Calithon 2018 Raises over $25K for Direct Relief Last Weekend
By Alex McCumbers ·
Goals were smashed, faces were pied, and games were played fast! Calithon 2018 celebrates hitting a new record at over $25K.
Throughout the weekend, a mighty group of speedrunners came together at the BEBO Headquarters in San Francisco to raise money for Direct Relief. What began as a small dream, turned into smashing goals and creating unforgettable moments in marathon speedrunning. Calithon 2018 was one for the ages, and they raised over $25,000 for charity.
Starting with xwater running Super Mario Odyssey and ending with GhostKing running Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the marathon was filled with runs that were as impressive as they were just plain fun. While there were plenty of runs that we missed, the ones we got to see were awesome.
Once the all of the runs are archived, we’ll pick out some highlights to share. For now, here are some great moments, some of which were already saved as VODs on the Calithon Twitch channel, while others were clipped or shared on Twitter.
Let’s just say there was one cool dude running A Hat in Time that would progressively get more cool for each donation. The result was far too many sunglasses on Chockrit.
Also, the various members of the Super Mario Maker community ran a relay race filled with surprises and Thabeast721 clutching victories. Before that was a race of the hottest speedrun category of Super Mario Bros 3, All Forts, between GrandPOObear and SuperSonic71087. GrandPOObear offered to run Jaws on NES if a certain threshold was met and the internet turned out in droves to see one of the worst speedgames out there. Needless to say it was a hilarious moment and probably some of the worst luck GrandPOObear has had in the run, especially at a marathon.
We were also told that during the Mega Man 2 (Japanese) race, Fastatcc got the fastest time in a marathon. It was a fairly close race, with each runner being only a few seconds behind each other and only one or two minor mistakes ended up being the difference.
Overall, it seems like Calithon 2018 was a success. Without calculating Twitch subscriptions, the final count was $25,469, breaking their goal and last year’s donations. Congratulations to everyone who performed, organized, and donated. Those at Calithon seem eager for next year.
Up next in speedgaming events is Game Over Cancer at the end of April.