When was the last time that you played a game series straight through? What about in 72 hours (one sitting)? What about doing it for charity with your friends?

That's exactly what the Speed Gamers do. They broadcast marathons of speed runs of game series such as The Legend of Zelda or Pokemon. At the same time, they get donations from the people watching that go toward charities such as Ally's House. So far, they've raised over $22,000 for these charities.

Their next marathon is a playthrough of the Mother series, better known as Earthbound, on May 15-18. That's 72 hours! They will be raising money for Susan G. Komen for the Curewhich is dedicated to curing breast cancer. There will be a chat during the marathon, so you can talk with other people who are watching the marathon. And every donation will add to the hilarious action in the commentary screen.

Go here for more details. It's definitely something worth checking out.

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They better have a good source of caffeine. I got real tired after 10 hours of Pokemon :/ which is nothing compared to 72 hours.

Do they go through each game one at a time or does each person play one?

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Pretty much what happens is that there are several speed gamers in a room. They've been training for the game they've been selected to do (depending on the series) for the fastest speed run. While on person plays a game, the others take a break or do the commentary. Each game is played one at a time (except for the Pokemon marathon, where they all played at once). That's why it takes 72 hours for the whole marathon.

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How can you do a playthrough of the Mother series, when only Earthbound (Mother 2) has been released outside Japan?

Mother 3 has been fan-translated, and they ether understand japanese or just know how to play the game without reading anything. I played through pokemon when i was 6. And i didn't know squat about what they were saying.

There's still the problem of the first Mother game not getting a release outside Japan...

Think about the illegal side.

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