Super Mario Bros. speedrunner beats previous record by half a second!

Trying a Speedrun of a game is not an easy task. It requires precision and mastery. And when it comes to this, specific titles have a reputation for being tested through impossible times every now and then.

Well, as you may know by now, one of these games is Super Mario Bros., which has an official timing of 4:54.881. Oddly enough, prolific Mario speedrunner Niftski shaved off 0.083 seconds from their previous world record without even noticing it! With a new time of 4:54.798, Niftski not only broke THE record, but it was also his record. For five frames, the difference seemed almost untraceable, to the point that he wasn’t even sure he did it until he analyzed the video afterward: "I thought I didn't get it! I thought it was .82," Niftski shouts at the end of the video. "Oh my god, what?!"

You can check out the incredible accomplishment here:

For a while now, all the hints, moves, and paths to follow for Super Mario Bros. have been tested to find the “perfect run.” This includes avoiding enemies with perfect timing and jumping with the synchronicity of ballet choreography. This has led thousands of players to try to surpass the “perfect run.” But this achievement requires more than your human hands and talent.

"This is just the beginning of how incredibly optimized speed runs of this game will be, especially very soon once lightning 4-2 gets implemented into runs," noted Niftski in the video comments. According to Kotaku, the best tool-assisted speedrun for Super Mario Bros. is set at 4:53.265. Theoretically, this should be the best time a human could complete the game. Speedrunners are just a second and a half away from “ the perfect run.”

In the meantime, speedrunners will keep coming up with new ways to best their timings. Most recently, speedrunner JeremyMKW with one hand behind his back achieved a time of four minutes and 57 seconds. That's actually pretty close to Niftski's time, and he used only one hand! That’s talent right there.

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