American gamer beats Super Mario Bros in just 4 min 54 sec during spectacular speedrun

Almost everyone knows (it’s-a me!) Mario – the best selling video game character of all time, who first made his debut in an arcade game over 40 years ago and has since appeared in over 250 games.

Arguably his most famous appearance is in Super Mario Bros., an iconic game that first debuted in 1985 on Nintendo – and generations of gamers, either novice or professional, have at some point crowded around a screen and controlled the little Italian plumber over villains in the Mushroom Kingdom as he tries to rescue his beloved Princess Peach from the clutches of the evil Bowser.

And while many of us have fond memories spending hours collecting coins and smashing Koopa Troopas, some gamers take Super Mario Bros. very seriously, and want to become the fastest in the world to beat this popular game. 

The new record to beat? Well, that was just taken on 10 January by American gamer and speedrunner Niftski, who zipped through the game in a shocking 4 min and 54.565 sec and collected the title for fastest completion of Super Mario Bros. (Any%).

“My fingers are fighting for their lives!” he said excitedly as he zoomed past Goombas and flew over green pipes. A plush Mario stuffie on his bedroom cabinet peered over his right shoulder as he blew through the levels. “This is it!”

When he reached the final level, about 4 min and 30 sec in, Niftski hardly blinked as his hands flew over the keys. A heart rate monitor on his screen showed his heart was beating at 177 beats per minute – so high he later had to tell his chat not to fear, he doesn’t have heart issues, he was just excited.

And then, it was all worth it – he dodged Bowser’s fire attacks, slipped underneath the jumping beast, and his exhausted Mario finally took the hand of Princess Peach. Niftski was absolutely overjoyed, screaming “Oh my god, yes!” and jumping out of his chair, while hundreds of his fans in the live chat shared in his celebration.

“It’s over! It’s over! It’s finally over! This took unbelievably long,” he said emphatically after beating the record. “But it’s over!”

The speedrunner, who uses a keyboard to play an emulated version of the classic NES side-scroller, has tons of little tricks he uses to improve his time, such as: utilizing warp zones to skip ahead to later worlds, increasing Mario’s acceleration speed by having him face backwards to the direction he’s moving, and having Mario land at the bottom of the flag at the end of each stage to ensure he doesn't waste time sliding down the pole.

But ultimately, Niftski says his best advice is to practise, practise, practise.

“I cannot stress how important it is to obey the saying ‘practise makes perfect,’” he later told Guinness World Records. “I spend at least 90% of my time practising and 10% of my time doing speedruns, which I believe is a good reason why I've made it so far in this game.”

Niftski has been speedrunning since he was 15 years old, after stumbling upon the documentary-style speedrunning world record progression videos in Super Mario Bros. by the YouTubers Summoning Salt and Bismuth. The game is arguably one of the most passionately speed-run games of all time, and many of its top players now achieve times of such near-perfection that the differences in runs between them are determined by individual frames, which are invisible to the human eye unless played back in slow motion.

And like Niftski, many gamers are obsessed with these speedrunning Super Mario Bros. world records not just because it requires an incredible amount of skill, but also because of the cult following behind the game.

“Super Mario Bros. is a game from my childhood that holds a special place in my heart. I first started playing it around the age of five, and I was obsessed with everything about the game — the mechanics, the graphics, the glitches, the enemies, you name it,” he said. “The nostalgic feeling of playing one of my favourite childhood games made the experience of returning to it much more enjoyable.”

After returning to the game, Niftski said it took hours of work to get to the speed that he can reach. Super Mario Bros. utilizes framerules, which are essentially cycles of 21 frames or 0.35 seconds where the game checks for level completion. As long as you play just fast enough in each level, you can get the optimal framerule, which means technically you can get the fastest – or ‘perfect’ – score. 

Niftski’s current world record has the perfect framerule in every level except 8-4 (which has more complicated scoring metrics), meaning his world record is almost impossible to beat. However, he doesn’t rest easy, and is dying to perfect that one level.

“I have a lot of ambition to lower the Super Mario Bros. Any% world record to at least a 4:54.3 before I am fully satisfied,” he said.

“For context, my latest Any% world record was a 4:54.565, and the absolute perfect time you can get in this game is a 4:54.265. This means that if I were to achieve this goal, the world record would be about 0.3 seconds off of absolute perfection!” 

You hear that? 0.3 seconds from perfection.

Mario and Luigi take on Bowser in the 3DS version of Super Mario Bros.

And while some gamers may be inclined to disregard his efforts because he games on a keyboard and emulator, this method is widely accepted and permitted on speedrun.com, where players compete and where potential cheating hardware is banned. His setup has all the same inputs as a regular NES controller, and the emulation is 100% accurate according to TAS (Tool-Assisted Speedrun) replay devices – meaning his attempt is officially recognized, and is a sustainable way of playing the game as Nintendo phases out their original controllers.

Not that that matters anyways, since Niftski has the world record title also on the original NES controller as well. “Even if we decided to completely ignore my world records in Super Mario Bros. (Any%) that were played on emulator and keyboard, I would still have the world record regardless!” he said.

“This is because I also have the fastest time on an original NES with an original NES controller, and it's still faster than all other emulator players' runs. So no matter how some people may try to twist it, I am still undeniably the world record holder.”

Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach in Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Switch

Still, Niftski is determined to keep speedrunning (and beating) the game that he loves.

“Some people don't understand the point of it and question ‘why?’” he said. “My only answer to that is that speedrunning is like any other hobby or sport that you continuously play and improve in. No sport or hobby truly has any definitive reasoning for continuously engaging in it besides the fact that it's very fun to do, and the same applies to speedrunning.”

And the talented speedrunner said he’s not going to rest until he has a few more titles under his belt – including shaving off his final 0.3 second and finally obtaining that elusive perfect score, and taking on new games like Super Mario Bros. : Lost Levels.

“When I first started speedrunning the game, I never expected to become a top-level player. I only speedran the game for fun at the time and challenged myself to continue improving,” he said. “When I knew I was at the level where I could realistically achieve the world record in these categories, I gave it my all until I succeeded. I remember the time I got my first main category world record and how happy I was, and from there, it was enough momentum and a push that led to me getting even more.”

So keep an eye out for Niftski’s name in future record books – that is, if he’s not moving too quickly for you to spot him!