Oh, I first read "5 seconds" and I couldn't believe my eyes. Now with a lower resolution screen (at work) I see it's ".5 seconds". I suppose that's good too. :)
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/me votes for leading zeroes
I'm doing 1-2 now. I did the first part of the level faster than Sleepz, but when I timed the Birdo fights, mine was almost a second slower, and I can't figure out what I did wrong. Does anyone have any advice for me?
Edit: I just noticed that in Sleepz video Birdo shot the first egg sooner, but I don't know why.
Edit 2: I just watched my video and Sleepz video a few more times and I have no idea what's going on in that Birdo fight. I can't figure out why he's taking an extra second to shoot the first egg, so I'll just give up and continue making the video with only a half second lead over Sleepz instead of almost 2 seconds.
I just tried doing all sorts of different maneuvers before going through the door and nothing works. Maybe I'm being punished for getting to the door too quickly.
Maybe I'm being punished for getting to the door too quickly.
Maybe.
Similar is to be expected from Wart. Sometimes he's always far when the vegetables appear, sometimes he's near.
It's more cool if he's near because you don't need to do an extra jump with Toad then - you can immediately toss the vegetable as soon as you have it in your hands.
I'm fighting Birdo in 6-1 and I can't figure out how to do the trick where the mushroom block bounces off your head. First I jumped in the air, then I dropped the block, then I got Toad under the block, then it dropped on Birdo, and then instead of bouncing off of Toads head, it just went through him and landed on the ground. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
Edit: Never mind, I figured it out.
At the end of 6-1 when Sleepz threw the mushroom block at the eagle head so he could stand on it, was that just done to look cool or does it save time?
I'm doing 1-2 now. I did the first part of the level faster than Sleepz, but when I timed the Birdo fights, mine was almost a second slower, and I can't figure out what I did wrong. Does anyone have any advice for me?
Edit: I just noticed that in Sleepz video Birdo shot the first egg sooner, but I don't know why.
Edit 2: I just watched my video and Sleepz video a few more times and I have no idea what's going on in that Birdo fight. I can't figure out why he's taking an extra second to shoot the first egg, so I'll just give up and continue making the video with only a half second lead over Sleepz instead of almost 2 seconds.
Since you are willing to share your insight on Zelda, Ill share what I know about Mario 2. Hope its not too long a read.
>I just noticed that in Sleepz video Birdo shot the first egg sooner, but I don't know why. I can't figure out why he's taking an extra second to shoot the first egg.
This is how Birdo works, and you will probably disagree with me, but you can test it for yourself, Ive already done so:
Birdo is always moving and shooting eggs, no matter where you are in the level, and does it in intervals. In level 1-2, no matter who you use, you will be able to pick up the first egg at the same time. Doing random movements wont help. Even if you finish the level a second or two faster, that just mean you will have to wait a second or two more for the first egg. The only reason Toad finishes this level 0.5 seconds faster is because the throws the eggs and picks up the sphere faster. The only way you can do this level faster than that is if you can arrive at Birdo maybe 3-4 seconds faster.
Some examples to support my theory:
Level 1-1, you finish 0.5 seconds faster than me. That means you probably picked up the same egg I did, but because you used Toad, its 0.5 sec faster.
Level 1-1, Genisto and I arrive at the boss screen at almost the exact same time. Mine is 4 seconds faster because I was able to pick up 1 egg before him.
Level 1-2, even if you finish the level faster, everyone will pick up the first egg at the same time.
Level 6-1, because I get to Birdo faster than Genisto, he is further back than when Genisto fights him. Thats why I have to jump forward more where as Genisto falls straight down.
>I'm fighting Birdo in 6-1 and I can't figure out how to do the trick where the mushroom block bounces off your head. First I jumped in the air, then I dropped the block, then I got Toad under the block, then it dropped on Birdo, and then instead of bouncing off of Toads head, it just went through him and landed on the ground. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
There are 2 ways to get the Block to bounce:
1. Drop it from a high location.
2. Take out an enemy with it. (See my 6-3, I use it on Birdos egg)
A faster way to doing 6-1 Birdo is if you can bounce the Block off his egg. That way, you dont have to jump high in the air. Dunno if that Birdo shoots eggs though.
>At the end of 6-1 when Sleepz threw the mushroom block at the eagle head so he could stand on it, was that just done to look cool or does it save time?
Its significantly faster. The way I finished Eagle Head and Triclyde is the fastest way.
>Similar is to be expected from Wart. Sometimes he's always far when the vegetables appear, sometimes he's near.
It doesnt matter if hes near or far, or how fast you hit him with the vegetables. The only thing that determines how fast you beat Wart is how fast you can hit him with the Final Vegetable. From the time you enter the room, to the time the white door appears, it will be approx 35 seconds, no matter who you use or what you do.
Other thoughts for improvement:
Level 4-1 and 4-2, when Im jumping around, I sometimes do jumps off enemies. If you notice, it slows me down for a fraction of a second. Dont jump off the enemies.
Level 6-2, you notice after my squat jump, I move backwards on the bird to get the 2nd flying devil thing to appear. You might not have to move back, you can just keep going forward, it depends if the 2nd flying devil randomly appears. Save maybe 0.5 seconds.
Level 6-3, I do a crappy ladder climb, might save a quarter of a second.
Level 7-1, the only way I can think of doing this level significantly faster is by accelerating the rocket. The plan was to go right and quickly pick up the POW block, run back and either double jump off the bird or double jump bug. If you can pull this off, you can save 1 or 2 seconds off the level. I had no luck pulling this off though.
Also, in random times and places in my run(see 7-1 on the clouds), there are slowdowns. Make sure you have none of these in your run.
If you can do all this, then you should have a fully optimized time attack.
Genisto just submitted a 8:31 Super Mario Bros 2 timeattack - 12 seconds faster than Sleepz's.
It's totally awesome and cool, despite it doesn't use the block-bouncing trick. (It does use a key-bouncing trick once though.)
Michael, I hope you're doing better than this :)
I saw the new Super Mario 2 video. Congratulations to Genisto on this new run. He really figured this game out and added some neat ideas for speeding things up. I like how he used the key instead of the egg in 1-2, which was a barrier for faster completion of the level on all previous runs. Thats the kind of stuff I like to see.
This video also confirms that the fastest time Wart can be beaten in is 35 seconds, no matter what you do.
I still wonder whether this trick could be used to save time in 6-3.
You're right Bisqwit, using that trick would be 4 or more seconds faster. Also, after watching Genistos run, I'm pretty sure the 7-1 POW block trick can be pulled off. Looks like theres still a small space for improvement after all. Anyone up for a sub-8:30 run?
This video also confirms that the fastest time Wart can be beaten in is 35 seconds, no matter what you do.
Looks like quite many of the functions of the game are bound to the internal clock, not to any character actions.
Nevertheless, Genisto's way of fighting Wart in this movie was the best I've seen. He didn't give Wart a chance to spit any bubbles at all!
For some reason it won't let me view the video. Can you describe what the trick is?
Instead of going under the mountain in the quicksand, go right and place a shyguy on a pillar. Do a powersquat on him and you'll be able to jump over the mountain.
I just finished watching Genisto's video, and I'm going to stop making my video because it's slower (actually a few of my levels may have been slightly faster, but not by enough to make up for 1-2). However, Genisto's video wasn't as accurate as my video in a few levels, and he also used Luigi in 1-1, so I could beat his time if I wanted to but I would have to start all over, and I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do that. I'm pretty sure sub-8:30 is possible.
Edit: Instead of starting a new video from the beginning, am I allowed to use Genisto's video and just redo the last few levels using the trick you just mentioned?
Why doesn't Genisto come to this forum? Then everyone would know what speed run he's working on. For all we know he could be working on his own Zelda speed run right now. Maybe he's even planning on eventually beating every speed run on the site.
I've decided that I'm getting tired of SMB2 and don't want to make a new speed run (unless I'm allowed to use Genisto's video and start from 6-3), so I'll start working on a new SMB3 speed run and see if my idea for a different powerup strategy in world 1 works.
Edit: If I can finish world 1 significantly faster than Genisto, would you be willing to just put a partial speed run on your page of just world 1? You would still keep Genisto's video on the page of course, but then you could say something like "this video does not complete world 1 in the fastest way, click here to download Michael Fried's world 1 speed run".
