As an avid snowboarder growing up in the US state of Michigan, David Hunt idolised athletes like John Jackson and dreamed of one day emulating his snowboarding achievements. His love of the slopes took him to college in Colorado, and then to Lake Tahoe, where he continued to spend as much time as possible riding and working as a snowboarding instructor.

After a bad snowboarding accident left him severely injured and in months of recovery, Hunt turned to another passion to focus on. “I was bored on the couch, and I decided I wanted to become really good at one video game, Super Mario Bros. 3,” he says.

As he was playing, he became aware of the streaming platform, Twitch, which had not yet seen the boom of mainstream popularity it has now. “I think I got in with Twitch at the right time,” says Hunt. “It was small enough that you could make a name for yourself and I feel like it’s grown at the same time I have.” These days, his account has over 150,000 followers.

As he piled up recognition playing Super Mario Bros. 3, Hunt found the platform game Super Mario Maker, which allows users to create and play their own custom Super Mario levels. Hunt has spent hundreds of hours customising and playing “stupid difficult courses,” in his words. Hunt has completed Super Mario speedruns at marathon events live, like Awesome Games Done Quick and Summer Games Done Quick, and also organized and hosted his own event, Mario Maker Colosseum.

Hunt says the collaborative aspect of speedrunning events holds a special importance to him. “We do compete, but it’s not about me getting the world record,” he says. “It’s about getting the game as optimized as possible.” In this spirit, he's also helped raise over huge sums of money for charities though his participation in these events.

“It’s important, to me, to give back,” says Hunt. “If you have the ability to help, why wouldn’t you?”

His success and popularity led to signing a sponsorship deal with Red Bull and receiving his hat from his old hero, John Jackson. “It’s very surreal, and I’m humbled and excited,” says Hunt. “I never dreamed that video games would help me accomplish my snowboarding goals.”