Video: A Speedrunner Has Completed Super Mario World In Under A Minute

Impressive but it seems more cheating than speed running!

Cheating, not finding a bug in the game

This isn't really speed running, it's only because of cheating and a glitch that this is possible.

WHAT ?!

IS THIS GUY GREAT AT PARTIES OR WHAT??!?!??!?!

...sorry.

If he tries really hard I bet he can get it down to less than 12 parsecs.

Seems very, very boring to me exploiting glitches like this.

This is actually really stupid.

Speed glitching*
A bit like that bug in a link to the past that allows you go through a wall and reach the triforce in a few minutes.
That's not speed running. It's demonstrating an exploit, which is just as impressive when you're the one who discovered it.

Hacked to the max. Wasn't even worth the minute I spent watching it.

I wouldn't call it cheating more like just pure exploitation that takes the heart of true speed running.

If this is speed running I don't see the fun in it.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

I'd like to know how he's simultaneously pressing a dozen buttons across 4 controllers.

I mean, ya, it's not a glitchless any% speedrun, but it's still an any% speedrun. Glitches are allowed you know. It'd only stop being a standard speedrun if he started using external tools in which case it'd be TAS. As far as if it's boring, I think it's definitely intriguing and worthwhile to see how much people can break the game into completion using just their skill and knowledge of the game.

@chardir He never says he presses them. He refers to them as being "held down"

To those who say this isn't speed running,

In the speed running community, there are several different categories. This is one of those categories. Yeah sure, it isn't a 100% run or any % run (which are the two biggest categories) but it still is one even if it has a smaller community. These people, especially Sethbling, are into code and like to see what they can exploit using it. And of course they want to see who can do it faster, which classifies it as speedrunning.

That being said, I find this very boring I don't care about it one bit. XD

@NapalmPsalm Glad someone understands. Not my thing but this is a kind of speed running.

Not a fan of these kind of exploits.

I am in complete disagreement with literally everyone so far.

This is incredible. I could beat this game in under 15 minutes by the time I was 8 or 9 and I’m not even great at video games. This requires immense skill. This is absolutely amazing...

How the hell do these people find these kind of glitches.

@RupeeClock @serendipitiful Arguably, if he's taping down the buttons he's not strictly using "just their skill and knowledge of the game"

Not a speedrun ... Fail

@SLIGEACH_EIRE It is one type of speedrunning. I mean, you do know, that 100% or no glitch or no outside bounds are all types of different speedruns for different games. Some games can be broken completely, some only to a certain ammount. You can run marios with no warp zones or warp around. All of these are valid speedruns in their correct category. You don't try to compare a 100m runner, 1km runner, a person with skiis and a rally car, even though all of these sports use "speed" as their defining trait. Just because a run uses or doesn't use specific techniques, you can't simply say, that it's "cheating". It might just not be your liked way or speedrunning, that's ok.

@JHDK a parsec is a measurement of distance not time.

Not too sure why people don't get how this is a speedrun (of at least a type). Unless I'm missing something, he's playing a legitimate copy of the game and beating it with nothing but controller inputs. Speedrunning can often be dependent on exploits and this does indeed seem to require a great deal of precision, knowledge and skill.

I hate the speed running community. I wish they would overdose on actual speed

Manipulating with game code, ie. cheating!

Nope I am sorry that is not what I call beating a game and is not impressive.

That's not "completing a game" at all, that's manipulating it to cheat. C'mon, NintendoLife, you're better than this.

Cool find, but I wouldn't call this a speedrun if it uses exploits to even be possible. At least when it comes to taping down buttons on a controller...

What I don't get is....how does one discover this type of exploit to begin with? How do you deduce that holding certain buttons down while connecting a series of controllers will create a specific change in memory that will lead you to the end of the game?

I can assume it involved watching memory while running a ROM in emulation....but still, going from watching the state of memory during execution, and figuring out holding buttons down in a specific sequence will yield this....I'm not sure how that can be deduced without inside knowledge of how it's intended to work or access to original source.

If I used a Game Genie to go the end of the game, would it be something to be proud of and worthy of an article on Nintendo Life?

I realize that there are different categories of speedruns but this is not as impressive to me. I appreciate the ones that speedrun through without using glitches and exploits.

There are 10 types of people - those who think this is speed running and those who don't.

@LaVelle If this is speedrunning then it's no wonder that I have no interest in speedrunning. I play games to play games not get to the end as fast as possible using an exploit.

This is: 'Look how fast I can NOT play this game'.

i have never seen a speedrun that relies so heavily on cheating/glitching/hacking or whatever you wanna call that stuff

some people have way too much spare time

It's like a TSA in sorts.

I don't really care if it's a "real" speedrun or not, I have absolutely no interest in this type of speedrun I guess. This was click-bate in my opinion.

Is this really a “speed run” though? It is interesting how the game’s code can be manipulated like that.

It's a form of speedrunning for sure... it's not like it's simple and "anyone can do it"... if you think you can, then you should try to get a new world record.

Glitchless speedrunning is more entertaining to watch in my opinion, but the fact that human beings figured out how to manipulate programming code with controller inputs, and are able to execute it, is still impressive.

@Crono1973 - I'm not particularly fascinated myself - there's no way I would spend the time doing this (though I'm not sure I could if I wanted to).

But I guess I have enough of an interest to appreciate that there are those who want to understand a game's coding and work out the optimal way to 'game' the machine. I understand why some out there would enjoy this sort of reverse-engineering and tinkering. What does surprise me is how vocally resistant these comments were.

@GauBan Not in Star Wars.

It's cool, but it's more speed glitching than speed running.

@LaVelle I like some exploits but call them what they are, exploits, not a speedrun when there is no 'run' here at all.

There is an exploit in Twilight Princess that allows you to enter Hyrule Field early. I liked that one.

Why did Speed Run if we can Slowdown by enjoy the scenery and beautiful landscape from the games ?
We need to slowdown sometimes.

I'd like to know how it is exactly that he has four controllers connected to the SNES? Isn't there some rule about no external help?

@penamiguel92 It's a licensed peripheral called the Multitap.

I will have to disagree with the title that says he "completed Super Mario World." No, he didn't. He warped from the first stage of the first world right to the end credits. What he completed (and he said this) was a speed run.

This is certainly one way to clear your back log

Speedrunning has definitely gone too far

Glitch exploits in speed runs ruin the enjoyment for me.
It's like openly allowing drug use in sports.
That's fine and all, but call it what it is. This is no "speed run", it's a code hack run.
Do we need to have a separate category for clean runs now?

@mdmtripp Which didn't exist until 1993, 3 years after the release of Super Mario World. If the exploit requires 4 controllers then it couldn't have been used by the developers on a real SNES. I don't know if that matters to the (obviously lax) rules of speedrunning but...there it is.

Interesting. I always knew the game was so exploitable, but not tot his degree lol.

But reminds me when the TASBot programmed a snake game with button inputs during arbitrary code execution.

Also it's saddening seeing all this ignorant posts about speed running. I guess people just really like posting for the sake of posting :/

I don't see how this is a speed run. By the video it just sounds like some exploit. This is like running a game with Game Shark/Game Genie codes to "win" a speedrun challenge.

@onex There has always been a glitchless category for speed running where things like this are on a separate part (something like this is possible on the GB pokemon games and thye have separate leaderboards)

That is just an exploit, I don't consider that a speedrun at all. Just my opinion though, I feel like you should actually have to play the game for it to be considered a speedrun.

Glitches are cool, but totally not a speed run.

@Gridatttack I had a feeling there was, but it seems like CLEAN runs are the black sheep of the speedrun community, which is competely backwards imo.
Speaking of backwards, watching someone "speedrun" through the Ocarina Of Time is one of the worst things I've ever seen. Watching Link run backwards for 45 minutes, yeah that's a jolly good time! /s

That was a waste of my life

@Crono1973 Apparently it would because that is the exact same thing that this guy did lol.

He literally just used controllers to essentially act as a Game Genie to input the code to hack the game with.

@Deadstanley There aren't that many comments in the video for youtube and it seems to be mostly fans of the guy, buddies who are congratulating the discovery of the hack and so on.

Everyone on this site has a negative reaction mostly because of the speedrun claim. If they just called it a hack or exploit I doubt anyone would be complaining.

@Deadstanley No doubt the people on YouTube are subscribers and are interested in this kind of stuff. Not all of the comments on YouTube agree that it's a speedrun.

Members here are not here because they love speedruns so you are obviously going to see varied opinions here. It's not a mystery and what you are seeing is objective people saying that they don't see how this is a speedrun. Objective because they have no major prior interest in speedruns.

If you look at the comments for a Motley Crue video, they will mostly be positive because the people who comment are most likely the people who searched Motley Crue in the first place. You post a Motley Crue video here and the comments will be alot more varied.

This is cool but I don't consider triggering a glitch to run credits as the same thing as beating the game.

I'm not sure it really counts as a true speedrun though. Even the glitch runs....it's one thing to exploit a glitch in the actual game.....the above mentioned "get through a wall to get the triforce" in LttP. If the game features an actual bug you can use to advance. It's part of a "play through" and I suppose is a speed run. This is using peripherals to alter the game state, even if they're OEM peripherals. It's little different than hacking a ROM except it's using the OG hardware and extra accessories.

@JHDK

I can see that happening. From the looks of his bedroom, he's probably used to flying Solo.

I once tried to play Highway Star on my Famicom (known as Rad Racer on the NES) and the game wouldn't run, just a grey screen, I took it out to blow it a couple of times and when it finally worked it jumped straight to the end credits with the guy standing outside of the car, I don't think anyone's beaten a game faster ever!

It's funny how a specific category, in this case finding a faster way to run a code to trigger the ending is consider cheating. When that's the category. It's literally like saying that passing it as fast as possible regular is cheating because they didn't complete all 96 stages. Sometimes I don't get people's lack of understanding.

By far the most toxic comment section I've ever read on this site. And that's saying something.

A few people pointed out that this is in fact a "category" of speedrunning. To those people, I thank you. Just because this run involves intentionally breaking the exploitable parts of the game doesn't mean it's not a way to reach the credits. And it in fact is a process that requires extremely precise inputs from the player in as short a time as possible. Therefore, this method can be speedran.

Seriously, it's not like this guy is now ahead of anyone who runs this game, start to finish, the old fashioned way. This run is categorized into its own corner of the interwebs. This just means he's the fastest one to do it this way.

Even if this isn't the way you like to run games or see them ran, that still doesn't discount the achievements and performances by glitch% runners.

I always thought of this under the hood stuff as a different intent from playthrough speed running. I mean, there's sequence breaking and playing off glitches, but this is more of a 'checkout this cool thing we can do'. The fact he speedran a glitch take is impressive.

@Petraplexity Or you could just play the games and enjoy them. To each their own I suppose though.

Much more interesting to see how quickly someone can beat the game actually playing it and finding quick routes rather than glitches. I guess there is a category for that as well though.

for people getting into a snicklefritz major glitches is a category of speed running, all games have multiple WRs based on the category being run

Wow, impressive! I really don't get all the negativity in this comment section. People don't seem to appreciate how hard this is. He has to do pixel-perfect movements with perfect timing, it takes a lot of trial & error and practice. Finding and exploiting these glitches is more challenging than actually playing through the whole game.

@Dpullam Speedruns are using exploits/glitches all the time. That's how all the speedrun records are achieved (take Ocarina of Time, for instance).

@Morgan19 First of all, it's called 'speedrunning', not 'completing a game'. Second of all, yes it is completing a game. He started at the first level and finished at the credits. Completing something literally means starting at the beginning and finishing at the end. What happens in between is irrelevant.

@Jack_Goetz Nobody said speedruns are supposed to be fun. They're supposed to break records.

@dew12333 Nope, it's not cheating. He didn't manipulate the code via external tools etc, he just used what every player can use (the controllers).

@SLIGEACH_EIRE @Bunkerneath @lemonjellydude There's no cheating involved. Exploiting glitches is the most fundamental part of speedruns. So it is in fact a speedrun.

@Mr_Zurkon Yes it is.
@NintyNate Not a speedrun expert, fail... yes it is a speedrun, google it.

@olrodlegacy There was no hacking involved.

@shani " There's no cheating involved. Exploiting glitches is the most fundamental part of speedruns. So it is in fact a speedrun."

This is where speedrun has changed meanings in the youtube era. Speedruns were originally about finding ways to play through the game as fast as possible, or "collect the things" the fastest.....putting up the fastest time of actually PLAYING. That included using things like warp pipes in SMB, but overall sort of parkouring the gameplay, finding the most expedient line thorugh the game.

There can be some debate of using some glitch in the game itself can count...seems like it probably should.

But an actual code execution hack.....that's not speed running, that's code execution hacking. Not to say discovering this isn't impressive. It is. But it's just unfair to call a hack speedrunning when it really isn't.

This is a glitch. Doesn't mean you completed the game. Pretty much boring.

That's not a speed run. Don't care what speed runner aficionados say.

It’s impressive to be sure, but you haven’t really beaten Super Mario World if you haven’t found all 96 exits and turned the map to autumn.

I'd be more impressed by speedruners if they actually, you know, played the game.

As already pointed out not a speed run. Interesting though.

I'd seen these instruction inputs before, but utilising the bytes from all four controllers to jump into select areas on the ROM, that's pretty crazy.

This is Pannenkoek2012 crazy.

if thats speed running then ill just turn on mario world and skip straight to credits without goin thru a level since thats exploitin game and how speed running works rite so overall i have beaten mario world in 10 secs

Here are all Super Mario World World Records https://www.speedrun.com/smw#96_Exit

Maybe it will make some of you feel better if you knew that there are different categories, and this memory modification technique does not mean that he's the one and only world record holder/best in the world.

As far as who finds these, things, who has time to find these things, they are computer scientist/engineers who know exactly how computers work, and where each register must be. This is not something that any random video game player can figure out.

@shani nah it not a speedrun just a glitch in game... Meh

I can appreciate that this is very clever. I'm just not in to it. Twitch not glitch!

Someone took "gotta go fast" a little too literally.

As cool as speedruns are, I could never do it. Speaking of SMW, I need to play my dad's SNES and my SNES Classic more...

That's crazy how he took the time to figure that out, I couldn't even begin to imagine doing that. So congrats to him. However it is completely different from the skills the other record holders have doing it the other way so I'd separate this from them and personally I would prefer to watch people do it the other way because to me it's more entertaining.

I‘ll beat this guy anytime by 30 seconds. By getting up from my couch walk to the console and switch it off. Plus I’ll decode a snack on the way. There you go; speedrun & coding & glitches & off.

Thank god all of these random people are here to tell the speedrunning community what is and isn't a speedrun and what they're doing wrong. I don't know what the community would do without them.

@Crono1973 I mean by that logic you can't use a gold wiimote+ to speedrun Super Mario Galaxy because that peripheral came out years later.

@mdmtripp Well at any rate, the rules for speedrunning seem to be pointless anyway, you don't even need to play the game.

Since when was hacking considered speed running?

@Crono1973 No, the rules for any% are generally pretty clear and consistent across most games, you just don't agree with it. (Also nice job just avoiding my point and deflecting.)

@mdmtripp Oh sorry, I agree that the multi tap not being released in 1990 doesn't really matter. I just think that a speed run should include gameplay, not just an exploit to get to the end of the game in the first minute. I would call that a speed end because there is no run to it.

"That's cheating, he's using glitches!"

...said some people who don't know what speedrunning is.

@mdmtripp Thank god all of these random people are here to tell the speedrunning community what is and isn't a speedrun and what they're doing wrong. I don't know what the community would do without them. If enough people tell you that your definition makes no sense what should you do?

A) Think about it from an objective point of view

B) Bury your head in the sand and pretend all these people are crazy.

@Dr_Corndog Would it be cheating if I used the FF7 save editor to put my characters at level 99 at the start of the game and then I steamrolled through the game in a few hours?

@Crono1973 You really have no idea what you're talking about.

@Crono1973 Yes, that would be cheating. That's an outside tool. Actually an incredibly different thing. Also, since this is a "speed end", please enlighten me as to how exactly long a run of a game should be to qualify it as a speedrun.

@mdmtripp An outside tool you say. Not really sure why it matters how you cheat but whatever. Anyway, I guess the Konami code would not be cheating? How long you ask? I guess that depends on the game but jumping straight to the credits isn' t a 'run'.

@Crono1973 Why not? What makes it not a run? Give me a real reason.

@Crono1973 Also the whole point of a speedrun is using all of the tools given to you by the game in creative ways to beat it fastest. An outside tool doesn't count because it's not a part of the game as programmed.

@mdmtripp ..because a run implies that you actually played the game. I don't know how many times I have to say this. Let me push this a little further. Using the console in an Elder Scrolls game is also not cheating, right? Warping to the final boss battle with the best gear in record time would be considered speed running?

@Crono1973 Why is that the definition you've chosen for "run?" Who created this definition? And, in the elder scrolls community, they've judged that console commands count as outside tools. The community decided that. Not a random person in a comment section complaining that his personal definition of "speedrun" should have dominion over people who actually speedrun.

@mdmtripp So console commands (which are in the game) are considered outside tools. Sounds like you guys just make up the rules as you go.

So how about this, Breath of Fire for the SNES allowed you to jump to different parts of the game including the final dungeon from the naming screen (probably put in for the testers). So if I used that and beat the game in 15 minutes, would it be considered cheating or speed running?

@mdmtripp Perhaps the disagreement here comes from the article headline. If this is a speedrun, I don't care to ever see another one, because these people aren't playing the game at this point, and the lack of clarity spread over the internet certainly doesn't help the matter.
I consider a good speed run one done by someone who actually PLAYS through the game, gets to the end boss, defeats said boss. This "speedrun" cuts midlevel to credits. Is that included in the tools the game creators intended? Absolutely not.

Whatever happened to speedruns based on skill. Not into these lame exploits.

@Biff_ARMStrong Careful with that edge, child.

@JHDK who cares about a dying franchise that Disney are committed to run into the ground with massive errors in all it's science. #BeacuseScience

Also even in the StarWars universe a Parsec is know as a measure of distance apart from Han's incorrect post.

However I have seen people explain his claim as true as hyperspace causes a fold in reality meaning that it stronger the hyperspace drive the closer it pulls the start and finish with time being the static value. Then all hyperspace jumps having a fixed time it's just the distance covered in that time is the variable and measurable value.

@lemonjellydude Do you know wht speedrunning is? You exploit the system to its full potential to get the shortest time. Obviously you can do them without exploits, but on the whole that’s what it is. A lot of people here don’t seem to understand what speedrunning is.

@lemonjellydude yep thats just what he did. He cheated.

@shani
If your into the speed running thing them just ignore my opinion. But sorry for me any method of manipulating with code is cheating.

@Biff_ARMStrong That's twice now you've posted a comment here wishing literal death on someone(s). What is wrong with you?

@DragonbornRito Pre-puberty, I'd guess.

@dew12333 That's totally fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

@NEStalgia I can see where you're coming from, really, I do.
But:

"Speedruns were originally about finding ways to play through the game as fast as possible"

For me, that's exactly what the guy did. You can see him playing the game in the video. And he found the fastest way possible to get through.

He didn't enter any cheatcodes/commands into some sort of console. That would be actual cheating.
Nor did he manipulate the game's files (e.g. with a HEX editor or some special editor for retro games) before starting the game. That would be hacking.

What he did do: he moved Mario around and executed a few moves - jumps, holding shells etc. Plus he apparently pressed some buttons on the other controllers off-screen.

So he didn't use any external tools etc, he just used what the game (and the console) provided him with.
For me, that's playing the game and not cheating or hacking.

Personally, I find these kinds of speedruns way more interesting than the traditional speedruns. Because you actually learn a lot about how the game functions internally. Plus it's very hard to execute these pixel-perfect movements, even if you know exactly what to do.

But a traditional speedrun? Nah, that doesn't interest me, I could basically do that myself if I wanted (and spent the time to perfect every move - yes, I acknowledge the effort behind that). Why would I want to watch someone just play the game instead of playing it myself? It's the same reason why I don't enjoy Let's Plays.

But finding glitches and exploiting them? That truly commands my respect.

Sorry while smart and tricky, to call this 'completing' the game is pure bullsh*t. There is no speed running here, this is glitch exploitation to slap a bug around to get the end credits.

A true, pure, and amazing speed run would be one where you play every single stage of the game, ever switch block, ever aspect of every stage in the speediest imaginable time possible down to the second or millisecond. That would be a true speed run to completion. This is not.

@tanookisuit I will agree that the wording in the article is vague and leads the reader to believe that they are witnessing someone play the game to completion, rather than simply making the credits roll. That said, I think the vitriol for this runner is a bit uncalled for when it's more NL's fault for using vague language.

@shani He did use external tools, which is a hack. He didn't just hold controller buttons. He utilized an SNES Multi-Tap and used tape and such to hold down sequences of buttons upon insertion of the plug across 4 controllers to alter the memory state to what was necessary to exploit. While he did utilize licensed accessories, that would be like exploiting hack in Mario Odyssey that required the Hori ethernet adapter on the dock, a USB hub, and 3 Hori RAPs with sequences of buttons taped down as you insert them into the USB jacks in Switch terms.

It took great knowledge to do, sure, but it's not a speed run. It's a hack/exploit of the system. If he did it all with just the player controller, that's one thing. But it took additional accessories used in outlandish ways...having buttons held down when plugging in. It's in fact doing precisely what a Game Genie would do, just with a more interesting way to go about it that took more research.

As for what's more interesting. That's fine if hacks are more interesting than speedruns....but that doesn't make a hack a speedrun, it's an interesting hack. A speed run is still about PLAYING, and working within the game world, glitches and all, as fast as possible like a race. How fast can you accomplish X and Y in the game. Using external peripherals to alter console memory state via side effects of connecting the peripheral with buttons in a closed circuit just isn't quickly racing through a game or finding an exploit. It's hacking the system through it's vulnerabilities. It's a hardware hack more than a game glitch regardless of if the peripherals are licensed.

I love how he sits back afterwards and just soaks it in like he actually did something impressive lol

This dude gets laid hella

@NEStalgia nice essay

This isn't a speed run. Its a glitch to show the end credits... Wow, so amazing...

If stuff like this is allowed, then there are several games that include an actual cheat code that lets you skip to the end credits.

@hippoeater Please do exactly what he did anywhere as fast as he did, THEN tell me that's not impressive.

it's creative, but disappointing. It's a cheat more than anything else. An impressive cheat to be sure, but not a legitimate speedrun imo.