If you thought completing Super Mario Bros. in a day on the original Nintendo Entertainment System was an accomplishment, think again. Twitch gamer “Niftski” just set a new world record by finishing the game in 4:54.948, or a quarter-second faster than the previous world record set by Miniland. For those who want to attempt one of these records, there are some helpful tips to use, like backwards acceleration, which involves Mario reaching full running speed quicker by first jumping backward.
The most important speedrunning tip may be the flagpole glitch, which is basically a wall clip inside the block at the bottom of the flagpole at the end of various levels. If performed correctly, the game skips lowering the flag pole, thus having off a few precious seconds. Knowing these tips and glitches is one thing, actually performing them perfectly in-game every single time is an entirely different story.
