Super Mario Odyssey speedrun world record broken three times in past 10 days

The world record for an “any%” speedrun of Super Mario Odyssey has been broken three times over the past 10 days, all by the same runner. The latest mark is 1:03:19, held by NicroVeda, a Canadian speedrunner. “Any%” is basically the 100 meter dash of speedrunning — reach the conclusion of the game as fast as possible.

He’s held the No. 1 slot since March 6. But the recent assault on the world record has broken some significant time barriers since then. NicroVeda’s rival appears to be the American nedeahS. Their competition began March 2 when nedeahS became the first to break the one-hour, four-minute barrier, obviously setting a world record with his 1:03:58 run on March 2.

NicroVeda chased him three days later but fell short by a second, 1:03:59, still good for second place. However, on the same day, March 5, nedeahS unbelted a 1:03:47 run. The next day, NicroVeda walloped that with a 1:03:33 run, and has owned first place since.

nedeahS, though the first to breach 1:04:00 and 1:03:50, has yet to get under 1:03:40. On March 30, they got as far as 1:03:41. That was followed by a 1:03:28 by NicroVeda the next day, and then his new record on April 3.

Super Mario Odyssey has attracted thousands of runners since its launch at the end of October. On speedrun.com, it is second only to Super Mario 64 in number of speedruns recorded, with 6,883. Most of that is in the any% category. Super Mario Odyssey also has the most active speedrunners, according to speedrun.com.