Super Mario Bros. Speedrunner Rips World Record With Near-Flawless Time
Records are meant to be broken, shattered even, and can happen at any time and place, even in an unassuming bedroom underneath the yellowish glow of the lights. That's where clutch gamer Kosmic decided to livestream what would turn out be a record speedrun in Super Mario Bros., as he completed the game in 4 minutes 55.96 seconds.
That is the fastest time ever recorded in Super Mario Bros., one of the most popular video games of all time. It debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System on September 13, 1985, over three decades ago, long before livestreaming speedruns was a thing. The game is filled with tricks and secrets, some of which are critical to pull off when attempting to beat it in record time.
There have been faster runs in Super Mario Bros., but not by a human player, presumably without any cheats. Check it out...
Kosmic's time is less than 2 seconds slower than the fastest tool-assisted (TAS) speedrun in Super Mario Bros., which is currently 4 minutes 54.03 seconds. His speedrun was nearly perfect—the only noticeable mistake is a slight hesitation in jumping into a warp pipe on level 8-4. "Whatever, it's slow...get 4:55," Kosmic remarked at that moment.
Overall, it was close to a perfect run, with very little room for improvement. This may seem like a trivial thing to casual observers, but as anyone who is into speedruns can attest, what Kosmic achieved requires excellent timing and the ability to perform under pressure, particularly towards the end when a record is in sight.
Congratulations to Kosmic on setting the record.
