Speedruner Completes Nearly Perfect Run of Super Mario Bros. in 4 Minutes and 55.96 Seconds

The speedrunners competing to complete a perfect run in Super Mario Bros. got a little closer this week when KosmicD12 set a new world record of four minutes and 55.96 seconds on Monday.

Thanks to pixel-perfect platforming and a series of glitches (including running through the wall to find the Warp Zone in World 1-2), this “Any Percentage” run is nearly identical to the “Tool Assisted Run” of four minutes and 54.03 seconds.

In a “Tool Assisted Run,” a computer calculates the optimal path through the game using all known glitches, so to see an actual human person nearly match it is rather astounding.

KosmicD12 was rather tongue-tied after his record-setting feat, but he did manage to croak out, “I don’t know what to say.”

A nearly perfect run definitely speaks for itself, so I’m not sure anything else needs to be said. Though I guess congratulations are definitely in order.

Author: VGC | John

John Scalzo has been writing about video games since 2001, and he co-founded Warp Zoned in 2011. Growing out of his interest in game history, the launch of Video Game Canon followed in 2017.