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Hi! Here is my run of Super Mario Bros. 2. I decided to use this version because it has some differences in glitches and routing with the original NES version.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: BizHawk 1.11.4
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Uses a game restart sequence
  • Takes damage to save time

Comments

When picking up this game, I first thought that it would be easy to optimize because it looked simpled. I must say that I was wrong! The levels by themselves weren't that bad, but Birdo and Wart were quite a challenge. It is to note that a few of the glitches in this version were patched. The most important ones are: double jump, fast climbing on ladder/vine and the fake grab seen in 1-1 of the NES run. The mecanics are the same though meaning that Toad runs faster when carrying an enemy. In this run, I use Toad for his speed and Luigi for his jump.

Stage by stage comments

1-1

Since I can't do double jump and fake grab, I have to use a different tactic. I use the potion to do a first ladder glitch to get to the grotto faster. I have to use Toad in this level because Luigi falls too slowly and can't go under the potion. In the grotto, I use the shyguy to do another ladder glitch. I then proceed to Birdo.

1-2

I use Luigi in this level for his jump. I get the key and proceed to Birdo which I defeat with the key. It is possible that Carpet Glitch works in this version, but it would take too much time to set up and I would lose a lot of time to Birdo because I wouldn't have the key.

1-3

Not a lot to say about this stage. I just need to get the potion and use the warp to world 4.

3-1

The ability to save allows me to go to earlier worlds but I can only enter the first stage of the world (x-1). I use it to go to 3-1 and I am able to warp to world 5.

5-1

I use luigi for this level to make the jumps without slowing down.

5-2

Probably one of the hardest stages in the run. Since I can't use fast climbing, I have to constantly jump up the vines. In the Birdo fight, I have to throw the fish at the right moment to not hit the egg at the same time.

5-3

I warp to world 7.

7-1

Another hard stage to optimize because of the vertical part. It was the hardest stage for me.

7-2

Like the original version, I go on top of the level to skip the majority of it. I use a double hit on the bird to go to Wart faster. Against Wart, I just need to throw the veggies as soon as I can. At the very end, I pause at a precise moment. It allows me to enter the door before the victory fanfare finishes saving around 4 seconds.

Suggested screenshots

5380, 16623, 25739

GoddessMaria: Judging.
GoddessMaria: Very impressive movie, vince1919! I can see the technical and entertainment aspects through each bit of the movie and optimization level was on point. The audience reception was also very positive to boot.
Accepting for Moons as a new category.
fsvgm777: Just fixing the game name a bit. Carry on.
Guga: Processing...
GoddessMaria: I'm very sorry, everyone... passing.

Samsara: I'll take it from here.
Samsara: This is a tough file to judge, because it's gotten some really good audience feedback, but at the same time there are a number of improvements scattered throughout the file.
Going over the file myself in a number of places and checking anything I found strange or out of place, there are at least 3 seconds of improvements that I've found with little effort, and I'd estimate that maybe 5 or more can be saved overall. Now that doesn't sound like a lot, sure, but the biggest improvement is, in my opinion, a major oversight: Jumping off ladders to climb them faster. Yes, technically this is used all throughout the latter half of the run, but for some reason it isn't used when there are walls to either side of the ladder. It is still possible to jump off a ladder in this situation. Weirdly, this is actually used in 7-2 (where it's required to get on top of the stage), but there are several other places it could save time: Most notably 5-2, where it easily saves over a second by itself. Considering this is a trick used in the NES version TASes, it shouldn't have been missed at all. On top of that, the Birdo fight in 1-2 is also at least 45 frames slower than my quick test, and I'm absolutely positive it can be optimized further than that with a little more effort.
I don't have too much familiarity with SMB2/SMAS TASing, so I can't see if there are any other obvious improvements, but the ones I did see are pretty substantial for how easy they were for me to find. This makes me think that, despite the rest of the run being fairly optimized, not much effort was actually put into testing different strategies. For example, Toad should have been tested in 5-1: The cave section is quite a bit slower than Luigi, but the other parts of the stage make up for it in speed, and thus Toad ends up at least 12 frames faster.
For that, I'll have to reject this run, not necessarily just due to there being improvements, but mostly because the improvements are obvious and substantial. I would love to see an optimized second submission, though, and judging from the audience response, most other people on the site would love to see it as well. This is still a really good first submission, though, so keep at it!

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Fortranm
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Are there any differences between the physics of this game and that of SMA?
vince1919
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In SMA, Toad doesn't get a speed boost from carrying items. Other than that, I think physics are the same but I can't tell for sure since I don't know much stuff about that game.
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If toad no longer gets a speed boost from carrying items, why do you spend so much time grabbing and carrying things? I do like that reset abuse to get the warp to world five. Edit: I suppose I should be specific. In 1-1 you briefly carry the enemy before you go through the bottom of the stage, in 1-3 you carry the enemy through most of the stage, and in ... I think its 5-2 you carry that beetle thing until you start climbing vines. Does this provide some other benefit without the speed boost, or are you just carrying them because it doesn't slow you down and you can or something like that?
Cooljay
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molerat wrote:
If toad no longer gets a speed boost from carrying items, why do you spend so much time grabbing and carrying things? I do like that reset abuse to get the warp to world five. Edit: I suppose I should be specific. In 1-1 you briefly carry the enemy before you go through the bottom of the stage, in 1-3 you carry the enemy through most of the stage, and in ... I think its 5-2 you carry that beetle thing until you start climbing vines. Does this provide some other benefit without the speed boost, or are you just carrying them because it doesn't slow you down and you can or something like that?
He said that the Super Mario Advance version, Toad doesn't get a speed boost. This is the Super Mario All-Stars version where he still has it.
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While searching for glitches in all of the Super Mario All-Stars games for AGDQ I accidentally stumbled upon this floor glitch. Adelikat told me that it seems like the same glitch that is used in the warpless run to skip 3-2. So then I tried out if it would be faster to use something similar in 1-1, and it turns out that this movie is around 38 frames faster than this run (though, I didn't really optimize it all that much). Link to video (movie file)
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)
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I liked the run. Watching it entertained me and, while some spots looked iffy to me, it doesn't look awful in terms of optimization. I'm not sure if it really has enough to set apart from the NES publication however. If anything, the NES any%, for being only 7 seconds longer in terms of total time, shows off substantially more of the game. Abstaining from voting because of this. Nethertheless, good work on the run, I hope to see you improve, and hope you submit more movies in the future.
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Masterjun wrote:
While searching for glitches in all of the Super Mario All-Stars games for AGDQ I accidentally stumbled upon this floor glitch. Adelikat told me that it seems like the same glitch that is used in the warpless run to skip 3-2. So then I tried out if it would be faster to use something similar in 1-1, and it turns out that this movie is around 38 frames faster than this run (though, I didn't really optimize it all that much). Link to video (movie file)
I finished the rest of 1-1 and because of the 255 frame rule, I lose back all the time saved. It really looks cool though.
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scrimpeh wrote:
I liked the run. Watching it entertained me and, while some spots looked iffy to me, it doesn't look awful in terms of optimization. I'm not sure if it really has enough to set apart from the NES publication however. If anything, the NES any%, for being only 7 seconds longer in terms of total time, shows off substantially more of the game.
This is rather different than the published movie. For one thing is uses reset to warp from 1-3 to 3-1, then go to world 5 then seven. The nes movie goes from 1-3 to world 4 to world 6 In addition, it uses a key on 1-2 due to not being able to do the "get a plant stuck on your head" trick. That's rather different and creative. No double jumps and no grab enemies from below make also have an effect. And no Up+Down on ladders requires you to actually have strategy in levels like 7-1 Nearly every level is very different from the NES movie.
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
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A closer comparison might be to our published Super Mario Advance run which at least plays (almost) the same levels.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
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That was very interesting. I wonder what a warpless TAS would look like...
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I don't know for sure but there's a possibility that using Toad in 1-2 could be faster. Check my strategy for reference: http://www.twitch.tv/jeffrosledger/c/3252267 Your method of killing Birdo in 5-1 looks slow. There was no reason to jump over for the final hit. http://www.twitch.tv/jeffrosledger/c/3236899?t=13m31s Your route for the vertical room in 7-1 seems odd. Refer to my route http://www.twitch.tv/jeffrosledger/c/3252267?t=6m41s and once again you don't go for a jump before the second block hit on Birdo, allowing you to grab the block and throw it again without having to jump again. Sorry if none of this stuff is actually an improvement. I just want to make sure the TAS of the game I dedicated much of my time to is properly optimized.
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Do anyone knows the super fast rocket launch bug? I think with this bug would be any smb 2 runs faster edit: yes vote :)
lol ok yes
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Nice TAS. It's been a long time since I have seen someone take the warp from 5-2 to 7-1! (I don't think I have seen the SMA run yet.) Also, been like never since I actually saw an All-Stars SMB2 playthrough. Playing was nice, too. Too bad about the timing of Birdo egg in 7-2.
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jeffsledge wrote:
I don't know for sure but there's a possibility that using Toad in 1-2 could be faster. Check my strategy for reference: http://www.twitch.tv/jeffrosledger/c/3252267 Your method of killing Birdo in 5-1 looks slow. There was no reason to jump over for the final hit. http://www.twitch.tv/jeffrosledger/c/3236899?t=13m31s Your route for the vertical room in 7-1 seems odd. Refer to my route http://www.twitch.tv/jeffrosledger/c/3252267?t=6m41s and once again you don't go for a jump before the second block hit on Birdo, allowing you to grab the block and throw it again without having to jump again. Sorry if none of this stuff is actually an improvement. I just want to make sure the TAS of the game I dedicated much of my time to is properly optimized.
The carpet glitch in 1-2 seems too slow to set up. Also, I would lose around 8 seconds since Birdo can only shoot one egg each 4 seconds. In 5-1, the block is inside Birdo and I can't get it from the left. Same thing in 7-1 for Birdo. As for the vertical part, when going right, I would hit the wall.
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Well my route in 1-2 was clearly faster when watching side by side. There could be a problem with the video's framerate but I think it's worth trying at a highly optimized level to find the true frame difference.
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I tested your route and it was about 4 seconds slower. It is faster at first but you lose back all that time to Birdo.
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Cooljay wrote:
molerat wrote:
If toad no longer gets a speed boost from carrying items, why do you spend so much time grabbing and carrying things? I do like that reset abuse to get the warp to world five. Edit: I suppose I should be specific. In 1-1 you briefly carry the enemy before you go through the bottom of the stage, in 1-3 you carry the enemy through most of the stage, and in ... I think its 5-2 you carry that beetle thing until you start climbing vines. Does this provide some other benefit without the speed boost, or are you just carrying them because it doesn't slow you down and you can or something like that?
He said that the Super Mario Advance version, Toad doesn't get a speed boost. This is the Super Mario All-Stars version where he still has it.
That makes sense. My brain gets easily confused sometimes. I saw the A at the end and assumed it meant Allstars.
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Very cool new tricks. Easily enough differences to deserve a separate run.
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Yes. *$&% yes. HELL. *$&%ing. YES. There are some very clever tricks here that make up for the glitches patched from the NES version as well as abuse the added save function. Overall, this was a highly enjoyable TAS to watch.
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Link to video 45 frames faster without optimization. There are some other noticeably weird moments throughout the rest of the run that make me doubt its overall level of optimization, so I'll keep testing. 1-1 can be done about 10 frames faster too with a bit of heavy optimization but it's all lost on the Birdo frame rule, so I won't count that. EDIT: Couple of further tests - Some easy optimization on 1-3 and 3-1 with potion throwing. Running off the ledge in 3-1 is actually faster than jumping off for some weird reason. 5-1 is just barely faster with Toad - managed to finish it 12 frames faster. Will keep testing up through the 5-3 warp and see where I end up. No longer necessary.
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Well that's unfortunate. First it was in the middle of being published until the aforementioned video was posted. Secondly I am familiar with the 256 frame rule, Red Birdo and Green Birdo is 64, 64, 128. They fixed the subspace item glitch which allows you to pick up items right when you exit subspace. But you can still bring the key with you through doors, even on GBA.