This speedrun of Super Mario Bros. — finishing the game’s notorious Minus World — shaves a fraction of a second off the past mark and yes, world records fall daily in speedrunning’s vibrant, always-competing scene. But, if this is verified, it means one player has world records in the three main Super Mario Bros. speedruns recognized at Speedrun.com.
Kosmic, (Kosmicd12 on Speedrun.com) a speedrunner savant of Super Mario Bros., set the record last night. He credited another runner with discovering a faster means to clip through the wall in world 1-2, which accesses the Minus World. Kosmic’s 2:33.587, if recognized by Speedrun.com (it’s not, yet) is 143 milliseconds faster than the standing record, set four months ago by SoloQ. So there is not much room for improvement.
“This run arrived at -3 tied with the previous record and then saved several frames there,” Kosmic said in the comment underneath this Twitch stream. “There are still 3 framerules to save before entering -3!”
Kosmic as of now has 11 world records in Super Mario Bros. listed on Speedrun.com. Nine of them are in “category extensions,” which are basically trick shots like beating the game one-handed without using warps, or finishing it without killing any enemies.
Three events comprise the main series of speedruns for the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom version of Super Mario Bros.: Any% (all-out finish the game by any means available); warpless (basically any%, but without using the game’s Warp Zones) and Minus World ending (those three levels, fast as possible). Kosmic now has claim to all three simultaneously. Two more categories recognize any% and warpless times for Super Mario Bros. in the Super Mario All-Stars anthology for Super Nintendo.
It’s true that speedrunning’s leaderboards are almost ephemeral in how quickly world records change hands. Kosmic’s world record any% run was set nine days ago, for example, and his warpless record was set 27 days ago. But that’s what makes one person holding the triple crown for a speedrunning staple like Super Mario Bros. so remarkable.
