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Since 2021, a single runner known as Niftski has absolutely dominated the Super Mario Bros. speedrun charts, inching the record step by step toward literal perfection while staying ahead of all other potential competitors. Now, four years later, there's finally a new top runner in the scene, debuting a fresh world record that's only 15 frames away from perfection.
That runner is known as averge11, and they set a new any% record of 4:54.51 on August 28, beating Niftski's standing record of 4:54.56. That comes out to a three-frame improvement, which might not sound like much, but the margins are very fine in the world of SMB speedrunning. "The march to the TAS time continues as we are now only 15 frames away from a perfect speedrun," as community historian Summoning Salt puts it on Twitter.
Super Mario Bros. speedruns are especially competitive because of what the community calls the frame rule. Essentially, the game only checks to see if you've completed a level every 21 frames, so there are specific minimum times in which you can beat any given stage. That puts the idea of matching a tool-assisted speedrun, or TAS – where every input is programmed into the game to create a theoretically perfect run – into the realm of human possibility.
Players like Niftski and averge11 have tied the TAS through all but the final stage of Super Mario Bros, where the frame rule does not apply. In that stage, 8-4, top runners now have to eke out the final microseconds of time frame by frame, and you can only even attempt a time save here after you've already managed an absurdly difficult perfect run through the entire rest of the game.
Niftski held both the any% and warpless Super Mario Bros. records back in 2021, and while he's set a few new personal bests since then, nobody else has been able to claim the world record title from him in all that time. Until, that is, averge11's new time, which has brought the human SMB record just 15 frames away from literal perfection.
"This grind was absolutely grueling," averge11 says in the description of the YouTube video for the new record. "I spent months on and off going for this world record and had absolutely awful fails like my 4:54.748, but it's absolutely awesome to have finally clutched out this world record and ended the 4 year drought of new WR holders. As of now I'm unsure of my plans to continue with this category, but I'm excited to see what Niftski, LeKukie, and others have in store for the future of this category."
