[Marathon is now over]

Surprise!

We’ve decided to put on a Halo Marathon to prevent too much downtime between marathons. The marathon will only be 24 hours, but we will still give out prizes and treat it like any other of our marathons.

You will be able to view us LIVE from our website and also interact with us through chat/email.
Details:

Games: We will beat Halo 1,2,3 campaigns all in legendary, with any left over time we will play the viewers!

Time/length: We will start on Friday September 26th at 6pm cst and end Saturday the 27th at 6pm cst . (24 hours)

~TSG

UPDATE: it turns out NOA is open on sundays! please keep calling 1-800-255-3700 and ask for earthbound!

We all had a great time, thanks everyone who called NOA or emailed them. We want to give a big shout out to STARMEN.NET the godfathers of the ebsiege. Without them this marathon would never of happened. We hope we were able to help in the effort of bringing the Earthbound/Mother series to the United States. We’ve gotten word from a couple of people that NOA received somewhere around 2,000 phone calls asking about Earthbound/Mother this weekend.GREAT job guys, thanks for being kind and respectful to the Nintendo representatives. Hopefully we will find out soon if we’ve made any impact. As soon as we know we will relay the message. If you won a prize we’ve emailed you, please respond with your shipping address and also your shirt size if you were a grand prize winner. In the next couple of days we will post our Halloween marathon info.

Prize winners:
Earthbound Poster:Tristan Chapman
Mother 1+2 (GBA):Michael Quell
Starmen.net Swag winner #1:Dominic Jersak
Starmen.net Swag winner #2:Kevin Chai

Usually I leave a “thank you” post up for a week for the previous marathon,but since the turn around for our Earthbound marathon is so quick I need to unleash the details immediately. Before I do, I would like to thank everyone who contributed. Whether you donated or posted about us, dugg us, promoted us, you all were great; We love you all. The Grand total raised for St. Jude is now over $6,100!!

Earthbound Marathon Details:
We will be streaming a feed live on our website of us playing Mother 1,2,&3 from August 28 at 4pm till August 30 at 11 pm (55 hours straight!). We will feature chat along with video to create an interactive event. Our main goal will be to encourage phone calls to Nintendo of America (NOA) requesting Earthbound to be brought to the U.s in some way shape or form.

Here’s a more detailed explanation:

This is directly copied and pasted from Starmen.net and explains what we will be doing. We will be asking everyone watching the marathon to call Nintendo of America. Our request to them will be to please port over Mother 3 to North America, bring EarthBound to the Virtual Console, or even ask about a potential Mother 1+2+3 DS Compilation. Let them know you want to see more Mother/EarthBound in the US again!

We need as many people to keep calling in for the best impact. Previous examples of this effective maneuver is when Zelda: Master Quest was brought to North America after 500 people called Nintendo. The previous PK-Call’Ns made a definite impact on Nintendo of America. NoA Representative’s still talk about how many calls they gotten during these events. In fact, recent information tells us that Mother 1+2 was flagged for discussion due to a high volume of calls during a previous PK Call’N. However the calls stopped and it was assumed that interest had died and it was never brought up again. This time the interest won’t die and the calls won’t stop.

Be original and polite in your call and mention why you are calling. Mention you read about Mother 1+2 in Nintendo Power, or heard about Mother 3 released in Japan, the Mother 3 iTunes tracks, or have just been a long-time fan of that wacky SNES game from years ago. Or even ask them straight out, “where is EarthBound?” And keep in mind you want to talk about EarthBound, not promote an event or a web site so….

…DO NOT MENTION PK-CALL’N, EB SIEGE, THESPEEDGAMERS OR STARMEN.NET!

The NoA Representative might correct you and refer to the SNES EarthBound. They may assume that you didn’t know about this game. Don’t be abrupt, they are only providing info that they feel would help you. The NoA Representative will likely give an address to write in to Nintendo. If you would like to write to NoA check out PK Mail’N! They may ask you about your subscription to Nintendo Power, so try to be polite and understand that they are trying to keep you informed.

The NoA Representative most likely will have no new information. Politely thank them and tell them you will be a calling back soon to check up to see if any new information is available. Call back again in a few days time to see if any new information is available. If not, thank them again and call back once more in a few days! If there is still no new information, then ask to speak to an available manager and see if they can help you out. Call as often as you can and get your friends or family members involved as well! And this time don’t worry about the length of the call. Ask what you want to ask and show that you are a fan of the series! But always be sure to be polite and thank the person you are speaking with when you call. Following this should result in a smooth call!

Heres NOA’s contact info: 1. Dial the toll free number: 1-800-255-3700
2. Wait until the recording starts telling you the Menu options.
3. Hit Zero.
4. Wait to be connected to NoA Representative.

Prizes: We are going to give out prizes upon completion of each game. The way we do this is we randomly generate a winner from the people who emailed us during that games game play period.

3 Prizes: Earthbound 1+2 (GBA), Earthbound Poster, Prize from Starmen.net (TBA)

The Event Starts Thursday Aug 28th at 4 pm cst and end Aug 30 at 11pm cst

www.TheSpeedGamers.com

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at TheSpeedGamers@gmail.com

Mission Complete!! Over $6,100 was raised for St. Jude!!
Thanks to everyone for your help!
An update will be coming soon with more information, but for now, the contest winners are:

Metroid (NES): Joe Baltes
Metroid (PAL VC): Fraser McMillan
Zero Suit Samus Plushie: Douglas Reyes
Metroid II GB Cartridge: B. J. Brown
Metroid (GBA): Andres Bravo
TSG Poster: Kyle Tallaire
Super Metroid (PAL VC): James Stevenson
Super Metroid SNES Cartridge: Mathew Niznik
Super Metroid Wall Clock: Santeri Sevon

Grand Prize Winner, Metroid Prime 3 signed by Retro Studios: Andrew Redenbough

Check out Dwaggies head!!

The 72 Hour Metroid Marathon starts on Augusts 15th @6pm cst. We will be raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The marathon will be streamed live via webcam on our website. The webcam feed will give you both a view of the games we will be playing and also a view of the action going on in the room. We will give out prizes following each game to viewers regardless of where they live.

The Game list is : (In the order we will be playing them in, not in chronological order)
Metroid, Metroid Zero mission, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Metroid Prime 1, Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Prime Hunters, Metroid Prime 3, Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion

Join the forums to stay updated with everything SpeedGamers and chat with our great community! Click Here
or the url is http://forums.TheSpeedGamers.com

If you have any questions email us at TheSpeedGamers@gmail.com

PRIZE INFORMATION:

We have big news regarding the prizes that will be given away during the marathon. After the completion of certain games we will be giving away two prizes, one for Euro viewers and one for viewers in the states. If no Euro prize is listed, it means ALL viewers are eligible to win because the prize is not limited by region. For example, our Metroid clock prize will work fine wherever you live, however our U.S version of Metroid for the Nes cannot be played on a European Nes console.

Rules: In order to be entered to win a prize (except the grand prize) you must send an email during the game thats being played for that said prize. Each prize is given away upon completion of its game. This will be less confusing during the marathon.

In order to be entered to win the GRAND PRIZE, any donation a $1 or over will gain 1 entry, $5 and over will get you two, and $20 and over for 3 entries. Maximum 3 entries

Prize List:

Completion of Metroid:
• For U.S Participants Metroid (NES cartridge) along with NES controller
• For European participants Metroid on Virtual Console, or if winner has Metroid already, a game prize of equal VC-Point value (500 points).

Completion of Metroid Zero Mission: Zero Suit Plushie
Completion of Metroid II: Metroid II (Gameboy Cartridge)
Completion of Metroid Prime 1: Super Metroid Wall Clock
Completion of Metroid Prime 2: Metroid Poster (used during marathon)

Completion of Metroid Prime Hunters:
• (US) Metroid (GBA cartridge)
• (EUR) Metroid on Virtual Console, or if winner has Metroid already, a game prize of equal VC-Point value (500 points)

Completion of Metroid Prime 3: TBA

Completion of Super Metroid:
• (US) Super Metroid (SNES cartridge) + SNES controller
• (EUR) Super Metroid on Virtual Console, or if winner has Super Metroid already, a game prize of equal VC-Point value (800 points)

Completion of Metroid Fusion: GRAND PRIZE

and for our GRAND PRIZE! *Drum roll* : A copy of Metroid Prime 3 SIGNED BY The current RETRO STUDIO employees(Creators of Metroid Prime 1,2, &3). BECAUSE OF LEGAL REASONS YOU CANNOT RESALE THE GRAND PRIZE IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM!!

Retro Studios has recently given their blessing and will be generously donating our grand prize, a copy of Metroid Prime 3 (Wii)

for any questions you can write us at TheSpeedGamers@gmail.com

We want to thank everyone who watched. We had a blast! Thanks Paul for stepping in and commentating for an endless amount of hours. Paul is now an official member of the team. We also want to thank Phil for the amount of effort he put into this marathon. The Mario marathon pretty much featured his skills.

To everyone who won prizes, I will be emailing you sometime this week requesting shipping info. If you’d like to go ahead and send it now, I’m fine with that too.

Now we turn our focus to the 72 hour Metroid Marathon on Friday August 15th for St. Jude. The promoting starts now! This is going to be our biggest marathon yet, and we will make it our most successful!

We finished 10 Mario Games in under 24 hours of gameplay, AMAZING

Mario 1 – 8 minutes 10 secs (Philip)
Mario Lost Levels – 22 Minutes (Philip)
Mario 2 – 1 hour 18 minutes (Rob Covington, not greenshirtyguy)
Mario 3- 24 minutes (Rob Covington)
Super Mario World – 23 minutes (Mik)
Super Mario World 2 – 3 hours 25 minutes (Cameron)
Super Mario 64 – 2 hours 2 minutes (Philip)
Luigi’s Mansion – 4 hours 25 minutes (Daniel)
Super Mario Sunshine – 5 hours 27 minutes (Philip/Daniel)
Super Mario Galaxy – (5 hours 45 minutes (Philip, Paul as player2)

Total= 23 Hours 39 minutes

Peace out for now!

Update: All prizes have been shipped (except Kohilent, I still need your shipping address), please email me as soon as you get them. Ryan Wall, I sent you a make up prize for last event

In doing these marathons we’ve gained many friends from around the world. I’ve asked the opinions of some of the other team members and have formed an idea. Starting with the Metroid Marathon in August, we are going to team up with Dwaggie from England. Dwaggie is going to play Metroid Prime 1(possibly prime2 also) and have his girlfriend (Muir) commentate with him. It will be a smooth transition from our games to his, then back to ours. It will be as if we are all in the same room.

In the future we are considering having other “TheSpeedGamers” teams from around the world host their own events while we broadcast them on our website. These events would happen if, for example, there was a 3 month span that we weren’t able to find time to host a marathon. This way we can ensure all our viewers wont go long stretches of time without a gaming marathon, and more importantly, we can raise more money for various charities. This will also cater to a bigger variety of personalities and interests. We’d like to think everyone loves us, but we know everyone is different.

I am not taking requests from emails to host a marathon; they will all be hand picked by our team. One of these marathons probably wont occur for awhile now, not within the next 6 months. Our first guest player from around the world though, will debut during our Metroid Marathon (like I stated above)

Stay tuned for more info! And Don’t forget our 48 Hour Super Mario Marathon starting July 11th!

UPDATED: JUNE 30th

We are going to add 2 games to our lineup and extend our deadline to 48 hours.

Mario1
Mario Lost Levels
Mario2
Mario3
Super Mario World
Super Mario World 2 Yoshi’s Island
Mario 64
Luigi’s Mansion
Mario Sunshine
Mario Galaxy

10 Games 48 hours.

Sorry about the slow process in getting your prizes. They should arrive soon.

It was brought to our attention that another group has done a Mario Marathon this past weekend. While we salute them on the job they did in raising money for a great cause, it does hurt our upcoming marathon. We’re sure we are going to be accused of copying them and other such things but everyone should make sure to keep your cool. I thought about completely changing the Mario Marathon for another franchise, but after thinking on the subject for awhile I came to the conclusion that it would be impractical to switch on such a short notice. We will do our best to keep our marathon fresh and unique. Msico Aka Phillip, informed me he will be donating his copy of Mario Kart Wii (NTSC) for the grand prize in the Mario Marathon. Thank you very much Phil for all your help!

We wont be gaming for a charity this time around. We will use the 48 hours to promote the 72 Hour Metroid Marathon in August which we will be raising money for St. Jude. There is a possibility we will be having a SpeedGamer from overseas take part in the Metroid marathon if everything works our properly; no official word yet.

Updated: June 30th (The information regarding the Mario Marathon has changed, read the post above for the most updated information)

Hey guys,

I decided it’s about time to inform everyone about our upcoming Mario Marathon, and also to give you info about our last event and future events. First of all, I wanted to thank everyone who was involved in the Zelda Marathon. It was a huge success even though we fell just short of beating all 7 games in 72 hours. WE WILL COMPLETE ALL 7 IN 72 HOURS. Our next attempt might be months away, but it will be done. We surpassed our monetary goal of $1337 and raised $1355 for Giggles-Therapy! Thanks everyone who was there to supports us, donate, advertise, or was a part of in anyways.

Now, about our Mario Marathon. We will not be taking donations for the Mario marathon. We are going to use this 24 hour marathon to promote our next charity event in August for St. Jude. At that time we will be doing a Metroid marathon. There has been a lot of confusion about what games we will be playing during the Mario marathon so I’ll clear that up.

1. Mario 1
2. Mario 2
3. Mario 3
4. Super Mario World
5. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (as chosen by our forums)
6. Mario 64
7. Mario Sunshine
8. Mario Galaxy

If we have any remaining time we will play Luigi’s Mansion.

I will be posting the amounts each person donated in our last event eventually so hang tight. They will be posted under the donations list which is on the right side of our web page.

Now I would like to give you guys a tentative schedule for upcoming marathons and charities we will be gaming for.

24 Hour Mario Marathon- July 11th- Non Charity event
72 Hour Metroid Marathon- Early/Mid August- St. Jude (Cancer)
48 Hour Horror compilation Marathon- October 31- Giggles Therapy (Autism)
72 Hour Pokemon (gotta catch em all LOL ) Marathon – Mid December- ACT now (Autism)

I will be shipping prizes out starting this week, so if you are one of our winners please email me to confirm your address. Also, there is one person I never shipped there prize to due to not being able to send virtual console gifts to other countries. I will ship a St. Jude shirt out to you this week.

Lastly, I’m looking in to adding an art gallery to our site. We’ve received a lot of cool drawings, sigs, banners, and pictures from everyone, and we would like to put them up for everyone to see. Hopefully we can work that out soon!