In a Mario costume for Halloween, gamer Niftski completed Super Mario Bros. on NES with a time of 4 minutes and 54.299 seconds!

Niftski, a Super Mario Bros. speedrun gamer, has just set a new world record in the Any% category on Halloween. Notably, he performed the level in a Mario costume, completing the classic game on NES with a time of 4:54,299.

This achievement helps Niftski break the old record of 4:54.332 set by himself in August 2026, an improvement of 33 milliseconds. More importantly, his new performance brought him closer than ever to the game's theoretical speed limit, missing just 2 frames, or about 33 milliseconds, from achieving the equivalent of a perfect play with the aid.

Niftski has spent years trying to optimize the time it takes to complete Super Mario Bros. In 2021, he became the first person to break the mark of 4 minutes and 55 seconds. This achievement is considered a major milestone in the speedrun community, similar to an athlete breaking the limit of running a mile in under 4 minutes.

The race then became a competition between Niftski and Brazilian gamer LeKukie. In June 2026, LeKukie won the world record with a time of 4:54.365, only 6 frames away from the theoretical limit. However, Niftski regained the lead in August.

The limit that speedrunners are aiming for is determined through TAS (Tool-Assisted Speedrun), a method of using tools to enter precise operations frame by frame to find the theoretical fastest completion time. What is considered a realistic limit for players is 4:54.265.

The game also has a faster TAS record, clocking 4:54.032, but this uses pressing left and right simultaneously. This type of control is not possible with a standard NES controller and is not acceptable in human play.

Super Mario Bros. operates at 60 frames per second, meaning each frame lasts about 16.7 milliseconds. The game also uses a 21-frame cycle to determine when most levels are completed. Thanks to this mechanism, the player can be a few frames slower in some stages without changing the final time, as long as the next cycle is still in time.

However, the final stage World 8-4 works differently and does not have the same buffering. Every jump, move or button press can directly affect the outcome. This is also where Niftski needs to optimize the remaining 2 frames to equal the TAS achievement.

LeKukie is still close in this race, as the two continue to live stream their attempts to conquer the seemingly impossible milestone.

After more than 40 years since Super Mario Bros. launch, the human record is now only about 33 milliseconds away from the theoretical limit. In 2021, breaking the 4:55 mark was once considered the game's new limit. Now, the speedrun community is waiting to see if Niftski, LeKukie or another player can optimize the last 2 frames to become the first to achieve equal results with TAS.