Overview
This is a TAS of FDS Super Mario Bros. 2, specifically intending to complete the game warpless without pressing B. The only way this is possible is by playing through the letter worlds, which are a set of 4 secret worlds that are unlocked by pressing A+Start on the title screen after getting 8 stars. This is because the regular level set is impossible to complete walkathon, even with warps, let alone without them. Additionally, unlike with warpless walkathon, it's actually possible to complete the goal as Mario! This is entirely because you don't have to play through A-4, which to my knowledge is the only level in the A-D level set that is impossible walkathon with Mario.
Because getting 8 stars is required before being able to play the movie, that means this TAS starts with an unclean SRAM state. This means a verification movie is required, which can be found here:
https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638008645247617084 The linked movie gets the required SRAM state this TAS uses to start directly in A-1.
Run Objectives
- Starts from unclean SRAM state
- Bans all use of the B button
- Fastest completion (under the above restrictions)
Glitches/Exploits Used
Full Flagpole Glitch (FFPG): Used in A-1 and D-1. By touching the flagpole as low as possible--either by clipping in the ground, as seen in this TAS, or by using an enemy bounce like in 8-2 of SMB1--Mario is too low to snap on top of the flagpole block, causing him to be ejected out to the left instead. This causes the timer countdown to begin earlier than is otherwise possible, which can save a large amount of time.
Damage Boost: Used in D-4. If Mario has collected a powerup, and there's no other way to get past an obstacle/the only other way is extremely slow, it can be better to just take the hit and damage boost through. As far as I can tell, this is the case for the long firebar at the beginning of D-4.
Wall Clip: Used in A-1, B-2, B-4, and D-1. There are multiple different ways of clipping through walls, the one most often applicable to walkathon is the corner clip--to help create the feeling of smoother motion throughout levels, the game will only stop Mario when his vertical speed reaches 0. If you abuse this to start falling as high as possible while not landing on top of the block, and press left on the frame Mario is stopped, he can be pulled all the way into a block, rather than be pushed out of it as is normal. The amount of airtime Mario has before landing inside the wall will affect how far he goes inside, as the longer he spends in the air, the farther to the right he will be pulled, which is important because the moment Mario lands, if he isn't fully clipped into the wall, he will be pushed out to the left instead.
In B-4, a big Mario-only type of clip can be done called a crouch clip--by doing a crouch jump, and hitting the walljump pixel immediately below a ceiling, Mario will uncrouch the frame he lands, which causes his head to end up inside the wall, instantly making him fully clipped inside. In D-1 wind is used for a type of wall clip unique to SMB2J, where by keeping a small amount of leftward speed, wind is able to push Luigi far enough inside the wall for him to do a jump and clip in all the way.
Lastly, B-2 has a rather unique type of clip that is only seen in water levels, and is only possible with big Mario. If Mario has upward speed into the bottom corner of a row of blocks at the very top of the screen, his head simply has no collision, and it allows you to fully clip in while carrying maximum speed, allowing for a very speedy path through the coral section, though not fast enough to save an extra framerule. Here it's simply done for entertainment purposes.
Walljump: Used in B-4, D-1, and D-4. By landing right at the spot where two blocks meet in a wall, Mario can actually clip just far enough inside to land on the lower block for 1 frame, which usually is only useful for the fact that it allows you to jump in that 1 frame window, as seen in this TAS, or famously in 8-4 in SMB1.
Level Overlook
World A
A-1: R03 (18 frames off the next framerule).
- Fairly average level for the most part, the only non-trivial thing is needing to slow down for the upside-down piranha plants, as well as the floor clip + FFPG at the end, but the latter is not something necessarily unique to walkathon. I did also try a screenwrap just in case, but as you can see, the FFPG ended up being the fastest way through.
A-2: R18 (3 frames off the next framerule).
- This is very trivial to complete walkathon, the only holdup is needing to slow down a lot for that one piranha plant partway through. One thing to note, though, is that the pipe clip done here saves more time over the normal route than it does in the regular warps TAS for this level set, since you're already at walking speed for the whole level, and so don't need to slow down to do the clip.
World B
B-1: R17 (4 frames off the next framerule).
- Not a particularly difficult level for this challenge, but with plenty of opportunity for a little entertainment. A small caveat to this, though, is the fact that bouncing off the green spring is actually required--the set of blocks containing the mushroom Mario collects is actually too high to reach with a regular jump. If that spring weren't so conveniently placed, walkathon would be impossible as Mario. I actually tried quite a bit to get a screenwrap to save time in this level too, but unfortunately because of their unique design, and the fact a spring must be used, which scrolls the screen right, the left edge of the stairs are just too far away for it to save any time.
B-2: R19 (2 frames off the next framerule).
- Very trivial, as you already finish almost the entire level without B anyhow. Though, being big Mario, I was able to do the top of the screen clip for the coral section, which is pretty neat.
B-3: R13 (8 frames off the next framerule).
- This level... It really was an RNG nightmare. For one, the bullet bills were not as kind to me here as they were in the warpless walkathon TAS I made not too long ago, but also, because of Mario's lower jump and bounce heights compared to Luigi, the height of the green parakoopa near the end actually matters. It needs to be as high as possible, which unfortunately requires slowdown, as the longer you wait, the higher it spawns. Additionally, not only does a bullet bill need to spawn at the highest possible height, but it also needs to be superjumped off of in order to get enough height to cross the following gap.
B-4: R12 (9 frames off the next framerule).
- This level is mostly the same as in my warpless walkathon TAS, but a walljump is required to cross the lava pit before the first firebar, since Mario's jumps aren't floaty enough to be able to cross the gap.
World D
D-1: R03 (18 frames off the next framerule).
- Most of this level isn't too crazy, though because of Mario's lower bounce height, it's not possible to do that double bounce strategy I used in my warpless walkathon to get past the beginning without slowing down. As such, here I broke the brick and immediately bounced off the parakoopa to go through the gap, which saves a jump and is thus a little faster than doing the more obvious strategy to get on top. Additionally, a walljump is required to get past the floating pipe, and of course the wind clip and FFPG aren't super trivial either.
D-2: R20 (1 frame off the next framerule).
- A very trivial level on the whole, though it is pretty annoying to get good RNG so that the spring near the flagpole doesn't despawn. This is another level where I tried to screenwrap, but the level is just too short and too simple in layout for it to be faster. There's just not enough good spots to clip, and bullet bills being required to superjump up to the block instead of taking the spring doesn't make that easier. I also tried clipping into the spring, which doesn't scroll the screen, but you end up way too far to the left to land on the block.
D-3: R10 (11 frames off the next framerule).
- Another level that's not too bad but has some important things to watch out for--in this case, it's lag frames, since it's easy to end up with a bunch of bullets following you around the level. This is yet another level I tried screenwrap in, and it would have worked, but for some reason Mario's x position would never fully wrap around to 0, instead remaining at 255 and softlocking the game. I still have no idea why this is the case, but I really did my best to try everything.
D-4: N/A.
- As I alluded to in the submission text for my first warpless walkathon TAS, this level is possible as Mario, but significantly harder to do compared to Luigi. In the first room, you have to manipulate a cheep-cheep so that you can bounce off of it, but that's entirely so that you're able to get enough height to walljump off the floating pipe. I actually got very good luck here, as there's only 1 pattern that works for this, and it just so happened to be the very first pattern that would load! Additionally, in the overworld room, Mario has to do a double walljump off the far pipe, which while more tedious to TAS than just 1 walljump, actually doesn't lose any time over Luigi, since they both have to wait the same amount of time for the piranha plant to descend. Finally, the Bruce (blue Bowser) pattern I got was impossible, so I had to take the less interesting lower route, which I tried to make up for by killing every stompable enemy in the last room.
nymx: Considering the pain I went through for the Luigi run, i figured to not let it go to waste on this one. Claiming for judging.
nymx: Well, that was much easier this time around! Well, considering that I've seen a number of these tricks in other runs...I don't see any thing that seems to be unoptimal. Nobody brought up anything on the discussion either. All looks well, with no "B" presses in the input file.
Accepting to "Standard" as a new branch.
