I thought it odd when Summer Games Done Quick announced today that access to a Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball speedrun will be restricted in order to ensure the comfort of the speedrunner. Performing under pressure, after all, is a big part of the whole deal, and nothing adds pressure to literally any task like doing it while other people are watching.
The announcement didn't provide much clarity. "Heads up, SGDQ2024 Attendees!" Games Done Quick tweeted. "We'll be closing our stream room doors at the start of tonight's 'Ken Griffey Jr. - Win a Game' run by @JSR2gamers & PB, and will NOT allow further entry until the run has ended. Please plan ahead if you intend to watch in-person. Thank you!
"This decision is to provide the most comfortable environment for PB in a live environment. Our staff will address the audience in the room prior to the run's start about what to expect and follow."
"Who is this PB guy?" I wondered. "Why do they deserve this kind of special consideration?" My brain slowly ticked over, to no avail; finally, at a loss, I went to Google—and suddenly it all came back.
PB is Peanut Butter, and Peanut Butter is a dog—specifically, a Shiba Inu who not only appeared at Awesome Games Done Quick in January but actually set a record for speedrunning the 1985 NES platformer Gyromite. And if you don't believe me, head over to speedrun.com and check the books.
Peanut Butter works in partnership with speedrunner and streamer JSR, who guides PB through the runs—although as we noted when the Gyromite record was set, "credit really does belong to his very good boy for pressing the right buttons exactly when needed."
This won't be Peanut Butter's first crack at Griffey: He earned a place on the speedrun leaderboard for that game back in January. So yes, I now live in a world where a dog holds two more speedrunning records than I do.
Summer Games Done Quick is currently underway and set to run until July 7. Peanut Butter's speedrun attempt is scheduled to begin at 8:43 pm ET—if you can't be there to see it in person (and remember, show up early if you don't want to be stuck outside) you can watch the whole thing live on Twitch.
