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Super Mario Bros. (NES) - 0:05:05 - Scott Kessler

by: Scott 'sdkess' Kessler

Publication date: 2006

Topics: Mario: Super Mario Bros., NES

Speed run of Super Mario Bros. done on September 14 2006. Available in six qualities: low/normal quality DivX, and normal/high/insane/low quality H.264 MPEG-4.

Author's comments:
I've been involved in various forms of competitive gaming since January of 2002, but Super Mario Bros is the game that kicked off my speed run activities. My original record of 5:17 was announced in February of 2004 which seems like ages ago. A lot has happened since then, but I have still retained some interest in this speed run craze.

I really don't know what possessed me to start working on this game again, but I started practicing the run on September 7th of 2006. Way back when I did my other runs of SMB, my methods were very inefficient. Back then, I practiced by simply playing through the entire game over and over. This time I practiced just the individual levels which made it much easier to get them down pat. For the next week, if I wasn't working, eating, or sleeping, I was playing SMB. After a lot of practice and roughly 200 run attempts, my hard work finally paid off.

I played every level in this run as well as I ever have except for 8-4 which was just 0.3 seconds slower than my best practice time. I was incredibly nervous at this point, but I managed to keep my cool and not make any major mistakes. I slowed down a little in the swimming area because I got higher than normal, and it looked like I was going to hit a fire bar. This had happened to me once before so I made the choice to slow down a little. As usual, Bowser did not jump forward so I had to make the leap of faith. Luck was on my side, and I finished the run. I don't think I've ever been so stoked about finishing a run as I was when I finished this one.

I owe a lot to the players who achieved 5:06/5:09 times (Carlos, Trevor, and Andrew). They proved that it was possible to play this game nearly perfectly which was something that I had previously doubted. I never would have attempted this without them to spur me on. Thanks guys!