The intense world of video game speedrunning just keeps surprising us, and a new global record for Super Mario Bros. has once again been set.
This latest achievement belongs to a player named averge11. They managed to break the record held by Niftski, who had been the reigning champion for four years in both the Any% and Warpless categories. Averge11’s time was incredibly close to Niftski’s previous best, beating it by just a fraction of a second. The new fastest time is 4 minutes, 54.515 seconds. This is only 0.050 seconds quicker than Niftski’s 4 minutes, 54.565 seconds. That’s a win by just a few frames of gameplay.
People in the speedrunning community now say that new Super Mario Bros. Any% records are only broken by differences of a single frame. SummoningSalt, a well-known video game record keeper, noted this stunning closeness. He pointed out that the current human-set record is now only 15 frames slower than a “perfect run” created with tool assistance. This shows an amazing step toward perfection that many thought humans could never reach.
“This was a brutal grind,” averge11 said in their video. “I spent months trying to break this record. I faced many heartbreaking failures. When I hit 4:54.748, I was so disappointed. But it feels amazing to finally achieve this new global best. It’s been over four years since we had a new record holder.” Averge11 also shared thoughts about the future. “I’m not sure if I’ll keep going with this challenge myself. But I am excited to see what Niftski, LeKukie, and others will show us next in this competitive scene.” (Source: SummoningSalt on X)