Submission #9455: Asumeh's NES Late for Work in 01:40.42

The plot for Late for Work, an almost nine-year-old SMB1 ROM hack created by Sullyrox, entails Mario having overslept and needing to make it to work without being later than he already is. There are four levels, each lasting 100 in-game seconds, with the last three being mostly the original, unchanged levels with slight modifications.
Download the IPS patch for this hack here.

This is another SMB1 hack with a run of it submitted in the past that got rejected for not abiding by the old hack rules, but has now been given a second opportunity for a look-over to see if it could be accepted. I responded to the post made by fellow judge CoolHandMike with regards to Super Clip Bros four days ago, noting there were some optimization flaws, and I was able to submit my run afterward. Today, I looked over Late for Work as well, and I decided to try my hand at an optimized run of the hack.
My run saves at least 21 frames (a framerule) over Jhynjhiruu's rejected run of the hack due to subpixel and subspeed manipulation on the flagpole glitch (FPG) in World 1-2 to touch the castle block one frame faster. That improvement has since been found by RaZNope in 2017.

There are no other improvements I could find, thus leaving me tied with RaZNope. I originally considered the fact that I couldn't submit this run since I was tied with him (and that he needed to be the one to submit his run in the first place, even though he disappeared from the internet since January 2020, according to his last post on Twitter). So I simply went ahead and uploaded it as a userfile to TASVideos.
However, CoolHandMike ensured (after talking to senior judges) that it was okay for me to submit, so long as I was not copying a majority of RaZNope's movements.

Looks like I'm off the hook here. Yes, RaZNope wasn't a registered member of TASVideos (not sure if he even knew about the website either), nor has he made his run publicly available for download. But considering I was the first to make an optimized run of Late for Work and upload it here to TASVideos (at least as a userfile), CoolHandMike gave me the okay to submit.

So afterward, I went ahead to take the time and add entertainment to my run, all while keeping the improvement in check. This did escalate the rerecord count from 132 to 605, but nonetheless.

I run through the first pipe via a hidden block, then go up and down to perform a FPG.

At first, it seemed to me like it was an improvement right off the bat, because of how it loaded the world screen for World 1-2. However, after checking the start times between Jhynjhiruu's run and mine, I confirmed that it unfortunately did not count as an improvement, since it was negated when it comes time for the first input. So I delayed for entertainment by stomping the Goomba pair.
A FPG is the fastest method of completing the first level (at most, you're five frames away from saving the next framerule), with just going for the flagpole as is being the slowest while still not losing a framerule. For reference, Jhynjhiruu went down to hit a hidden block and reveal a 1UP Mushroom, removing the flag from the pole; this is because the flag sprite occupies a secret sixth sprite slot, and only one sprite can occupy that slot. So if a power-up is revealed after first revealing the flag sprite, the flag will disappear; this also applies to vice versa and between two power-ups (since only one power-up can appear on the screen at a time).
So long as you don't delay to entertain before the flagpole, you can still get away with maintaining the framerule if you were to simply touch the flagpole.

You're normally supposed to hit the ? Block to get a power-up, duck under the block later, and the game will automatically slide you past the pipe. Obviously though, since this is a TAS, I clip through the pipe instead (and no, you can't warp down it either). Afterward is practically the same level design as the original game (you need to go over the Koopas and aim for the coins at first).
The "Warp" Zone's pipes are unenterable.

In the overworld area, I manipulated the subpixel for Mario to touch the castle block faster after performing the FPG; this was what I needed to save the one frame and save the framerule.

There's pretty much only one change for this level, and it's a wide hill top platform moved to the very start of the level. You're required to cross that, along with another one later on, to make it across the huge gap.
Not much else to say afterward, but enjoy the few delays for entertainment I picked up along the way.

The first pit is slightly harder due to a used block now waiting on the other side. The first firebar is raised up by one block, and the third firebar is moved down and closer to the second. But yep, no further changes other than that.
That new placement for the firebar doesn't make for a required slowdown, but I just need now to make a precise jump if I want to do so without slowing down at all.
And I also hopped on the platform and jumped off of it immediately after for entertainment. I still touch the axe without slowing down regardless.

Just World 1-1 is where an improvement can be made, but of course, it's the fastest it can be, even without the slowdowns. So I doubt there's any way to improve that level, or any other levels for that matter.

The hack was very meh at most, honestly even back when a first submission was made. Sully is now at the age where he serves as a moderator of the Super Mario Speedrunning (8-bit) Discord server, so props to him. I bet this hack to him now is an old shame though lol. ...and smh. u_u; To be brutally honest, I'm not sure about this being acceptable for publication either. Maybe Playground at best. But again, judge's call.

Not many this time; I only focused mostly on the moments with level design edits.

Frame 373, World 1-1

Frame 394, World 1-1

Frame 1726, World 1-2

Frame 1979, World 1-2

No encode unfortunately as I don't feel like recording another hack with little to no changes in level design, sorry. If you want to see what it looks like, I would like for you to consider seeing the video below instead, please.

And that will be all from me, again.