For the uninitiated, speedrunning is a common practice in the gamer world where people attempt to beat games as quickly and efficiently as possible, leading to some very impressive results. Andrew Gardikis set the Super Mario Bros. speedrunning record at 5 minutes back in 2007, but he couldn’t recreate the feat at an event celebrating the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. at Manhattan’s Nintendo World Store when Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto was watching.
Maybe it was because Andrew was wearing a Super Mario Bros. 2 shirt while playing Super Mario Bros. and the latter became jealous, or maybe it was because having the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto watching him attempt the speedrun is slightly nerve racking.
Whether Andrew successfully recreated his record or not, we salute his brave attempt.
Here’s a video of Andrew’s successful speedrun:
(Speed Demos Archive via Kotaku via GamesRadar)
