Submission #9043: Sam_Underscore's SNES Mario & Wario "all standard levels" in 1:05:44.09

This game is essentially a guided autoscroller. All control the player has over Yoshi is tapping him to make him turn around or in some cases fall. The goal is to somewhat control the environment to create a safe and quick path for Yoshi, whether that be destroying and creating blocks, or blocking enemy projectiles. There is a lot of waiting in many cases. Don’t expect this to be the most thrilling TAS ever made.

The objective of the “All standard levels” TAS is to beat the game while playing Worlds 1-10. The fastest way to beat the game would be to play world 8, which unlocks world 9, which then unlocks world 10. For some reason, the first 8 worlds are all available from the start. So basically, it’s a TAS of all the worlds leading up to the end of the game, the only world that is skipped over is “Level EX” which is a bonus world.

Also, massive shoutout to my main sources, being the All Stages World Record speedrun by Poahr (linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gErbLEkdNlc) and the Mario and Wario (linked here: https://www.mariouniverse.com/maps-snes-mw/).

Emulator: Bizhawk 2.7.0

Core: BSNES

Frame count (from power on to last input): 237,033

Yoshi is the obvious character choice, as he is the fastest character. When selecting him, it looks like Mario is selected because the mouse is moved over to Yoshi on the same frame it is pressed, making this visual bug. You can see that Yoshi is selected on the level select screen.

Every other frame during a standard level (meaning not bosses or menus) is a lag frame, essentially making the game run at 30 fps. When I say “frames” however, this includes lag frames

Cooldown between clicks: 18 frames, or 9 frames in sections with no lag frames (such as bosses)

Luigi’s position can determine when the level is complete, but he starts in the same place every time (no rng) and there’s no way to manipulate his movement, so there is no extra planning to be had to get a good “luigi cycle”

Fastest time to “Press button” at the start of a level is as soon as everything is fully rendered

When Yoshi goes up a lift and has to turn around at the top, it is fastest to turn him around at the start of the lift so that he can be further in whatever direction he should be in.

When Yoshi has to fall down, it’s best to disable the block he’s on so he falls immediately. This only works if you are on the seam between Yoshi and the block and click them both with one, otherwise he will hover in place first or just turn around.

Max distance per frame on mouse: 10 in each direction

Timed blocks stay activated for 110 frames

There is only a 9 frame cooldown for attacking Wario because there are no lag frames during the fight.

4 stars give the player an extra life. (Useless)

There’s no way to skip the animation of Yoshi falling when the ground he’s on can’t be removed or disappear. Super Mushrooms add more time to the clock, but freeze the game to do so. These should be avoided if at all possible.

Coin blocks give 10 coins each. At one point, I thought it was important to get coins because of something relating to the end cutscene of the Wario boss fight, but I eventually learned that it actually didn’t matter. So if you see me collecting coins for no apparent reason, that’s why

Later into the TAS, I give up on trying to make it entertaining and instead just focus on making it as optimized as possible.

When making the character selection, there's actually a visual bug where you select a character and then move the mouse over another character, making the first character do their chosen animation but the second character is the one you actually play as. This is also one frame faster because it starts fading out one frame sooner.

Every Wario boss fight plays out the same. He has 60 health (coins) and each hit adds one coin. He gets faster as he gets hit more in each movement. At 60, he explodes and goes offscreen, then in the background. It may look like it's faster to wait to kill him when he gets close to the edge of the screen, but it's actually a timed event and not determined in any way by his position. Also, you can hit him sooner when he emerges from the right side of the screen than the left side. Also, you can hit him for more coins once he is defeated, but it actually loses time because it takes longer to count down all the coins.

Note that I will be skipping over levels that offer nothing new to be explained.

1-1: Yoshi goes up two lifts. Nothing of interest here except that I make him turn around on the first possible frame at the bottom of the lifts as mentioned in General Info

1-2: As Yoshi continues in the same direction after going up the first two lifts, it would be slower to turn him around at the bottom. (I tested if it would be faster to turn around at the bottom and then turn back around on the way up, and it was not.) On the third lift he is turned around at the bottom.

1-3: Here we get the first example of a "quick drop" (which is a name I just made up, as it's unnamed and something very frequently used in the TAS.) Instead of waiting for Yoshi to drop on his own or destroying the block under him and then waiting 18 frames to hit Yoshi, you can click right on the seam between the block and Yoshi to make him fall and the block disappear simultaneously. This works for the Flip-Flop blocks (the pink diamond blocks that can be clicked on and off, I got that name from the Mario Wiki page) and the Rock Blocks.

1-5: This introduces timed blocks. These stay activated for 110 frames, and are solid for that time. They cannot be deactivated by any means other than waiting the 110 frames, so I must time when I press it just right given the circumstance so that it will disappear just as I want to tap Yoshi and make him quick fall, which is, in this case, the first frame possible. Then I activate the ground under him, turn him around, and wait.

1-6: This introduces brick blocks. They can be clicked on to be destroyed, and cannot be regenerated. You can use these to get the same quick fall effect as the Flip-Flop blocks

1-7: Here, I must use two quick falls, which requires an interesting order of pressing the blocks and when.

1-9: In case you are wondering, there is no way to pass through the rising platforms. These are as solid as normal walls and are very frustrating to deal with.

1-10: This is the shortest level in the entire TAS. It is also demonstrated here that you can do quick falls with brick blocks.

Every boss is the same so there’s no reason to go over each individual one.

2-1: Nothing new, except how dripped out Yoshi is

2-3: Finally, some new stuff. This level introduces springs. These are very frequent throughout the game. There are two types of springs: Large and small. I will describe small springs when they come into play. Big springs are 2 blocks wide and 1 block deep. When Yoshi touches one, he’s launched up into the air. Something important here is that he loses all collision when moving upward from a spring and gains collision once he begins dropping. As a result of this, if he is inside a block, he will get pushed slightly in the direction he is facing. This level also introduces the bird enemies, which are quite simple. They kill Yoshi if he touches one, but dies if clicked on.

2-4: This level is the first time that the dreaded long fall animation is relevant. When Yoshi falls from a high height (I forgot the exact height) he has an animation where he shakes when he lands. In this case, it is faster to take the shake animation rather than quick fall and then long fall to avoid the animation.

2-5: This one has a nifty shortcut.

2-6: This level introduces hidden ! Blocks. These are invisible until clicked on, and can create secret ways to get around the level (as seen here). They can also be clicked to make them disappear, meaning quick falls are possible off of these blocks.

2-7: Here, I carve out a path from the brick blocks to have Yoshi move through. You can also see how I make use of the mechanic where Yoshi is moved forward slightly when a quick fall is done, meaning I can make him quick fall when he is a bit to the left of the ledge, and he will still make it.

2-8: First level with small brick blocks. Same thing as normal brick blocks, just 1x1 size instead of 2x2. I also show here that despite what the graphics would imply, Yoshi is only one block tall and can go right through the small gaps.

2-9: Another fun little shortcut.

2-10: This level demonstrates just how little freedom there is in many cases when choosing the route. You have to do a lot of stuff just to get the spring that leads to the end, even if it looks like it should be possible to make it there earlier on.

3-1: At the end of this level I turn Yoshi around before making him drop. This is faster, but only when timed blocks because of how they can disappear in the middle of his turning animation.

3-3: This one is a pain. Because of the cooldown between clicks and the distance between each timed block and the need to click on Yoshi to make him fall, it is required to wait a little. It looks so bad though, I tried so hard to make it spotless. Oh well.

3-5: Here, I keep a brick block at the end intact until the fall so that I can do a quick fall off of it and avoid a shaking animation.

3-8: Now, we are introduced to the small springs. These are more different than the large springs than you might think. Other than their smaller scale, they also are triggered differently. With these, you can actually turn Yoshi around right before he touches it to turn him before he lands. Combined with the block push, which can lead to some broken results later on.

3-10: This one was such a nightmare. So many timed blocks, a lot of weird routing because of that. I got as many quick falls as possible, but there was still some waiting.

4-1: Here, the bats are introduced. They kill Yoshi if they make contact with him, but they also are killed when clicked. They are always in groups of 4, and they start in one location hanging from a ceiling. There is also a 22 frame cooldown between killing the bats.

4-6: At the end, you can see that the bat goes right through Yoshi because he is in the end animation and is therefore invulnerable.

4-7: At the end, a quick fall could be done, but Yoshi would still do the shaking animation because of how high it is.

4-8: Remember how I said most of the TAS is controlling Yoshi’s environment to have him moving as fast as possible? This is probably the best example of that. Watch as I try and flip every slime block, which the rate at which that can be done is slightly slower than Yoshi’s move speed, while I also try and keep all the bats from killing Yoshi.

4-9: At the start of this level, Yoshi is already on the slime blocks so he is slowed down a little while while the other ones are flipped. I also have to stall Yoshi for a little while to keep him from hitting the spike ball.

5-1: This level introduces fire spitters. They are rarely a problem as their projectiles can be blocked by any wall or clicked to make them disappear, and if the surface they’re on is destroyed then they fall and die.

5-8: This level introduces diagonal fire spitters. They can be tapped to switch directions.

So little of importance happens in this world it’s almost funny

6-1: This level introduces switch blocks. When you click one of these, every block of this type switches. One interesting (and frustrating) thing about these is that you can’t do a traditional quick fall with these, rather you have to click on the platform and then Yoshi, you can’t do both in one click like usual.

6-4: Yoshi must be stalled in this level to avoid touching the spike balls.

6-5: There are a few ways to do this level. By not doing a quick fall at the start it’s possible to drop down more “floors” than you can with a quick fall. After that, it’s faster to do 2 quick falls (I tested all of the scenarios, this happened to be the fastest.)

6-9: My favorite level. This has the only example of a wall clip in the TAS. By lining up Yoshi right and doing a long fall instead of a quick fall, Yoshi will fall out a bit further. Then, after being launched up by the small spring, he will get pushed a bit to the right. This puts him on the top of one of the blocks, where he can then walk off the side and skip a large portion of the level.

6-10: There’s so much going on here, lots of stuff with click cooldowns and the distance Yoshi falls and long falls and short falls and all that. It looks sloppy and slow, but it’s the best I could do and as far as I know the fastest way possible.

7-1: I hate world 7. There’s so much waiting because its main gimmick is the cloud blocks, or “cycle blocks” as I will be calling them. In a game where I already have little control, here’s another thing to slow me down. But anyway, despite all the waiting, there is some timesave to be had. At the end of the level, I long fall off the ledge as the block gets activated, so that Yoshi zips up to the top of the cycle block a little bit further out from the ledge. I will call the trick a “cycle jump.” It can be used a few times throughout this world.

7-2: A cycle jump can be done at the end.

7-3: Here, because I have to wait anyway, it’s faster to go to the left side of Luigi because that’s the side he’s closer to when the player arrives. (Remember, the end of the level is Luigi, not the center of the “Clear!” post.)

7-10: The only level in this world to not use the dreaded cycle blocks. Nothing else special about this one though. I also make the block below Yoshi disappear right as he reaches Luigi, just for fun.

As you can see, there is a lot of waiting in this world. Not too much that needs to be elaborated on.

8-1: Here we have a very unique technique. If you make Yoshi quick fall and also activate the timed block he’s on when he’s close enough to the edge of it, he will fall and get pushed by the block onto spring. This is used on all three springs.

8-2: First level where I have to interact with the fireballs. When you click on one, it shrinks and starts moving slower. They travel along all surfaces. These are an obstacle throughout almost all of the World 8 levels.

8-5: Here, I don’t activate the block and do a quick fall to stop the shaking animation because doing that would result in the animation happening anyway.

8-6: This level was a pain to TAS, but in the end I did find an odd way to wait less time compared to the RTA strat, which is breaking the brick block, and letting all the fireballs through that gap, then dropping back down.

8-7: At the end of this level, I have to click twice to make Yoshi drop because he is already teetering off the edge and clicking on both Yoshi and the block makes only the block disappear.

8-10: I assure you that the end of this level will be the most skipped/least viewed part of the video. Like what is this game design? Why are all these elevators here?

9-1: In this level, I have to manipulate the spike balls so that I can slip through the gaps created by the timed blocks to skip a lot of the back and forth.

9-7: In one part of this level, I’m able to manipulate the spike balls with the time blocks to minimize the amount of wait time when getting past them. Then, by turning around on one of the small springs as soon as possible and getting a small push left after going into the ceiling, it’s possible to land left of the next spring and skip going up with that and having to drop back down.

9-10: This one is insane. So, there’s a spike ball at the bottom that is behind a brick block. Usually, you have to wait for it to pass by a gap three times before going down. But by destroying the brick block right as it makes contact with it off screen and having Yoshi as far away as possible, it’s just barely possible to make it down without hitting the spike ball and without collecting the mushroom. This saves approximately 19 seconds over waiting, which means 19 seconds over RTA.

10-1: Massive skip here. By dropping Yoshi close to the wall and then activating the block right as he lands, he is further into the wall than normal and doesn’t have time to turn around. From there, another quick fall drops him right next to Luigi.

10-2: Fun fact: If you slow it down at the end here, you can see that one of Yoshi’s frames where he turns towards the camera is the same sprite as his shaking animation, which actually has an expression under the helmet that you can see for a frame when he lands.

10-3: First off, this is the one Super Mushroom in the game that is unavoidable, and here you can see why I try so hard to avoid it whenever it appears. Then, another great skip. The small spring has a larger hitbox than it may seem, the same reason you can turn around as you hit the spring. It sucks Yoshi in and launches him up, skipping a lot.

10-4: Levels like this can be pretty hectic at times, because of how much stuff has to be clicked on combined with the stupid 18 frame click cooldown.

10-5: It may look like the spring at the start could be used for a skip similar to the one used on 10-3, but try as I may, he’s either too far to the right, or if you line it up just perfectly to be more on the left, it triggers the spring at the bottom and doesn’t get Yoshi the needed height.

10-6: A small clip is used on this level. By doing a similar setup to the one used on 10-1 where you drop twice to get into a wall, you can land on the floor that has a block on it. This skips a lot of the drop and the lift back up.

10-8: This level is so close to being possible to make skips, but unfortunately it’s not. There’s a long roundabout route to be taken, and a lot of waiting.

10-10: Finally, the end of the TAS. Here, I have to go a bit out of my way to move the camera and break the brick blocks holding the fireballs. This is the fastest way to do it. The final input is clicking on the block to trap the fireballs inside. Yoshi can get to the end on his own from there, though it is possible to reach the end a bit faster with a turn at the bottom of the elevator. This would greatly lengthen the movie length, however.

There it is, my first real in-depth TAS project, hopefully the first of many more to come. Thank you for your time, God bless.