The Speed Gamers
are a group of people based out of Texas, who run marathons of video games to raise money for charity. As the name implies, these gamers don't just play the games, they try to complete them as quickly as possible, and on a live feed without tool assistance. The site also includes podcasts, a Twitter feed, and a massive fan-art section. They have grown an amazingly active community that rallies behind them, advertising on news sites and forums across the Internet. Notably, TSG has been featured in an article at The Escapist, as well as covered on CBS and NBC. In the past few months, they have started to produce original content, including Vlogs, artwork, and reviews.
So far, they have raised over $920,000 (USD) for various charities with the following marathons:
List of Marathons
- The Legend of Zelda - March 2008 - $1,090.00 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- The Legend of Zelda - June 2008 - $1,450.75 for Giggles Therapy
- Metroid - July 2008 - $6,123.79 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Horror Marathon - Halloween 2008 - $1,060.00 for Lupus Foundation of America
- Pokémon - December 2008 - $5,923.69 for ACT Today
- The Legend of Zelda - March 2009 - $6,235.39 for Ally's House
- Mother - Mother's Day Weekend 2009 - $10,450 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure
- Final Fantasy - July 2009 - $50,734.63 for ACT Today
- Mega Man - August 2009 - $7,188.06 for Earthday.net
- Resident Evil - Halloween 2009 - $8,349.54 for Diabetes Research and Wellness
- Pokémon - December 2009 - $18,358.96 for Ally's House
- Metroid - March 2010 - $11,465 for Halton Autistic Family Support Group
- Mother - Mother's Day Weekend 2010 - $10,749.32 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure
- Super Mario Bros. - June 2010 - $57,399 for ACT Today
- Assassin's Creed/Prince of Persia - August 2010 - $10,550.04 for Gulf Restoration Network
- Franchise/Castlevania - Halloween 2010 - $6,926.50 for Rocking H Ranch
- Kingdom Hearts - December 2010 - $10,207 for Best Friends Animal Society
- Pokémon (first two generations) - March 2011 - $15,394.03 for ALS research
- Metroid - Mother's Day Weekend 2011 - $8,251.85 for Japan earthquake relief
- StarWars - July 2011 - $11,254.09 for Direct Relief International
- The Legend of Zelda - December 2011 - $20,001.00 for Rocking H Ranch
- Pokémon - June 2012 - $59,324.36 for ACT Today
- Super Mario Bros. - December 2012 - $12,056 for Make-a-Wish Foundation
- Mega Man - March 2013 - $11,880.50 for Rocking H Ranch
- Final Fantasy - June 2013 - $32,753 for ACT Today
- Halloween Marathon - Halloween 2013 - $14,598.50 for Heifer International
- The Legend of Zelda - December 2013 - $17,852.00 for Mercy Corps
- Indie Games Marathon (in collaboration with Humble Bundle) - April 2014 - $122,607.88 for Direct Relief International
- Pokémon - June 2014 - $32,073.33 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Sonic the Hedgehog - December 2014 - $4,321 for Rocking H Ranch
- Super Mario Bros. - July 2015 - $29,027 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Pokémon (first two generations) - December 2015 - $16,300 for Rocking H Ranch
- The Legend of Zelda (Hyrule VS. Lorule) - June 2016 - $40,180 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Trick 'r' Treat Marathon - Halloween 2016 - $4,553.27 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Pokémon Sun and Moon - December 2016 - $9,226.13 for buildON
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Blind) - March 2017 - $2,000.01 for buildON
- Final Fantasy (Pixels VS. Polygons) - July 2017 - $33,580 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Resident Evil - October 2017 - $7,042.69 for Direct Relief
- Super Mario Bros. - December 2017 - $6,518 for ACT Today
- The Legend of Zelda - March 2018 - $10,624 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Pokémon - June 2018 - $17,260 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Soulsborne Marathon - October 2018 - $8,286 for Direct Relief
- Nintendo All Stars - December 2018 - $9,105.99 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- The Legend of Zelda (Hyrule VS. Lorule II) - July 2019 - $40,180 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Castlevania Marathon - October 2019 - $6,000 for Direct Relief
- Pokémon (first three generations) - December 2019 - $10,230 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Super Mario Bros. - July 2020 - $16,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Resident Evil - October 2020 - $3,000 for Direct Relief
- Nintendo All Stars 2 - December 2020 - $5028.51 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- The Legend of Zelda - July 2021 - $12345 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Resident Evil - Halloween 2021 - $4,245.69 for Direct Relief
- Pokémon Gen 4 & More! - December 2021 - $5007 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Metroid - March 2022 - $3,195 for Zero Prostate Cancer
- Mario + Donkey Kong - $10,041 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
They have also ran several marathons for other causes or to thank the community for their continued support. These include:
- Super Mario Bros. - July 2008
- Mother - August 2008 - Lobbying for Mother 3's release in America
- Halo - September 2008
- Metal Gear Solid - June 2009
- The Legend of Zelda - July 2010 - To support ACT Today in the Pepsi Refresh Project
- EarthBound (1994) auction - For The Michael J Fox Foundation
Pending marathons:
- The Legend of Zelda - Summer 2023
Provides examples of the following:
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Prizes are given out to fanartists and top donators, including t-shirts and hats in the past.
- Announcer Chatter: One of the main attractions is the commentators, who'll do almost anything for a donation.
- And when we mean anything, we do mean anything. One stunt they're going to to be doing soon as a reward for reaching a goal for their HQ is to carry Oscar (Who, to be honest, isn't the lightest guy in the world, although he's still awesome) on their back and walk a mile.
- Artifact Title: While they're among the first speedrun livestreamers of the Internet,
live speedrunners have grown a lot in popularity since 2008, many of them faster than TSG. Subverted, however, as according to an unofficial slogan in TSG's community, "Slow is a speed." - Ascended Extra: Phil volunteered to play Twilight Princess when their scheduled player couldn't do it. He's been a core member ever since.
- Combined Energy Attack: Commentators will often call for the viewers to lend their energy to the player in difficult situations.
- Deep-Fried Whatever: This trope managed to possess the IRC chat for a good half day.
- Eat That: Scorpion suckers, vegemite, hair sandwiches, incredibly spicy peppers...
- Electric Torture: Introduced in Mario Marathon 2012, thanks to an electronic massage machine.
- Fan Art: Gwellin suffers from terminal fanartitis. If you don't draw, he'll die!
- Hurricane of Puns: During collaborative Skype commentaries, Toast (and to a lesser extent, Tyler Worth) have a lot of fun bombarding Anatotitan with puns.
- During the Metroid 2011 Marathon, Tyler initiated "Operation Van Der Tweet", where the community members flooded actor James Van Der Beek's twitter with puns of his last name. It was a huge success.
- During the Metroid 2011 Marathon, Tyler initiated "Operation Van Der Tweet", where the community members flooded actor James Van Der Beek's twitter with puns of his last name. It was a huge success.
- Mundane Made Awesome: There was a massive debate about Gravy during the Pokemon Marathon of Summer 2014.
- Must Have Caffeine: Well, when you're playing games for a dozen hours at a time...
- Pungeon Master: Toast
- Quip to Black: Mostly imitating CSI (Caruso variety.)
- Running Gag: Every time a person asks how old they have to be to join The Speed Gamers, the age requirement goes up.
- Signature Headgear: Phil's hat is a community meme unto itself. Also, Gwellin and his Canada hat.
- Speedy Snail: Starting with the Soulsborne marathon of October 2018, they have obtained a snail as a mascot to represent their speed (or lack thereof). Thanks to a donation-funded poll, the snail was named "Molasses".
