After years of the Nintendo community trying, one speedy player has set a new record for the fastest speedrun of the original Super Mario Bros. game for the NES. Nintendo’s iconic Super Mario franchise celebrated its 35th anniversary last year. To commemorate the occasion, Nintendo rereleased three of its most famous 3D Mario titles as one Super Mario 3D All-Stars set. While a popular addition to gaming libraries in terms of sales, many were disappointed by this offering from Nintendo, especially with its limited-time release which concluded on March 31st.
But while many are feeling bitter over the now lack of Super Mario 3D All Stars on Nintendo’s eShop and in stores (although the game can be purchased secondhand for eye-watering prices), the original game in the Super Mario franchise is still making its own headlines, years after its release. Only a few days ago a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. for the NES went up for sale at auction and sold for an incredible $660,000 USD. This astonishing figure made it the most expensive video game in history. And, while others will likely not be shelling out quite so much money for the game themselves, the original Super Mario Bros. title has still remained a focal point for many speedrunners over the years.
Currently, there are multiple runs of Super Mario Bros. on the speedrun leader board that hover around the 4:55 mark, with no one managing to shave those vital milliseconds off their time to break into the 4:54 zone. That was the case for a long time – until today, when streamer Niftski managed to successfully complete Super Mario Bros. in an amazing 4:54:97. Having been a goal that has seemed so elusive to so many for so long, this record came as a surprise to not just Niftski’s viewers, but Niftski themselves as well. After several attempts, Niftski managed to do a run so flawlessly that they broke the record, and possibly a few ear drums at the same time, as their elation easily upped the stream’s overall volume (which had been fairly mellow up until this point) a considerable amount. The final run can be watched below.
Speedrunning is not for the fainthearted. To achieve their goals, speedrunners have to commit a lot of time and patience to a single game to learn its patterns and areas to exploit. Earlier in Niftski’s eventual record-breaking Super Mario Bros. stream on Twitch, Niftski admitted that they “really don’t play anything else as of right now” and that that has been the case for “the last year.” Niftski also confessed that racing for a goal and grinding a game is stressful, and “sucks as a mental state.”
Thankfully for Niftski, however, their patience paid dividends, and they achieved what they set out to do. The Super Mario Bros. speedrun record was broken, and now Niftski can enjoy any game they want (and at any pace they choose) while others try and break through this speedrunning barrier for themselves.
