Extra Life
Extra Life is an American charity benefiting children's hospitals across the continental United States. Their flagship charity event, "Game Day", began in 2008 and has occurred annually ever since. Starting in 2013 Draco has hosted a 24-hour fundraising marathon for Extra Life in an effort to raise money for Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas. Draco says he chose this hospital because when his brother was very young they saved his life. To date, Draco and the Gatorbox community have raised over $6,000 for the hospital which Draco has matched personally with additional donations of games, toys, and stuffed animals.
Gatorbox's 2013 and 2014 marathons were hosted from the Extra Life event headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. Draco was a featured performer both years; in 2013 his speedrun of Cosmic Spacehead was showcased on the official Extra Life livestream and in 2014 he was a participant in some of Extra Life's live skits and comedy content. The event headquarters moved in 2015 and Draco has hosted the marathon from the regular Gatorbox set ever since. A marathon was planned but ultimately not held in 2017 due to Hurricane Harvey destroying the studio where the show was taped. The annual marathon resumed in 2018 with a record-setting turnout both in funds raised (at the time) and marathon length. Despite not holding a marathon in 2017 Gatorbox still saw a few donations come in out of tradition from fans.
Extra Life participants are permitted to do whatever they like for their Game Day fundraising events, Draco has elected to model Gatorbox's marathons similarly to popular speedrunning marathons such as Games Done Quick. Between 2013 and 2018 Draco hosted a 24-hour speedrunning marathon, however starting with 2019's broadcast the schedule was split into two 12-hour marathons in order to allow for better scheduling and a more restful break.
Occasionally, new world records are set in some of the games featured; in 2013 and 2014 new records were set for Super Off Road. In 2020 a new world record was set for Croc's World. In 2021 a de facto record was set for Crimson Room: Decade.
Donation Incentives
Throughout the years that Gatorbox has broadcast an Extra Life marathon there have been numerous attempts to incentivize donations. The marathons hosted in 2013 and 2014 included basic "milestone" style incentives such as turning an "Any%" run of a specific game into a "100%" run. These incentives were eventually discontinued due to the issues they posed with scheduling. Milestone incentives were brought back as a one-off for 2019's marathon, though this time the incentive would be placed at the very end of the marathon to avoid scheduling issues and to offer as much time as possible for viewers to donate. The game in question, Twitch Sings, would only be added if the marathon's goal of $500 was met (which it was).
In 2015 the idea of performing a quick game "challenge" for every $50 raised was introduced and this proved to be a much easier incentive to incorporate into the show. Every time the marathon's total donation amount reaches a multiple of $50 Draco draws a random challenge from a box of community-submitted ideas and has 15 minutes to complete it. As of 2022 the amount needed for a challenge has been raised to $100 due to the growth of the marathon's proceeds.
Gimmick Speedruns
There are numerous games that are featured multiple times in Gatorbox's Extra Life marathons and some of them are included every year. In order to avoid these games becoming "stale" to viewers Draco occasionally mixes up their features to include fun gimmicks and keep them interesting.
Below are some of these runs:
- Kirby's Adventure: Played on real hardware with an NES flight stick.
- Super Off Road: Played with a steering wheel controller.
- M.C. Kids: Draco eats something every time he dies (cheeseburgers, McNuggets, with or without hot sauce)
- Bible Buffet: The quiz book is sometimes used.
Featured Games
Below is a table showing every game that has been featured in a Gatorbox Extra Life marathon.
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3D Body Adventure | |||||||||
| 3D Dinosaur Adventure | |||||||||
| 4-in-1 Fun Pak | ♦ | ||||||||
| Adventure | |||||||||
| Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, The |
♦ | ||||||||
| Anticipation | ♦ | ||||||||
| Arista's Ring | |||||||||
| Asmik-kun Land | |||||||||
| Attack of the Labyrinth |
|||||||||
| Backgammon | ♦ | ||||||||
| Backyard Football 2007 | ♦ | ||||||||
| Barbie Groovy Games | ♦ | ||||||||
| Barney's Hide & Seek | ♦ | ||||||||
| Bible Buffet | |||||||||
| Bigfoot | ♦ | ||||||||
| Biker Mice From Mars | |||||||||
| Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon |
♦ | ||||||||
| Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S |
|||||||||
| Blackjack | ♦ | ||||||||
| Blast Corps | |||||||||
| Blue Sphere | ♦ | ||||||||
| Board Game Classics | ♦ | ||||||||
| Boggle Plus | ♦ | ||||||||
| Bubble Ghost | ♦ | ||||||||
| Chalvo 55 | ♦ | ||||||||
| Checkers | ♦ | ||||||||
| Chiki Chiki Boys | |||||||||
| Chip's Challenge | ♦ | ||||||||
| Codename: Kids Next Door |
♦ | ||||||||
| Cool Spot | |||||||||
| Cosmic Spacehead | |||||||||
| Crash Bash | ♦ | ||||||||
| CrazyCars 3D | ♦ | ||||||||
| Crimson Room | |||||||||
| Crimson Room: Decade | |||||||||
| Croc's World | |||||||||
| Destruction Derby 64 | |||||||||
| Destruction Derby Arenas | |||||||||
| Dian Shi Ma Li | ♦ | ||||||||
| Digimon Racing | ♦ | ||||||||
| Dinosaurs For Hire | ♦ | ||||||||
| Donkey Kong Country | |||||||||
| Doraemon: Nobita to Tsuki no Oukoku |
♦ | ||||||||
| Doraemon: Nora no Suki no Yabou |
♦ | ||||||||
| Dragon Tales: Dragon Adventures |
|||||||||
| Dragon Tales: Dragon Seek | |||||||||
| Dragon's Lair | ♦ | ||||||||
| Dragster | ♦ | ||||||||
| Duck Tales 2 | X | ||||||||
| Duke Nukem Forever | |||||||||
| Dynamite Headdy | |||||||||
| E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial | ♦ | ||||||||
| Earthworm Jim 2 | |||||||||
| Ecstatica | ♦ | ||||||||
| Extreme Forklifting 2 | ♦ | ||||||||
| Extreme Sports w/ Berenstain Bears |
♦ | ||||||||
| Fantavision | |||||||||
| Forgotten Ones, The | |||||||||
| Ghosts N' Goblins | ♦ | ||||||||
| Gon' E-Choo! | X | ||||||||
| Gone Home | ♦ | ||||||||
| Goof Troop | |||||||||
| Hacker, The | |||||||||
| Harm's Way | |||||||||
| Ice Road Truckers | ♦ | ♦ | ♦ | ||||||
| Innsmouth no Yakata | |||||||||
| International Superstar Soccer 2000 |
♦ | ||||||||
| Island Xtreme Stunts | ♦ | ||||||||
| J League '96 Dream Stadium |
♦ | ||||||||
| Jeopardy!: Teen Tournament |
♦ | ||||||||
| Jungle Book, The | |||||||||
| Jurassic Park | |||||||||
| Kamen Rider Black | ♦ | ||||||||
| Kirby Super Star | |||||||||
| Kirby's Adventure | |||||||||
| Kirby's Dream Land | ♦ | ||||||||
| Krazy Kreatures | ♦ | ||||||||
| Last Legion UX | ♦ | ||||||||
| Lost World, The: Jurassic Park |
|||||||||
| M.C. Kids | |||||||||
| Maniac Mansion | ♦ | ♦ | |||||||
| MANOS: The Hands of Fate |
|||||||||
| Mario Clash | ♦ | ||||||||
| McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure |
|||||||||
| Mega Man 4 | ♦ | ||||||||
| MegaRace | |||||||||
| Mercury Hg | |||||||||
| Microsoft Entertainment Pack | ♦ | ||||||||
| Milon's Secret Castle | ♦ | ||||||||
| Mini Putt | ♦ | ||||||||
| Monster Truck Madness 64 | |||||||||
| Monster Truck Rally | ♦ | ||||||||
| Monster Trucks Nitro | |||||||||
| NanoQuest | |||||||||
| Nanosaur | |||||||||
| Natsuki Crisis Battle | ♦ | ||||||||
| Nightmare Busters | ♦ | ||||||||
| Ninja Gaiden | ♦ | ||||||||
| Nintendo World Championships 1990 |
♦ | ||||||||
| *NSYNC: Get to the Show | ♦ | ♦ | |||||||
| Othello World | ♦ | ||||||||
| Pac-Man Championship Edition |
|||||||||
| Pepsi Invaders | ♦ | ||||||||
| Perfect Bowling | ♦ | ||||||||
| Pokémon Blue | ♦ | ♦ | |||||||
| Pokémon Fire Red | ♦ | ||||||||
| Project S-11 | ♦ | ||||||||
| Puggsy | |||||||||
| Ray Thunder | ♦ | ||||||||
| River Raid | ♦ | ||||||||
| Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction |
♦ | ||||||||
| Rugrats: Search for Reptar |
|||||||||
| Running Battle | ♦ | ||||||||
| Sailor Moon S: Kurukkurin |
♦ | ||||||||
| Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures | ♦ | ||||||||
| Shao-lin's Road | |||||||||
| Shovel Knight | |||||||||
| Sonic Jam (Game.com) | |||||||||
| Sonic Pinball Party | ♦ | ||||||||
| Sonic Spinball | ♦ | ||||||||
| Sonic the Hedgehog: Genesis |
♦ | ||||||||
| Sonic the Hedgehog | ♦ | ||||||||
| Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | ♦ | ||||||||
| Sonic 3 & Knuckles | |||||||||
| Sonic Blast | ♦ | ||||||||
| Spot: The Cool Adventure |
|||||||||
| Spot Goes to Hollywood | X | ||||||||
| Spyro the Dragon | ♦ | ||||||||
| Star Fox | |||||||||
| Star Fox 64 | |||||||||
| Super Bowling | ♦ | ||||||||
| Super Mario Bros. | ♦ | ♦ | ♦ | ||||||
| Super Mario Bros. 2 | |||||||||
| Super Mario Bros. 3 | ♦ | ♦ | |||||||
| Super Mario Bros. 35 | |||||||||
| Super Mario Land | |||||||||
| Super Mario Maker | |||||||||
| Super Mario Maker 2 | |||||||||
| Super Mario World 64 | |||||||||
| Super Nova | ♦ | ||||||||
| Super Off Road | |||||||||
| Suzuki Alstare EX Racing |
♦ | ||||||||
| Taboo: The Sixth Sense |
♦ | ||||||||
| Tail 'Gator | |||||||||
| Taz-Mania | ♦ | ||||||||
| Tetris | ♦ | ||||||||
| Texas Trivia | ♦ | ||||||||
| Thunder Alley | ♦ | ||||||||
| Toobin' | ♦ | ||||||||
| Trick Trap 1771 | |||||||||
| Twisted Edge Snowboarding |
♦ | ||||||||
| Twisted Metal III | |||||||||
| Twisted Metal 4 | |||||||||
| Twitch Sings | |||||||||
| Ultimate Brain Games | ♦ | ♦ | |||||||
| Ultimate Puzzle Games | ♦ | ||||||||
| Urban Yeti! | ♦ | ||||||||
| Tyrian 2000 | |||||||||
| Vectorman | |||||||||
| Video Checkers | ♦ | ||||||||
| Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense | X | ||||||||
| Virtua Racing Deluxe | |||||||||
| Wacky Races | |||||||||
| Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey 64 |
♦ | ||||||||
| Where's Waldo? | ♦ | ||||||||
| Wonderful End of the World, The |
|||||||||
| Xena: Warrior Princess | ♦ | ||||||||
| Yoshi's Story | |||||||||
| Yukkuri no Meikyu | |||||||||
| Zoop | ♦ |
* 2017's Extra Life marathon was cancelled due to Hurricane Harvey.
Games noted with a diamond (♦) signify titles that were featured as a "challenge" and not a full speedrun. An "X" denotes a run that was cancelled during the marathon due to technical difficulties or other unforeseen problems.
Trivia
- Total games featured: 130
- Most money raised in one marathon: $2,603 (2021)
- Most games in one marathon: 57 (2020)
- Most challenges in one marathon: 35 (2021)
- Most featured game: M.C. Kids, Super Off Road (8)