History Awesome / GamesDoneQuick

* Near the end of [=SpootyBiscuit=]'s already impressive, InterfaceScrew-laden [[VideoGame/UKSightReadingTournament NotITG]] [[https://youtu.be/sBP8MxQhEVM showcase]], the audience hits a donation goal to have him play through a collection of extra-difficult stages. Spooty, however, decides to take things one step further and picks out even harder ones than he had agreed to, including charts believed to be impossible on a dancepad, then passes every single one of them. Even the couch (who created most of the charts he was playing) were left in awe.
-->'''Spooty:''' If the mod scale is a 20-point scale, [[RankInflation then why am I playing a 22?]]

* Near the end of [=SpootyBiscuit=]'s already impressive, InterfaceScrew-laden [[VideoGame/UKSightReadingTournament NotITG]] [[https://youtu.be/sBP8MxQhEVM showcase]], the audience hits a donation goal to have him play through a collection of extra-difficult stages. Spooty, however, decides to take things one step further and picks out even harder ones than he had agreed to; charts believed to be impossible on a dancepad, then passes every single one of them. Even the couch (who created most of the stages he was playing) were left in awe.
-->'''Spooty:''' If the mod scale is a 20-point scale, [[BrokeTheRatingScale then why am I playing a 22?]]

* During the ''Grand Poo World 2'' run in a 2021 episode, Amethyst_Rocks defeated the challenging final Bowser fight (which is completely random) without dying once despite not having played the game for a year.

* [=CarcinogenSDA=] pulls off a world first in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'' by performing a Hardcore run taking ''absolutely no non-mandatory damage''.

* For a non-speedrun example, the staff somehow managed to get good video out of an actual ''UsefulNotes/AppleII'' for the sake of a joke 5-minute ''VideoGame/OregonTrail'' speedrun.

* [=Skavenger216=] returns to be the debut runner for ''[[VideoGame/BlasterMaster Blaster Master Zero]]'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.[[note]]The first run on the Nintendo Switch for Games Done Quick[[/note]]

* Shockwve's ''[[VideoGame/GunfireReborn]]'' run is incredibly fast, and on pace to finish in half the estimate, only to die to the final boss. The producer tells him to keep going and the salty runback is an equally fast blitz; allowing Shockwve to fundamentally complete two runs under one estimate [[spoiler: minus that dang final boss again]]. And all on the hardest difficulty too!

* The entirety of CGN's ''VideoGame/FZero GX'' run [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZhczLwJ3IY must be seen to be believed]]. When a room full of speedrunners call you "a human TAS", you know you're good. The entire run strikes a flawless balance between [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome the skill of CGN's masterful performance]] and [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments the hilarity of Naegleria's increasingly high blood pressure]], making it easily one of the best runs of AGDQ 2014.

* Shockwve's ''[[VideoGame/GunfireReborn]]'' run is incredibly fast, and on pace to finish in half the estimate, only to die to the final boss. The producer tells him to keep going and the salty runback is an equally fast blitz; allowing Shockwve to fundamentally complete two runs under one estimate. And all on the hardest difficulty too!

* Shockwve's ''[[VideoGame/GunfireReborn]]'' run is incredibly fast, and on pace to finish in half the estimate, only to die to the final boss. The producer tells him to keep going and the salty runback is an equally fast blitz; allowing Shockwve to fundamentally complete two runs under one estimate.

* Let's get the obvious one out of the way: Over the course of eight years and seventeen marathons, Speed Demos Archive and Speedruns Live have collected a grand total of over ''$25,000,000'' (as of the end of AGDQ 2020) in donations to four different charities. That alone deserves a round of applause and tons of respect.

* All of the runners show some serious skill, but special mention has to go to halfcoordinated, who only has one functioning hand and still manages to be one of the top runners showcasing their skills at GDQ. His runs are advertised as "one-handed%", but as he points out, this is a publicity stunt: he actually runs in the normal categories alongside people with both hands.

** Custom music--both for the Ocarina and as standard background audio. (Credits reveal [=SilvaGunner=] of all people were behind the soundtrack!)

* The ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'' speedrun by Aurilliux, even despite one mistake during the FinalBoss, was a masterclass in RNG manipulation and could feasibly be called "How to make the RandomNumberGod your bitch" instead.

* The Kaizo Monkey Ball run by IkeSMB cleared some of the hardest stages in the game deathless.

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* In the [[ToolAssistedSpeedrun TAS]] block, the mystery game is revealed to be ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''. Considering what happened a year ago, there's no way anyone could top that, right? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czKHg5lmwsw Wrong]]. They fulfilled last year's goal of coding a perfectly playable ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' -- a few graphical glitches and All-Stars music notwithstanding -- and played through the first stage.

* The ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'' run by Plexa had a successful donation incentive to battle the game's BonusBoss Dullahan. Using an out-of-bounds trick to reach Dullahan quickly and with lower levels than intended, Plexa uses careful planning and some AI manipulation to defeat the boss in only 13 turns.

* There is $3000 left on a $225,000 goal to get one more performance out of [=TASBot=]. The donation tracker is moving steadily, but not quickly enough to beat the clock. Then the legendary main theme of the pinball classic ''Pinball/BlackKnight 2000'', a fan favorite of the GDQ playlist, kicks in, and the live audience begins to clap with the beat, encouraging Twitch chat to follow the Black Knight's demands and "give [Twitch] your money." As the song ticks to a fadeout, the counter for the goal slams upwards to $226,000 and keeps going.

* Meta-awesome: The GDQ gang set up Harvey Relief Done Quick, a two-and-a-half day GDQ marathon to raise funds for charity in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, in just around a day.

** As a bonus, not only did the event hit $3 million early during the run (the second time in GDQ history), they managed to generate $3.13 million by the end, surpassing the previous record by almost $100,000.
* A meta-awesome moment happened after AGDQ 2020 ended. They chose to host another speedrunner, [=AeonFrodo=], who was running ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', sending her viewercount from about 15 to about 80,000. She set a new world record time in her category in front of that much-larger audience then hosted another speedrunner, [=SniperDog147=], who followed up with a world record in ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles''. Viewers who stuck around after AGDQ got to see two new world records being set.

** During a four way race of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', Jhay set a new world record in a highly competitive game by two seconds.