Super Mario Bros. 3, played on the Super Mario All Stars version for the Super Nintendo. I believe everyone is familiar with the game, but if not: Super Mario Bros. 3 is a game in which Mario must travel through 8 worlds to rescue the princess Peach from the evil clitches of Bowser.
Emulator/Settings
- Emulator used: Snes9x rerecording 1.43 v17
- Allow Left+Right / Up+Down (ON)
Comments
This game is 22 seconds slower than the current NES movie, but that's due to:
- Super Mario All Stars introduction
- Longer fade outs / fade ins
- MARIO START text (wasn't in the NES version)
Although, there is a technique that allows you to move faster than the game ever intended and it's only possible on a modified snes9x controller. When you press both left and right at the same time, Mario shoots backwards to the right at higher than top speed. This run uses the same route as the published NES run, as it's the fastest, only travelling through half of world 1, and world 8 through use of the warp whistles.
Stage by stage comments
World 1
- Level 1: Got the mushroom, and optimized the proceding jump as much as possible, stage's game time of 289.
- Level 2: You get a boost of height in your jump when you let go of left on the same frame that you press B in to jump, after that go back to holding right. That technique is used a lot through the run, some for entertainment purposes, some not. Running down slopes as opposed to running on flat ground gives a speed boost, manipulated in this stage a bit. Stage's game time of 292.
- Level 3: Throwing the shell at the block to release the leaf is faster than manually releasing it. Time before entering the Mushroom hut is 285.
- Castle: Pressing Left + Right makes you go to top speed without even needing to press Y, but pressing Y is still necessary to rev up the P-meter to be able to fly. flight path to enter whistle room is optimized down to the last frame. Stage's time is 292.
World 8
- Tank: Auto-Scroll level = boring. I try to include some stunts throughout the level to entertain viewers. Glitch to get pushed in the right side of the screen to enter the pipe sooner was used, just like the NES movie. Stage's time is 162.
- BattleShip: I glitched through the wall at the start to gain earlier access to the fire flower, not that it matters because it's an auto-scroll level anyway. I swam under the second ship just for fun, it's a pretty difficult task non-TAS. Again, I used the glitch to get pushed in the right side of the screen to enter the pipe earlier. Stage's time is 197.
About 5 frames lost due to luck manipulation for the randomized levels.
- Floating Ships: another boring auto-scroll level, and as far as I know, the right side of the screen glitch can't be done here. I tested it a bit, and it's not used in the NES movie either. Stage's time is 235.
- Level 1: I hate the beginning to this level, it's harder to do in this TAS than the NES one because when you're at top speed, you travel faster than the fire flower shots, so optimization is terrible. I think I did a pretty good job in the end though. After the first couple seconds, the level gets easier. Stage's time is 289.
- Level 2: More running down slopes to gain speed, and optimization of fire flower shots. Stage's time is 288.
- Castle: The beginning of the level abused a lot of ducking, the conveyer belt part was done pretty well, the third room with the P-switch was also done well, the forth room was perfect and the most difficult because there's a Boo near to the ground at the beginning that will follow you when you're heading in it's direction with the Left + Right trick because you're facing backwards, but luckily he can be avoided by turning around for only one frame at the beginning. The boss fight was as perfect as I can get it, and finally, stage's time is 376.
- Tank 2: Another boring auto-scroll level. Not too long of one, but it's still boring. Did the right side screen glitch again to enter pipe sooner. Pulled off a gnarly looking wall-jump near the end for absolutely no reason. Stage's time is 209.
- Bowser's Castle: Entering the level with a star saves time because you don't take damage from the Thwomp, and it preserves the fire flower for Bowser. The clip through the wall after the Thwomp gets annoying on the SNES because you're moving quicker so you have to slow down a bit when you land before duck-jumping, and if I did do it a couple frames slower than it's possible, I don't think it matters because of the subsequent frames lost due to manipulating the Bowser fight. Like the NES, Bowser must jump six times to secure the fastest death animation. If he only jumps five times, he will take a giant leap before you can finish him, and thus, wasting time. After the fight I try to get some last minute entertainment in by glitching into the ground at first, then letting Bowser's fall push me out. Then I twitch in the beat of the screen's shake, and shoot fire balls at the fastest possible rate out the right side of the screen. Final stage time of 373.
Other comments
TASes of this game can get rather boring at times with all of the auto-scroll levels in world 8, but it gives me a chance to pull off some stunts, and all of the other levels get to be quite interesting.
I think that better optimization might save a couple frames, but that's about it.