One of the most popular indie titles of the past year is a little platformer called Celeste. This charming, but challenging game approached mental health in a positive way, encouraged players with its overall layout, and had several modifiers to make it so almost anyone could finish the game. In the world of competitive speedrunning though, Celeste has been a wild ride of discovery, pixel-perfect execution, and the rise of several names. Two of the top runners of Celeste TGH and Yoshipro faced each other in an Any% race at Summer Games Done Quick, creating a wonderful moment in the marathon.
For starters, TGH and Yoshipro have been battling each other for quite a while, with TGH sitting just a minute less than Yoshipro. Of course in a marathon setting, nerves can even the playing field for even the most consistent speedrunners. Not only that, but on the couch doing commentary were a few of the game’s developers, who discussed areas of the game they changed to further highlight speedrunning strategies.
Even watching at home, it was apparent that there was an electricity in the room. A massive crowd gathered to watch these two battle it out in a game that’s well-loved by a whole range of players. Celeste’s composer even donated during the race with a heartfelt message for the community.
While the race was close, TGH was able to win by about a minute. Both runners landed several challenging skips, including the infamous door skip that can ruin runs. Yoshipro even made this wild save during a drop between zones by quickly hopping off of bouncers on either side of a spike-lined pit. Afterwards, TGH stood to thank the crowd for the event and the energy, as well as the developers for creating such a game.
This Celeste race is a perfect example of why speedrun marathons can be so powerful. It was an exciting race with non-stop action and danger around every corner. People were cheering for every cleared trick and echoed their pain when a mistake happened. Once it was all said and done it felt like those gathered collectively smiled, turning the room into an aura similar to an embrace.
This moment can already be watched by using the handy Reddit VoD Thread (an archived video will show up soon on the Games Done Quick YouTube channel), but it will surely go down as a highlight for many viewers and attenders.
Summer Games Done Quick has already reached over $700,000 raised for Doctors Beyond Borders and that momentum isn’t likely to slow down as there are still several days left in the marathon.
Also be sure to check out our past interview with TGH about Celeste.
