Before I proceed with the submission comments, I would like to address two things.
I think the 🅱️ joke has played its role for long enough.
I understand that this is not everyone's favorite Super Mario Bros. hack (including for me), but trust me, if it weren't for this run being beaten later on down the road, I honestly wouldn't have any reason to think that it would have a chance to be publicly known to the TASVideos audience. I know you will have some grievances against it:
Why is this here? Did the person who made this know Asumeh and beg to make a TAS of their crappy romhack?
The only level changes were 1-1 and about half of 1-2. And only 100 seconds for all of world 1. Kinda disappointed.
Why is it that every time a Game Genie code gets submitted, people say it adds nothing entertainment wise, yet TASes of hacks with completely unmodified levels are allowed to be published?
So on behalf of those comments and a couple others berating the hack's quality, I must apologize. To be fair, you could do a little worse... But let's not go there.
Introduction
The plot for Late for Work, a 9 to 10-year-old Super Mario Bros. ROM hack created by a young Sullyrox, entails Mario having overslept and needing to make it to work without being later than he already is. There are four levels, each lasting 100 in-game seconds, with the last three being mostly the original, unchanged levels with slight modifications.
Download the IPS patch for this hack here.
This run I went and finished at first in a single day (4/16/2025) due to boredom. Then four days later, I decided to improve the entertainment for the end of World 1-3 and in the middle of World 1-4, and I surprisingly managed to sneak in a 1-frame time save on the latter. Around this time, I also found that it was possible to save one whole framerule by getting the Super Mushroom in the first item block on World 1-1, though that improvement would be lost due to worse enemy stomps (due to the changed hitboxes), therefore making the Koopa clip slower.
Seven months later, I'd come to realize that delaying before finishing World 1-2 would just about be what I needed to fix the hitboxes back.
This is intended to demonstrate that this hack is 100% possible to beat without using the B button, akin to walkathon runs of the original Super Mario Bros.
So why else did I do it? I guess because I can. I dunno.
Level-by-level comments
World 1-1
It begins with simply walking through the first pipe via a hidden block. Then I slow down to hit the first item block and grab a Super Mushroom, then continue forward. The last wall up ahead needs to be walljumped on; I can't make it across without doing so (or a running jump).
In walkathon runs, you cannot perform flagpole glitches (FPG) under normal circumstances. So like in Jhynjhiruu's run, I go down to hit a hidden block and reveal a 1UP Mushroom, removing the flag from the pole; this is because the flag sprite occupies a secret sixth sprite slot, and only one sprite can occupy that slot. So if a power-up is revealed after first revealing the flag sprite, the flag will disappear; this also applies to vice versa and between two power-ups (since only one power-up can appear on the screen at a time).
While this is negligible when compared to a FPG, it's still 42 frames (two framerules) faster than simply touching the flagpole; I needed to delay to avoid fireworks anyway.
World 1-2
I duck under the ? Block and slide past the unenterable pipe, as intended by the hack. It's slower to go over. And once again... same level design as the original. For entertainment, I go under to kick a Koopa shell (accompanied by a duck-jump clip), then slow down a few times to hit some enemies.
In the overworld area, it's hard to notice, but I barely slowed down right before touching the flag to create a one-frame delay to change how the hitboxes for the next level play out.
Classic X subpixel manipulation being played out here (0400), as Mario falls to the ground off the flagpole base one frame later; this starts the level complete fanfare one frame later, which then leads to the transition one frame later (despite Mario still touching the side of the castle brick on the same frame with or without the delay). Delay or not, however, gameplay for the next level always begins on the same frame relative to the last framerule used.
Here... it may be better for me to explain what will go on next using a GIF.
Normally, the level complete fanfare finishes before the in-game timer is finished draining, which then allows for one of the enemy interval timers housed by the mini-flag (0796 to 079A; in this case, it's the first slot, 0796) to shoot up to 6, then count down, subtracted every 21 frames based on the 21 Frame Rule (077F). At 0, the game would then transition to the black screen before the next level. But here, the in-game timer is all drained, the flag is raised, and the enemy interval timer is zeroed out, and now we're just waiting on the fanfare to end. Only then at this point can the game cut to black, and it can be on any frame the fanfare ends; this affects when enemy hitboxes will work on/against Mario, which occurs every other frame.
Scarily enough, the delay for entertainment combined with the required end delay was long enough to the point where I had no frames to spare.
World 1-3
There's pretty much only one change for this level, and it's a wide hill top platform moved to the very start of the level. You're required to cross that, along with another one later on, to make it across the huge gap. Here's the problem: you can't make it without a running jump. Thankfully, this particular hill top platform has our faithful little Red Koopa that I can lure over, then I can bounce on it and kick it off afterward to proceed.
After that, there are a couple of left-and-right platforms that I need to time my jumps on so I don't get pulled back too much.
And finally, I slow down and wait for the last Koopa to hobble over to the ground edge so I can clip into it and perform the full flagpole glitch (FFPG), saving 21 frames with no frames left to spare.
The hitboxes set up for the entire level were perfect at first, but they got messed up as I worked on the eariler Mushroom-gathering improvement in April, so that meant the improvement would've been lost. Now, they're right where I want them to be thanks to the delay in World 1-2.
The first pit is slightly harder due to a used block now waiting on the other side. The first firebar is raised up, and the third firebar is moved down and closer to the second. But yep, no further changes other than that. This is otherwise the easiest level for a walkathon (if you can even call it "easy" to begin with). Tricky ducking timings had to be made to make it under the first firebar without slowing down too much. For the fourth firebar, I had to wait for it to open up so I could make a... walk for it. This was pretty difficult to brew a perfect solution for, but it's otherwise faster than clipping through the ceiling.
Near the end, I slowed down to delay Bowser's appearance by one frame; originally, Bowser's pattern was perfect for me to go and hit the axe without delay. After finding the improvement, however, Bowser was now too much in the way, and I couldn't leap over him. The new pattern made for the quick axe grab to be barely possible, although a frame lost is still a frame lost.
Still... 20-frame improvement over getting the Super Mushroom in World 1-2, right?
And Sully is a changed man, currently serving as a moderator of the Super Mario Speedrunning (8-bit) Discord server and the SRC leaderboards, so... yes, this is unfortunately old shame now that the hack's resurfaced on SMB Arena. Props to him though for his general efforts.
Funny thing is that this hack's now older than he was when he made it.
Trust me, I've got some (hopefully) better hacks up for grabs, but I've been pretty busy with life and everything inbetween. Hang in there; I'll get to 'em when I get the chance, okay?
Judge's call in the meantime.
Suggested screenshots?
Leaving those to the publisher for now. Not sure if I'll change my mind about it later.