Overview
This is a TAS of FDS Super Mario Bros. 2, specifically intending to complete the game warpless without pressing B. The only way this is possible is by playing through the letter worlds, which are a set of 4 secret worlds which are unlocked by pressing A+Start on the title screen after getting 8 stars. This is because the regular level set is impossible to complete walkathon, even with warps, let alone without them.
Because getting 8 stars is required before being able to play the movie, that means this TAS starts with an unclean SRAM state. This means a verification movie is required, which can be found here: https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638008645247617084 The linked movie gets the required SRAM state this TAS uses to start directly in A-1.
Recommended Thumbnails
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Run Objectives
- Starts from unclean SRAM state
- Abuses glitches
- Does not use warpzones
- Bans all use of the B button
Glitches/Exploits Used
Flag Despawn: Used in A-3. If all 6 slots are filled by the time the star flag--the one that raises up after the timer countdown sequence has completed after each flagpole level--loads in, it will be forced to load in the special slot, which the flag normally is supposed to occupy, causing it to disappear. This ends up causing an effect similar to Flagpole Glitch (FPG).
Full Flagpole Glitch (FFPG): Used in A-1 and D-1. By touching the flagpole as low as possible--either by clipping in the ground as seen in this TAS, or by using an enemy bounce like in 8-2 of SMB1--Luigi is too low to snap on top of the flagpole block, causing him to be ejected out to the left instead. This causes the timer countdown to begin earlier than is otherwise possible, which can save a large amount of time.
Wrong Warp: Used in C-1. In the SMB1 engine, the game can only store one area pointer at a time, so if you enter a pipe or climb a vine before its intended waypoint is loaded in, it will send you to the area previously in memory, or it can be reversed, where you load in a new way point before doubling back. In this case, the area pointer is left at a very large value from the warpzone pipe at the end of B-4, and since upside down pipes were never intended to be enterable, there is no update before the first upside down pipe in C-1, which ends up letting Luigi effectively skip the entire level.
Damage Boost: Used in D-4. If Luigi has collected a powerup, and there's no other way to get past an obstacle/the only other way is extremely slow, it can be better to just take the hit and damage boost through. As far as I can tell, this is the case for the long firebar at the beginning of D-4.
Wall Clip: Used in A-1, B-2, B-4, C-1, and C-4. There are multiple different ways of clipping through walls, the one most often applicable to walkathon is the corner clip--to help create the feeling of smoother motion throughout levels, the game will only stop Luigi when his vertical speed reaches 0. If you abuse this to start falling as high as possible while not landing on top of the block, and press left on the frame Luigi is stopped, he can be pulled all the way into a block, rather than be pushed out of it as is normal. The amount of airtime Luigi has before landing inside the wall will affect how far he goes inside, as the longer he spends in the air, the farther to the right he will be pulled, which is important due to the fact that the moment Luigi lands, if he isn't fully clipped into the wall, he will be pushed out to the left instead.
In B-4 and C-4, a big Luigi-only type of clip can be done called a crouch clip--by doing a crouch jump, and hitting the walljump pixel immediately below a ceiling, Luigi will uncrouch the frame he lands, which causes his head to end up inside the wall, instantly making him fully clipped inside. In C-1, the presence of a ceiling above the upside down pipe means that even though Luigi cannot do a crouch clip, he is still able to jump a few extra times to fully clip in. Note that a blazit clip, like the one seen in 5-2 in the warps TAS, is not possible walkathon, as you must be 3 pixels inside a wall to perform it, and with just 24 speed, Luigi is never able to move 3 pixels in a single frame without wind.
Speaking of wind, in D-1 wind is used for a type of wall clip unique to SMB2J, where by keeping a small amount of leftward speed, wind is able to push Luigi far enough inside the wall for him to do a jump and clip in all the way.
Lastly, B-2 has a rather unique type of clip that is only seen in water levels, and is only possible with big Luigi. If Luigi has upward speed into the bottom corner of a row of blocks at the very top of the screen, his head simply has no collision, and it allows you to fully clip in while carrying maximum speed, allowing for a very speedy path through the coral section, though not fast enough to save an extra framerule. Here it's simply done for entertainment purposes.
Walljump: Used in C-3 and D-4. By landing right at the spot where two blocks meet in a wall, Luigi can actually clip just far enough inside to land on the lower block for 1 frame, which usually is only useful for the fact that it allows you to jump in that 1 frame window, as seen in D-4, or famously in 8-4 in SMB1. However, here, it ends up being useful in C-3 as well, as it both allows Luigi to have a lower maximum height on the green spring jumps, and instantly slows him down to 0 speed. This is necessary because you actually have to land on most of the green springs, which generally ends up requiring a lot of slowing down.
Level Overlook
World A
A-1: R03 (18 frames off the next framerule).
- Fairly average level for the most part, the only non-trivial thing is the floor clip + FFPG at the end, but it's not something unique to walkathon.
A-2: R06 (15 frames off the next framerule).
- This is very trivial to complete walkathon, the only holdup is needing to slow down a lot for that one piranha plant partway through.
A-3: R15 (6 frames off the next framerule).
- This level. This level caused me so much pain while TASing, it's easy to complete but absolutely NOT easy to TAS. I needed to get a really, really good pattern to be able to hit the mushroom block at all, let alone to collect the mushroom as quickly as possible, as is done here, and getting a really good flag cheep cheep pattern for flag despawn was absolute pain. 0/10 experience.
A-4: R07 (14 frames off the next framerule).
- Honestly pretty trivial for Luigi, but this level IS rather noteworthy for being the sole reason I used Luigi for this TAS, because despite being pretty easy to complete walkathon with Luigi, A-4 is actually impossible as Mario! I was just barely short of being able to walljump of the back edge of the first big lava pit. Yes, even C-2 was possible as Mario. But somehow not this fairly easy castle level. This level is also notable for being the first instance I've seen in any TAS of these games where the player killed a podoboo with a koopa shell!
World B
B-1: R06 (15 frames off the next framerule).
- Not a particularly difficult level for this challenge, especially as Luigi, but with plenty of opportunity for a little entertainment.
B-2: R07 (14 frames off the next framerule).
- Also very trivial, as you already finish almost the entire level without B anyhow. Though, being big Luigi, I was able to do the top of the screen clip for the coral section, which is pretty neat.
B-3: R00 (21 frames off the next framerule).
- This level and I have some history. It's been one of the key parts of my white whale, which is a big Mario A-D warps TAS, so I know it like the back of my hand at this point. Though this, too, is not too crazy to do walkathon, I actually got really good bullet bill RNG, as some of them ended up being at good heights for Luigi to bop and get some extra distance. If they were in bad positions, I would've needed to take slower routes through the level, so that's nice.
B-4: R16 (5 frames off the next framerule).
- Even if I've never been able to make a Mario TAS that shows it, at least I get to show it here! A crouch clip in B-4!
World C
C-1: R04 (17 frames off the next framerule).
- Not too much to say here, just because of how little of the level I play. I find the wrong warp very funny, but it's also unfortunate that C-1 had to be the victim of it, it actually has a very interesting level layout.
C-2: R01 (20 frames off the next framerule).
- Even with Luigi's higher jumps and floatier gravity, this level still provides a challenge! The first jump from that 'staircase' of 2 blocks is normally impossible without the B button, but by luring one of the bloopers out to that section, Luigi can bounce on it to gain enough extra height and distance to clear the gap! Unfortunately, entertainment isn't really possible during the wait, as the blooper's motion is determined based on the sign of Luigi's speed, and I need to keep it as low to the ground as possible to avoid having to wait extra time for it to float down. After that, Luigi just needs to slow down a little to allow the red parakoopa to float down far enough to barely be bounced on, and we're in the clear!
C-3: R09 (12 frames off the next framerule).
- As alluded to earlier, this level is also not entirely trivial to finish walkathon. For one, you need to land on a lot of springs, so you need to minimize your height and speed whenever possible, but you also have to avoid any of the springs despawning--especially the one after the 3 pipes! Whoever decided it was a good idea to put a lakitu in this level is just the worst.
C-4: R00 (21 frames off the next framerule).
- As with the all levels TAS, this level is a total clipfest. A crouch clip and 2 corner clips in a single level is pretty wild to me. It's not anything crazy to TAS though, which is pretty nice.
World D
D-1: R07 (14 frames off the next framerule).
- Most of this level isn't too crazy, though a double bounce off the green parakoopa near the start is required to get past the gap without slowing down, and of course the wind clip and FFPG aren't super trivial either. I tried taking the pipe as well, since it was the only level where that might reasonably be faster, but unfortunately it ended up being about a few seconds slower.
D-2: R08 (13 frames off the next framerule).
- A very trivial level on the whole, though it is pretty annoying to get good RNG so that the spring near the flagpole doesn't despawn. I tried to at least take a few interesting routes.
D-3: R20 (1 frame off the next framerule).
- Another level that's not too bad but has some important things to watch out for--in this case, it's lag frames, since it's easy to end up with a bunch of bullets following you around the level. It's also very unfortunate that the remainder ends up being the way it is, but considering Luigi is at full speed the whole level and has to use the spring, there's just not much I can do about it.
D-4: N/A.
- This level has the most walljumps out of any in this TAS, with 3! The ones in the first and second rooms are required just to beat the level walkathon in the first place, but the one in the last room is just to get past the big wall faster. This level was a huge nightmare to TAS as Mario though, it required manipulating a cheep cheep to bounce off of to then walljump, and then a double walljump in the second room. Terrible stuff. Thankfully, Luigi is a lot less nightmarish here!