Submission #939: JXQ's NES Super Mario Bros. 3 "warpless" in 48:29.17

Super Mario Bros. 3 TAS by JXQ

• Takes damage / uses death to save time
• Abuses programming errors
• Manipulates luck

1. No using warp whistles (collecting them is allowed)
2. Complete game as fast as possible
3. Complete individual stages as fast as possible

World 1

• 1-F has a minor error; Mario can gain super-speed a bit earlier than he does here. It is also faster to collect the whistle than to defeat boom-boom (even when going through the wall).

• Although the hammer brother can move less by walking back and forth, since he is defeated early, his total amount of movements is the same as it would have been with that strategy.

World 2

• In 2-F, it is faster to get hit on the spikes than it is to keep firepower for Boom-Boom.

• In 2-3, you are not experiencing a desync! The deaths that occur are the fastest way to put the hammer brother that gives a hammer in a spot to fight, so that several levels can be skipped.

• In 2-P, there is a spot that would save time if the wall could be jumped through, but it was looked at in a level editor by Hanzou and extensively tested by Nitsuja, Kyrsimys, and myself, and it cannot be done at that spot.

World 3

• If the water is long enough, it is faster to stay in it than to repeatedly jump out of it.

• Both hammer brothers are fought in this world so that the bridge is down between 3-6 and 3-8 when I need it to be, so I can skip 3-6 (an autoscroller). Otherwise, I would only fight the one with the hammer.

• 3-8 is one of the slowest looking levels of the run, but many strategies were tested.
• 3-9 uses the "fall through a corner of a block" glitch for the first time. Others throughout the run are more difficult to spot at full speed.

World 4

• 4-2 shows off a little pipe-entering glitch that costs a few frames, because I have to wait until a certain frame for the hammer brothers movements anyway. The hammer brothers in this world are a pain. It may be possible to reduce their number of movements by one, but the one is fought early so that Mario still has firepower.

• Unknown to me when I started, 4-F can be skipped with a hammer. However, this hammer is better saved for World 6.

• In 4-6, the jump that seems much too far to the left is done to avoid invisible coin blocks.

• This airship is so boring.

World 5

• After 5-5 is completed, a sound can be heard on the map. This corresponds to one of the hammer brothers on the ground level turning into a treasure ship.

• Since I don't have firepower when entering 5-7, using the star here lets me get super speed much earlier than without. This star wasn't put in the original planning, but I ended up with an extra star from the hammer brother in World 3.

• 5-9 is that diagonal-scrolling level, so it is skipped.

World 6

• The hammer here skips 2 stages, and allows for a hammer brother fight to replace that hammer.

• Using the star in 6-F saves a couple seconds, since there is another star in the level that allows a quick execution of Boom-Boom.

• 6-5 was tested in MANY ways. It's possible to enter the second pipe underground and glitch through the pipe there to finish the level, but this ended up being slower than the (somewhat) standard route. Also, having raccoon power now saves getting it in the next level, which speeds things up considerably there.

• There is an obstacle to jump over above the screen in 6-9, which is why super speed is delayed.

• Since Mario doesn't have firepower on the airship, the leaf is used to fly to the top of the screen. The two strategies are nearly equal in time saved.

World 7

• Heavy abuse of programming errors in this world turns in from one of the longest to one of the shortest.

• I actually had to slow down in 7-3 to avoid collecting three flower cards.

• Cloud used on 7-4, the water autoscroller.

• Glitching through the wall on 7-6 gives me an extra P-Wing, which I can use on 7-F. A P-Wing isn't needed here, just raccoon power, but I don't collect any leaves in my inventory for this run.

World 8

• Notice that the musicbox is still playing at the beginning of this world - apparently airships don't count as completed levels in that aspect.

• It's surprising and disappointing how few extra lives can be obtained in the first level without a raccoon tail.

• The longest skippable level remaining after getting the last cloud is 8-F.

• Just before getting to Bowser, Mario turns around for one frame to manipulate Bowser into waiting the longest time allowed before jumping. Otherwise, he jumps too early and the battle ends up being slower.

• 22396 (World 2 map using hammer)
• 34412 (3-2 with fish stomping)
• 55363 (4-2 carrying ice block)
• 105351 (6-5 destroying blocks)
• 129799 (7-6 wall-glitch)