How Super Mario Bros. Speedrunners Broke the FINAL Second Barrier

The date is January 6, 2011. On that day, Happy Lee posted a tool-assisted speedrun of the original Super Mario Brothers for NES. A tool-assisted speedrun or task for short is when a script of typed inputs is played frame by frame. An emulator has not yet been improved to calculate the theoretical fastest time that can be beaten in a game in Happy Lee's Super Mario Brothers task, since as no time savings have been found in the game for more than 10 years, the gameplay of TAS is incredibly precise and uses techniques seemingly unrealistic or outright impossible for a human to realistically achieve, and while no human could hope to match Happy Lee's tasks, it created a long-term challenge for racers. speed.

Could a human beat Super Mario Bros in 4 minutes and 54

second

s? For several years the answer was obviously no, but over the last decade as new strategies were implemented in sprint racing as new

second

barrier

s were

broke

n, 454 went from a certain impossibility to an inevitable event, effectively the 7 April 2021, the Super Mario brothers were defeated in 454,948 the last second

barrier

has

final

ly been

broke

n and is one of the most monumental events in the history of current speedrunning by popular demand. I'll go over the previous 80 milestones in Super Mario Bros., techniques developed over the last decade, and new ones.

The strategies that made 454 possible and what the perfect career that a human could achieve in the future would look like, but before I start, only eight percent of my audience is subscribed, so if you end up liking this video, don't forget to subscribe . your exit, you can always unsubscribe at any time, thanks now, before I talk about the new developments that made 454 possible, let me give everyone a crash course on the previous second bears in Super Mario Bros, any percentage and the tricks used to break. them, since I'm aware that not everyone watching this is familiar with drag racing, to start, let's talk about glitches and twin galaxies, two things that got mixed up, besides oil and water, in the early 2000s, many classic NES world speed records were legitimized by However, the Twin Galaxies organization banned the use of glitches for video game world records, and as a result, useful tricks that were known at the time were used, such as the incorrect warps in 4-2 and 8-4 and the wall jump in the last stage. not allowed by 2007 speedrunner Andrew G was frustrated with how Twin Galaxies' stance on glitches was stunting the potential of speedrunning and so abandoned Twin Galaxies in favor of the speed demo archive which allowed glitches in the demo archive. of speed that he would achieve and set the first world record.

Using these aforementioned failures with a time of 5 minutes and 600 milliseconds three years later, on Christmas Eve 2010, Andrew G broke the 5 minute barrier for the first time, while this race more or less used the same strategies as 2007, with better execution. Argue with this milestone that Super Mario Bros. speedrunning had actually begun almost a year later, on December 5, 2011, Andrew G achieved the first 456, the most notable time savings being a much cleaner 8-4 and a jump higher on the flagpole at 8-3, which is a few frames faster than previous runs where he grabbed the flagpole 8-3 from below, allowing for a reduction of 21 frames or about 0.35 seconds thanks to the game's frame rules system for those who don't know, in Super Mario Bros the game checks every 21 frames to see if the player has completed a level, a period of time known as the frame rule, this means that if you reach the

final

level early within the frame rule, you could start the next level at exactly the same time as someone who Beats the slower level, but was fast enough to be within the same frame rule.

If you arrive a little late, however, you lose the fastest frame rule and start the next stage approximately 0.35 seconds slower, this means that in a fast race, time can only be gained or lost in intervals of approximately 350 milliseconds with the exception of 8-4 where the timer stops when you touch the axe. It's also worth mentioning that the framework rules also influence certain enemy patterns, this means that if you were to wait to start the game after restarting for the same amount of time and manage to reach certain levels consistently within the same rule, You'll see the same patterns for obstacles like fire bars and bullet cannons.

This last manipulation is especially important for what led to Saradoc's first 457 on June 5, 2014. After waiting a moment at the title screen and reaching the end of 8-2 in the correct box rule, the bullet in the end fired instantly, allowing saradoc to make the most of the bullet. Bill Miss: By accurately jumping from a bullet bill near the bottom of the flagpole, it is possible to snag the block and skip not only lowering the flag but also walking up to the building at the end, causing the Game time limit starts rolling. fell instantly because saradoc manipulated the bullet spike to shoot instantly saved two frame rules leading to a final time of 457.693 a couple of years later on october 5, 2016 darvian would achieve the first 456 largely due to use of a trick that was previously just a task. known as the flagpole glitch thanks to talented bug hunter Sock Folder who had previously found a consistent setup for Super Mario 64's infamous canon list trick.

Consistent setups were found so players could perform a sequence of precise entries to hook into the base of the flagpole. which depends on Mario having the correct position down to the sub pixel, which is 1 16 pixel in this game. Sock folder settings allowed saving a frame rule in both 1-1 and 4-1, saving two frame rules instead of not. by making any flagpole glitch, it would be another two years before cosmic achieved the first 455 and during that time three framework rules were saved on October 20, 2017, darbian would become the first to implement the glitch from the flagpole at the end of 8-3 runners began to save. another frame rule in 4-2 thanks to a faster miswarp setup developed by blazed in the past, racers attempted to remove a frame rule by attempting a fast 4-2 where instead of crashing into blocks three times To shift Mario's horizontal position to the right to make the wrong warp work, the racers tried to use two hits to get to the end faster, but it was very inconsistent and was abandoned when the flagpole glitch became the goal thanks to Blaze, all you needed to do now was make a wall. clip on the bricks here, allowing for a much more consistent and easier 4-2, finally on September 24, 2018, the same streak in which cosmic hit the first 455, he implemented the hardest trick in the game up to that point , tube 1-2. clip In order to perform this, the runner has to make specific moves while running through the underground to get the correct sub-pixel position for the wall clip and perform a perfect jump on the frame at the end to get through the pipe, doing this allows Mario reached the warp zone at world 4 fastest and saves another frame rule if done correctly at the start of 2019. cosmic and sunwest were the only two racers with a 455 and the well of frame rules saves seemed to have dried up in this point.

The only realistic time savings came from the 8-4 optimization, where racers, like some in the west, began implementing a difficult trick known as quick acceleration at the beginning of a level or subarea, such as when Mario comes out of a pipe, a left input can be damped. while holding b or another direction on the d-pad, releasing one frame later left before right and pressing another frame later, allowing

mario

to start running forward faster as

mario

moves through the air faster backwards compared to forwards, fast accelerations don't have to be done perfectly framed to save time, but obviously doing them perfectly saves about four to six frames instead of just one or two frames, but many People were doubtful about the prospects of a 454 occurring, as even with faster 8-4s it would require at least two framework rule saves of the remaining three made by the TAS to be done in a real-time run.

The three remaining frame rules at the time included the following 4-2 blitz, a ridiculously difficult frame rules save involving a series of frames. perfect innings without any practical human setup yet pl8-1 a faster 8-1 frame rule named after the best runner caught on a plate was possible but very difficult when performing optimal rapid acceleration at the initial level in addition to the error of the flagpole in the finale which was not done in previous races due to the flagpole failure, not enough time was saved to save the frame rule without Quick Excel, making subpixel settings quite difficult for 2019, only a handful of riders had achieved it in practice, eventually there were tass 8. -2, which seemed to be humanly impossible until later in the summer, on September 3, 2019, the world record holder in At that time, Tavern Webb 2002 became the first person to keep the framework rule in practice, but how did Tavern do it?

He didn't get it right, it turned out to be possible, but he had no margin for error when starting out. Cavin performed a quick excel and then ran through the level until this pipe normally in races, this piranha plant forces the racer to slow down a bit so they don't get hit and die, instead tavin performs a precise jump on the wall from the side of the pipe, allowing you to clear the floor without sacrificing speed from here, the bullet bill fires from the barrel and the bullet bill miss is done in the first possible frame with this development 454 no longer seemed impossible, but the 8-2 frame we will save needed better configuration if it were to be used in world record attempts, effectively by July 2020 kriller37 would create a viable 8-2 task that used a frame rules manipulation on the title screen which not only caused the bullet spike to fire instantly after the tricky plant jump, but also no longer required rapid acceleration, plus some improvements were made for the pl8-1 configuration.

Making 454 more likely every day By fall 2020, previous world record holders of 455 times, like Tavern Sunwest and Cosmic, had moved on to other speed games or life projects, leaving the reins of any percentage to a new generation. of runners, for sure. In the coming months, three new world record holders would emerge as the top 454 contenders. On October 23, the first of these three runners would make history when Brazilian speedster Lakuki would tie the Cosmos world record of 455.646, which was set at beginning of the year, evening out remarkably. The fastest 8-4 ever made in a complete game, Lakuki, however, had not saved any new frame rules, that honor goes to keyboard warrior himself, Niftsky, who would reduce the record to 455,430 exactly three weeks later, becoming the first person to implement it.

We will save the 8-2 frame task in a world record race. He had managed to grab the run on his first attempt by passing the 8-2 task, but lost 8 frames at 8-4 compared to cosmic and makuki if he wanted to break 454. He would need to improve on 8-4 and implement pl 8-1 advancing the change of niski's game, a record would last until the end of the year until January 2, when the brilliant brit miniland 333 achieved his first world record in the category with a 455.314 nailing tass 8-2 and played until 8-4 just one frame Slower than Lakuki a month later, Miniland would also improve this time to 455.230 using two quick accelerations and having a perfect water section to complete the level four frames faster than Lakuki, the 8-4 fastest ever seen in a full game, With this race 454 was on the horizon with intense competition that left viewers at home glued to these players' broadcasts.

It could happen any day, now all that's left is for the brokers to implement it. the final piece of the puzzle pl 8-1 the question was no longer if anyone could get a 454 but who and when it was march 2021 and things had reached a boiling point all month long many runners were on the verge of 454 .lukuki nifski and miniland had shown withoutThere is no doubt that they can achieve it, either by finishing a possible 454 runs starting from 4-2 or by making runs that surpass the successful saves of the 8-1 frame rule only to lose the run afterwards if they were not.

It's not clear enough, 454 is incredibly difficult, as you need to nail every flagpole, glitch, pipe flip, quick accelerations, wall jumps, sub-pixel manipulations and an excellent 8-4 on top of all that to bring it to life. things at the end of February in a different way. Runner Luxino would knock Knifsky out of second place with a 455.413, yet another 454 contender to add to the mix. The march turned into April and these four runners had their eyes on the prize. Hundreds and hundreds of failed attempts would pass until April 7, when the race began. would start oh my god yeah buddy what oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god I grabbed it I stayed calm and it worked holy cow holy cow holy cow niftsky had done it he had beaten

super

mario

bros

in 4 minutes, 54 seconds and 948 milliseconds becoming the first person to break the last second barrier in the game when the chat started to lose its mind and community members joined a discord call to congratulate nifski on an era of

super

mario

bros

.

Speedrunning had just ended more than a decade and a half ago and it had been established that the game could not be beaten in less than 4 minutes 54 seconds, which was reaffirmed with Happy Lee's tasks, which remained the fastest theoretical time. fast since early 2011. Back then, no one expected humans to be one second from the absolute limit, but after more than a decade of new strategies, new innovations and a new generation of players, what happens from here is that whatever percentage is ultimately dead, the answer is absolutely not. It's not as revolutionary or as iconic as Nifski's first 454, it's very beatable.

His 8-4 was on par with cosmic and lukuki, but was 4 frames slower than miniland, meaning 454.8 is most likely miniland lakuki and lexino can definitely beat the record at any time, as well as any racer. active of a 455 if they put in the time, as for the remaining time save the lightning 4-2 is the last box rule that has not yet been saved in a real event. So far, Nifky is the only person who has managed to achieve successfully Lightning 4-2 in practice using an inconsistent setup where Mario moves 11 pixels to the right by crashing into this platform and then performing a wall jump back from the side of this pipe. to execute the fastest possible incorrect deformation, after which a successful rapid acceleration and tight movement in the deformation zone area must be performed to barely save the frame ruler.

Recently, Kriller came up with a new setup that's supposedly easier, but no one has done it. It's still quite a bit, if Kriller or anyone else could solve Lightning 4-2 it will definitely start to be used in races, since for 8-4 there is so much potential to save time that I'm not even sure when or if it ever will. Running perfectly in a race Currently the fastest 8-4 in a full race uses two quick accelerations, but the fastest 8-4 possible within RTA rules involves the use of 5 quick accelerations On April 22 Lukuki set a record of individual level unleashed for 8-4 using 5 fast stands out although it was not completely perfect considering lukuki's world record of 8-4 and lightning 4-2 the best possible time for a super mario bros speedrun is 454.298 yes Taking into account the fastest individual lukuki segments of 8-4 spliced ​​together, another frame may be removed in the final room, reducing the theoretical best time to 454.282.

This is a quarter of a second slower than Happy Lee's tasks, which use simultaneous left and right inputs that are prohibited in real sprints compared to Maru's no-left tasks. and the correct task published two years ago is only one frame slower, but according to lukuki, the last frame left in the first room is considered impossible for a human to save on the original hardware, which means we could safely say that The theoretical best time for a human is 454.282 until people reach that time, super mario bros any percentage is far from over, a new era of super mario bros speedrunning is upon us and I'm excited to see how far this game goes .

Congratulations to Stannivsky for landing the first 454 and good luck to If anyone else is looking for 454 or the world record, check out his YouTube channels and Twitch streams, as well as tutorials to learn speedrunning. If this video interests you, I'm thinking about running the game myself this summer, so keep your eyes peeled. Try it sometime, thank you all so much for watching and remember to shoot for the moon.