All Articles: Super Mario Bros.

In April, “Darbian” lowered the World Record “Any Percentage” speedrun for Super Mario Bros. to just four minutes and 57.26 seconds. In the aftermath of his achievement, he retired from speedrunning, saying, “I have reached my potential in this category.”

But some records were made to be broken… and even the slimmest of margins can mean the difference between Silver and Gold.

On Thursday, “Kosmic” set an unbelievable new “Any Percentage” record for Super Mario Bros. of four minutes and 57.244 seconds. The minuscule difference between the two runs, just 0.016 seconds, is actually equivalent to a single frame of animation in the game. So how did he do it? “Kosmic” has a pretty extensive FAQ up on YouTube, and a desire to get his World Record down to four minutes and 56 seconds.

If you’re interested in watching him try, you can follow his Twitch Channel to see all his attempts.

UPDATE (10/4/16): Believe it or not, but Kosmic has already set a new Super Mario Bros. “Any Percentage” record. He posted to Twitter that his new best time is 4:57.194, an improvement of 0.05 seconds (or three frames) over his previous record-setting attempt.

Last October, “Darbian” platformed his way into the record books by completing an “Any Percentage” run of Super Mario Bros. in four minutes and 57.627 seconds. This ridiculous feat managed to squeak in underneath the old record time for an “Any Percentage” run by just 0.063 seconds.

But earlier this week, “Darbian” managed to top himself.

Using both warp zones and barely stopping to take a breath, the speedrunner managed to complete Super Mario Bros. in four minutes and 57.26 seconds. In case you were curious, the 367 milliseconds separating the new record from his old one is about the same amount of time that it takes the average person to blink.

After his epic run, “Darbian” announced his retirement from Super Mario Bros. speedrunning, saying, “I have reached my potential in this category.” And in true Mario fashion, he added, “I’m done! My quest is over.”

There’s a new champion in town as the Super Mario Bros. speed record has fallen once again. Last June, “Blubbler” posted a time of four minutes and 57.69 seconds, nearly a half second than the previous best time. But earlier this week, “Blubbler” was dethroned by “Darbian,” who managed to beat Super Mario Bros. in four minutes and 57.627 seconds.

That’s a difference of just 0.063 seconds!

A press conference of sorts was delivered by “Darbian” after his run on Reddit. If you’re interested in speedruns and the people who do them, it’s well worth a read. If you can believe it, “Darbian” admits he made a few mistakes in his run, so it’s possible the world record may fall again in the near future.