The Drama Behind Beating the SUPER MARIO BROS. World Record

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Since 1985, Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. has widely been recognized as an all-time classic video game. It was one of  Shigeru Miyamoto‘s early masterpieces, but far from his last. Even after 30 years, new generations of players have continued to embrace the original Super Mario Bros. and its impeccable gameplay.  But there is a subset of gamers who are determined to push Super Mario Bros. to its limits.

Miyamoto and his team probably didn’t foresee the advent of speedrunners or the fact that the various warp zones can let players to finish the game in just a few minutes. But it is very possible, and gamers have been desperately trying to shave off seconds from their Super Mario Bros. speedruns even when their closest competition is themselves!

On YouTube, the latest episode of Summoning Salt‘s World Record Progression series focused on the Super Mario Bros. speedrunners’ quest for the fastest time ever. Along the way, the video’s narrator explains some of the glitches and tricks that were previously known to only a few gamers outside of the speedrun community.

Perhaps one of the most innovative players profiled in the video was Andrewg, a fan who developed some intriguing new strategies that others hadn’t even attempted before. While Andrewg’s methods involved using glitches, they allowed him to eventually beat the game in under five minutes. For a long time, Andrewg was at the top of this game’s speedrun records, and he kept revisiting it and breaking new records over the years.

The video also follows the rise of Andrewg’s rivals, including Darbian, a player who went on to set several Super Mario Bros. speedrun records of his own. In fact, Darbian is the current champion with a time of 4:56.878. It takes a nearly perfect game to get that, but that hasn’t stopped him or other players from trying to reach even faster times. As of this publication, no one has broken the 4:55 barrier for a Super Mario Bros. speedrun, but we wouldn’t bet against these players.

What do you think about this video? Take a Warp Zone to the comment section below and let your thoughts be heard!

Image Credits: Summoning Salt

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