The History of Super Mario Bros Warpless World Records

Summoning Salt35 minutes read

Speedrunning Super Mario Bros involves optimizing gameplay through various strategies and techniques, with different players setting and breaking records over the years, focusing on precision and efficient gameplay to achieve faster completion times. Players like Andrew G, Hittery, Cosmic, Blubler, Darbian, and GT Ace have showcased exceptional skill and dedication in their pursuit of breaking the world record, with Cosmic ultimately achieving a sub-19 time through perseverance and continuous improvement.

Insights

  • The Super Mario Bros speedrunning community has seen multiple world record holders, each refining strategies to achieve faster completion times by utilizing specific power-ups, enemy patterns, and precise execution of challenging maneuvers.
  • Achieving a successful speedrun in Super Mario Bros requires a delicate balance between optimizing gameplay strategies, such as maintaining power-ups and controlling enemy patterns, and executing technically demanding maneuvers like wall jumps with frame-perfect precision, all while navigating the game's levels efficiently to secure the fastest completion time possible.

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Recent questions

  • How has the original Super Mario Bros been optimized?

    For speedrunning, with warp zones and precise gameplay.

  • What challenges do castle levels pose in speedrunning?

    Random enemy patterns causing slowdowns and mistakes.

  • What is the significance of executing a successful wall jump?

    Landing precisely on a perfect pixel and performing a frame-perfect jump.

  • How did Andrew G's strategy differ in speedrunning?

    Staying as small Mario to avoid time-consuming power-ups.

  • How did Cosmic achieve a new world record in speedrunning?

    By focusing on faster Bowser kills and gaining crucial frame rules.

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Summary

00:00

Super Mario Bros Speedrunning Evolution: Record Breakers

  • The original Super Mario Bros has been optimized for speedrunning, with eight levels played as close to perfection as possible in under five minutes.
  • Using warp zones can significantly shorten the speedrun, but not using them unlocks a more challenging version of the game.
  • Andrew G broke a 14-year-old record in 2005 by speedrunning all 32 levels of the game, showcasing the game's structure with different types of stages.
  • Andrew G's strategy involved staying as small Mario to avoid time-consuming power-ups, leading to cautious gameplay in later levels.
  • The castle levels posed significant challenges due to random enemy patterns, causing Andrew to slow down and make mistakes.
  • Andrew G's initial record of 21 minutes and 18 seconds in 2005 was considered sloppy but held as the official world record for a while.
  • Andrew G improved his record to sub-20 minutes in 2007, showcasing a more refined and confident gameplay style.
  • Hittery from Japan set a new record in 2010 at 19 minutes and 21 seconds, utilizing the fire flower power-up for faster enemy defeat and skipping animations.
  • Cosmic surpassed Andrew G's record in 2012 with a 19 minutes and 35 seconds run on the Wii Virtual Console, despite the slower frame rate.
  • Hodorubi achieved a 19 minutes and 16 seconds run in 2013, utilizing fire strats and good patterns in castle levels to beat previous records.

15:30

"World Record Speedrun Success in Super Mario"

  • To execute a successful wall jump, landing precisely on the perfect pixel and performing a frame-perfect jump within a 60th of a second is crucial.
  • Missing the wall jump in a speedrun costs the same amount of time as using a backup method, but successfully executing it saves nearly a second.
  • Andrew achieved a time of 19:12 in a run where he maintained the fire flower until the second half of the game.
  • Blubler broke Andrew's record by less than a tenth of a second, showcasing the importance of maintaining the fire flower throughout the game.
  • Blubler strategically controlled enemy patterns by arriving at levels within specific time frames, ensuring consistent runs late into the game.
  • Darbian surpassed Blubler's record with a time of 19:04, showcasing exceptional precision in avoiding obstacles and defeating Bowser efficiently.
  • Andrew attempted to beat the world record multiple times, coming close but falling short due to mistakes in the late stages of the game.
  • In a remarkable run, Andrew achieved a time of 19:03, securing the world record by nearly half a second after a flawless performance in World 8.
  • Cosmic, a former record holder with a small Mario run, improved his time to 19:05 with fire strats before attempting to break the world record.
  • Cosmic matched Andrew's splits and gained crucial frame rules in Bowser fights, ultimately achieving a time of 19:03 to reclaim the world record after over five years.

32:19

"Sub-19 Time Achieved, Record Broken"

  • Cosmic achieved a new world record by a full second and a half, with potential for further improvement.
  • Hittery came close to beating the record with a 1921 time, but missed it due to mistakes in 8-4.
  • GT Ace, after refining his skills, achieved a time of 1905, just three and a half seconds behind the record.
  • GT Ace attempted the flagpole glitch to save time and aimed for the world record, coming close but missing it by half a second.
  • Cosmic, focusing on faster bowser kills, beat the record with a time of 1901 on May 30, 2019.
  • Cosmic aimed for a sub-19 time, achieving 19 flat quickly and then working towards 1859.
  • After numerous attempts, Cosmic finally achieved a sub-19 time, overcoming challenges in 8-4 to set a new record by about a third of a second.
  • Cosmic's perseverance led to the realization of a sub-19 time, with potential for further improvement towards 1857 and beyond.
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