Super Mario Bros. has entertained and frustrated players since its original release in 1985. The legacy of the 2-D platformer can be seen by the financial interest in old Super Mario Bros. titles and the fact that it is still played by fans thirty-five years after its release. However, one fan who is dedicated to the game found disappointment when they broke their record but fell short of their ultimate goal.
There have been plenty of attempts to achieve the record for a speedrun in Super Mario Bros. but it is not an easy achievement. Not only are there dedicated fans who are constantly trying to better themselves on the game but there also technological limitations that can impact the performance of players. Speedrunner GTAce99 who attempted a "Warpless" record, which means there are no levels skipped or warp pipes used, faced technical issues while beating their record on a Twitch stream, and the player was pretty disappointed at the outcome.
The player managed to complete the game in an incredible 18 minutes and 59.008 seconds, however, this was not the time that they were aiming for. GTAce99 was attempting to break the record with 18:58.991 and instead is level with three other dedicated speedrunners. While this is an incredible achievement, though it felt the streamer disappointed as they believed that they had originally achieved their goal before confirming that they were a single frame out. It turns out that the player would have made their desired time in Super Mario Bros. but lag frames impacted the player's performance and held them back.
Lag frames are caused by too many sprites appearing on the screen and this happened three times during the fight against Bowser. Unfortunately, if even one of these lag frames had not been present, the player would have reached their aim. There are currently three players who have the same "Warpless" speedrun time and with this in mind, a new Super Mario Bros. record will likely be achieved soon. Whether Ace can return and take the record that they narrowly missed out remains to be seen, but many will hope that the streamer can after seeing the disappointment in this stream.
A single frame can be a big difference in Super Mario Bros. and it is a shame that technical issues stopped Ace from achieving their record. With that said, part of the appeal of the game is its retro technology and these issues are a danger for every speedrunner. After coming so close, to an incredible achievement GTAce99 will probably plan to overcome the problems faced in this run and reach their impressive goal.