Near-Perfect World Record Logged on NES Super Mario Bros

[digitalpress]

FAIRFIELD, IOWA - February 25, 2004 - For years, the world record on NES'
legendary Super Mario Bros. video game was stalled at 5 minutes and 20
seconds. In recent months, however, increased media publicity on classic
gaming has re-ignited player enthusiasm for breaking long-standing records,
with world titles falling on titles like Legend of Zelda and Metroid.

And, now, debatedly the most contested NES game of all time, Super Mario
Bros., may have been brought to a "near-perfect" finish, as Scott Kessler,
of North Carolina brought the record down to 5 minutes and 17 seconds. "Yes,
this could be considered a near-perfect performance," explains Twin Galaxies
Referee Robert Mruczek, who watched the entire game on videotape before
declaring the feat a new world record. "It may be possible to shave 1-3 more
seconds off the time," adds Mruczek, "but, that may not happen for a long
time."

Recently, fierce rivalries on Legend of Zelda and Metroid for the NES have
seen new "fastest time to finish" world records submitted for publication in
the forthcoming edition of Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book
of World Records.

"Its a time of heavy competition, spanning multiple generations," says
Walter Day, the editor of the Record Book. "A new generation is stripping
the older players of their cherished world records. Classic game titles are
no longer a thing of the past; they are uniting the different generations
with the world records as the unifying link."

To read a full report on the new Super Mario Bros world record, go to:
http://www.twingalaxies.com

[Flack]

That's awesome! I couldn't find that guy's age though, I wonder how long he's been playing and just how old he was when that game came out in late 1985.

[MarioAllStar2600]

Wow. Are you aloud to use the warp tunnels? I am guessing you have to though for that kind of time.

[HellStar]

Thats great...Congrats to the dude!
Beating the game in 5 minutes is insane!

[Gnarkill]

awesome... I still dont see how thats possible

[whoisKeel]

i wish they would post a video. i've seen the retarded quick runs that people have done on emulators for smb1 & 3, but you never know if they slowed down the game and how many times they appended the recording. i'd like to know for sure if this 5:17 is for real, or just somebody's tv-out.

[Quintracker]

i wish they would post a video. i've seen the retarded quick runs that people have done on emulators for smb1 & 3, but you never know if they slowed down the game and how many times they appended the recording. i'd like to know for sure if this 5:17 is for real, or just somebody's tv-out.

I believe they have rules on the site where they can't post the video unless the guy that taped it says it's ok. Something about not wanting others to use that as a stepping stone in figuring out their own ways to beat a time attack.

As for authenticity, they have pretty strict guidelines on what you can use, so it's highly unlikely that it was faked.

[Ed Oscuro]

Does anybody else find that they say the ref ""watched the entire game on videotape before declaring the feat a new world record," to be funny, 'cause I sure do :P Nothing against anybody involved...maybe carefully analyzed footage of the record being performed would've brought a better understanding of his judge's job. That way it doesn't sound like the guy took a few minutes from his daily routine (insert stereotypical assumptions about older gamers) to watch and then make some lazy comment. Guiness, watch out! (to be fair, they've removed the game record portions part of their book, too much for them to handle.)

[NintendoMan]

That is almost unbelievable!! I too wonder if you can use warp pipes. I want to see that tape for sure.

[calthaer]

It would be entirely possible for someone to, with video-editing equipment, speed up the video just a hair and shave 3 seconds off the time.

[whoisKeel]

yeah, he warps


there's a whole breakdown of what he does and times that he beats each stage in, plus he himself comments on this forum:

http://www.twingalaxies.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2075

i just want some proof of this tho, it'd be sooo easy to fake with tv-out and a real nes. but then again i don't even know how you could really prove it w/o witnesses.

[§ Gideon §]

Does anybody else find that they say the ref ""watched the entire game on videotape before declaring the feat a new world record," to be funny, 'cause I sure do :P Nothing against anybody involved...maybe carefully analyzed footage of the record being performed would've brought a better understanding of his judge's job. That way it doesn't sound like the guy took a few minutes from his daily routine (insert stereotypical assumptions about older gamers) to watch and then make some lazy comment. Guiness, watch out! (to be fair, they've removed the game record portions part of their book, too much for them to handle.)

heh heh. Now that you mention it, yeah. That sounds a little unprofessional.

While we're speculating about the merit of this record, who's to say that Twin Galaxies didn't just fake the whole thing altogether? It would be a nice publicity stunt. You know, that way they can... uhh... get more people to play old school games... for their own, cruel intentions, of course.

[CitizenWhite]

That is almost unbelievable!! I too wonder if you can use warp pipes. I want to see that tape for sure.

Of course he uses warp pipes. The parts where you cannot even move, but it does it for you (between first and second stage) as well as the scrolling levels would easily make the time much more than five minutes.

[downfall]

I'm sure it's real.

I was one of the original competitors at Super Monkey Ball and Monkey Ball 2 (rawisjericho54 is me.. started with some back and forth between Snapdragon64 and myself, and evolved into a huge competition for scores), and Scott later got involved too (and far surpassed anything I ever achieved in that game). He's really a very cool guy, and extremely talented/dedicated when it comes to this kind of stuff. I've talked to him quite a bit before, and I can say that I know he's honest when it comes to his scores. Always nice to know that someone who sets a new world record in something is a deserving individual, and a good person on top of that.

Glad to hear that he pulled this off too. I watched his previous video and he had 5:25. Put him in 2nd place. I'm happy he didn't stop there.

Congrats if you read this! Very impressive!