This TAS aims to beat New Super Mario Bros. Wii as fast as possible.
Emulator info
- Emulator Used: Dolphin 5.0 stable version and Dolphin 5.0 Lua Core by MikeXander
- Dual Core: Off
- Idle Skipping: Off
- DSP Emulator Engine: DSP HLE emulation
Run Description
Routing
Previous TASes have gotten the propeller suit in 1-1 and kept it throughout the game for time save in the levels 5-Tower, 5-4, and 8-Airship. Propeller is slower than other powerups for most other levels, though. This TAS starts by collecting Ice in 1-2, then goes to the red Toad House in World 5 to collect a Propeller, Penguin, and Star which can be equipped between levels. These items are used to save enough time in subsequent levels to make up the time spent going to the Toad House and a lot more.
RNG Note
This TAS uses an RNG seed known as an 8-Cycle. Usually, random events are determined by calling different values in a cycle of ~1.7 million values, and there's no way to manipulate that. But sometimes, RNG seeds lead to values that are part of cycles of different lengths. By knowing what RNG we want throughout the game, we find an 8-Cycle which has RNG values which lead to our desired events and is quite easy to manipulate from there. Using an 8-Cycle has a few side-effects throughout the run. Most noticeably, the clouds in 1-1 and 5-4. Instead of spawning all fluffy-like, clouds now spawn in incredibly dense balls of cloud. Although it cannot be seen, this has the same effects on the poison clouds following Mario in 8-1. The other place where this is noticeable is the lava particle effects all throughout World 8. There is usually only one or two particles on screen and they shine very brightly. Gameplay-wise though, the game runs normally. For more information on this games RNG, read this post by roadrunnerwmc:
https://roadrunnerwmc.github.io/blog/2020/05/08/nsmb-rng.html
World 1 Start
The goomba on the World 1 map is manipulated to spawn in the top left corner because that causes the least amount of movement time between levels.
1-1
When Mario jumps into the corner of a block, he can get boosted forward by a few units. This is done as often as possible to save a collection of frames overall.
Mario goes faster when he is sliding on a slope. If Mario starts a slide and turns left, then Mario accelerates much faster for that frame. This is repeated until Mario is fully accelerated on each slope to save the most time.
If Mario lands on an enemy the same frame he jumps off a slope, he is given a big speed boost. This speed can be preserved until Mario touches the ground by letting go of right once Mario gets the speed. This is used right after the checkpoint in this level. Unlike previous TASes, this TAS takes a shell from earlier in the level and throws it ahead of Mario when he does the goomba boost so he can jump on it and preserve the extra speed a lot longer.
Normally when jumping on an uphill slope, Mario loses a small amount of speed for a frame. But by manipulating the exact time he lands on the slope, it's possible to land on a pixel of the block in-between two slope segments. This allows him to jump without slowing down.
1-2
In this level, Mario grabs the Ice Flower. When Mario slides down slopes with the Ice Flower, he can jump and spam ice balls to preserve his slope speed temporarily. This is like a goomba boost on every slope except he can't keep the speed for very long. If Mario lands on an enemy while doing this, however, he preserves the speed he has until he touches the ground again. Once he touches the ground, he can jump and spam ice balls to preserve speed longer, and repeat the process if possible. This is used heavily in this level and most levels until the Toad House. The game usually only allows 2 ice balls to be spawned at the same time, so Mario goes out of his way to make the ice balls run into objects and break as fast as possible so he can spam more ice balls.
When wall jumping, Mario's speed is usually capped a lot lower than his normal running speed until he reaches the peak of his jump. By shooting ice immediately after wall jumps, Mario can get rid of that speed cap and accelerate faster.
With the Ice Flower, Mario can shoot an ice ball to corner boost. Ice-assisted corner boosts save a frame over regular corner boosts, so it is done as much as possible.
There is a glitch performed just before the star in this level which allows Mario to break two bricks below him without ground pounding. The exact reason why this glitch works is still unknown.
By freezing an enemy the frame before Mario runs into or land on it, Mario gets pushed to the other side of the enemy similar to a corner boost.
1-3
The Hammer bros are manipulated to stay on the bottom so Mario can freeze and clip through them.
Usually Mario has to be running at full speed in order to get a triple jump, which grants a block of extra jump height. But by shooting ice at the same time as the triple jump, Mario can be going slower and still get the jump height boost. This is done to get into the off-screen area without Yoshi.
World 5 Start
Similar to the World 1 goomba, the three Piranha plants in World 5 are manipulated to spawn in their optimal positions.
5-1
It still isn't possible to make the first roulette block cycle, so the TAS has to wait for a few moments in order to get star from it.
By letting go of right and spamming ice balls, Mario can preserve his star speed exactly like he can preserve slope speed. This is done immediately before the second vine after the checkpoint.
The vines give Mario a speed boost which can be preserved by letting go of right.
5-Plant
When turning back right, the TAS freezes the piranha plant at a certain time so that it's hitbox lets Mario skid and turn around in only a few frames. This gives Mario much better acceleration and saves a frame.
By shooting ice as Mario falls off a ledge, he falls significantly faster. This is done at the end to save a few frames.
5-2
Previous TASes have taken 5-3 because it saves about a second over 5-2. This TAS needs to get to the Toad House on the world map before 5-Tower, but because of the vines on the world map, going to the toad house is not possible by taking 5-3 and it therefore takes 5-2.
It's faster to crouch when entering downward-facing pipes because Mario doesn't take as long to move up inside the pipe.
5-Toad House
There are 6 different patterns that this Toad House can load with. RNG is manipulated to get a specific pattern which allows Mario to get a Penguin, Propeller, Star, and then Bowser as fast as possible.
5-Tower
By equipping Propeller and Star before entering this level, Mario is able to fly up the level with insane speed and just barely skip the cycle which previous TASes have had to wait for.
By spin drilling on the very side of a platform, Mario can land on it and begin a new jump instantly.
Mario accelerates slightly faster while in a propeller spin, so right before the boss room and at the start of the boss fight, the TAS spins and instantly lands on the ground.
5-4
Previous TASes have heavily relied on propeller for this level in particular. There is a raft at the start of the level which Mario is supposed to ride to the goal while enemies fall on him from the sky. But it's significantly faster to just fly over the raft ride and land where the enemies are coming from, dodge them, and continue flying through the level. This TAS is different though. Instead of continuing to use propeller, this TAS equips the penguin suit from the Toad House. Penguin has tons of tech behind the scenes:
Mario accelerates to his max penguin speed much faster than he does to his max running speed, and his max penguin speed is always set to be 1 greater than his running speed when he starts the penguin slide. To take advantage of this, Mario starts a penguin slide at a specific point, then spin jumps out of it to accelerate to his max running speed as fast as possible.
When Mario starts a penguin slide, a timer is set to 30 and decreases by 1 for each frame that Mario is touching the ground. Once the timer hits 0, he can cancel his penguin slide wherever, instantly. Once Mario has left the ground and/or stayed on it long enough, he loses ~0.1 speed (3 speed running normally; 4 speed fastest normal slide). Temporarily, it's fastest to start a penguin slide and jump once Mario has 18 slide timer so he can have 4 speed until he lands again. But looking ahead, it's faster to slide on the ground until Mario has 5 slide timer and jumping with only 3.9 speed, then be able to cancel or reset penguin slide instantly and at will. This is done in the first room of this level to cancel penguin slide just before entering the pipe and save a few frames. Slide timer is heavily manipulated in every level from here on out.
When penguin jumping on a gentle upward slope, Mario only loses ~0.04 speed instead of 0.1.
Penguin Mario can only crouch if he is traveling at less than 1 speed, but by starting a crouch at that speed and not letting go of down, we can keep the crouch. This is useful for a variety of situations. In the start of the main room of 5-4, Mario crouches, lands on an enemy midair, and then barely twirls under a vine which acts as a solid ceiling. Once he is on the right side of the vine, he shoots ice to do an ice-assisted corner boost. During this corner boost, he can hold left and wall jump off of the vine. This allows Mario to get up onto the top of the level very quickly and is used frequently throughout this level.
Frozen enemies sink slowly in the poison, so by throwing them into the poison, Mario can use them as platforms as he sets up his next tricks.
If Mario starts a penguin slide and then slows down below a certain speed, then he cancels the penguin slide automatically. By starting a penguin slide at a very specific speed, however, before accelerating Mario is already below that threshold and therefore cancels his penguin slide after a couple frames. This is used for a few things. Firstly, it is used for faster acceleration. This method of a fast accel is slower than the slide and spin jump method, but it's still used whenever a spin fast accel isn't possible. It is also the fastest way to crouch with penguin because Mario can immediately crouch jump out of it while still getting the full benefit of the fast accel. Lastly, if Mario starts a penguin slide and it cancels the moment he falls off of the edge of a platform, then once the animation of canceling the penguin slide finishes, he can perform a midair jump. This is used with a frozen micro-goomba near the end of this level to continue much faster.
At the end of the main room in 5-4, Mario slows down slightly before penguin sliding to enter the pipe. This ensures that he is already centered while entering the pipe, saving a frame.
5-Ghost House
If Mario starts a penguin slide and jumps the next frame, he gets much better jump height than a regular penguin jump. This is used from time to time if slide timer doesn't need to be or can't be manipulated. In this level, it is used to get up the staircase in the first room faster than with normal slide jumps.
When Mario runs down a steep slope and gains his extra speed, he can penguin slide to maintain that speed similar to a goomba boost. Now, however, the speed is stored into Mario's penguin speed and decreases identically to penguin slide speed instead of instantly losing it upon contact with the ground. On a regular steep slope like the one in the 2nd room of this level, Mario can build up to 4.32 speed. This tech is known as hyperspeed, and is used as often as possible from here on.
If Mario does a double jump, then a data value is stored which says he can triple jump once he lands on the ground, and after jumping, this value is usually changed back so that he can't triple jump immediately again. However, penguin slide jumping doesn't overwrite this data value. So Mario can slide and do whatever with penguin and then as soon as he needs the triple jump, he can cancel penguin slide, shoot an ice ball to reactivate his triple jump, and get the triple seemingly out of nowhere. This is used at the end of the 2nd room of this level to get to the last door sooner.
8-1
Once Mario has started a penguin slide, there is a few ways to increase his sliding speed. The easiest way is to land on a slope. Throughout this level, Mario's subpixel y-position is manipulated to land on as many slopes as possible throughout it. When sliding down a step slope, Mario's slide speed will accelerate up to 4.07 speed. If he has this speed and lands on another steep slope, he gets up to 4.15 speed. This can be repeated up to 4.3 speed.
By twirling and throwing a shell in a 5-frame window, Mario can land on it midair.
If Mario has 0 slide timer and cancels penguin slide midair then lands on an enemy the next frame, he preserves all of his penguin speed just like a goomba boost. This is known as penguin bouncing. If Mario has hyperspeed and penguin bounces, then once he lands on the ground, he can start a new penguin slide and jump the next frame to keep the hyperspeed into the new penguin slide. This is done right before the checkpoint of this level.
Once Mario double jumps, then if he shoots ice and hasn't used his triple jump by the time the ice throwing animation is over, then he loses the stored triple jump. But by continuing to spam ice balls past the first one, Mario can keep the triple jump longer. This is used to freeze a buzzy beetle and triple jump off of him instantly, skipping the first pair of problematic lava geysers with minimal slowdown.
8-2
The TAS does another slope pixel jump in this level to start a penguin slide on an upward slope without slowing down. Mario goes straight into a penguin bounce on one of the Mega-goombas. Fortunately, it's possible to penguin bounce off of them without canceling penguin slide, so slide timer doesn't have to be manipulated.
On extra-steep slopes (including rolling hills), Mario is able to build up a lot more hyperspeed than he can on other slopes. The hyperspeed he gets is combined with any rolling hill speed he has at the time. Shortly after the checkpoint the TAS builds up hyperspeed, gets a good rolling hill boost, and enemy bounces with it. This combination of tech saved nearly a second over doing it without hyperspeed.
By shooting ice right after jumping off of a rolling hill, Mario can cancel the rolling hill's speed adjustment. This is used in the backward-rolling hill room.
8-7
There is no known way to skip the bone coasters in this level in single player, so the TAS just hangs out and styles instead.
8-Airship
At the end of the first room of this level, there is a rotating pipe-cannon which Mario must enter to continue the level. He can only enter the pipe when the green pipe is facing up. When the pipe-cannon spawns, the green pipe is already on top and in a couple seconds, it rotates away so it can no longer be entered. Previous TASes have had to wait for a very long time for the pipe to rotate all the way around so they could enter it. However this TAS is different - it skips the cycle. To set this up there are a couple parts. The first objective is to manipulate the camera to load the pipe as late as possible. The only known way to do that is to travel in the opposite direction for a couple seconds before quickly turning back. This can be done by wall jumping on a rightward wall to get leftward momentum for a couple seconds and then wall jumping on a leftward wall to get rightward momentum before allowing the camera to change directions and catch up. As soon as the pipe is loaded, Mario needs to be going as fast as possible so he can make it to the pipe before it rotates. The solution was to bring two mechakoopas from earlier in the level, then throw them midair to create a right and left wall to use as described, then use an extra height penguin slide jump on the rightward frozen mechakoopa so Mario can just barely make it to the pipe without having to slow down. There is currently less than a unit of leniency with making this cycle.
By canceling penguin slide and twirling, Mario can somehow enter the second pipe without jumping off of the ground.
Previous TASes have also relied on propeller for the run because of a trick in the 8-Airship boss fight, called bombless. Bombless is ground pounding at the top of the screen in a very narrow window to register a hit on Bowser Junior without sending a bomb his way. Propeller is the most straight-forward way of getting a bunch of height, but there are other options. Shooting ice immediately after a wall jump does not only allow Mario to accelerate faster, it also allows him to slow down quickly. By doing this and then twirling back to the wall, it's possible to climb individual walls infinitely. This allows Penguin Mario to get to the top of the screen easily, and by manipulating Bowser Junior's up/down movements with the time Mario hits him with the first bomb, the TAS can still perform double bombless with penguin. This method of bombless is a few seconds slower than propeller, but the rest of the level more than makes up for it.
8-Castle
When starting a penguin slide, Mario's hitbox doesn't line up with his animation, so he can seemingly phase right through a firebar and save a few seconds.
In the falling lava section, this TAS performs a trick which doesn't save time but is often asked about. Mario freezes the dry bones right next to a wall and gets pushed through it like the TAS did with the ice flower regularly. But because there is a wall here, Mario gets half-way clipped into the wall. Normally, the game would just push Mario back out of the wall, but by penguin sliding and constantly jumping, the game decides not to clip him out. This technique is known as Half Clip.
By double jumping into the first Bowser cutscene, Mario stores triple jump like he did in 5-Ghost House. Once the cutscene is over, he can shoot ice to activate his tiple jump, and jump right over bowser.
Jumping off of the !-switch does not save or lose time.
Previous TASes have either aimed 7 fireballs to break through the first section of the main Bowser fight, or more optimally aimed 6 fireballs at an upward angle to break through the fight sooner. This TAS does one better though. Bowser's first fireball is aimed at a very specific angle to break the first 2 columns of bricks and leave a 1-tile gap in the 3rd column. By crouching into 1-tile gaps and then un-crouching, Mario is automatically pushed to the right. This TAS does that here. Once Mario is clipped inside the wall, he crouch jumps 6 times and then is completely above the level. Up here, Mario can run and penguin slide right unhindered. After the fireball section of this fight, there is an event which triggers and the screen moves downwards regardless of where Mario is. There is an off-screen limit of how high Mario can stand above the screen, and this limit can't kill Mario, it can only move him or stop him from moving. Once the screen begins lowering, this limit lowers with it, and it slowly pulls Mario down through the ceiling and back into the level where he's supposed to be. This trick is known as Above the Castle (ATC) and saved ~12 seconds over performing the fireball section with 6 fireballs.
By crouching under the final ceiling of the TAS, Mario can un-crouch and half-way clip into the ceiling. This allows Mario to exit that part slightly faster and at full speed.
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