Submission #6809: EZGames69 & GoddessMaria's GBA Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 "warps" in 11:07.65

The Super Mario Advance series is a collection of ports of classic SMB games ported to the Game Boy Advance (minus SMB1, which was part of the NES Classic series). The games were Super Mario Bros 2 (USA), Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island, and finally Super Mario Bros 3.

There are a couple differences in the GBA version compared to the previous ports of this game. Unlike the NES version, subpixels of mario will reset between levels. This means we dont have to worry about carrying over subpixels between stages, which causes this game to be surprisingly sync friendly. One other difference is a speed trick involving holding the Left and Right directions in order to accelerate to max speed almost instantly. This trick was also in the All Stars version, but what makes this one unique is you have the ability to lock the screen by alternating pressing R and L+R every frame. This is useful to freeze off screen enemies to bypass them without slowing down, but it also helps in shortening the end screen transition after collecting a panel.

There are also 2 different types of level ending transitions. One of them is 3 seconds longer than the other, they can be easily manipulated by either changing your jump height when getting the panel, or by locking the screen for a frame or 2. Both published runs for this game (e-reader and all levels) do not optimize for this, however I (EZGames69) am working on improvements to both categories for this reason.

Because of these differences, it should be allowed to have this version of the game published alongside with the NES and SNES versions of this game and category.

One thing you noticed is we dont grab the Mushroom in the usual spot, this is because you can't clip into blocks the same way in NES or SNES, the other reason is powerups don't become active until they are somewhat out of the box, meaning it is slightly slower to get the powerup here. We instead get it in 1-2.

In 1-2, it is about 3 frames faster to get the mushroom out of the note block compared to the question mark block in 1-1. Since we dont have to slide down the hill to get speed, we can just use the L+R trick instead.

we get the super leaf from the wooden brick, we can change our subpixel position before we hit it in order to gain a bit of distance before collecting the leaf. As per usual, you hold down the down button for about 8 seconds before you drop behind the stage, before we do that, we try to get as far to the left edge of the platform to maximize our speed going out of the platform.

This stage has the first instance of screen locking being useful. Normally you have to duck as you approach one of the glowing waffles, but by locking the screen, we can delay its cycle from starting, allowing us to bypass it without slowing down.

It is possible to save 6 more frames in this stage by ducking before flying up to the door, however we cant get good manipulation on the hammer bro with any of those frames, so until 1-F can be faster than 6 frames, it doesnt do us any good.

We decided not to go for 99 lives as it seems to be difficult to pull off in this version, but also it’s been done to death anyway, why not show off some other things in this game?

In order to get to the pipe a bit earlier, we clip into the walls which pushes us off screen right on the edge of the death zone, allowing us to enter it before it’s on screen

We delay entering the pipe to change the behavior of the boomerang bro. This manipulation causes him to be paused for a short time, giving us enough time to jump on him and prevent the boomerang from being thrown.

Nothing of note here other than we grab fire flower for Boom Boom fights and for bowser at the end.

For each Boom Boom fight, we can do a small trick which involves shooting a fire flower the the “?” orb, this somehow gives it collision as it spawns, allowing us to collect it immediately

Since this stage moves so quickly, there isnt enough time to use the screen push glitch, so we just enter the pipe as soon as it appears.

Get some good positioning near pipes to get a faster turn-around. One of few stages where screenlocking at the end doesnt save much time.

Nothing much to say here

Since we can get speed instantly with the L+R trick, we can abuse wall clips more easily here. A few screen locks were also done to avoid the glowing waffles.

Again not much to say here, as it’s the same for most other stages.

Now in the SNES version of this game, an invincibility star was used to get past a twomp and clip into a wall. However on the GBA version, you don't end up anywhere when you clip into that wall, as the room you need to enter is on a completely different map.

For the bowser fight, it’s important to keep a 15 frame pattern on the upper fireball hits, it doesn't matter what the pattern is for the lower fireball hits as the final hit will be from the upper hits.

Some Possible improvements include some stages in world 1, where a few more frames can be shaved off but only if it’s enough to manipulate hammer bro enough. Especially for 1-F where we could have saved an additional 6 frames if it were not for hammer bro.

A big shoutout to Tompa for pointing out some other improvements to the run that were added in.

Memory: Claiming for judgment.

Memory: Optimization appears really good.

I still like to imagine the L+R running tech as getting pushed by the wind to the right and that amuses me greatly. Otherwise it has a unique flavor on SMB3 with the Scroll Lock stuff and some different routes in later stages. The audience liked it as well.

Accepting to Moons as a new branch.

fsvgm777: Processing.