Some of you may know that Super Mario Bros is my favourite game of all time. I first played it when I was three years old and I continue to play it on a weekly basis to this day, 25 years later. Over the years I've been trying to speed-run the game - complete it in the quickest time possible. So far I can manage it in just over six minutes, which isn't too bad, but is nowhere near the level of the people who do it obsessively.
The world record used to be 5:05, set by Scott Kessler, but then in 2007 it was beaten by Andrew Gardikis who managed to get it down to 5:00, then broke the five-minute mark and got 4:59. Now, as you may have seen in today's news story, he's managed to perfect it even more to 4:58. Here's the video:
As you watch his video, you may be looking at some parts and wondering "how did he do that"? So, since I dabble in Super Mario Bros. speed running myself and recognise some of the techniques used, for this blog I'll be pointing out certain parts of the video and explaining how you can replicate it.
For the record, after studying all of this speed run intently, I can say 100% that none of it is fake, it all uses known glitches and exploits and is completely possible on any cartridge, even though it's nearly impossible to pull off. Now, here's how he did it.
World 1-1
This is how to do a perfect run of 1-1. Most people are tempted to run through the level at top speed without stopping, and that's possible, but if you go down the fourth pipe you actually cut out a huge chunk of the level when you come out the other end. If you can do this so the clock reads 370 at the end, then congratulations - you've just perfected World 1-1.
World 1-2
While you obviously need to get to the Warp Zone at the end of this world to jump to World 4-1, there's some trickery needed first before you get there. After some expert jumping at the start of the level (especially the Koopa Troopa/Goomba/Goomba group at 0:52 which is a lot harder than it looks to do at full speed) and the surprisingly easy but satisfying mid-air Goomba stomp at 0:55, Andrew reaches the section with the three pipes which usually slows people down. At full speed, he jumps onto the left side of the first pipe, jumps immediately off again to land on the right side of the second pipe, then jumps a third time to get over the third pipe.
The timing is immensely difficult, but he does it, seemingly jumping through the Piranha Plants in the process.
This is the first point where people usually think "fake", but it isn't. The trick here is that Super Mario Bros. has fairly small hit boxes. Hit boxes are invisible boxes that are laid over each character in a game. When your hero's hit box touches an enemy's hit box, it counts as contact and your hero dies.
A Piranha Plant's hit box covers the majority of its body but, ironically, the top of its teeth aren't part of the hit box. This means Mario can safely jump through a Piranha Plant's teeth and the game doesn't count it as a hit.
World 4-1
This is the easiest level to speed run because you can run through it without stopping. The only potential problem is Piranha Plants which appear from the two large green pipes (at 1:23 in the video) but once you get the distance right you can leap over them no problem. The hit box trick is more obvious with these two pipes - you can clearly see Mario passing through the Piranha Plants and taking no damage.
I can speed run SMB in about 7 minutes. I have a way to go yet though to become a master, sensei...
sigh
i thought i was a mario master reaching practicly 100% in every game. than i tried the nes ones and god it struck me "this is bonkersly hard" even after i got super mario bros ambassador games i could never finish world 8-1 let alone a speed run
HAAAAAAAACKS! On numerous occasions Mario is touching piranha plants, and this looks suspiciously similar to an Instructable on making an SMB beating robot. I am not convinced.
This isn't a hack. Yes, he touches the piranha plants, but the piranha plants hit box is smaller than the sprite, try it. It's about finding out ways of shaving split seconds of the time.
Actually, no hack, you can try it out yourself. You can jump over the piranha plants at their full height, hit them and it not register.
Did you even read the article? Sheeesh, im not sure if your blind or a troll...
Astonishing. No other word will do.
wow. he had more than a few close shaves with that one. imagine if you got to bowser in world 8 and then got hit by a hammer... thats crushing...
and whoever discovered that glitch had way too much time on their hands...
(puts on 3ds)
(fails at the glitch and just climbs the beanstalk)
(dies at world 8-1)
(gives up)
its not hacked at all, the game code must read an american number because in the american version, you can go down tubes regardless of the piranha plants and were in 4-2 he hits the secret beanstalk and goes down the tube, you cannot go down that tube in the english version
What's the fastest time as Super Mario not just normal Mario? I bet that's harder!
I have managed to do that jump over the pirana plant before but as for a speed run no chance! Andrew Gardikis is certainly very skilled to be able to complete Super Mario Bros in 4:58, well done dude!
One other note guys - it's a waste of time trying to beat this record with a PAL copy, as it runs slower.
The version on the Duck Hunt combo cart is slightyly faster, but still not NTSC speed.
hey guys which mario game is this
Damn, I did like 6-7mins on the Wii one and thought I was oddly close! Oh, well, time to leave the World -1 save state on the 3DS version!
(serious props to the Mad Skillz runner and to the ONM dissection btw!)
its super mario bros on the nes.
and no, i can't tell whether you're being sarcastic (as a troll), or just an uniformed gamer.
either way, its super mario bros. the original. on NES. Available throught the ambassador program for 3ds. and wii virtual console. and countless other ways.
but dont bank on being this quick.
o_O I've never even completed Super Mario Bros since I'm so bad at platformers...But to do it that quickly?! WOW, I can't even get past World 4!!!
This should be an Olympic sport. The next Mario and Sonic game should be players racing to finnish the old classics. Might have a slightly different target audience than the current M&C games going about...
hey guys...is the original game exactly the same, say on VC or on 3ds compared to NES version? what i mean by this is, can you still do the pipe jump trick on ported versions and are the glitches still there etc.?