There might be easier ways to avoid DMCA strikes – but this one sounds way more fun.
Backseat gaming but with guitar, bass and a singer during this year's AGDQ.
There was a lot of music involved in this year's Awesome Games Done Quick, with someone performing a hitless boss showcase in Elden Ring by using an electric saxophone as a controller, followed by a Crazy Taxi speedrun that featured a whole live band!
I'm pretty sure they can hear us in Cleveland at this point. #AGDQ2025 pic.twitter.com/xm8EkItkE1
— Games Done Quick #AGDQ2025 (@GamesDoneQuick) January 11, 2025
A huge part of Crazy Taxi’s appeal comes from its original soundtrack by Bad Religion and The Offspring – but obviously also something that might lead to a DMCA strike when showing gameplay on video.
To avoid such strikes during his speedrun at AGDQ, chuckles825 was joined by Limiter Cut. The band played the fitting songs to an amazed audience, skipping to the next song whenever chucles825 finished a level or restarting the song when he had to restart the level – like when he drove a taxi filled with grandmas into the sea.
A challenge for the runner, the band and the audience
Every song was chosen to suit the level length while it clearly was a test not only for the singer’s vocal cords but the band’s stamina in general, followed by the drummer doing a Change the World snippet over the menu screen whenever it appeared.
While there are a lot of speedruns shown at AGDQ that will give you a deeper view into the games' meta, teaching you how glitches and skips are performed – speedruns like this are just there for their entertainment value and show the variety and creativity the speedrun community has to offer next to “just finish a game fast”.
Which part of this year's AGWQ did you like the most? Are there other games you would like to have a live band playing to?
