Dragon Warrior by NEScardinality in  

This is easily the most underrated run in a GDQ event. The run was executed phenomenally well, and the commentary was fantastic. Being able to commentate so well while performing precisely timed movements and actions is multitasking on another level.

I wish I could go back in time and do this for people in 1989 without explaining it.

A lot of people don't seem to realize how impressive this is. I can't even try to imagine how much research had to be done to assemble this run. And to be able to pull it off in front of a crowd, while explaining most of it at the same time. I for one am in awe.

A well-earned standing ovation! That was an amazing, AMAZING run, more so when you consider that the runner himself was giving superb commentary while constantly manipulating RNG to perfection. Tough act to follow!

Whenever an old tale says a hero succeeded with the help of a deity or destiny, imagine some guy on mount olympus is looking down at their journey and manipulating RNG so the hero wins.

-The Dragonlord watching the hero depart on his journey. "Oh look, i guess he's going to his ancestor grave now ?" **Turns around** "How did you get here?"

Ok, that was really amazing. It has everything. Novel and deep understanding of how the game works, routing, precise timing, precise execution, and excellent commentary. One of the best runs I have ever seen.

By far, one of the best runs this year. He took control of the entire game without any outside tools.

Showing this to my mom now. This was her FAVORITE videogame of all time. She is MIND BLOWN. 😁😁😁 THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!

I didn't know Dragon Warrior was a rhythm game!

This is seriously one of my favorite runs of *all time*, it's such a fun video to watch. It turns the original Dragon Warrior into a rhythm game, essentially. I still come back to watch it fairly regularly.

Wow, this guy is a really good commentator, doing fancy tricks WHILE explaining them

This was probably my favorite run of the entire marathon just by the sheer amount of perfect execution. I used to grind every morning before school in 5th grade to try to beat this game!

There was an episode of Yu Yu Hakusho where there is this kid who has mastered a trivia video game to an insane extent. The game was a 10 question quiz, and every question was selected from a vast database of possible questions. The kid had memorized not only the answers to every question, but all of the possible quizzes that could occur. In other words, the quizzes weren't selected at random - there was a huge list (over 10,000 quizzes) from which the current quiz was selected from. The kid used the first 5 questions of the quiz to determine what the next 5 would be, and could then answer questions without allowing a single word (or letter) to be asked. Speedruns like this remind me of that kid, only this is somehow even more impressive.

Maybe one of the best marathon performances ever

"I AM ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL"-NESCardinality

20:11 getting applauded for dying is one of the reasons I like speedrunning.

The faith the Dragonlord and his minions had in the STOPSPELL was their undoing...

He really is a descendent of Erdrick.

Skill Level: _Groundhog Day_

Mind blowing run, the game knowledge of this dude is just insane he can even predict the npc movement by manipulating RNG. Amazing run.

First RPG I ever played. I have some serious fond memories of this game, and even the Gameboy remake.

This guy might be my new favorite speed runner.

It takes a lot of commitment to practice a run over and over again and be able to play it with that kind of precision, all while delivering explanations, in a marathon setting. One step too many or too few or one pause too long or too short, and the run would have gone to heck, and this guy is just chugging through while explaining the process in detail.

Not going to lie... if I knew all the correct algorithms on how to manipulate RNG in this game, I would've choked and failed spectacularly.

Games usually plays with your expectations and can surprise you on some level even after playing 10.000 hours this guy plays with the expectations of the game. You can´t know a game better than this.

The dragon lord was up against NEO

I just realized how many hours I wasted playing this as a child when I could have done the studder step and beaten it in under 30. Bravo!

Game is a huge grindfest where progress takes hours. Awesome to see it beaten in less than half an hour!

very extremely wild to see this dude think and talk at the same time. i cant even fold laundry and talk at the same time. sheesh

One of my favorite childhood games completely and utterly destroyed by this speedrunner. I never thought this classic could be completed quicker then several hours, and they have proved me wrong. Absolutely amazing, I loved every second.

Legendary work Nes and to every single person who put time into this game to make it possible, cheers!

This is the single most impressive thing I've ever seen in AGDQ. This is insane.

The legends have proven true, NEScardinality art indeed of the line of Erdrick.

Simply amazing. Best run I've seen for this year so far easily

Here I am grinding scorpions for hours to afford a god damn broad sword.

This was one of the most insightful and awesome speedruns I've ever seen.

I go back and play this game every couple of years. It's relaxing, and by that time, I usually forget what exactly has to be done in which order, so I find it rewarding to go back and rediscover the game. Through so many hours of level grinding, I like to have a show or movie on in the background. I never would have guessed this game could be beaten in under 30 minutes. Bravo to the runner and all those who did the research for this run.

I've watched this two dozen times. It completely blows my mind every time.

this is hands-down one of the best and most entertaining speedruns i’ve ever seen. mindblowing execution and smooth & cleanly delivered commentary by a knowledgeable and likeable runner. NESCardinality earned himself a new fan.

I remember as a kid running into the Axe knight that guarded Edrick's armor for the first time. I got so lucky I was able to put him to sleep for so long that I beat him but I was at such an early level. It never happened for me like that again.

Great run and absolutely incredible commentary. We need more runs like this.

This is a fantastic run! Fantastic gameplay and commentary from the runner! This is why I love watching the GDQ's, people like this man make it worth watching

This is the best speedrun I've ever seen

This is a simply incredible run. Awesome commentary and explanation of the RNG. Fantastic!

Crazy, didn't know you could manipulate RNG like that. Of course this game deserves it for all the mandatory grinding it tries to make you do haha.

I've seen a lot of awesome runs during the years, but this takes the cake, so massively impressive!

Not only is this guy a great Runner, he's phenomenal at commentary/oration. He needs a podcast or something. The way he smoothly transitions from explaining RNG manipulation, to prompting AGDQ announcers to shill and read donations, to introducing his couch crew...it's fantastic.

I love this run! Such pure skill in execution!

Hard to stop watching. Getting this run down to a science, with excellent commentary while doing it.

2 minutes in and he's farther than I ever got as a kid.

I've follwed NEScard for years now and I still come back and watch this like, once a month. It's such an absolutely great run from start to finish.

This is one of the most amazing displays of complete game mastery and understanding that I’ve ever seen.

Nescard is the best commentator/player GDQ has ever seen. He's so good at explaining things.

One of the best runs this year. This is mind-blowing. Awesome!!

That was absolutely sick. Great work!

To this day this remains one of the most impressive and entertaining speed runs in the GDQ library; dude has a way of explaining his process that just appeals to my inner nerd in a huge way.

One of the first speedruns that I ever watched and a treat to come back to. GGs!

How can u not love this guy! What a sweetheart. Best speed run ever! Thank you as a child i used to watch my brother grow through this game and now u .

This was the best run of whole event! 💙

Can we just appreciate how perfect that run was! It 100% went according to the plan. A delight to watch :D

Definitely one of the most impressive runs I have seen

This is one of my all-time favourite RPGs and it's *very* impressive to see it being played like this! Well done!

command Command COMMAND C O M M A N D

This was fun ❤️ see you guys in 6 months

what a boss. well done man, you deserve that ovation.

Very professionally done and very cleanly showcased!

Absolutely incredible. I never expected this level of RNG manipulation to be possible outside of a TAS, but here it is.

I've never played DW, but even so, I was amazed by the commentary and the RNG manipulation. Incredible!

Most magnificent thing I’ve seen in a long times

The time put into this and the memory involved was absolutely crazy. You've literally broken the game wide open. Well done.

Excellent video, my all time most favorite franchise.

That was friggin impressive! Fantastic play NESCARDINALITY.

Omg? This was amazing! Nicely done good sir! Great run.

Bravo dude, that was truly amazing. Bravo!

I love this. King: go save the world! 20 minutes later Hero: Done!

This was truly a work of art, I am blown away.

I loved this game dearly as a child, and I'm strangely proud of this guy's astonishing run.

Amazing speedrun! The amount of time to set this up, practice and execute consistently is incredible in itself. But combine it with informational commentary throughout that could distract one "just" enough to mess it up but didn't takes it up another notch!

I finally thought to look for this and watch it. WOW! As someone who has played this game since childhood and watches NEScard stream DWR on the regular, it was amazing to watch him systematically cleave through this game in record time, and to see his face doing it! I'm such a fan!!!

The most impressive speedrun video that i have ever watched!

Long time DQ fan. This is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

This game is one of my absolute favourites, amazing manipulation of the game and the RNG. Great job!

This is amazing! I have beaten this game quite a few times but I have never done anything even close to this. Keep up the great work for a great cause.

A year and a half later, this is still my favorite solo speed run.

This year had some epic runs, but this was the pinnacle. I genuinely thought he was going to beat his own WR. The only other game where I regularly see NESCard's level of perfection is SMB any%.

Erdrick Punches His Way Through Computer Science 101

By far one of the best runs i've ever seen and i never played the game. It was super interesting, amazing runner. 11/10

I love that they know so much about the inner workings that "we're gonna encounter a random enemy here, we're not gonna know which one it is until the fight starts" means one of two possible enemies. It's basically a rhythm game at this point.

What incredible commentary!

I have watched several of the games this year already. This one has to be my favorite.

Wow. That was worth every second. Great run, and what a nice dude.

Masterful. Gobsmacked by this performance. Amazing.

Amazing run, Bravo!

I watched this live and was completely blown away! This is by far one of my favorite runs at any GDQ.

This is insanely amazing. Never in all my years of playing video games did I think they could be tackled this way...... Still proud to say I own the game, got it with the Nintendo Power deal back in '89. Was a great day when I finally beat it, but....... this is awesome!

this is the best speed run i have ever seen

I can only imagine what "videogame speedrunning" wil be in the next decades. Awesome run, another awesome work from AGDQ

Walking through the final dungeon WITHOUT a torch/spell is most impressive in itself.

Absolutely brilliant!