January might be a cold, dark, horrible month for many of us, but for the speedrunning community, the first month of the year is always a boon. You see, Awesome Games Done Quick, the mass speedrunning event in aid of the Prevent Cancer Foundation arrives every January, and offers a plethora of players speeding through their favourite, or sometimes least favourite, games with hundreds watching. For AGDQ 2023, the community is going hard.
The first day of AGDQ 2023, January 9, 2023, started out with two titans of the Nintendo Switch era, Splatoon 3 and Zelda: Breath of the Wild. With each game being run by respected runners from respective communities, those being Splatoon enthusiast LonTr0 and current BotW record holder Player 5, the clips from each session offer some incredible insight into the precision-timed world of speedrunning from two experts, with plenty more to come.
Of course, the goal of AGDQ is never really to break records, though the audience loves it when that happens, but instead, as a way to offer advice and tips to those watching who want to give speedrunning a go for themselves, as well as the charity all of the money raised goes to. In an age where dusty old fogeys are still trying to make the point that gaming does no good, it’s nice to know that AGDQ, and all the related events, is doing something to fight that stereotype.
With a whole week left of speedrunning festivities, you can still catch Goat Simulator, Wavetale, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Stardew Valley and more before the event ends on Sunday 15 January. For the full schedule, check out the official GDQ website.
There you have it, all you need to know about AGDQ 2023 and the Nintendo Switch games included in the action. To make your January a little brighter, why not pick up a bunch of powerful Pokémon with our Pokémon Go community day guide.