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
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.
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: 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.
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!
