DGR

David "Dave" (born: May 24, 1989 (1989-05-24) [age 35]),^[1][2] better known online as DGR (also DGR_Dave, formerly Dan Good Repairs), is an American YouTuber and Twitch streamer mostly known for playing games in the Super Mario Maker series. His channel, DGR (which stands for Dan Good Repairs), originally belonged to him and his father-in-law Dan and they both ran it together. The original purpose of the channel was to upload video game repair tutorials for home consoles. However, as Dan became busy with his store and personal matters, Dave (Brian) kept the channel active by livestreaming gameplay of a variety of different video games. Eventually, Dan left completely and the channel's complete ownership went to Dave. On June 28, 2019, Dave moved on to making Super Mario Maker 2 videos.

History

"Dan Good Repairs" (which was later shortened to DGR) was created on February 2, 2016. The channel was created for Dan for answering people's questions and giving tips and tricks on home consoles and retro game systems.^[3] The channel was maintained by him and his son-in-law Dave. Dave would edit and record the videos. They also started a series called "DGR Game Chat" for them to talk about games on older consoles. Dave's first video was about him introducing Dan to the viewers in their store.^[4] However, as Amanda's various family members unfortunately passed away, leaving Dan busy with more important family-related work, Dan had to leave the channel mostly to Dave.

On May 21, 2016, Dave decided to do a live-stream for the first time for alternate content on YouTube. He had the opportunity to stream due to being on paternity leave and streamed in the family living room beside his sleeping first child, Carmen.^[5] After June 17, 2016, the channel stopped posting repair videos. Although Dan did appear for a couple of Live Repairs, but they would eventually stop after October 30, 2016. During this time Dave started series like #FriendsdayWednesday, and his wife started a series too, called #AmandaNotDave. He also started doing speedruns too. Dave also posted occasional normal videos which went from gaming videos, and channel related videos, to real life funny videos. Dave also made videos playing with others like CS188, SnapClickKat, and mostly with Ryukahr. Dave and Ryu both started streaming at about the same time and became good friends. Dave would also start streaming on Twitch, too.

After November of 2017, gaming videos were frequently recorded offline and uploaded rather than streamed. Dave also began streaming less as he started making 'Is It Possible?' videos for the game Super Mario Odyssey. Due to the game's popularity and appeal, the channel eventually started gaining more followers. During 2018-19, Dave started playing difficult and challenging Super Mario Maker levels. As these videos started gaining popularity, Dave started making more of them and they became the main content for the channel. Dave would still post other games too, but less frequently. After the release of Super Mario Maker 2, he uploaded videos of him beating difficult and challenging levels, as well as playing many other genres of levels. As of May 2024, it is still his main source of content.

During the end of 2022, Dave teased at a surprise coming at the beginning of the next year. On December 21, Dave finally revealed his surprise - The MarioThon. In this new series, Dave would play through every single Mario game. The series would begin on January 1st, 2023.^[6] On, January 1st, the MarioThon started on the DGR channel.

During December of 2023, Dave held a 24 hour stream where he raised 50 thousand dollars for charity.

Personal Life

David was born on May 24, 1989. Dave has been in a relationship with Amanda since high school.^[7] Dave and Amanda eventually got married in 2013 and had two daughters. Dave and his wife are both Christians. They live in Pennsylvania, United States. Dave's father-in-law and Amanda's step dad, Dan, has retired from game repairs and now works elsewhere.^[8]

In high school, Dave had a wrestling career.^[7] He used to work for UPS, where he worked on scanning, loading and unloading packages.^[9] He was also the first employee in his father-in-law's shop.^{[citation needed]}

Outside of his online life, Dave lives in rural Pennsylvania^[10] and has a large plot of land,^[11] on which he and his family grow many different kinds of plants.^[11]

Main Channel

Dave is known for his gaming content, including different challenges for Super Mario Maker. Another game he has played in the past is Super Mario Odyssey, creating the "Is It Possible" series. Now, in Super Mario Maker 2, he uploads content such as clearing troll levels, challenges, uncleared levels, etc. He also streams hacks for various Super Mario games, including Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Dave's videos which are recorded offline are normally edited by Dave himself,^[12] while stream VODs are edited for the main channel by Chris Low,^[13][12] an English video editor, Twitch streamer (of which he is currently on hiatus), and lo-fi remixer and composer who currently resides in London, England.^[14] He is also known by his online username Low on Life.

Other Channels

DGR+

DGRchives (later renamed to DGR+) is Dave's second channel. It was created on January 1, 2012 and is run by Dave and DGR moderator Alpha7.^[15][16] This channel was created mainly for uploading past livestreams in VOD form in their full capacity. Since Twitch only archives live-streams for 60 days, Dave decided to make this channel. The channel also uploads funny clips from streams and other random videos that are not meant for the main channel.

AmandaDGR

AmandaDGR is Dave's wife Amanda's channel. Created on December 8, 2011, this channel is older than the DGR main channel. Amanda is most active online through her Twitch streaming and chatting on Dave's streams under the same username as her YouTube channel, AmandaDGR. Despite not posting a video since October 2023, Amanda has been an active part of Dave's community via YouTube comments and now owns the DGR Discord server.

Series/Challenges

Trolled Series

The Trolled Series is a series in which Dave plays troll levels. Mayro and many other people have made troll levels for Dave. Troll levels can be frustrating but when people design them well, you can have a fun time.

Super Pacifist Challenge

The Super Pacifist Challenge is a series in which Dave attempts to beat the easy 100 Mario challenge without touching any coins, power-ups, and without killing enemies. If he fails, he must restart the level. Skipping is allowed if the level is impossible to beat.

1 Life Challenge

The 1 Life Challenge is a series in which Dave tries to beat the 100 Mario Challenge with 1 life. If he dies one time, he fails the entire challenge.

Death = Skip

The Death = Skip challenge is a series in which Dave tries to beat as many levels as he can in either 100 Mario Challenge or Endless challenge, but he skips it if he dies.

World Record Sniping

World Record Sniping is a former series in which DGR attempted to snipe as many world records as he could on other prominent creators' levels.

Friend vs. Foe

Friend vs. Foe was a planned series in which Dave would play Multiplayer Co-op with a guest to "build up the Friendship Meter" before playing Multiplayer Versus to "destroy the Friendship Meter", to see if their friendship survived the process. Only one video was ever released to this series, and it featured fellow Mario YouTuber Mayro.

Uncleared (0.00%) Levels

Uncleared (0.00%) Levels (formerly Uncleared Levels Challenge) is a series in which Dave tries to beat as many uncleared levels as he can. Because Super Mario Maker 1's Course World went offline permanently on April 8, 2024, Dave temporarily moved the series back to Super Mario Maker 1 before the shutdown to help the community complete all uncleared levels in that game before the servers went offline. Some time before the last level was revealed to be uploaded via TAS (short for "Tool-Assisted Speedrun"), Dave moved the series back to Super Mario Maker 2, stating that all remaining levels in Super Mario Maker 1 were too difficult for him.

Online Versus Battle

The Online Versus Battle series is a former series in which Dave played online versus trying to get to the S+ rank in Multiplayer Versus. Dave apparently retired this series because he reached S+.^[17] He returned to the game mode for a single video in 2023.^[18] During the stream, he mentioned that the game mode is extremely stressful and he didn't feel like returning to it again.

Uno Mas

The Uno Mas series is a series in which Dave tries out Uno Mas levels in Super Mario Maker 1 or Super Mario Maker 2. An "Uno Mas" level (originating from a meme using the Spanish phrase for "one more") showcases new glitches and weird mechanics that may be used in future levels. Due to the decline in the size of Super Mario Maker 2's player base, Dave retired the Super Mario Maker 2 side of this series due to the lack of new Uno Mas levels,^[19] but later announced that this series will continue in Super Mario Maker 1, because there are many more high-quality Uno Mas levels in that game that Dave has not played compared to those of Super Mario Maker 2.^[20]

Glitched Levels

The Glitched Levels series, also known as the Glitched Series and the Glitched Levels Showcase, is a series in which Dave plays levels that contain glitched course elements. These levels differ from Uno Mas levels because they do not simply showcase janky ways of using certain course elements, but instead contain elements in the course data itself that aren't supposed to exist. Contrary to Uno Mas levels, Nintendo deletes a lot of these levels within the first month of being uploaded. Dave hasn't made a new video in this series since February 2023, with the most likely explanation being the less-active glitch hunting community, and gradually less new glitches being discovered.

DGR's Hunt for 100(+)

DGR's Hunt for 100+ (formerly simply DGR's Hunt for 100) focuses on Dave attempting to beat one hundred levels in Expert Endless Challenge without skipping any levels. It was announced and began on July 22, 2021,^[21] and after a number of attempts, Dave made it to one hundred levels.^[22] He then announced he would continue the run and clear as many levels as possible.^[23] The run only lasted to level one hundred eighty-one before Dave gamed over in that level,^[24] and the series was retired. It has since returned and now appears to be a reoccurring source of content for the channel.^[25]

Super Expert No-Skip (Endless) Challenge (SENSEC)

The Super Expert No-Skip series, also known as Super Expert No Skip Endless Challenge in the Super Mario Maker 2 version (often abbreviated as SENSEC) or simply Super Expert No Skip Challenge, focuses on Dave playing either Super Expert 100 Mario Challenge (in Super Mario Maker 1) or Super Expert Endless Challenge (in Super Mario Maker 2) without skipping any levels. When playing in Super Mario Maker 1, he would skip if the level was impossible. One of the times where he was forced to skip took place when he came upon a level where the player needed to do a phantom jump to proceed. While the phantom jump used to be possible, it was patched, making the level impossible to beat. The series became more prominent in 2023, now serving as one of Dave's regularly-reoccurring video sources.

Hand-Plucked Levels

The Hand-Plucked Levels series focuses on many levels Dave has collected from browsing Course World or other Super Mario Maker 2 communities that look uniquely interesting but don't filter into another category.

Super DGR World

The Super DGR World series focused on Dave playing through a Super World made for him by a team of over thirty creators.^[26]

Ridiculous and Hilarious

The Ridiculous and Hilarious series features many games such as Mario mods or other games and showcases how "Ridiculous and Hilarious" they are.

Ninji Speedrun

The Ninji Speedrun series focused on Dave playing Ninji Speedrun levels. A Ninji Speedrun is a limited-time speedrun level uploaded by Nintendo and playable via the mode's dedicated section in Course World. Since Nintendo has made their last Ninji Speedrun level, this series is now retired.

Super [SMB1 Level] World

The Super [SMB1 Level] World series is an ongoing series in which Dave plays through entire Super Worlds made using a single level from the original Super Mario Bros. and putting a unique and creative spin on it for every level. Dave has played Super Worlds based on the following levels:

• 1-1
• 1-2
• 1-3
• 1-4
• 4-2
• 5-2

Mario Multiverse

The Mario Multiverse series focused on Dave playing closed-beta fangame Mario Multiverse. The game is essentially a sort of fan-made Super Mario Maker 3. Dave retired this series after making the third episode for an unknown reason.

MarioThon

The MarioThon is a series in which Dave plays through every single Mario game ever made. It was revealed on December 21, 2022.^[27]

Legends of Mario

The Legends of Mario series is a podcast in which Dave interviews legendary Mario YouTubers and/or Twitch streamers. The first episode of this series was released on Dave's YouTube channel on February 4, 2024 and featured GrandPooBear.^[28] As of July 2024, Dave has only released two episodes to the podcast, the first being the aforementioned GrandPooBear episode and the second featuring CarlSagan42.^[29] The latter episode was released on July 28, 2024.^[29]

Miscellaneous Series

• Super Mario 3D All-Stars
• Game Builder Garage
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder
• ROM Hacks

Charity Events

Dave and his family have donated to charity on multiple occasions, including raising money for different charities in the events listed below. In addition, all profit from their merchandise purchases are donated to charity.^[30] Dave also appeared in Kaizo Colosseum 2023,^[31] a three-day in-person charity event hosted by GrandPooBear benefiting the Direct Relief charity, which occurred from August 18 to August 20, 2023.^[32]

• Dave and his family raised 81,000$ for Starlight Children’s Foundation on a series of charity streams on Twitch from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24 of 2021. With Dave’s donation, custom Starlight gaming consoles and hospital gowns were sent to Janet Weis Children’s Hospital. It was for children who are sick and are in need of a distraction while at the hospital. According to Dave, Amanda was taken to it for an emergency surgery after they started dating and this was done as a thank you back towards them.^[33]
• On December 2-3 of 2023, Dave did a 24-hour stream on both YouTube and Twitch raising charity money for The Jared Box Project. The Jared Box Project is a charity with the intent of making small gifts for children in the hospital. The stream included giveaways of various items every couple of hours. Among these were several video game controllers made and proided by 8BitDo, a recreation of the Bob-omb Battlefield warp painting hand-painted by Dave himself, and five copies of the Steam release of Ebenezer and the Invisible World. To receive one entry in the giveaway lottery, you had to donate five dollars. Every subsequent five dollars gave you another entry. This was an incentive to donate to the The Jared Box Project. During the course of the stream, Dave played a game of Mario Party 3 with GrandPooBear, MitchFlowerPower, and Xwater; played several Christmas-related games, ROM hacks, and Super Mario Maker levels, and even had a section where musician MrPianoMan played piano music for the viewers at their request. He raised over $60,000 throughout the course of the stream. According to Dave, the charity was done as a thank-you toward The Jared Box Project for supporting one of his daughters when she was in the hospital earlier in the year.^[34]

Trivia

• Amanda's birthday is March 12.^{[citation needed]} Her birth year is unknown.
• Zelda and Mario are Dave's favorite game series.
• Dave hates the game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and disappointment towards it made Dave a bit skeptical about future Zelda games.
• Dave's least favorite Mario game is Paper Mario: Sticker Star.
• Darby from Blue Television Games is Dave’s best friend.
• Ryukahr and Mayro were previously friends of DGR, although they have been absent from the channel for many years.
• Dave has dyed his hair three times because of his charity streams - Once red, then blue, then bleaching it. He dyed his hair completely back to its original color of brown on all three occasions.
• Dave proposed to his wife in a grocery store parking lot.
• According to Dave, their home was built in the 1930s.
• Dave has 2nd and 3rd place records on Speedrun.com playing 'The Adventure of Little Ralph' on the PS1.
• Dave has his own page on IMDb.
• Dave has an alter ego, "Swaggy D", who typically wears a backwards Luigi Cap and talks a bit deeper than Dave would.
• Dave's favorite color is red.^[35]
• Dave's favorite Diddy Kong Racing character is Timber.
• Dave's favorite Starter Pokémon is Charmander.
• Dave has a strong sense of nostalgia from Super Mario World as it was a childhood game of his, and it is his favorite game style in Super Mario Maker 2.^[36]
• Dave's favorite power-up available in Super Mario Maker 2 is the Cape Feather.^[37]
• Dave and his family are Christian, and they regularly attend a local church at which Dave's uncle previously was a pastor at. Amanda often speaks of it on her own livestreams on her Twitch channel.
• Dave previously had a habit of joking about FearsomeFire; primarily calling him his nephew.
• During The MarioThon, Dave will ask "Do we have any 'thonners' in chat?", and the chat is filled with the dgrThon emote. This popular chat event is dubbed "The DGRThonWall".
• In keeping with both his personal beliefs and the family friendly nature of his channel, Dave usually shies away from profanity in his streams and videos; the strongest word he's ever fully uttered on record is the occasional "crap", particularly during the channel's early years.
• While Dave is not fluent in any language other than English, he took two years of Spanish in high school.^[38]
• He said he's a Penn State Alumni in Mario Maker 2: No Death WORLD RECORD ATTEMPTS, and previously worked for the University as well.

Quotes

Subscriber Milestones

• 100,000 subscribers: April 22, 2018
• 200,000 subscribers: May 3, 2019
• 300,000 subscribers: November 11, 2019
• 400,000 subscribers: April 24, 2020
• 500,000 subscribers: October 31, 2020
• 600,000 subscribers: May 1, 2023

References