Image: Games Done Quick

Games Done Quick (GDC), the charity event series that raises money while expert players blast their way through classic games, kicked off its first 2021 iteration yesterday on Twitch, and the event is running all week for anyone interested in tuning in to this year’s speedrunning spotlights.

The January event, typically focused on “awesome” games done quick, is on its second day and has some great titles on the schedule over the next few hours, including speedruns of Dishonored 2, Divinity: Original Sin II, and Diablo 3. Later this week, we’ll see speedruns of classics like Final Fantasy VII, Mega-Man, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. Check out the full schedule here.

GDC has been organizing its charity speedrun marathons since 2010, and this year’s event is raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The event series is notable for its consistency, the rather sizable viewership and charity metrics it regularly posts (over $25 million raised so far), and the fact that it often features live world records set in real time on Twitch.

Earlier today, two world records were set in two separate Sonic games back to back: Sonic 1 (by speedrunner flyingfox) and Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited (by Zaxon96).