Speed Demos Archive (SDA) is a website dedicated to video game speedruns. SDA's primary focus is hosting downloadable, high-quality speedrun videos, and currently has runs of over eleven hundred games, with more being added on a regular basis. SDA additionally used to host two annual speedrunning charity marathons, Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) and Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ), before Games Done Quick LLC started holding the event independently in 2015. It hosted nine marathons in total, and raised over $2.7 million for various charities, with the most successful one being AGDQ 2014 which raised just over $1 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
History
SDA originally began as a demo archive of Quake playthroughs. SDA was formed initially by Nolan "Radix" Pflug of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by merging with a site created by Gunnar and Jesse in April 1998. In 2004, after the success of his own 100% Metroid Prime run, Radix expanded SDA to include demos of other games. Mike Uyama took over in 2006 as the site's administrator. In January 2010, SDA ran its first charity marathon, Classic Games Done Quick, raising over $10,000 for CARE.
Content
As of March 2018, SDA hosts speedrun videos of over 1,200 games. These videos are all available for download, and almost all are available in multiple video qualities. The site includes videos of popular games as Mega Man, Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., and Sonic the Hedgehog. The site has been featured numerous times in publications such as Electronic Gaming Monthly and G4tv's Attack of the Show!. Some of the runs also appeared in an episode of Pure Pwnage.
Submissions
Speedruns submitted to SDA undergo a comprehensive verification process performed by SDA community members familiar with the game in question. Participants scrutinize the recording in evaluation of both its gameplay and video quality. The review process also attempts to certify that the submitted speedrun contains no foul play such as cheating, hacking, or improper segmenting. Additionally, participants ensure that the submission adheres to the site's rules, as well as any game-specific and category-specific requirements. SDA staff evaluates the community responses and makes a final determination regarding whether or not the run is to be accepted. This verdict is posted publicly in the SDA forum alongside the verifying users' responses.
If a submission is accepted, the video of the run is encoded in multiple qualities and posted on the site alongside the runner's comments, which can detail specifics regarding the run.
Rules
Generally, Runs with no sound, horribly loud or overpeaked sound, or mixed-in music are unacceptable.
Fundamentals
Submitted speedruns are typically performed on their native consoles. When performing a run of a PC game, the rules may mandate that certain computer configurations be adhered to. In general, SDA will not accept runs that are performed on emulators, as emulation can be influenced by the configuration of the computer being used. Furthermore, it is particularly difficult to verify whether or not a run performed on an emulator is tool-assisted. Nevertheless, SDA does permit the use of emulators in certain cases; submissions performed on the Game Boy Player, GameTap, and Virtual Console are allowed. Virtual machines and DOSBox are allowed in cases where an older PC game does not run properly on modern computers. Use of this software is reserved for specific circumstances and these submissions must adhere to several additional rules. Due to potential emulation inaccuracies, runs that utilize an emulator may be categorized separately from those of the original release.