Extra Life

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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 $2,000 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 since then Draco has hosted the marathon from the regular Gatorbox set. 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 ($644) and marathon length (~30 hours).

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 (as of 2015 Draco no longer holds the record).

Donation Incentives

Throughout the many 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.

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.

Milestone incentives were brought back as a test 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).

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.

Thus far, Kirby's Adventure has been played through in its entirety with an era-appropriate NES flight stick, Super Off Road has been attempted with a steering wheel, and M.C. Kids has incorporated a "Cheeseburger Challenge" gimmick where each time Draco loses a life in the game he keeps the clock running while he eats a whole McDonald's cheeseburger. In 2019 the cheeseburgers were replaced with chicken nuggets when M.C. Kids' run was changed from Any% to 100%.

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
Anticipation
Arista's Ring
Asmik-kun Land
Attack of
the Labyrinth
Bible Buffet
Bigfoot
Biker Mice From Mars
Bishoujo Senshi
Sailor Moon S
Blast Corps
Blue Sphere
Boggle Plus
Bubble Ghost
Checkers
Chiki Chiki Boys
Chip's Challenge
Codename: Kids
Next Door
Cool Spot
Cosmic Spacehead
CrazyCars 3D
Crimson Room
Crimson Room: Decade
Croc's World
Dian Shi Ma Li
Digimon Racing
Dinosaurs For Hire
Donkey Kong Country
Doraemon: Nobita to
Tsuki no Oukoku
Dragon Tales: Dragon Adventure
Dragon's Lair
Dragster
Duck Tales 2 X
Duke Nukem Forever
Dynamite Headdy
E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial
Ecstatica
Extreme Forklifting 2
Extreme Sports
w/ Berenstain Bears
Fantavision
Forgotten Ones, The
Gon' E-Choo! X
Gone Home
Goof Troop
Hacker, The
Harm's Way
Ice Road Truckers
International Superstar
Soccer 2000
Island Xtreme Stunts
J League '96
Dream Stadium
Jeopardy!:
Teen Tournament
Kirby Super Star
Kirby's Adventure
Kirby's Dream Land
Krazy Kreatures
M.C. Kids
Maniac Mansion
MANOS: The
Hands of Fate
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
NanoQuest
Natsuki Crisis Battle
Nintendo World
Championships 1990
*NSYNC: Get to the Show
Pac-Man
Championship Edition
Pepsi Invaders
Perfect Bowling
Pokémon Blue
Project S-11
Puggsy
River Raid
Robot Wars:
Extreme Destruction
Rugrats: Search
for Reptar
Sailor Moon S:
Kurukkurin
Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures
Shao-lin's Road
Shovel Knight
Sonic Jam (Game.com)
Sonic Spinball
Sonic the Hedgehog:
Genesis
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
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 World 64
Super Nova
Super Off Road
Taboo:
The Sixth Sense
Tail 'Gator
Tetris
Trick Trap 1771
Twisted Edge
Snowboarding
Twisted Metal III
Twisted Metal 4
Twitch Sings
Ultimate Brain Games
Ultimate Puzzle Games
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
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: 89
  • Most money raised in one marathon: $644 (2018)
  • Most games in one marathon: 38 (2019)
  • Most challenges in one marathon: 14 (2018)
  • Most featured game: Kirby's Adventure, M.C. Kids, Super Off Road (6)