---
title: 'The History of Super Mario Bros. Warpless World Records'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=JCRKUuhGC1A'
video_id: 'JCRKUuhGC1A'
date: 2026-08-04
duration_sec: 2703
---

# The History of Super Mario Bros. Warpless World Records

> Source: [The History of Super Mario Bros. Warpless World Records](https://youtube.com/watch?v=JCRKUuhGC1A)

## Summary

This video chronicles the evolution of the Super Mario Bros. Warpless world record, from the earliest known runs in 2005 to the sub-19 minute barrier broken in 2019. It details the strategies, rivalries, and technical innovations that have driven the record down over 14 years.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to Warpless Speedrunning** [00:22] — The standard Super Mario Bros. speedrun uses warp zones to complete the game in under 5 minutes. Warpless runs instead play all 32 levels, creating a much longer and more complex challenge.
- **Early Records and Andrew G** [01:36] — The first known Warpless record was set by Andrew G in 2005 with a time of 21:18. This run featured small Mario, cautious play, and several deaths, but was the fastest with video proof at the time.
- **Andrew G's Sub-20 Minute Run** [05:17] — In February 2007, Andrew G achieved the first sub-20 minute Warpless run (19:40). This was a refined version of his earlier run, with fewer mistakes and more confident play.
- **Japanese Runners and Turbo** [08:21] — In Japan, runners on the Purecast leaderboard used turbo buttons and different timing rules. Hittery's 19:21 (April 2010) was nearly 20 seconds faster than Andrew's, but was largely unknown in the West.
- **Fireflower Strategies Emerge** [12:56] — Hodoruby and Andrew G adopted fireflower strategies, which save time by skipping bridge crumbling animations and allowing easier enemy clearing. Andrew G set a 19:15 in 2013, and later a 19:12.
- **Blubler and Frame Rules** [16:27] — Blubler used emulator advantages to control enemy patterns via the frame rule system, achieving a 19:09 in July 2015 and then a 19:05, matching Andrew's theoretical limit.
- **Darbian's Record and Andrew's Comeback** [20:38] — Darbian took the record to 19:04 in November 2016. Andrew G then made a comeback, narrowly missing the record multiple times before finally achieving a 19:03 in June 2017.
- **Cosmic's Record and Small Mario** [30:29] — Cosmic, known for his small Mario runs, learned fire strategies and set a new record of 19:02 in January 2018. This record stood for over a year.
- **GTA and the Flagpole Glitch** [33:46] — GTA used the flagpole glitch to save time, setting a new record of 19:01 in May 2019. Cosmic quickly reclaimed the record with a 19:01 of his own.
- **Cosmic's Sub-19 Minute Grind** [38:27] — Cosmic grinded for months to break the 19-minute barrier, finally achieving an 18:59 in July 2019. This required perfect execution and favorable Bowser patterns.

### Conclusion

The Warpless world record has evolved from a sloppy 21-minute run to a near-perfect sub-19 minute performance, driven by advances in strategy, technology, and the dedication of a small community of runners.

## Transcript

For over a decade, the original Super Mario Bros. has been one of the most optimized speedruns out there. In the standard speedrun, there's eight levels, each of them being played as closely to human perfection as possible, ultimately
resulting in a run just under 5 minutes long. I cannot believe it. I What? This is an incredibly short speedrun filled top to bottom with ridiculously
precise tricks, but the fastest playthroughs require using the warp zones to warp to world four and world 8. What if the player doesn't use them and instead adds in the other 24 levels of the game as well? Well, there we unlock
the craziness that is Super Mario Bros. Warpless. Warpless. [Music]
starting point for the first official world record is tricky. It's possible there were old records from the '90s or early 2000s that we just don't know about. Although a runner named Cam Allen reportedly finished runs in 2004, video
of them isn't around today. But then in July 2005, a player posted on the Twin Galaxies forum that he had just beaten Cam's record. That player was Andrew G.
it's important to understand how the levels in Super Mario Bros. work. As most probably know, the game has eight worlds of four stages each. The stages ending in dash one are typically standard overworld stages. Dash2 stages
are a mix of underground, underwater, and overworld levels. Dash3 stages are unique levels with no ground beneath them. And Dash four stages are castle levels with a Bowser fight at the end. The gist of speedrunning this game is
quite simple. Getting from the start to the end of each stage as fast as possible. Andrew G stayed as small Mario for most of this run instead of picking takes time to hit blocks to get the powerups, and Mario sprite gets bigger
avoid obstacles and navigate through the stages, it made sense to avoid getting them all together. Andrew was able to make it through the early stages quite easily. However, as the world number increased, Andrew became much more
cautious and began to make some mistakes. You can see this cautiousness at the start of 3-1 where he waited behind each pipe for the piranha plants to go away. In 4-4, he struggled to get down to the bottom path in the middle of
down to the bottom path in the middle of the level. pretty big problem for Andrew. Although the layout of each stage is consistent
each time you play it, the positioning and patterns of the enemies within are not. This can be seen in many stages throughout the game, especially with enemies like Koopa Troopas or Bloopers, but nowhere is it more obvious than in
the castle stages. These feature fire bars and other obstacles that appear in seemingly random positions each time, so Andrew had to be prepared to react to him. This caused him to slow down significantly in some sections while he
waited for fire to clear out of his way. The late worlds ended up being not the cleanest. 6-3 is particularly slow as Andrew waited on essentially every platform in Bullet Bullshot. He died twice in world 7 in the first and third
stages. And in 7-2, he had an intense battle with this blooper.
8-3, he picked up a mushroom for safety so that he could avoid dying if he took a hit. And he did indeed get hit at the end of 8-4. Although this was partially because his hitbox was taller from the mushroom. After touching the axe, his
run was finished and it clocked in at 21 minutes and 18 seconds from when he took control of Mario in 1-1. It's certainly possible someone did a faster run of the complete game before this, but this seems to be the fastest time with video
proof on the internet from back then. This run is pretty sloppy by today's the official world record on twin galaxies.com in 2005, which was still one of the biggest hubs for speedrunning at that point. Andrew noted himself that
it could be better. There were deaths, several hesitations, and mistakes that cost him significant time. Over the next couple of years, players tended to focus more on any% warps instead of warpless. So, Andrew's time stayed on top for
quite a while. Andrew commented in February 2006 that he'd beaten his own time by about 25 seconds. And a Japanese runner named Osaka apparently got a time of around 20 minutes and 30 seconds in January 2007. However, it seems that
videos for both of these runs aren't around today. What is around today, however, is a world record from Andrew G from February 2007, the first ever sub from February 2007, the first ever sub 20minut run.
This run is essentially a more refined version of his run from a year and a half prior. Andrew once again stayed as small Mario for most of the run. The early worlds were yet again quite smooth, but instead of getting much more
worlds got higher, Andrew was confident in his ability to succeed. 6-3, for example, was like night and day in this run versus 2118. Instead of slowing down
through and barely slowed down at all by strategically jumping when he needed to. World seven this time around featured zero deaths instead of two. And instead of having to battle a blooper at the end of 7-2, he was able to finish smoothly.
perhaps because Andrew had more experience with any% warps by this point where world 8 is played every time. In 8-1, for example, Andrew G was able to do a pipe jump at the start of the level. By landing on the front or back
edge of a pipe, it's possible to jump off of the edge even when a piranha plant is up. The hitbox of a piranha plant is actually much smaller than it appears. So, even though their sprites overlap, Mario is able to successfully
jump off the edge without getting hit. This is an extremely precise trick, however, as you only have three pixels to land on the edge of each pipe. Andrew early worlds, but wasn't able to get them. They can potentially save time
waiting for the piranha plant to go away, but going for them is a big risk, as missing could mean dying. In this run, Andrew opted to not pick up a mushroom in 8-3. Instead, just took the chance at beating 8-4's small Mario. It
worked out. He finished the run just 3 seconds under 20 minutes. Then about a year later, Andrew came back to beat this run by another 17 seconds. A few seconds of the improvement came from 1-1. Since he submitted this run to
Speed Devil's Archive instead of Twin Galaxies, he was now able to use the pipe in 1-1 to skip to the end of the level, which was banned under Twin Galaxy's rule set. The rest of the run was a bit cleaner, too. The pipe jumps
his last run went a bit better this time. levels like 6-3 that gave him trouble before, he was able to sprint through with no issue. However, even this run had some glaring slowdowns, he still struggled with patterns in the
castle levels, and there were a few minor hiccups here and there, and he got pretty lucky to make it out of 7-1 alive.
1940. But this is where the record history takes a sudden turn. In most of the Western world, it was believed that Andrews 1940 stood as the world record for more than four years. However, in
Japan, unknown to much of the rest of the world, a group of gamers was trying the world, a group of gamers was trying to do the same thing. They posted their times on a website called Purecast, and the rules were a
was that they were allowed to play with turbo buttons. When you held them down, button over and over, typically much faster than a human could press it, as
will be shown in a couple of minutes. This came in handy in a few sections. Timing for their runs also started at different times. They started the timer when the title screen appeared and then ended it when Peach finished her speech.
Most runs in the western world by this point and still to this day start when the player took control of Mario and ended upon touching the axe in 8-4. converted to this modern timing for purposes of this video. If these times
are treated as equals, then instead of Andrew's run standing for more than 4 Andrew's run standing for more than 4 years, it stood for just over a month. According to research compiled by Blubler, a runner named Maru Kome got a
time in the upper 1940s by March 2008, and then runners Mou, Royal Boy, and Hittery lowered it down over the next couple of years. But the only time with couple of years. But the only time with a video on YouTube today is Hit's 1921,
a video on YouTube today is Hit's 1921, set in April 2010, nearly 20 seconds faster than Andrew G's time. Up until now, this video essentially hadn't been now, this video essentially hadn't been seen at all outside of Japan.
Hitter's run versus Andrews was picking up the firefl. Although it cost a couple of seconds for Hittery to pick up the mushroom in 1-1 and the flower in 1-2, and at times the larger hitbox made Mario harder to navigate with, the
Defeating Bowser at the end of each world with fire causes the game to skip the bridge crumbling animation upon touching the axe, saving a couple of seconds in each of the first seven worlds. Fire also allowed him to defeat
enemies more easily, especially piranha plants. Instead of having to do tricky pipe jumps, Hedori was able to simply kill the plant with fire, then land safely on top of the pipe. He picked up the time benefit of pipe jumps without
actually having to perform them. This was especially important in stages like 6-2, where Hittery was able to fly through despite not doing any pipe jumps. In the water levels, Hittery used the manipulation to make his hitbox half
the size it should normally be. By touching the ground, briefly ducking, then swimming before letting go of down. Mario's hitbox is only in the lower half of his body. This combined with the already small hitbox of bloopers cause
sections like this. [Music] The water sections featured the usage of turbo, which is what causes an asterisk to be placed next to these records in America. Hi was able to hold down the
turbo A button to swim over and over and was quickly thrust to the top of the screen. This didn't actually save him any time, but it made the water sections a bit easier as he could get out of the way of certain enemies more easily. In
the end, Hittery hit the axe in world 8 at 1921. He would have actually been a couple of seconds faster, but he defeated Bowser in world 8 in order to skip the bridge animation and get to Peach faster. Hiter's run stood unbeaten
for quite a while, but over in America, it was still widely believed that Andrew's 1940 was the fastest run out there. In November 2012, speedrunner Cosmic was able to top Andrew by 5 seconds with a 1935.
His run was done on Wii Virtual Console. Since the virtual console runs at a emulator, it essentially plays in slightly slow motion. Cosmic didn't realize this is the time, but if he had played on console instead, his time
would have been more like 1929 or 1930. Just like Andrew G did, Cosmic played a Hitter's run, he lost quite a bit of time from the bridge crumbling. He was able to get quite a few pipe jumps in stages like 5-1 and 6-2, but Hitter's
firepower allowed him to do several more. However, Cosmic Run was still quite strong for playing a small Mario. The numerous pipe jumps he hit weren't easy, and he hardly had to wait in the castle levels for the fire patterns. But
in January, world famous speedrunner Hod Ruby beat both Cosmic and Hittery with fire strats. He got a 1916 on the Purecast leaderboard, likely with turbo, Purecast leaderboard, likely with turbo, and a 1924 without turbo. The video for
the 1924 is still around today, and it features a run similar to Heres, but without turbo. He used fire strats, kept fire until the end of 8-4, and picked up a bit of time over Hittery by getting good patterns in the castle levels. With
runners like Hodor, Ruby and Cosmic providing pressure, this scene shifted back to Andrew G, who wanted to push the time down further. After all, he was the Warps record holder and had held the warpless record for years, even with the
time disadvantage of using small Mario. Now, it was time to see what he could do Now, it was time to see what he could do with the Fireflower.
2013 saw him set five records and bring the record down to 1915. The 1915 itself was achieved live on his Twitch stream and after touching the ax Twitch stream and after touching the ax in 8-4, Andrew went crazy.
mushroom in 1-3 and the fireflower in 1-4 since they could be picked up slightly faster than in 1-1 and 1-2. He was also very aggressive with his Bowser fights, trying to slow down as little as possible while shooting the fireballs.
Most of these five records followed a similar pattern. Andrew would gain some seconds over Hodor Ruby early on from the better Fireflower pickup and cleaner castle stages, but typically he'd lose the Fireflower somewhere in the second
bit of time from the bridge crumbling animations and not being able to use fire to clear enemies for pipe jumps. Andrew also started going for the wall jump in 8-4. By landing on the correct pixel in a wall, right between the
separation of two blocks, Mario will attempt to stand in the separation for attempt to stand in the separation for exactly one frame or a 60th of a second. By then pressing jump on this one frame, it's possible to jump again and make it
up to the pipe that you need to go into. So, to successfully pull off the wall jump, you'd need to land on the perfect pixel and do a frame perfect jump that you had a 60th of a second to time. That's not easy, especially at the very
end of a world record pace speedrun. Going for the wall jump and getting it the backup method of hitting the invisible block to get up to the pipe. But missing it loses the same amount of time. It's a risk that Andrew decided
was worth going for. A few months later, Andrew set a time of 1912. It was yet another run where he kept fire until the second half of the game, this time 6-4, and then had to play the rest without it. However, this 1912 would end up
standing for a very long time. There was no separate leaderboard in Japan beating it, no small Mario only run from someone else, just a solid record staying on else, just a solid record staying on top. It was set in November 2013. And
coming into the year 2015, it was still the world record. But that April, a speedrunner who played on an emulator was able to snag the record. His name was Blubler, and he took down Andrew's record by under a tenth of a second.
how valuable it was to keep the Fireflower all the way through the game.
1-2 instead of 1-3, which is a bit slower, but also a bit easier. From maintained a pace of being a second or two behind Andrew. But once he was able to keep his Fireflower while Andrew lost
it, he pulled ahead and a faster 8-4 sealed the deal. Once the record was achieved, Blubler kept trying to push the time lower. He had one distinct advantage over Andrew G's runs, however. He could control the patterns of the
enemies, including the random fire in the castle levels. As it turns out, the castle levels. As it turns out, they're not so random after all. completion of each level every 21 frames, or about every.35 seconds. This
system is known as the frame rule system. The best analogy for this is one created by Derbian a few years back. It's as if a bus leaves the end of each level every 21 frames. Sometimes you'll
waiting a couple of frames. But if you're just a few frames later, you might have to wait 20 or 21 frames to catch the next one. This means that in every level except for 8-4, it's only possible to gain or lose time in
possible to gain or lose time in increments of.35 seconds. As it turns out, the patterns of enemies in a level directly correspond to how long has passed since the last time the console was reset. So, by arriving at a level in
the same frame rule, or window of.35 seconds, the enemy patterns will be the same every time. Globler was especially able to use this to his advantage in stages like 5-4 and 6-4, where he tried to arrive at the correct time to
guarantee good fire patterns. This sometimes even included intentionally the castle in order to ensure arrival at the correct time. This made getting runs late into the game much more consistent. In July 2015, Lobler got the first ever
In July 2015, Lobler got the first ever sub910 run with a 1909 featuring a very quick last couple of worlds. However, some of the Bowser fights in particular were a bit slow and he was losing time in world one from the powerup grabs, so
he kept trying to take it lower. Andrew G had gone on record as saying 1905 was about as good as he thought Warpless could realistically go. Could Blubler could realistically go. Could Blubler take it that low?
Blubler had achieved the 1905, a time Andrew had theorized years prior. In the run itself, Blubler wound up getting a bit behind his record after a slow 3-4 Bowser kill, but a fast 4-4 kill made up for it. The second half of the game was
smooth, too, with mostly clean Bowser kills and a nice world eight. In 8-4, he was able to do the more consistent two-frame wall jump by walking off the pressing the B button to run while in the air. Mario's sub pixels, or
positioning smaller than the pixel, become manipulated in a particular way. on the pipe for the wall jump is much easier to hit, and Mario now has two frames to jump off of it instead of just one. The two-frame wall jump loses
about.3 seconds versus the one-frame wall jump, but it is significantly easier to hit. Bubbler stopped running warpless after this, and his record stayed on top for several months, but by late 2016, another runner was doing
attempts to take it down. His name was Darbian. We're all just young boys on Twitch. Darbian was one of the most popular Mario speedrunners out there, and he had the record for the fastest completion of
the record for the fastest completion of the game with warps by 2016. decided to try to lower his warpless time. His warpless personal best at the
time was 1915, 10 seconds behind the record. So, he got to work to bring it down or not. [Music] We did it. We did it. I can almost
befriend Bowser and then stab him in the back and still be fast enough. If we make it past five four on pace with a record, that's the best run I've ever done. No. No. [Music]
[Music] Nah, now we just lost the record there. But we didn't lose the PB. [Music] [Music] Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
[Music] We did it. I didn't choke it away. A month after his grind began, Derbian had taken his time down to 2 seconds behind Bubbler's record. Shaving those
last few seconds off, however, was going to be tricky. Making it through the was tough, especially because of the castle stages. Although the patterns could be largely controlled, it was still tricky to avoid the fire that was
constantly trying to hit Mario. And the Bowser fights were even tougher. Only two of Mario's fireballs can be on the screen at the same time, and it takes up to five shots to kill them. Bowser can also jump over the shots, and various
obstacles can hit them and cancel them out. Hitting Bowser with all the required fireballs while slowing down as little as possible takes incredible precision. Darbian struggled to get runs to world 7, especially because of castle
to world 7, especially because of castle levels like 5-4 and 6-4. But one day in November 2016, he was able to quickly kill Bowser and break through.
I just went through that hammer. [Music]
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Darbian had finally done it. Global's year and a half reign over the world record had come to an end. In the run itself, Darbian was able to gain a frame rule in 6-3 by doing the level
perfectly. Ending the stage with a 256 on the timer gives six fireworks, which loses time, but ending it right as the timer ticks over to a 255 gains a frame rule over a lower 255. It's undoubtedly one of the toughest frame rules to save
in the entire run. He also gained time from a faster Bowser kill in 7-4 and gained about a second from not getting hit by Bowser in 8-4, ultimately resulting in a run about 1 and a half seconds ahead of Blubler. Darbian was
indisputably on top of the Super Mario Bros. speedrunning scene after his 1904. that Andrew G had been in just a few years prior with a strangle hold over both the Warps and Warpless World Records. By early 2017, Andrew G hadn't
actually held a Super Mario Bros. world record in a couple of years. He decided to try playing some Warpless to see what he could do to his 1912 personal best, which was now 8 seconds behind the world record. And even though he hadn't held
the record since 2015, he quickly proved he was still a top level player.
going that saved two frame rules over the first world in the world record. In both 1-3 and 1-4, he was able to accelerate quicker after grabbing the power-ups. He maintained this pace for a while, and then in 4-4, he gained
another frame roll from a slightly faster Bowser kill. Incredibly, Andrew was just over a second ahead of the world record halfway through the game. pressing start on the title screen to allow for this. Since the frame rule
system starts counting from power on, andrew G was planning to get to 5-4 and 6-4 ahead of world record pace, he had to wait on the title screen to account for the patterns. It didn't affect his final time, of course, since timing
starts once taking control of Mario after the title screen. He lost a frame rule over Darbian's really good 6-3. And then it was time for 6-4.7 seconds ahead of the world record. [Music]
was the fastest he had ever completed 6-4, hence the gold split. Andrew was in record. He just had to close it out in the last two worlds.
No. [Music] Oh no. [Music]
contention to get the world record. He was able to get a personal best of 1906, disappointment that he barely missed out on the record.
another great run late into the game. Entering 7-4, he was about a second ahead of the world record. However, this was his 7-4 Bowser fight. was his 7-4 Bowser fight. [Music]
He fell behind, but thanks to a fast 8-4, he finished the run just five frames behind Darbian's world record. That's less than a tenth of a second. But Andrew G pushed onward. He had been trying for this record for months by now
and kept falling just short at the end. That emotional roller coaster can really be taxing on a person. Andrew certainly had the ability to get the record. All it all to align.
And in June 2017, armed with his penguin hat, he got on a really fast pace. He gained two frame rules in world one once again from better powerup grabs and picked up another frame rule from a fast 2-4 Bowser kill. He was now over a
second ahead of the world record. A fast 4-4 Bowser kill saved him two more frame rules. And all of a sudden, Andrew was almost 2 seconds ahead of the world record halfway through the game. He lost the 6-3 frame rule again as expected,
but he was still maintaining a really fast pace. Entering world 8, he was 1.4 seconds ahead. Of course, it didn't really matter how far ahead he was. His goal was to get the world record one way or another. World 8 was clean as he used
his Fireflower to clear all the Piranha Plants and Hammer Bros out of the way. But in 8-4, he had committed to going for the more difficult one frame wall jump. It would save him a third of a second over the record if he got it, but
missing it would cost him big time. He was going to go for broke.
He nailed it and entered the water section 1.7 seconds ahead. Andrew was now two screens away from a huge new world record. Once again, he just had to close it out. [Music]
Oh, wait. I don't know. Maybe [Music] of just sat there and thought about what had just happened. He thought he had
lost the record yet again. All his efforts into this run seemed to have fallen just short at the last second. But as Andrew kept repeating how he I don't think I got it. His chat kept telling him otherwise. I
Andrew didn't look at what they said. Maybe he was in disbelief. Or maybe he genuinely didn't know what he had just done. Even after the slow water section,
even after getting hit, Andrew had still gotten the world record by nearly half a second. Years after his world records had been surpassed, Andrew G was back on had been surpassed, Andrew G was back on top.
was another familiar name, Cosmic. The same guy who got a 1935 with Small Mario same guy who got a 1935 with Small Mario back in 2012. In 2016, he took his time down to 1912 with Small Mario. Still 7 seconds behind the record at that point,
but it stands today as the fastest small Mario warpless run. By mid 2017, shortly after Andrew got his 1903, Cosmic decided to bite the bullet and finally learn the fire strats in order to further improve his time. As expected,
he was quickly able to get good with the Fireflower. He took his personal best down to a 1905 after a bit over a month of grinding before he decided to take his run to the next level and try for the world record once again. It had been
over 5 years since he last held it. In January 2018, Cosmic was doing a session of world record attempts. His splits were comparing against his 1905 personal best, but he ultimately did want to beat Andrew's 1903.
He matched Andrew splits through the first three worlds until 4-4, where he lost the frame roll to Andrew's fast Bowser kill. So, he was.35 seconds behind the record until 5-4, where he picked up a frame roll on the Bowser
kill, bringing him back to dead even with the world record. He gained a frame rule in 7-4 from yet another fast Bowser kill, plus a few frames because Andrew's game lagged from sprite overload while Cosmix did not. If
too many hammers or other enemies are on the screen at the same time, the game lags and slows down by a handful of frames. Then it was on to 8-4, one frame rule and change ahead of the world record. Cosmic had over a second to gain
in the last level, mostly because of Andrew's slowwater section. He knew he right here. All right. Even if I take damage, I can still get record. I just have to hit wall jump and not be terrible.
wall jump and not be terrible. [Music]
that's record. It was a new world record by a full second and a half. This was essentially the exact run that Cosmic was going for. There was still potential to take it lower with faster Bowser fights and a
couple of other tricks, but Cosmic basically got everything that he wanted. This 1902 would end up standing for much longer than most of the records before it. A year and a half later, even though the Warps record had been broken four
times since then, nobody had been able to touch Cosmic's warpless record. The only person who came close was Hittery, the runner who got a 1921 with Turbo in 2010. But in February 2018 without Turbo, he
saved time in 1-3 and 6-3 and was two frame rules ahead of Cosmic going into world 8. However, in 8-4, he missed the wall jump and got hit on Bowser, causing his time to slip to a 1904. Still good enough for third place. As of
today, even though he was on pace to get the record, Hittery still hasn't beaten his time. Finally, a year and a half after Cosmic's record, another runner was doing attempts to beat it. It was a bit
of a surprising source. His Warp's personal best was only in ninth place, but he had been grinding Warpless heavily and was ready to snag the heavily and was ready to snag the record. This is GTA.
GTA got his first ever sub20 warpless time in April 2018. Over the course of the next year, he would refine his warpless skills to be nearly on par with the world record. A year after his first sub20, GTA 1905, putting him just 3 and
1/2 seconds behind the record. The very next day, he was on pace for a 1903, but next day, he was on pace for a 1903, but made this unfortunate mistake in 8-3.
2 seconds behind the record. A few weeks later, he got a 1903, largely because of the second he saved in 8-3 from not getting hit. Since he was only a second behind it now, GTA decided to start aiming for the world record. And a while
later, he had a run that was even with the record until 7-4, where he lost time miss the world record by just half a GTA wanted something a little bit more to give himself a better chance at
getting the record. So, he made the decision to start going for the incredibly difficult flag pole glitch in runs. This trick, formerly only used in short warps runs, involves clipping into the bottom of the flag pole at the end
of a level, skipping the animation of the flag sliding from the top to the bottom and usually saving a frame roll. However, making this trick work involves manipulating Mario's sub pixel positioning in extremely precise ways by
releasing and tapping the left, B, and A buttons on the way to the flagpole. This human viable setup was discovered by a guy named Sockfolder, and the best speedrunner struggled to successfully do the flagpole glitch more than about 50%
of the time. By doing the flagpole glitch in 1-1 and additional levels if necessary, GTA could save a significant amount of time over the record. That's exactly the run he was trying to get. In May 2019, GTA was on a roller coaster of
a run. He had lost a frame rule in 3-4 and 5-4 from slower Bowser kills, but he gained two from the flag pole glitches and also gained one in 4-4. The end result was a one frame rule lead over the world record going into world 8. Now
he had four more levels to play to take down Cosmic's year and a half old down Cosmic's year and a half old record.
GTA set a new record by about a third of a second. With this new time, each of the past five Warpless records had been set by a different runner. But shortly after GTA's run, both he and Cosmic were doing attempts to beat it once again.
Just a few days later, GTA was able to get a run with the 4-4 clip by crouching and jumping into this corner in 4-4. It's possible to clip through it and avoid having to go up top and then down. If done correctly, this trick saves
about two frame rules. So, GTS was.7 seconds ahead, then gained another frame seconds ahead, then gained another frame rule in 5-4. He was on a beautiful run
Cosmic was also trying to beat the record, but he went about it a little bit differently than GTA did. He didn't go for the flag pole glitches yet because he knew that with the 4-4 clip and faster Bowser kills, he could
probably beat it more easily. And on May 30th, 2019, that's exactly what he did. Please, dude. We did it. Yes.
1901. Let's go. He got the 4-4 clip, which canceled out the lack of flag pole glitches and gain time in 3-4 and 5-4 to enter the last level two frame rules ahead. The run was getting to the point where the next
minute barrier seemed inevitable to be broken soon. And 1859, according to Cosmic's description, was on its way. The last time a minute barrier had been broken was when Andrew G got the first ever sub20 all the way back in 2007.
Now 12 years later, it was time to try for a sub9. And Cosmic was determined to be the first one to take it there. The first order of business for Cosmic was to take the time from a 1901 to 19 minutes flat, which he did very quickly.
On June 4th, using the flag pole glitch in 1-1 in a faster 1-4, Cosmic entered the last room on pace for 19 flat. [Music] [Music] Yes, dude. Yes, we did it.
So, now we had to take the last second off of the run. His method of doing so would be to save two frame rules. One was in 1-3. by clipping into the block when picking up the mushroom. The game tries to eject you out of it, causing
you to accelerate faster than otherwise possible. The other was in 6-4 by doing this extremely precise Bowser kill. Finally, he would go for the one frame wall jump in 8-4 to save another third of a second. The run that's been on
screen is from July 2019 and got all of the above tricks. It was time to make Come on, dude. Please let me through here.
Are you Are you serious? He got hit by Bowser's hammers. They come out in a different pattern depending on what frame you arrive to him on. Often times, Bowser's hammers
of them come out, and the game can only have so many hit boxes on the screen at the same time. so you can safely jump through them. Bowser could have also randomly jumped forward, letting the player run safely under him. But this
time, Cosmic got in either of those situations. It ended up still being a record by under a tenth of a second. But all right, all he had to do was do that again, but get a better Bowser pattern.
again, but get a better Bowser pattern. How hard could that be? So dumb. For years, a time of 1859 was known to
be theoretically possible. It was considered on the border between what humans could achieve and what was impossible.
But often times, that's what speedrunners do. If something is considered impossible, that's what they work hardest on. They change work hardest on. They change perspectives of what's possible.
Looking back on this category's history is very unique. Just over a decade prior, one could achieve a world record while dying multiple times. while dying multiple times. [Music]
Uh-oh. Dude, what the heck happened? I blew it. I can't believe it. Now, for Cosmic in 2019, essentially any mistake would kill the run. He had to control Mario with precision for just
control Mario with precision for just under 19 minutes. just move on.
get away from the warps category because unlike that one, Warpless had a margin of error. Now that margin of error had been taken away. Please be good. Please don't be the bad frame again.
dude. Are you kidding me? How do I hit that again? If I were to go up to four frames slower, like four frames slower, three frame frames slower, two frames three frame frames slower, two frames slower, one frames slower, or 1 2 3 4 5
6 or seven frames faster, Bowser would be easy. Piece of cake, yet somehow I hit that frame twice. This grind from Cosmic embodies how cruel speedrunning
can really be. Waiting for everything to line up sometimes pushes one's patience line up sometimes pushes one's patience to its absolute limit. Dude, are you kidding me?
[Music] I can't believe my luck with this. Cosmic, as well as everyone watching a stream, wondered the same thing. When stream, wondered the same thing. When was this insanity going to end?
Maybe if it let us pass, we might get it.
With the bonk in I I don't know for sure, but we might have finally done it. [Music]
After 2 months of grinding, Cosmic had done it. Sub9 was a reality. Unbelievably, Cosmic had lost 12 potential 1859 runs to 8-4 with three of
those dying to Bowser. Many people wouldn't have been able to keep going. But Cosmic never let it stop him and he kept doing runs until it happened. There's still quite a bit of potential to take the run lower. Cosmic has
already started grinding for 1858, which involves getting some crazy Bowser kills involves getting some crazy Bowser kills in the extra 6-3 frame roll. 1857 and beyond is theoretically possible, too. So, the record is definitely far from
its end. As much as has happened in the last 14 years, Super Mario Bros. Warless still has a big history in front of it. Let's see who takes it there. Thanks for Let's see who takes it there. Thanks for watching.