SMB3, in 11 minutes

As promised, part two of three YouTube features.

This one is amazing — some japanese guy beats Super Mario Brothers 3. In 11 minutes.

Parts of it seem almost unbelieveable. But if you watch the coins, there’s no cheating — he’s not pausing the recording and trying to get through a level as fast as he can. It’s more or less a wonderful lesson in the predictability of a video game and the routine a person can use get through it.

Think about it. We all had that one level — regardless of Super Mario game — where we could run through it in no time. We just knew exactly where the enemies where, and exactly where the platforms would be, and we knew it because we had played it so many times.

That’s what’s going on here, I think. What’s more amazing than the 11 minute time:

1. The 1ups the guy gets by bouncing off of cannonballs. Holy shit.

2. The fact that you can warp from the Warp level to the 8th world. I didn’t know you could do that.

3. The fact that he beats Bowser with fireballs. I didn’t know you could do that either.

It’s been over 15 years, and I can still learn something about one of the greatest NES games ever made.

It’s old news, this YouTube thing, but it’s wonderful and new to me.