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As if Mario games weren’t iconic enough, they’re extremely popular within the speedrunning community. Super Mario 64 is probably the most competitive title, but those gamers with a penchant for the role-playing genre love to challenge themselves with Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (Super Mario RPG for short).
As the last Mario game released for the SNES and the series’ first foray into the RPG world, this classic title is remembered fondly by many players. Lots of different tactics are used during a competitive run, such as the incredible world record we’re going to jump into here. Join us as we dive into the Super Mario RPG speedrun from Justincredible83.
What Makes Speedruns Different?
Speedruns aren’t exactly the most intuitive way to play your favorite games. When you’re playing through casually, chances are you’re not really paying attention to the time. Super Mario RPG, in particular, can take the average player almost 20 hours to complete.
However, speedrunning the title is a whole new ball game. The precise rules depend on the type of run being undertaken but, usually, this is either a 100% completion or any% run.
The run we’re describing here is an any%, where the player has the freedom to finish the game with any amount of completion. You can expect elaborate strategies and strange glitches to be exploited here, all in an effort to reach the finish line in less time.
Intense levels of concentration and insane amounts of practice are essential, but there are often a lot of viewers to help cheer the speedrunner on as they undertake this mammoth challenge.
Justincredible83’s Super Mario RPG Speedrun: A Closer Look
As briefly mentioned, this run is the current world record for the any% category, where any amount of completion can be attained. This is often considered easier than a 100% run, not only because knowledge of every part of the game is essential, but because the long runtime increases the chance of human errors.
- Seven stages and 29 areas to explore
- Single-player mode
- The mission is to save the Mushroom Kingdom by finding the Seven Stars
Nevertheless, an any% run is by no means an easy undertaking, as your execution must be near-perfect to achieve a new world record. Justincredible83 is also known for speedrunning Mega Man X2 and X3 as well as Super Mario RPG.
You can watch more of his videos on his Twitch or YouTube profiles. Without further ado, let’s get into the run, and kick it off with some of the most amazing moments.
The Highlights of the Run
There’s much to be impressed with in this run, but some parts deserve a special mention:
- Beats the previous record by a huge 1 minute and 32 seconds.
- Pulls off a very tight jump at 00:42:20 to simultaneously hit the block and kill the Bob-omb.
- Very few sequences were mistimed during the run.
- Successful quadruple rock candy manipulation during Clowns fight at 00:57:40.
- 100-jump combo during the Johnny boss fight at 1:22:13.
- Random encounters inside the Volcano were completely avoided at 1:53:54.
Overall, mistakes were largely kept to a minimum during this run. Beating the world record by over a minute is a huge achievement. Speedrun times tend to be extremely tight as time goes on. The 100-jump combo on Johnny is particularly incredible, and out of the realms of possibility for the average player.
The jump at 00:42:20 is also spectacular. Even Justincredible83 was surprised when he managed to pull this off with his quick thinking. Out of the rest of the highlights, the most impressive is the rock candy manipulation.
This is where, by manipulating the RNG, you can obtain up to 4 freebies by using the rock candy item. Naturally, the difficulty steeply increases when trying to collect 4 freebies as opposed to 2 or 3. Even speedrunners often struggle with this.
What Mistakes Were Made?
Unfortunately, virtually no run is without a few mistakes, and this one is no exception. The main mistakes were as follows:
- Braking by accident during the mine cart segment, leading to a delay.
- Mistiming an attack against Gunyolk at the Factory level.
- Messing up the Donkey skip.
With that said, the mistakes weren’t too disastrous. Most other skips were executed well, i.e. the Mack skip at 15:25. The accidental braking in the mine cart added a few seconds to Justin’s score. But this just means that he’s got even more room for improvement.
This will definitely be needed, as other players are sure to try to knock him off the top spot. But, all in all, this is a great run and he surely lives up to his username.
History of Super Mario RPG Speedruns
Ever since the title was released in 1996, speedrunners quickly tried their hand at beating the game quickly. Streaming platforms weren’t really around back then. It would take until the middle of the 2000s for the speedruns to really take off.
Like with most games, glitches would gradually be discovered and shared with the help of online communities. By refining their strategies and perfecting their glitch execution, gamers achieved increasingly competitive scores. This has cemented Super Mario RPG’s place on the RPG speedrunning scene.
Wrapping Up
Super Mario RPG is a bit of a cult classic as far as the Mario series is concerned, but much-loved among RPG fans and speedrunners alike. While the release of Super Mario 64 was largely overshadowed, it has become a mainstay in the speedrunning community.
Various glitches and skips are employed to achieve a competitive time. But a big part of the performance comes down to RNG manipulation, familiarity with the game, and a healthy dose of luck.
Justincredible83’s speedrun is a fantastic effort, but gamers are improving their skills all the time. Will this score be overtaken in the near future? We’ll have to wait and see.
