The world of Super Mario Bros. Any% speedrunning is an intriguing one because the run of how quick it is; with a little practice, it’s very easy to clear the game in under six minutes, and seasoned speedrunners are able to clear the game in under five. The meta now has been about perfecting every possible aspect of the game that the player can control to shave milliseconds off their time.
In September 2018, the seemingly impossible 4:55 run in Super Mario Bros. was finally done by Kosmicd12, who achieved a time of 4:55:913. Not even a month later, somewes broke that record by finishing with a time of 4:55:796; the difference between the two runs totalled to 0:00:117.
But how much further can this game be pushed? It’s been said that if you complete each segment of the run in the best possible time, the total time of the run would amount to 4:55:096. Taking nerves and human error into account, this is a tall order, but there’s still room for the game’s greats to continue to push for perfection…or even for a new challenger to make a name for himself.
Taven Webb (known as tavenwebb2002) is a speedrunner who has flown up the Super Mario Bros. leaderboards as of late, and has achieved a historic record of 4:55:746. The amount of time saved from somewes’ run is very small, but when you realize just how close this game is to being perfected, it makes a monumental difference.
You can check out Webb’s run here:
There are a few comments about the recording of the run, but this is solely because we’ve been blessed with so many content creators using high-quality capture cards. This is no fake; what the video lacks in display quality, it makes up for with its historic gameplay.
