes about suicide and murder, with the run culminating in him soft-locking the game at the final boss right as he hit the estimated completion time. Saying the Twitch chat hated the guy is an understatement: the chat mod/admin had to set the word "cringe" to auto-censor because it was being spammed so much, and a good chunk of the chat hivemind reported the runner's Twitch channel ''en masse'' for "violating terms of service". The GDQ staff later banned him from the event, Twitch temporarily hit him with an IP ban, and SDA has deliberately skipped over the run while uploading the marathon to both their [=YouTube=] channel and to the [[https://archive.org/details/SummerGamesDoneQuick2015 Archive]]. The only way to even watch it is to either watch the VOD on Twitch or find one of the alt language re-streams that has uploaded the run to [=YouTube=].
** SGDQ 2016 surprisingly had a few:
*** The ''Bioshock'' run ended with the runner, [=Blood_Thunder=], accidentally ignoring the donation incentive. Due to reloading the game from the wrong backup save, he completed the run with the good ending. He did man up to his mistake and they showed the bad ending before he ran ''Wolfenstein: The New Order''.
*** The runner for ''Ty the Tasmanian Tiger'', Kythol, had one of the worst received runs in the event. He set a $5000 donation incentive for a pacifist run, made it, then completely ignored the fact that it was even met until closer to the end of the run. One of the developers even donated during the run and he never said anything. While he did end up donating for every unneeded kill he made, he only donated ''1 dollar'' per kill.
*** Shockingly, not one against the runner, even though the run was over estimate. Shortest explanation: the game was ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'', and the EpicFail comes from [=YouTube=]. When the run was uploaded to [=YouTube=], the video was automatically hit with an audio copyright claim, resulting in the audio for the entire run being muted. The mistake was later fixed.
** A fail not by a runner but by a game comes in the form of Keizarion's infamous Animorphs run, which was possibly the greatest example of the Random Number God destroying a run that AGDQ has ever seen. RNG alone keeps Keizarion from beating the first level. [[https://youtu.be/a9ToYL4Ynb0?t=1383 When he restarts]], the RNG starts acting normally, driving home how utterly catastrophic the first attempt was.
** A combination of this and bad luck struck [=DragonFangs=] during the ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' race at SGDQ 2018 when he had to forfeit the race due to hardware failure. The [=GameCube=] he was playing on had a fan malfunction and overheated, causing it to shut down.
** Not one but three instances of an NES crashing during the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' race between [=MitchFlowerPower=] and [=GrandPooBear=] during SGDQ 2018. The first instance happened early enough to allow Mitch to catch back up (as GPB waited for him). The second happened at the very end right as the two were one screen apart in Bowser's castle with Mitch having the chance to regain the lead due to having a Hammer Suit and GPB dropping his controller after dying, only for Mitch's NES to immediately crash again. This ended the race but both of them still had time to at least try to finish the game, with Mitch rebooting his console and using a wrong-warp (with the blessings of the GDQ staff, the audience, and his fellow runner) to skip directly to the credits, only for his console to [[RuleOfThree crash a third time]] right as the credits were about to appear.
* EverythingsBetterWithPlushies: During the 2013 ''VideoGame/RosenkreuzStilette'' run, the contest to win a [[AnIcePerson Freudia]] plush was a large incentive to donate.
* FanonDiscontinuity: [[invoked]] During his AGDQ 2014 ''[[VideoGame/SuperStarWars Super Empire Strikes Back]]'' run, Striker invokes this trope when he mentions the [[SnarkBait Prequel trilogy]].
* FourIsDeath: During the ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' race in SGDQ 2015 between Zoast, David Clemens, Straevaras and Oatsngoats, David died while fighting against Mother Brain. His time? 44 minutes and 44 seconds.
* GoneHorriblyRight: Towards the end of AGDQ 2017's great ''Super Metroid'' 100% race, in response to the repeated Waluigi [=WAHs=] from the audience, one of the people near the couch took someone's live microphone and told audience members to stop... by telling them that they were cancer and that they should kill themselves by stepping in front of the hotel shuttle. He succeeded in stopping the [=WAHs=]...and also horrified everyone watching, to say nothing of overshadowing the race itself (Which was too bad, as the race was great, the margin of victory being about 7 seconds).
* GoshDangItToHeck: Due to the family-friendly nature of the events, they sometimes resort to this.
-->'''[=UltraJMan=]:''' You mother-licking father-sucker.\\
''(Laughter, then...)''\\
'''spikevegeta:''' Keepin' it clean.
* HandicappedBadass: Recurring runner Halfcoordinated has a medical condition that prevents him from using one of his hands. He doesn't let it stop him from crushing games.
** There are also runs where the players do it blindfolded, as shown in the header image.
* LargeHam: If the runner isn't a DeadpanSnarker as mentioned above, then they're probably this instead. Notable examples include [[http://www.twitch.tv/rwhitegoose RWhiteGoose]], [[http://www.twitch.tv/naegleria Naegleria]] and [[http://www.twitch.tv/professorbroman ProfessorBroMan]].
* TheHyena: Whether [=CovertMuffin=] is present as a runner or as a couch commentator, he'll consistently pepper his commentary with laughter.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Most runners are calm and lighthearted despite the challenge they face during the runs, so when they ask for moments of silence to focus - mostly known as ''"serious time"'' - something '''''big''''' is about to happen.
* OverusedRunningGag: One person sitting near the couch during AGDQ 2017's ''Super Metroid'' race called out the people doing the Waluigi "Waaahhh!" and told them they weren't funny after they'd been doing so multiple times over the run.
* PrecisionFStrike: Swearing is a no-go at the marathons, as they attempt to keep things family-friendly as best they can, so when you hear a heavy swear get dropped, you know something serious has happened.
* {{Retool}}: AGDQ 2015 onwards focused more on the charity aspect (and included an actual on-screen money raised counter), focused more on the actual games than the runners, and generally had a more professional presentation than the borderline anarchy of previous GDQ's.
* RunningGag:
** Twitch emotes -- Kappa and [=FrankerZ=], especially -- have become these.
** If a game begins to take a turn for the slow, expect the couch commentators to crack a few jokes about the run becoming a LetsPlay.
** They tend to mention ''Die Hard'' runs pretty often. This in particular refers to the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' Any% run... because there are lots of stairs in that game.
** ''Donkey Kong Country 2'' runners always go for the Castle Crush skip.
** During toufool31's run of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' at SGDQ 2013, the runners on the couch began singing along to the soundtrack every time the a cappella cover of the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' main theme would begin to play. Some donors began calling them the "doo-doo-doo crew." For the next few years, donors would request that the people on the couch do the same thing over and over again, even though it seemed to stop after the run by Averagetrey at SGDQ 2015, when the people on the couch didn't seem too enthusiastic about it and were doing it out of sync and out of tune.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' runs always have people singing during [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic the Opera scene]]. Since then, GDQ has turned singing into a donation incentive, such as singing [[OminousLatinChanting One Winged Angel]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' or Disney songs during ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' runs. [=GameJ06=]'s impromptu singing during his ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels'' run even racked up serious donations.
*** Singing [[Theatre/ShowBoat "Old Man River"]] in particular.
** The Demon Chocobo has become one as a way to troll Essentia. Long story short, she and speedrunning partner Puwexil unveiled a running incentive throughout their playthrough of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' at SGDQ 2014, where every text box would either be the default blue, or a hideously re-coloured in-game Chocobo scheme. During their playthrough of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' at SGDQ 2015, donations were being sent in to name each character in their preferred end-game party "Hail", "Demon" and "Choco" (due to the five character name limit). It sadly didn't work out, with the Demon Chocobo's followers swearing revenge for SGDQ 2016, and they got it. It even crosses over to RPG Limit Break, mainly because that event and GDQ have the same staff and many of the same runners.
** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' runs always have the audience acting out the infamous [[MemeticMutation Faker cutscene]].
** Donations starting with "Hey Brossentia" and including a bad pun based on the group the marathon is raising money for tend to happen especially during the RPG runs even when Brossentia isn't the runner or on couch.
** "''[[DidntSeeThatComing That's]]'' never happened before" and variations thereof crop up surprisingly often considering how much speedrunners play their game of choice. It's especially hilarious when the runner has no idea what went wrong or why.
*** The most hilarious use of it came with AGDQ 2018, when, during an early run, the Twitch stream ''itself'' declared it on a WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties card.[[note]]There's been numerous failures of the consoles, but ''never'' the stream itself.[[/note]]
** Since SGDQ 2016 started on the weekend of Independence Day for the United States, there were many chants of "USA! USA!" whenever the ''New Super Mario Bros.'' runners triggered fireworks.
** On the note of SGDQ 2016, the audience going "Wah" started picking up after [=ProtoMagicalGirl=]'s run of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' as "Waluigi" (using the Super Game Boy colour palettes to make Mario purple). If what happened at AGDQ 2017 is any indication, this particular gag had a short lifespan.
* ShoutOut: One of the bid war options for Ayla's name in SGDQ 2017's ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' run was Film/{{Eegah}}.
* {{Speedrun}}: That's the name of the game.
* StealthInsult: [[https://youtu.be/aqwPz85Z5kA?t=9s It can happen]]: For context, the runner had slept with the donator's wife at the previous event, hence the message of "I [[ExactWords lost]] my wife this past June".
* TakeThat: As the runners kept pointing out, ''[[GameMod Super Panga World]]'' was created as a giant TakeThat towards a [[http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/06/grown-man-beats-super-mario-world-in-23-minutes-while-wearing-a-blindfold USA Today]] article that insulted [=PangeaPanga=] for spending enough time on ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' to play it blindfolded. They actually read the article out on the stream.
* UnwinnableByMistake: Sometimes, the sheer number of bugs that a runner exploits can wind up doing it.
** In Vulajin's ''VideoGame/{{Bastion}}'' run at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_BHZ8eyddM AGDQ 2014]]. It was brought to a rather anti-climactic end by "[[https://youtu.be/F_BHZ8eyddM?t=23m30s soft-locking]]" the game they're running, inevitably bringing an abrupt end to the run. He did it through a combination of a number of {{Game Breaking Bug}}s and Vulajin himself accidentally, [[IdiotBall on instinct]], [[https://youtu.be/F_BHZ8eyddM?t=23m5s selecting the wrong ending]].
** In Wall Of Spain's Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim run, there were several times where the game had a crash-to-desktop, but the most embarrassing, and nearly run-ending glitch was when they accidentally quicksaved during a boss with practically no health, forcing them to ask the couch to look away as, on the stream, it shows him open up the console and use the God Mode cheat to get past the boss.[[note]]If he'd been doing a record attempt, the run would be declared null and void at that point, if the numerous full restarts of the game didn't do it![[/note]]
* WhamLine: Occasionally, the declaration of "Time!" can be this. AGDQ 2015's ''[[VideoGame/{{Pitfall}} Super Pitfall]]'' run is a good example, since the ending is triggered ''after'' the runner game overs.
* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: During his ''VideoGame/{{Sparkster}}'' run at SGDQ 2018, Drakodan just walks away from the game during an autoscrolling level. It works amazingly well.

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-->And... ''Time!''
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