Super Mario Bros. Lost Levels

2008-09-05 03:09:06 pm

Personal Text? I don't need personal text...

I wasn't sure where to put this seeing as i'm playing it on the Wii, but it's an old game so I put it in here.

I've been trolling the boards for awhile and finally decided to post!

So anyway, I've been playing around with this game for quite some time and I think I'm going to try and break Andrew Gardikis' worlds 1-8 time with Mario. Gardikis' run, while phenominal makes a couple of errors here and there.

I have learned a thing or two from his video and the TAS that I'm going to have to work on implementing into my run. It's gonna take some work, but I have to thank Andrew there for giving me something to shoot for. I'll keep you posted on my progress through the game and maybe one of these days I'll have a nice, new, and shiny run I can send off to SDA.

Thread title:

Oblivion Calling

2008-09-05 05:03:02 pm

Personal Text? I don't need personal text...

Okay, progress time:

I do just about every level faster than the current run with the exception of 8-4, Bowser's Castle. In the second to last area of that castle for some reason I keep triggering the repeat when I jump over the big fire stick. It rarely lets me into the last area where you have that super long hall and a koopa bounce to the end. I've searched high and low and I can't find any reason why this happens. Instead, the super fire stick disappears and it sends me to the beginning of that area. If anybody knows why this happens I'd be grateful to know.

But other than that, it's just all about stringing together each level and avoiding those stupid mistakes I seem to make hundreds of...generally in 4-3 and 8-1. More updates soon.

andrewg

2008-09-05 07:18:16 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

I definately encourage you to beat my run. I actually was waiting for someone to post something like this because I wanted to get some competition going on this game. I'd like this run to eventually be like the SMB1 run.

I think I consider that run my worst run on the site though. It's mainly because of how much better I could do (If I owned a Wii.) I only practiced that run for a little while, but it was still very good because of my skill with SMB1.

I'd like to see something around 8:20 for this game. I'm sure I could manage something even better than that sometime, but unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to buy a Wii or even record myself playing that game. My friend, whose Wii I used to record my run, is in college now.

Although, I think I will compete against you using the SNES version. Wink

I'm sure with a bit of practice you'll be able to beat my run, just keep at it and eventually you'll do it.

Good luck with your run!

Oblivion Calling

2008-09-06 12:24:25 pm

Personal Text? I don't need personal text...

Hey, I'm always down for a good competition with somebody. It brings out the best (although sometimes worst) in things. Though you are right, this may be your worst run on the site, it's also still damn good. Those mistakes don't cost you a whole lot of time, lol.

I have some work ahead of me, but I'm going for the gold here.

Oblivion Calling

2008-09-06 05:07:35 pm

Personal Text? I don't need personal text...

So I finally did a timed run, every chance I could take was taken. I died 6 times (gotta love continues) and with the death restarting a level as well as the whole game over continue screen I got about 10:08 which means I have about a minute and a half to cut off of my time. I also triggered the 8-4 repeat TWICE. And I still don't know what causes that. If I can fix my stupid mistakes and maybe be slightly more cautious I should be able to come in at around 8:20. But that of course is assuming everything goes correctly.

And PLEASE, if anybody knows why 8-4 repeats in the 4th area, please tell me. I'd like to know. But for all the testing I've done it appears to be random and I can't for the life of me find anything on google.

andrewg

2008-09-06 11:28:32 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

You have to delay your jump and jump right after the 1 block gap If I remember correctly. Idk, watch what I do in my run and mimic it.

Oblivion Calling

2008-09-07 01:26:08 am

Personal Text? I don't need personal text...

Okay, first, the progress news. 2 deaths and I've got a time of 8:54 +/- 4 seconds due to me timing myself. In a couple of the levels I was being more cautious than I will be in the final product. Unfortunately, I can't glitch my way to the warp in 5-2 anywhere near consistently enough to try and do it, but Andrew nailed a pipe in his run, so we're actually dead even in finishing that level's time. Hopefully I'll see another run from Andrew sometime where he doesn't hit that pipe...then I'm screwed, lol.

And now to Andrew, I think I figured out the 8-4 thing. After paying real close attention to your run and the TAS, it seems to be something like this...pardon the horrendous ascii art I'm about to put here.

FIRE STICK FIRE STICK FIRE STICK
|
___ ____x_ |
| | | | | |
L MORE LAVA
A
V
A

It seems that if you jump before the brick where the X is (The final one) that the game loops you. I think you have to jump at the last possible second in this case. I collected a whole buncha lives and then gave it a test and it seems to be the case. I jumped early a couple of times and got myself a lovely repeat. I could be wrong of course, but it works so far. I hope that info is useful to anybody who wants to run this game.

Just a bit frustrating because I ended up doing like 5 repeats in a row during one of the practice runs, lol. And thanks to the almighty google for coming up with squat.

Okay, first, the progress news. 2 deaths and I've got a time of 8:54  +/- 4 seconds due to me timing myself. In a couple of the levels I was being more cautious than I will be in the final product. Unfortunately, I can't glitch my way to the warp in 5-2 anywhere near consistently enough to try and do it, but Andrew nailed a pipe in his run, so we're actually dead even in finishing that level's time. Hopefully I'll see another run from Andrew sometime where he doesn't hit that pipe...then I'm screwed, lol.

And now to Andrew, I think I figured out the 8-4 thing. After paying real close attention to your run and the TAS, it seems to be something like this...pardon the horrendous ascii art I'm about to put here.

It seems that if you jump before the brick where the X is (The final one) that the game loops you. I think you have to jump at the last possible second in this case. I collected a whole buncha lives and then gave it a test and it seems to be the case. I jumped early a couple of times and got myself a lovely repeat. I could be wrong of course, but it works so far. I hope that info is useful to anybody who wants to run this game.

Just a bit frustrating because I ended up doing like 5 repeats in a row during one of the practice runs, lol. And thanks to the almighty google for coming up with squat.

Ghegs

2008-09-07 07:28:04 am

Quote from Oblivion Calling:

And thanks to the almighty google for coming up with squat.

Almighty GameFaqs has quite a few faqs dedicated to the game which also talk about restarting parts of 8-4.

andrewg

Edit history:

andrewg: 2010-02-15 09:26:58 pm

2008-09-07 01:18:47 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

You know, in 5-2, I'm not sure if my method is the fastest way to do it. You can actually hit the vine block and then immediately land on a lift and jump onto the vine. I was pretty good at this, but the 5-2 method seemed to take about the same amount of time + it's just cooler.

EDIT: It may never get to the point where I'll actually risk doing my fastest strategies, but it possibly could. Most of the things are like a 1/10 chance of my pulling them off anyway. Undecided

Oblivion Calling

2008-09-07 04:43:56 pm

Personal Text? I don't need personal text...

Well, in 5-2, I'm guessing the warp glitch is about a second faster than taking the vine. Only because you have to stop and snag the star which cuts back on some time. But you nailed the pipe and lost about 2 seconds so for now I'm happy with taking the vine, lol.

I know what you mean by not going all out though. I slow it down a bit in 8-1 and 4-4 only because I can't guarantee things; i.e. Me being an idiot, the environment, etc. I can blow through the end in 8-1 if I'm lucky with my jumps, but timing those is ridiculous. It's like Nintendo positioned those plants to slow people down, haha.

For 1-2 I've been trying to hit the top platform like the guy did in the TAS...because wall-jumping is a no-no in my book. Simply because I can't do it in real time unless it's the running off a cliff and you're guaranteed to hit the seam, lol.

Something cool I've been trying to hit is in 5-1 where you have to ding the hidden blocks to get to the flag is super bouncing off of one of the paratroopas to get up and over. I barely missed it today when giving it a shot. I know it's do-able in a Luigi run though. So when I get off my duff and try and relearn this game with Luigi you'll definitely see it there.

But now that I'm pretty much good on my current strategies (human error aside) I'm busy loading up on lives and trying new things in the different levels. Like trying to hit that 5-2 glitch consistently and whatnot.

Well, in 5-2, I'm guessing the warp glitch is about a second faster than taking the vine. Only because you have to stop and snag the star which cuts back on some time. But you nailed the pipe and lost about 2 seconds so for now I'm happy with taking the vine, lol.

I know what you mean by not going all out though. I slow it down a bit in 8-1 and 4-4 only because I can't guarantee things; i.e. Me being an idiot, the environment, etc. I can blow through the end in 8-1 if I'm lucky with my jumps, but timing those is ridiculous. It's like Nintendo positioned those plants to slow people down, haha.

For 1-2 I've been trying to hit the top platform like the guy did in the TAS...because wall-jumping is a no-no in my book. Simply because I can't do it in real time unless it's the running off a cliff and you're guaranteed to hit the seam, lol.

Something cool I've been trying to hit is in 5-1 where you have to ding the hidden blocks to get to the flag is super bouncing off of one of the paratroopas to get up and over. I barely missed it today when giving it a shot. I know it's do-able in a Luigi run though. So when I get off my duff and try and relearn this game with Luigi you'll definitely see it there.

But now that I'm pretty much good on my current strategies (human error aside) I'm busy loading up on lives and trying new things in the different levels. Like trying to hit that 5-2 glitch consistently and whatnot.

Oblivion Calling

2008-09-07 05:53:27 pm

Personal Text? I don't need personal text...

Alright, after gathering about 70 men and doing some testing in 5-2, I've come to the conclusion that not really any time is gained by glitching. AND, if I could consistently land on the platform, taking the vine would actually be faster.

BUT, I give Andrew 10/10 for style with his glitching and 2/10 to me for my bland boring old way up there, lol.

andrewg

Edit history:

andrewg: 2010-02-17 10:19:20 pm

2010-01-23 12:18:06 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

whoops.

andrewg

Edit history:

andrewg: 2010-02-17 10:22:30 pm

2010-02-14 07:03:26 am

Hi! I'm andrewg!

Here's the breakdown of times ("perfect" = best times I've gotten):

"Perfect" Nicovideo My run on SDA
1-1 350 350 349
1-2 311 305 296
4-1 347 347 346
4-2 345 345 345
4-3 351 350 349
4-4 243 241 240
5-1 305 304 297
5-2 340(glitch) 337(glitch) 329(glitch)
8-1 344 341 338
8-2 256 356 355
8-3 341 340 329
8-4 283? 277 270
_____ ______ ______
~8:08 8:15 8:34

andrewg

Edit history:

andrewg: 2010-02-17 10:23:24 pm

2010-02-15 05:10:43 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

EDIT:
Feb 3rd - 8:34 (tied my best)
Feb 15th - 8:16
Feb 17th - 8:15 (tied record) Cheesy

Still improving... Wink

Ferneu

2010-04-04 05:59:13 pm

...

I don't remember exactly why but a friend of mine was looking at the NES's Lost
Levels maps at game faqs and then I said something like "I remember how though
it was to finish that game level by level" but then, after taking a close look
at some maps I finally realized that I had never played them all at all.

So we have agreed to play the original FDS version saving only at the start of
each level. Restarting at the first map of a world might be fine for japanese
players and the likes of Andrew, but it is a pain for simple mortals.

An thus the saga has begun. It took me a WHOLE day to go level by level. And
remember that I was saving at the start of each map! I would have probably
thrown my NES controller at the screen if I was playing this game the way it was
meant to be played (using continues place you at the first map!).

Then it took me half of a day, if not more, to finish the game 7 more times
using warp zones (funny fact, if I knew I could have simply played to TAS 7
times, I would have shaved a few hours of the process :{ ). Then another hour to
find out that I had to press A+START to access the ABCD worlds and then another
half of a day went by until I finally nailed D-4.

And now, after 2 days of continuous playing this game, 4 paragraphs of Engrish
digression (well, kind of), and after watching Andrew's video, I must say well
done. You did a fantastic job. If you have actually done all that you are one
fantastic player and must be somewhat at the average japanse NES player level
afterall, that is the only logical explanation for NINTENDO allowing a game this
hard ever to be released.

Congratulations to you Andrew and good luck to the OP.

PS: any tips of how the 5-2 glitch is done? When I saw you doing it seemed that
one is required to place the pipe near the left edge of the screen, but the TAS
go straight to it...

I don't remember exactly why but a friend of mine was looking at the NES's Lost
Levels maps at game faqs and then I said something like "I remember how though
it was to finish that game level by level" but then, after taking a close look
at some maps I finally realized that I had never played them all at all.

So we have agreed to play the original FDS version saving only at the start of
each level. Restarting at the first map of a world might be fine for japanese
players and the likes of Andrew, but it is a pain for simple mortals.

An thus the saga has begun. It took me a WHOLE day to go level by level. And
remember that I was saving at the start of each map! I would have probably
thrown my NES controller at the screen if I was playing this game the way it was
meant to be played  (using continues place you at the first map!).

Then it took me half of a day, if not more, to finish the game 7 more times
using warp zones (funny fact, if I knew I could have simply played to TAS 7
times, I would have shaved a few hours of the process :{ ). Then another hour to
find out that I had to press A+START to access the ABCD worlds and then another
half of a day went by until I finally nailed D-4.

And now, after 2 days of continuous playing this game, 4 paragraphs of Engrish
digression (well, kind of), and after watching Andrew's video, I must say well
done. You did a fantastic job. If you have actually done all that you are one
fantastic player and must be somewhat at the average japanse NES player level
afterall, that is the only logical explanation for NINTENDO allowing a game this
hard ever to be released.

Congratulations to you Andrew and good luck to the OP.

PS: any tips of how the 5-2 glitch is done? When I saw you doing it seemed that
one is required to place the pipe near the left edge of the screen, but the TAS
go straight to it...

andrewg

2010-04-20 10:13:15 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

Hadn't seen the last post. As far as that 5-2 glitch goes, you have to leave a small space for mario to jump into and jump the right height while holding left (and then you'll fall inside the pipe) then press down to enter the pipe and it takes you to the warp zone area.

This project has been delayed a bit. I will finish it eventually though.

tanookijumpsuit

2010-04-24 10:42:17 am

I too am working on a speed run of Lost Levels. The only thing that's really holding me back, aside from not making a stupid mistake, is that damn jump at the start of 8-4. It looks like all you do is run, tap back real quick as you fall off the top stair, catch the edge of the bottom stair, and jump full speed, but I can't get the timing down to save my life. Also, Oblivion, the trick to making sure the level doesn't repeat at the point you're talking about is to land on the brick right the lava pit. If you jump onto the second parakoopa as Mario (I can't stand Luigi's playing style in this game) and let the bounce from the hit carry you, you should land on the brick every time. Good Luck with the run by the way. I've compared my best times to andrewg's run here, and my "perfect" run is about 8:23, with 2.5 Mario seconds equivalent to 1 real second.

tanookijumpsuit

2010-04-28 04:28:08 pm

Have you guys seen this TAS video ( The dude Deign glitches the flag so it doesn't drop. Is this a TAS only glitch, or can it be performed on a console? If console, how exactly does one perform it? It would definitely cut down on time between levels.

andrewg

2010-04-28 07:06:21 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

Did you link the wrong video?

Anyway, I've known of the flagpole glitch for quite some time. It is TAS-only though. Well, in most cases. There isn't any spot in the Lost Levels where it can be done on console. Wait, so are you speedrunning the Wii version or the SNES one? I'm planning to speedrun this game (wii version) a bit more after I speedrun Super Mario World more (complete it or nearly complete it).

The only way the flagpole glitch can be done on console is with the use of an enemy next to the flagpole base. However (at least for a warp run), there isn't any spot like this available to abuse to save time.

andrewg

2010-05-25 03:29:00 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

GAHH!!!

That should have been the one! I can't believe how stupidly I died in level 8-1. I love how I always go for perfection even when that wasn't my original intention. I think I was ~4 seconds ahead of the nicovideo run when I died, I'm not quite sure what the limit is, but I'm approaching it I think. 8:15 is still my best time (tied with the Nicovideo run).

I think there's about 7 seconds of improvement to the nicovideo run, that's just an estimate. I would imagine a time of 8:08 is the limit. Right now I'm looking at an 8:10-8:11 once I get a little more luck and stop being such a nervous wreck.

andrewg

Edit history:

andrewg: 2010-05-26 01:34:19 pm

2010-05-26 12:53:38 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

A NEW RECORD!!!

Sorry for a triple post but I just beat my record (and the nicovideo record) time of 8:15 with a 8:13 or 8:14. Smiley

I think it might be an extremely high 8:13, but I'm not sure. This run was fantastic, but I'm mad at myself because of the mistakes I made in levels 8-1 and 8-2. 8-2 is embarrassing, I think I lost 2-3 seconds here.

So basically in this new run, I pull off all the difficult tricks and then the ones that aren't hard I mess up on... oh well. I might try and beat this time, but I'm satisfied for now I guess. So I think I'm gonna submit this likely 8:14 speedrun. I mean, it's a 20 second improvement over my current run at SDA, and it beats the nicovideo run by 1-2 seconds. It's long overdue for improvement.

I think I make a total of around 6-7 seconds of mistakes in the run.

DK28

2010-05-26 05:25:50 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Congrats Andrew! Sounds amazing.
Keep beating the Mario games into submission.

andrewg

Edit history:

andrewg: 2010-05-27 09:52:34 pm

2010-05-26 11:41:48 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

Quote from DK28:

Congrats Andrew! Sounds amazing.
Keep beating the Mario games into submission.

Thanks! I will.

~~Next up: FDS/Wii-VC Lost Levels warpless (worlds 1-9). Not sure how long this will be, but my guess is around a 26 minute run. I'm surprised by how short it's likely going to be.~~

EDIT: Scratch that, Next up: FDS/Wii-VC warpless (worlds 1-D). I think this run will be close to 40 minutes long.

andrewg

Edit history:

andrewg: 2010-06-25 05:49:52 am

2010-06-13 07:06:00 pm

Hi! I'm andrewg!

Lost Levels in 8:13 -

This is a 21 second improvement over my current run listed on SDA.

spacoina

2010-06-14 05:52:47 am

Quote from andrewg:

Lost Levels in 8:13

Just watched this, and that's an insane run. Congrats man Smiley

Maybe I'll eat my words later, but I really can't see more than a few seconds coming off your time. Can you? How low do you think it can go?