Super Mario Bros. "Minimum A Press" TAS (A Button Challenge, Fewest Jumps, 62 A Presses)

Mario got tired of jumping, so we (HappyLee, Kriller37, DaSmileKat, Kosmic & periwinkle) made this TAS aiming for the minimum amount of A button presses, beating SMB in only 62 A presses, in 10:24.39.
This is probably the most INSANE and most complicated SMB TAS ever, with lots of nearly impossible moves and crazy ideas & glitches that you won't see in other TASes.
Highlights (out of many): In 4-1, we performed a glitch that turns a Spiny into a Koopa, and used the underground Koopa throughout the whole stage to save many jumps. In 8-1 we did 3 amazing ground clips. In 8-2, we used crazy enemy setups and completed the whole stage in only 4 jumps. In 8-3, we raised 2 underground Koopas together. In 8-4, we completed the Cheep Cheep room in 0 A presses.
For more info (level credits & comments, background story, techniques), please read our submission text:
tasvideos.org/7...
Live commentary video by Kosmic and Kriller37:
/ 983110011
Huge project finally finished. Enjoy!

[@Kosmicd12]

So happy to finally finish and share this project :D

[@johnelway76]

You don’t remember me

[@ashtonsmith1730]

the TAS presses Left+Right at the same time, does that save any A presses and if it does than how many?

[@Kosmicd12]

@CHRISTOPHER NEMES 3 years off and on

[@gamerhatch9072]

@@Kosmicd12 wait what?!? I mean, I would believe it, but I can’t believe 3 years of my like happened where I didn’t even realize a masterpiece was being created

[@hiiampaul.]

2.06 does not have a kopa does it and if so how. Also this is not a true number i really believe it because he fell down and did not fall down and die

[@brianarsuaga5008]

I think this is the most satisfying TAS of any game I've ever watched. The musical interludes, the fish manipulation, fireball trick shots, and that sick castle breakdown. Kudos to everyone, it's amazing.

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thanks. :)

[@maxlindemann1429]

@CHRISTOPHER NEMES It's still a speedrun, just one with the requirement of minimum A presses. If it looks like Mario is going slow in some section or did something suboptimally, they were probably setting some RNG or managing spawn position/timing. They also may have some time to mess around due to the frame rule when finishing a level

[@VGPorage]

@CHRISTOPHER NEMES It's a speedrun with two ways of progression (saving jumps or saving time) allthough the one with the least amount of jumps will always be considered better regardless of how much longer it might be.

[@anandsuralkar2947]

True

[@roshibomb4247]

@@maxlindemann1429 A lot of time is spent waiting for things to happen, because they can't be completed with minimum A presses without the wait. This is exemplified early on by waiting for Koopas to wake up and slowly travel to the destination. So, this is still a speedrun, and they are going as fast as possible... "as fast as possible" usually is about as fast as a Koopa lol

[@Bismuth9]

At 0:24 you just know this is gonna be a great watch

[@juicyguyzer]

Yeah, and also hi Bismuth

[@Bisqwit]

Yeah, had to watch that part a few times :-)

[@Zockid22]

Yeah, and it didn't disappoint

[@iseegreen5297]

Can't wait for the 30 min video about forcing a grown Italian man doing minimal jumps by a letter action

[@juancabardo21]

Time for you to make a 1 hour video explaining all this

[@discuamusic7401]

10:04 beat dropped harder than my grades lol

[@kriller3771]

Lol, I TASed that part and I really really liked the beat as well, glad you did too :)

[@HappyLeeHL]

Yeah Kriller37's beat is really creative. :)

[@Luingi]

@@kriller3771 arguably the best part

[@Brown_B.E.A.R]

I think you wanted to say "8 beat" ))))))

[@discuamusic7401]

@@Brown_B.E.A.R LOL YEP

[@izzyhope58]

Forget the whole minimal A press thing. I'm most impressed by these sick musical fireball beats. Swear this TASer is also a musician. Literally burst out laughing in the middle of the night from this. Amazing. (But also amazing tricks and craziness to save somtimes only 1 jump)

[@charlieharrison]

Just wait until you see his hand accordion

[@HappyLeeHL]

Some of the music sync are also added by Kriller37 and DaSmileKat. They are both excellent TASers also. :)

[@fliegendeluftwaffeli835]

@@HappyLeeHL you guys are super chad ;)

[@feelincrispy7053]

Certified fireball beats

[@hitzcritz]

9:15 this whole part was done without jumping a *SINGLE* time, wow.

[@chaddypioneers]

0.5 a presses

[@bimalpandey7887]

Hi Obama

[@Trimint123]

Actually, it's Half-Pressed.

[@19Szabolcs91]

What was the pausing was for, though?

[@danielbojkovski723]

Manipulating the cheeps to spawn faster

[@browniex5120]

05:08 is the best sync I have ever heard in any TAS of SMB1 .

[@Kanha0321]

9:49 What a Remix man!!! Awesome😍😍

[@jatloe]

If you meant the start of last room, it was by Kosmic and kriller37.

[@gaster_]

6:14 One of the most insane sequences I've ever seen.

[@Pankaw]

Yea, and 9:15 too

[@PierceArner]

8-2 is such an insane part of this run, and so satisfying to watch all those chain bounces.

[@pleasecontactme4274]

Check super mario 64 tas, there are things a LOT more complex (which is kinda obvious cuz I'm comparing 2d vs 3d, but you get my point)

[@gaster_]

@@pleasecontactme4274 yeah sm64 stuff is absolutely insane and even more complex than smb1, although thats expected with a decade wide gap between the games lol

[@gregorygrandjean2895]

How much moonwalk do you want in the run? Happy Lee : yes

[@literallylegendary6594]

Pretty sure Happylee is a Michael Jackson fan

[@k4l3b04]

A few days ago i tried to see how many A Presses i could beat SMB1 RTA with glitches and i did it in 106 A Presses, didn't know you was working on the same thing but with TAS! Genius TAS! You are the best TASer Happy Lee!

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thanks. Also thanks to my wonderful and talented teammates. :)

[@disasterpepper]

sheeeesh mario doin the stanky leg at the 9:18 pause

[@thekingofsomewhere]

He's hittin that 🥶💯

[@y_noT42]

I love tas' because you see some crazy stuff, and then it showing of no no reason, like all of 4-1 where Mario ducks rapidly on the right frames to not be hit and all of the moon walking and Mario having a seizure and the fireballs with the music lol

[@kirjian]

HappyLee, your mastery over this game is a work of art. Not just knowing the fastest strategies, but also showing off every little secret mechanic this game has to offer. Your skill is magnificent, and I hope you know that.

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thank you. Very appreciate your kind comments. :)

[@kriller3771]

I agree, HappyLee pulled of some crazy stuff in this tas. Everyone else working on this did too, kosmic periwinkle dasmilekat and myself (who are the other 4 authors of this tas) each added so much to this project, making it so crazy. You can read the submission text of the TASVideos submission if you want to learn more about who did what.

[@kirjian]

@@kriller3771 I did after posting this, and watched Kosmic's stream going over all of your names. Y'all are nuts.

[@CG64Mushro0m]

10:22 Holy shit, he moon walked his way to victory

[@_chewoo]

This is FanTAStic HappyLee TOP

[@PretzelBS]

Omg I just realized that he’s un-crouching inside enemys for the one frame that the game isn’t checking for damage, since the game checks for damage every 2 frames

[@Riptide314]

Every other frame, not every two frames.

[@Riptide314]

@@mileyardgigahertz Sorry, English is my second language, I thought it meant it checks on one frame, and doesn’t check for two frames. Thanks for correcting me though!

[@stEv3900]

@@mileyardgigahertz Uhh not really. If the game checks for damage every two frames then they'd need to crouch for 2 frames instead of every other frame. Checking for every 2 frames means it checks for example frames 40 and 41, but not frames 42 and 43.

[@jsels777]

I’ve seen 10 remarkable tas’s in my life and this is 6 of them

[@fifdspence]

I've been waiting to see this for a long time, and it definitely did not disappoint! I was really surprised and amazed by a lot of the strategies, like the Cheep Cheep manipulation, the end of 8-3, the 1-2 fire flower grab, and the ridiculous routes with koopas walking underground. I saw a TAS a couple of years ago that was 80 something A presses, and I never would have imagined it would get all the way down to 62. Huge congratulations to the team!

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thank you for the warm comments. We're glad you enjoyed it. :)

[@kriller3771]

Thanks! Making this tas was so crazy, almost every idea we had ended up working. You can read the submission text / watch the commentary video of this tas for more info, but so much in this tas I would never have expected to actually work, but ended up just barely being possible

[@kriller3771]

How’s your 70 ABC TAS going?

[@fifdspence]

@@kriller3771 Pretty well, thanks for asking! Doing some BBH stars now. Work on the last A press in Fire Sea is still going on as well. Tyler Kehne has been making a ton of progress!

[@notanimposter]

Saw it 3 times on Kosmic's stream and I'm still watching it again. It's just so good.

[@Real_temmie_undertalo]

9:49 masterpiece

[@stevenjocker4549]

你也太強了吧！ Incredible tas!

[@ohiovstheworld]

4:53 is the best part of the whole run

[@joethebrospeedruns]

10:04

[@mailman7]

This TAS is just beautiful, I basically knew most tricks going into this but it still shocked me every time especially with the "Musical Fireball", kudos to the TASer.

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thanks. :)

[@literallylegendary6594]

Thank you Mario! Your quest is over. How did you even bust out those sick moves right before you jumped on that hammer bro and saved me? Oh well, never mind, I guess we're presenting a new quest, so push B to select a world because I would have you push A but apparenty you HATE pushing A so I guess we'll have you push B instead.

[@jatloe]

LUL

[@WindowsMaker02]

This comment is so underrated and legendary

[@PierceArner]

You all put such excellent work into this run, it's spectacular to get to see it in such crisp quality!

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thank you. :)

[@Virus610]

Nicely done! This is my kind of TAS

[@pattymeltproductions]

This is really entertaining TAS and a large part of the reason I got into them years ago.

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thanks. :)

[@24P47R]

The most artistic run I've ever seen Thanks for doing this!

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thanks for your comments. :D

[@jeffitus]

This is awesome, congrats to all of you who worked on this project!

[@thenumberquelve158]

I absolutely love when a TAS doubles as a musical number. Very entertaining watch, despite so much of this TAS hinging on moving slower than a Koopa.

[@peridoritothemighty5226]

The little fireball sounds to the Mario tune took this from great to amazing.

[@LewisBeckman]

I have no idea what the heck is going on here but I like it.

[@TheAdvertisement]

1:56 Mario do be flexin on those spinies tho.

[@domino_2396]

That one dislike is the A button feeling useless

[@HappyLeeHL]

Sorry to A button. :)

[@TheBeeshSpweesh]

2 dislikes now

[@discuamusic7401]

A button and surfaces, apparently they dont exist cuz mario go zooooooooomm through them

[@evank3718]

I love how the fireballs are timed with the song. Such a good touch

[@Kanha0321]

This Was the best Thing I've seen in my life😍😍!! I can understand that work behind ~11 mins!! Greatly Done!!!

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thanks. :)

[@fishycircuits]

The fireballs synced to the music put a smile on my face, thanks for putting a bit of humor into this :)

[@Leslie97748]

I like how the tas does the most insane tricks possible while he is just messing around :)

[@Derrad]

Very very cheeky i love it

[@Taolan8472]

My dude this was a fantastic work of art. The ridiculous things you discovered while trying to find ways to "make it interesting to watch". Which one of you was responsible for synching the fireballs to the beat? Perfection.

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thanks. Me, Kriller37, DaSmileKat all did some music sync. I'm mostly in charge of 4-1, 8-1, 8-2, some of 8-4, Kriller37's mostly in charge of 1-2 ending, 8-4 last room, DaSmileKat's mostly in charge of 8-3.

[@htzheng9064]

9:18 HL even shows a glitched Mario sprite during the pausing screen

[@cr4zyd4n666]

This was an absolute pleasure to watch

[@_chewoo]

HappyLee the best TAS speedrun. By the way, why did the blocks become red I liked brown more :p

[@gregorygrandjean2895]

They become red because they've shy when they see Happy Lee skills

[@_chewoo]

@@gregorygrandjean2895 hahahahaha you are a genius

[@JupiterBoy100]

happy lee uses a different palette iirc

[@_chewoo]

@@JupiterBoy100 thanks

[@Kierio04]

I know for sure that I will be back to watch this MANY times again

[@Aurora79]

2:39 nice sync there, TAS is a machine of culture.

[@CorrectHorseBatteryStaple472]

5:33 lol fireballs to the music are crazy good here

[@juicyguyzer]

BRUH I WAS SO EXCITED FOR THIS, IT’S FINALLY HERE POGGG

[@nathbregou27]

At 3:07 why could you not cross the gap by bouncing on the turtle ? Sick TAS, the fishes at the end was amazing.

[@HappyLeeHL]

It's a 3-block wide gap, so the distance is not enough. If Mario gets on the floor, he can cross the gap, but he can't enter the floor without any extra jump.

[@heresYoshii]

truly the most anticipated SMB TAS thus far, outstanding! the movie file says this took 62 rerecords, how many rerecordings did it actually take?

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thanks. We've lost the true re-recording count in the hundreds of fm2 movie files. The true re-recording count is in my opinion above 300000.

[@RichConnerGMN]

@@HappyLeeHL holy shit

[@Kelski891]

I have been waiting for this video for ages

[@twiddle10000]

As you can see, this game functions exactly as the developers intended.

[@arandomcommenter6759]

Cant wait to see all the R/whooosh replies

[@Tuberex]

All the r/whooosh replies

[@batorerdyniev9805]

💯 👌 ✨ 😌 😏 😉 💯 👌 ✨ 😌 😏 😉 💯 💯 💯 👌 👌 👌 👌 ✨ 😌 😏 😉 💯 👌 ✨ 😌 😏 😉 💯 👌 ✨ 😌 😏 😉 💯 👌 ✨ 😌 😏 😉 💯

[@xehP]

10:04 that was so fucking sick hahaha

[@LoopieRaps]

this was amazing to see

[@TheBeeshSpweesh]

OMG! I've been waiting for something like this!!!

[@LucidMlem]

10:04 If Mario was a rhythm game

[@adude6568]

Think this is cool? Just wait until they discover cloning and holp

[@elianps4534]

Finally! This is awesome! You are the best HappyLee!

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thanks. :)

[@Section_99]

Its sooooo cool to see pause buffer used in a TAS.

[@HappyLeeHL]

Yeah it's probably the first SMB TAS in which pause is actually useful.

[@Patashu]

GG. That was entertaining

[@HappyLeeHL]

Thanks. :)

[@Sam-kj9ui]

Mario teabagging those turtles was a piece of art.

[@pladaskspeedruns1992]

Turnaround room had me laughing so hard. This whole thing is glorious.

[@kriller3771]

I can’t believe we were able to pull off that turn around room either. It was HappyLee dasmilekat and periwinkle who did turn around room, and dasmilekat saved an A press there too with the cheep cheep climb up the last pipe. It’s crazy that that is possible

[@nextkestrel]

who else saw the kosmic and kriller viewing stream?

[@MeesterTweester]

Me

[@1ted59]

I may or may not have seen it

[@kriller3771]

Me

[@k4l3b04]

Me

[@jatloe]

Meme

[@markomk9761]

This is huge congrats finally

[@feelincrispy7053]

Certified fireball beats 🔥

[@muhibarfin]

Button A is lava.

[@HappyLeeHL]

Exactly. :D

[@baronbrrrrett]

10:04 was beautiful

[@ishkar5k]

pannenkoek2012 joined the room

[@jonasstrack]

Excelente TAS, sin duda uno de los mejores que he visto en cuanto a su creatividad

[@hideralduhami]

The best thing about this is the music sinc

[@Deadpool....]

The TAS be flexing dance moves i can't do without breaking my toes

[@browniex5120]

- Timestamps - 00:03 1-1 | A Press Counter: 0 00:49 1-2 | A Press Counter: 8 01:29 4-1 | A Press Counter: 12 03:44 4-2 | A Press Counter: 18 04:08 8-1 | A Press Counter: 25 05:56 8-2 | A Press Counter: 36 06:58 8-3 | A Press Counter: 40 08:45 8-4 (First Room) | A Press Counter: 47 08:55 8-4 (Second Room) | A Press Counter: 53 09:09 8-4 (Third Room) | A Press Counter: 55 09:31 8-4 (Fourth Room) | A Press Counter: 55 09:48 8-4 (Fifth Room) | A Press Counter: 60 10:25 Axe Grab | A Press Counter: 62 Let me know if I missed anything.

[@xenlol]

Yep! You missed your differentiation test for Math while making this comment.

[@trentthen642]

Oh man it’s finally here!

[@bipar1]

8-4が思いの外ドラマチックな闘いで感動した

[@dayemkhawaja2054]

Hats off to you

[@chuuweebyou]

this tas guy can't keep getting away with this

[@teo_heel]

My god, this is a masterpiece. Well done.

[@Dio-zr7ww]

I actually had a few laughs watching this, great job HappyLee, this was fucking amazing!

[@Aurisialic]

What if after Mario touches the axe, the TAS suddenly started spamming A.

[@angelaangellbyangell.9526]

0:51 _perfect wall jump_

[@Kanha0321]

This 8-2 was better than previous nice!!

[@angelcaru]

My favorite parts are when he goes under the ground to skip the entire level. My favorite part is definitely the end of 8-3.

[@2jam]

This guy know better this game, than we know how to walk

[@graduator14]

Amazing! :D Wish 0 was possible.

[@HappyLeeHL]

No way even to pass the first Goomba. :p

[@graduator14]

@@HappyLeeHL One can dream.

[@jakobdanner8685]

Him shooting fireballs to the music tho

[@uandresbrito5685]

This challenge is so amazing it makes Mario walljump 4 games before he actually should

[@RichConnerGMN]

this is absurd in the best way possible

[@левонхачатрян-г6ч]

There needs to be a minimum A (or whatever is the jump button) presses run for every Mario game.

[@marstonrobert]

Legendary video game character

[@skrubbed]

10:03 sick beats by mario

[@kssm]

The tennis glitch may allow you to wrong warp straight to world 8, which would save 25 A presses

[@HappyLeeHL]

That's not allowed in SMB TASing.

[@kssm]

@@HappyLeeHL okay

[@tekcub7858]

2:35 the fire balls match up with the beat

[@PretzelBS]

You can save half an a-press by holding a into the axe

[@HappyLeeHL]

A press is the moment you start to press the button.

[@elnowhere]

10:04 felt like an acutal music lol

[@stratsboneless6270]

9:15 bruh insane

[@antedieente9030]

Mario is sometinew firing fireballs to sync with song. How cool is that

[@paolopalumbo6178]

0:50 just.....HOW?!?!(i know it is a TAS but it is still incredible)

[@ngare.k]

Those t-bags are fucking hilarious.

[@LeReubzRic]

You know, I was expecting more comments to accuse HL of using cheat codes. I guess the 8 year olds didn't comment.

[@Sufferinggaming]

Idk why but mario moves really funny