The highlight of Summer Games Done Quick was a very good dog playing 16-bit baseball

Summer Games Done Quick concluded implicit the weekend, raising $2.5 cardinal for Doctors Without Borders. While the fig didn’t interruption immoderate records, the speedrunning foundation lawsuit deed a large milestone, reaching a beingness full of implicit $50 cardinal raised crossed each events and charities successful its 10-plus-year history.

With the wide quality retired of the way, let’s speech astir the item of the weeklong stream: a shiba inu named Peanut Butter.

You whitethorn retrieve him. He was a large item of Awesome Games Done Quick 2024, erstwhile helium became the archetypal canine to participate, moving Gyromite with the assistance of his owner, JSR, and a customized controller. Peanut Butter and JSR completed the tally remotely, but for their Summer Games Done Quick run, they attended successful idiosyncratic with a brand-new controller and a caller game: Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball for the Super Nintendo.

I was truly disquieted astir this in-person run. To play the game, JSR, with the assistance of immoderate kibble, instructs Peanut Butter to deed a fastener with the close timing to either onslaught retired a batter oregon deed a location run. The patience and attraction required to execute analyzable tricks similar that is astir apt stressful capable for a dog, adjacent without the disruption of a ample and large assemblage of people. But Peanut Butter managed the distractions beautifully. Whenever the dog’s attraction started to wane, JSR refocused him with the eventual treat: immoderate food connected a stick.

Halfway done the run, it was looking grim for Peanut Butter, who was down 0–1 successful the sixth inning. But aft loading the bases, we each held our enactment arsenic we waited to spot if Peanut Butter would yet score. He did, and the vigor from the assemblage was truthful infectious, I felt it 3 clip zones away.

There was a infinitesimal erstwhile it didn’t look similar Peanut Butter would implicit his nonsubjective to triumph the game. Tied and successful other innings, immoderate people from the machine would instantly effect successful a loss. But Peanut Butter proved helium is the champion of boys, winning the crippled successful melodramatic manner with a walk-off location tally successful the bottommost of the 12th inning, scoring with Ken Griffey Jr. himself. The hype was truthful large it couldn’t beryllium contained to conscionable the Games Done Quick audience, and beauteous soon Peanut Butter’s exploits appeared connected ESPN.com and Canadian sports transmission Sportsnet.

There are, of course, different amusive runs to ticker successful summation to Peanut Butter’s Big Baseball Score. The Super Metroid race was beauteous breathtaking and incredibly close. There’s a Baldur’s Gate 3 tally done on the hardest difficulty and without exploiting immoderate glitches. And there’s a tally of Super Mario 64 wherever the runner is blindfolded and each star’s determination is randomized. Every tally is disposable arsenic a VOD connected YouTube, and with implicit 150 runs, you’re guaranteed to find thing interesting.

It sounds a small saccharine, but there’s thing sublime astir watching a canine play video crippled shot with thousands of different people. I person an incredibly brushed and tender spot for dogs, particularly ones that look similar and are arsenic astute arsenic Peanut Butter. It’s hard being astir them, adjacent done a machine screen, without getting wholly overwhelmed. And though I had to bash it done a curtain of tears, watching Peanut Butter eased a grief I inactive can’t sanction straight adjacent a twelvemonth later.

What a bully boy.