Normal speedrunning is impressive enough, but charity speedrun marathon Games Done Quick tends to up the ante by letting people showcase some other talents during special gimmick runs. This year's AGDQ brought us something special with Wes' any% run of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, where he played through the game while performing its entire soundtrack on piano.
How do you play a video game while your hands are occupied by playing a piano? By strapping controllers to your body, of course. Wes' rig included a pair of Joy-Con controllers adapted to command the Wii game. One controller was strapped to his head, which Wes could tilt left or right to run in either direction. The other was strapped to his foot, letting him hold down the bumper with his toes to run, or shove the thumbstick into the ground to jump.
It's with this setup that Wes took to the AGDQ 2025 stage, playing along to the entire game's soundtrack on piano - using his own arrangements - while beating the whole thing in under 42 minutes. He played each major level theme as he reached it, and at one point switched directly from the main theme to the invincibility star music and back again as he picked up the temporary power-up.
"Piano's actually not my main instrument," Wes explained during the run. "I do write the arrangements to fit my skill level. And that's one thing to note: you don't have to be an amazing musician to do this. You can play the music at whatever level you want. The important thing is to just practice and build up muscle memory."
Wes' time is well behind that of standard any% Super Mario Bros. Wii runs, but normal runners don't play the game by tilting their head back and forth, nevermind while simultaneously playing piano. Wes suffered a few deaths during the run, and the final moments were genuine nail-biters - prompting the entire crowd to pop off with a standing ovation when it was finally done.
Then Wes got a second standing ovation when he went back to the first level and did the entire thing again blindfolded. The speedrun community never ceases to amaze.
