Submission #9451: Mikewillplays's Flash Super Mario Bros. Star Scramble 2 "All levels" in 04:32.47

Hello 2025!

Movie information

• This movie was made with the --no-gui argument
• MD5 hash: 6515b9c0039756eeecf6531a36c83a28
• The starting system time is 8 seconds

Overview

Mechanics

Ducking

By pressing down while on the ground, Mario can duck. This is completely useless.

Upwarp

This is a new glitch I found. If Mario clips into a block while jumping, what may happen is that Mario will warp to the top of that block (the block can't be more than 4 blocks high from where Mario jumped, if it is, it won't work). The interesting thing is the that if there are multiple blocks stacked on top of each other, Mario will clip and end up on the top one. Even though this saves time in the run, it doesn't really allow anything crazy to happen. One thing I must say is that this glitch is also present in the first game, but I believe it wouldn't have saved any time, mostly because that game's level design is more horizontal than this one's.

Corner jump

If you pass very close to a floor's corner without bumping into the block's wall, Mario will be grounded (literally) for a frame, allowing you to jump.

Level by level commentary

Starting the game

In the main menu of the game, you're supposed to press two button in order to progress, but that second button is just outside the game window, meaning I can click it without clicking the first one, saving a little bit of time.

1-1

If there's one term that I could use to describe this game's level design, it would be "conveniently inconvenient". There are a lot of sections that are just barely impossible to cross without stopping for a frame or two, Mario hesitates a lot more in this movie compared to the first game. Anyway, collecting the first shine sprite (I'm numbering them based on collection order) is faster to do from the right side of the block while coming from the left. Upwarping saves a little bit of time when collecting the third shine.

1-2

That first brake in the beginning was impossible to avoid, mostly because there wasn't a clean way to land on that platform. After that it's mostly regular movement, except for that goomba bounce after the third shine, which I couldn't skip because the goomba itself didn't give me enough space to clear the gap with a single jump.

1-3

I use an upward to skip using the elevator, saving a good chunk of time along the way. That stop close to the blue switch was the only way to land on the block while pressing it, which I had to do, otherwise I'd be too low to collect the second shine.

1-4

Not only did upwarping save a few frames by being faster. but it also allowed me to skip jumping on the rex, saving even more time. After that, I strategically collect the furthest shine last so that the falling platform's reset timer goes on during the camera spanning cutscene. Also, I tested it, and going through the right path to avoid waiting for the platform was way slower.

1-5

The first optional level! Though, there's really nothing much to say, it's probably the simplest level in the movie.

1-6

Collecting the closest shine last was faster, mostly due to the upwarp (it's kind of ridiculous how this glitch is probably useless in the first game, but really useful in the second)

2-1

This stage is unfortunately slowed to a crawl by the moving platform's cycle, though, it allows me to have some fun moving around. The upwarp on that platform saved like 2 frames. Also, something weird about world 2 is that when you complete a level, the map screen animation doesn't play, saving a lot of time on overworld movement.

2-2

Collecting the closest shine last by using an upwarp saved time, though, way less than I thought it would. I first tried collecting it first, and it looked way slower, but it was only slower by like 5 frames.

2-3

That single spiny next to the third shine is the single worst enemy in the game, mostly because erasing it would have saved an pretty good amount of time, about a second if my calculations were right.

2-4

This stage has the single hardest trick in the game, which I like to call "hallway skip". Not only doesn't it require a frame-perfect jump, but also very precise positioning, so precise in fact that I could even do it from the right. If I had to guess, I would say it has something to do with subpixel positioning.

2-5

The first jump I do in this level is pretty interesting, mostly because it's another case of upwarping (if I were to jump on the first frame possible, it would have ended up being about 3 frames slower).

Bowser

This boss fight is certainly more interesting than the one in the first game (though not by much). I wasn't able to find a better route for this level, so yes, that red switch route was the fastest thing I found, it's just a byproduct of this game's conveniently inconvenient level design. Just like in the first game, there are random projectiles that appear, meaning I had to once again manipulate system time in order to not get hit.

Extras

Improvements

I think the biggest improvement someone could make to this movie is by using corner jumps more effectively (for example: on 1-1, if I had done a corner jump off the egg block, I could have saved a few frames). The thing is, every time I tried to purposefully do one, they just would not happen, which I believe means it has something to do with subpixel position.

Thanks

The quote you've all been waiting for: Special thanks to CasualPokePlayer for creating a script that allowed me to see how many units I moved every frame, even if the script wasn't explicitly made for this game. This run (and the run this script was made for) would be way worse if it wasn't for this script.

Suggested screenshot

Honestly I have no idea, maybe that part in the boss fight where Mario has already pressed the final switch and it looks like a ball is about to hit him, idk that isn't even in the movie technically speaking.