Speedrunning dog comes up short of setting new record at AGDQ, is still the fastest Gyromite-playing canine

Yesterday was a big day in speedrunning history, as a Shiba Inu named Peanut Butter became the first dog to attempt a run at games/awesome-games-done-quick”>Awesome games Done Quick. Sadly, he wasn’t able to set a new record at the event, but he did come pretty close.

Peanut Butter’s owner, speedrunner JSR_ revealed that their furry friend would be taking part in AGDQ 2024 back in October 2023, with the dog – who’s also known by the fitting nickname PB – having become an incredibly accomplished player of one particular NES game. It’s the 80s puzzle game Gyromite, because of course it is.

As spotted by Kotaku, Peanut Butter’s livestreamed AGDQ run of Gyromite’s B Game mode didn’t quite manage to set a new record or surpass the previous high watermark of 25 minutes and 29 seconds he and JSR_ recorded back in July 2023. That said, this latest attempt -which you can watch the end of here – clocked in at 26 minutes and 24 seconds, which is still very impressive given that the run record for that mode in regular fashion is a 24 minute and 39 second one by Octopuscal.

If you’re wondering how PB’s runs are possible, it’s because the release version of Gyromite comes with a robot called R.O.B (no, I’m not kidding) which plays a role in how the game is played. Thanks to a custom controller and some treat incentives from JSR_, Peanut Butter can take the bot’s place and provide the inputs required to move Gyromite cool little platforming guy around.

However, don’t think you’ll be able to manage to turn your own pet into a top Gyromite runner in a weekend if you can replicate PB’s setup. “This took years of training,” JSR_ revealed in the description of that 25 minute run, “I wanted to train him to do something special, when I realized as a puppy that he was much smarter than most other dogs I’ve seen.

“Since I’m a speedrunner (and PB was literally named after, you know, getting a ‘PB’ in a speedrun) it only made sense to me.”

Hopefully this cunning canine can smash out a new PB the next time he takes on a Gyromite run – maybe after taking a quick paws to rest.

If you like amassing the idea of a gang of virtual pets this month, Palworld is among the latest batch of games announced for Xbox Game Pass.