Summer Games Done Quick 2015 has capped up, and a few days after EVO 2015, it has also set new records for live online game events.
The accumulation of donations, Twitch subscriptions, Humble and The Yetee sales have raised a record breaking $ 1.23 million for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).
To put this in perspective, the same event raised $ 255,000 last 2013, and $ 713,000 in 2014.
There were multiple highlights for fans of every kind of game, but here are some Cliff’s Notes highlights:
Tetris The Game Master 3 was put front and center like never before. While last year saw an incredible run by KevinDDR, who went on to legitimately become the first American grandmaster, this year SGDQ hosted the other grandmasters, including SQR and Kan. Their run received so much attention the official Tetris Co account congratulated the fans and felt compelled to answer inquiries about Tetris The Game Master 4.
Shout out to the #TGMCrew for demonstrating the sheer greatness of TGM at #SGDQ2015!
— Tetris (@Tetris_Official) July 28, 2015
Yesterday, we received AMAZING support for TGM! To clarify, there are currently no plans for TGM4, but you never know what the future holds!
— Tetris (@Tetris_Official) July 28, 2015
To put things in perspective, Tetris Company has previously held the position that The Grand Master series changed the rules of Tetris too much to their liking. Sega attempted to make a Tetris The Game Master 4 The Masters of Round in 2009, but this was cancelled. Arika seems to have stealthily made a The Game Master 4 without the Tetris license, and even held loketests in North America just last July. Hopefully, Tetris Company will relent and give Arika permission for a new TGM after all.
As you can see in the following tweets, the late Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata was honored multiple times in the stream, as fans voted to use his names in several games. This included replacing Link in The Legend of Zelda, Ness in Earthbound (which also received a particularly large donation in Iwata’s name), and as an emotional surprise, Chrono in Chrono Trigger. Of course, Iwata wasn’t involved in the last game, but as fans knew, this rename would lead to some particularly emotional moments throughout the speedrun.
It's something to see people come together in silence over a small tribute to Iwata. #SGDQ2015
— Games Done Quick (@GamesDoneQuick) August 2, 2015
So moved by how many times I've seen names set to "Iwata" during #SGDQ2015.
— Christos Reid (@failnaut) August 2, 2015
Another nice Iwata tribute for the Zelda run at #SGDQ2015 pic.twitter.com/Z9RD3OUTVW
— Kevin (@kabojnk) July 30, 2015
“Iwata kept praying.” Right in the feels… #SGDQ2015
— Cliff Huizenga (@Cliffpro) July 30, 2015
The most touching line of the #SGDQ2015 Chrono Trigger run for me: "Iwata must be proud…to have friends like you".
— Adam Dunn (@puwexil) August 2, 2015
You can check out each speedrun from the subreddit here.
