Beating Super Mario Bros. has always been somewhat of an obsession of mine. Records show that the fastest anyone has ever beaten the game was in 5:22. It is rumored that the absolute fastest the game can be beaten is in 5:09. In order to do this you must play flawlessly. This means of course, you must run straight through each level without stopping for anything. No getting mushrooms, no killing any enemies, nor getting any points. This also means you have to be little Mario the whole time which is a real pain. Take the warp at level 1-2 and 4-2, and then just play through level 8 as quickly as possible.

My record is 5:48. I played Super Mario Bros through three times a day for my whole Freshman summer to get it down that low. I have always been kinda fasinated with how quickly this game can be beaten. There is one guy that claims to have beaten Super Mario Bros. in 5:09, but he just added up his lowest times on each level and combined them, which isn't official enough for me. If you want to try and beat the world record I say go for it. 5:21 would be really hard, but it is possible.

UPDATE: January 3, 2005

It seems the impossible has been done. On December 25, 2004 Twin Galaxies announced that Trevor Seguin from New Milford, Connecticut had succeeded in beating Super Mario Bros. in 5:09. You can read the article here.

- thanks Stephen Krokowski

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