WARNING: This movie contains massive violence and carnage.
Thousands of animals (turtles, fish, squids, etc.) were harmed or killed during the making of this movie.
Parental guidance and accompany are strongly recommended.
Reporter: We are now walking along the path that HappyLee has just visited. What used to be a harmonic village minutes ago is now filled with destruction and death. Oh, here, we've found a survivor. How does it feel to be the only surviving turtle in 7-1?
Turtle: It was horrible. HappyLee damaged my wing, so I may not be able to fly for the rest of my life. There's no way to stop this killing machine. I guess I should consider myself lucky just to be alive. I better go check out my wife and kids in D-2.
Reporter: This just in: HappyLee has just ravaged through D-2.
Turtle: What? Jesus Ch...
Reporter: We now turn to the "killing machine", HappyLee, who has just finished this movie. Tell me, why did you have to kill so many innocent living creatures?
HappyLee: You can't believe how easy it is to get your hands dirty in the Mario world. Things always ran across the fireballs I happened to shoot, like magnets or something. What can I say...
Reporter: But think of those poor little...
HappyLee: Hey, you don't wanna come across one of my fireballs, do you?
Reporter: I... Let's get down to business. Why did you make this run?
HappyLee:
KFCMARIO's run is already decent and optimized, with no easy or obvious improvement. I made this run in the attempt to push the category to its limit, and to bring it to the highest standard using latest technologies.
Reporter: What are the time improvements in this run?
HappyLee: 21 frames are saved by getting the flower in 1-4 instead of 1-3. 21 frames are saved in 2-4 by skipping the first obstacle faster. Unfortunatelly, due to the extremely tight timing, the 2-UP performance is not allowed anymore. 21 frames are saved in 6-2...
Reporter: Wait. How can you save time in a water stage?
HappyLee: I took advantage of the attractive force of water holes, which has been underestimated for a long time. 42 frames are saved in 6-4 by passing the second long firebar faster. 21 frames are saved in 8-3 by jumping on the invisible poison mushroom block earlier. 37 frames are saved in D-4 by going through the first long firebar. 21+21+21+42+21+37=163 frames.
Reporter: What are the difficulties during the making of this run?
HappyLee: First of all, BizHawk runs distinctively slow on my computer. Turbo speed feels like normal speed, and normal speed feels like slow motion. It takes lots of patience.
When testing 6-4, I uncovered how 21-frame rule works in castles, which leads to the improvement of 2-4. The "good news" nearly devastated me because I had just spent countless efforts manipulating luck in 6-2. It took me a whole month to restore the process, and I was still not satisfied because in this improved version, I got worse luck in many places, especially on Bullet Bills.
Reporter: What are the highlights in this run?
HappyLee: Although the fastest speed is the primary goal in this run, entertainment is actually the most important and challenging goal. This run takes advantage of the 21-frame rule to perform tricks for entertainment. List of highlights:
- Getting the Star twice: first in 5-2, then in 8-3. In 5-2, it's really extreme to get the Star without losing time; in 8-3, getting the Star can offset the effect of the Poison Mushroom, but it's the faster jumping method that saves time instead of getting the Star.
- Two more Bowsers killed: one in 9-3, one in D-4. That means all Bowsers are shot to death except the very last one. The jump before the last Bowser in D-4 would actually save 2 frames if the final Bowser were nicer.
- Jumping through long firebars: in 4-4, 6-4 (twice), B-2, and D-4. 5 times in this run, yet only 1 time in KFCMARIO's run.
- New routes in B-2 and C-4. It's surprising that these new routes featuring more complicated wall-passing techniques could be performed without losing time.
- Special ending in D-1. D-1 is the only stage on land where a special flagpole glitch could be performed without losing speed. With the help of the wind, Mario is able to go through the ground in a special way.
(Suggested screenshot)
Anyway, in short, this run contains more killing, more tricks, more special performances, more coins, more lives, more music playing, more everything.
Reporter: Thank you. That's all for the major questions, but I do have some minor questions, for better understandings of some details. You said it's a 163 frame improvement, but why do I see a 164 frame difference from the frame count?
HappyLee: The extra 1 frame is due to a different emulator used. This run uses BizHawk and stops when Mario touches the axe and both disappear (on frame 124802). KFCMARIO's run stops 1 frame later since the emulator he used has a 1 frame graphical delay.
Reporter: How exactly did you save time in 6-4 and D-4 by jumping through the long firebars that no one has managed to before?
HappyLee: The starting position of the last long firebar in 6-4 is determined by previous enemies, so I manipulated those enemies to get a perfect long firebar that almost doesn't require slowing down. The key to jumping through the long firebar in D-4 is to delay its loading time by manipulating the screen position during scrolling.
Reporter: At the end of 8-4, why did you choose "save & continue" instead of just "continue"?
HappyLee: Either of them doesn't make a difference time wise, but I chose "save & continue" the same as KFCMARIO because it's more interesting. By the way, I thought I was going to save 13 frames in 8-4 because this particular level has no frame rule, but I learned the bad news that I couldn't keep that 13 frames after 9-1 because the frame rule in 9-1 is joined with 8-4.
Reporter: We'll come back with updates with questions from the audience. Thank you for your time. What's your plan for the future?
HappyLee: This has been my longest TAS project so far, and probably the last for a long time, since I have to manage to survive in the capital of China first. Maybe I'll do TASes when I have time, and release them as surprises. Thanks to our friends on TASVideos for all the support over the years. Special thanks to w7n for helping me find the memory address for fireballs.
Noxxa: This movie is everything we expect from a
HappyLee Super Mario Bros. movie these days - not just a highly optimized speedrun, but also a sheer technical spectacle where Mario blazes through the utterly helpless Koopa troops with unrelenting force, all while maintaining a consistent high pace. It's a marvel to watch. Accepting as an improvement to the
published movie.
