--- title: Super Mario Bros. World Record Under Five Minutes description: Run Mario Run! canonical: https://time.com/4081112/super-mario-bros-world-record/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-21T14:53:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:00.359Z og:title: Super Mario Bros. World Record Under Five Minutes og:description: Run Mario Run! og:url: https://time.com/4081112/super-mario-bros-world-record/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Super Mario Bros. World Record Under Five Minutes twitter:description: Run Mario Run! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Gaming Hero Beats Super Mario Bros in Less Than 5 Minutes ## Video: Tech Time: Why Super Mario Bros. is One of the Best Video Games Ever Made [Watch (HLS stream): Tech Time: Why Super Mario Bros. is One of the Best Video Games Ever Made](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/b86vuoEJ.m3u8) (1:32)  _Published 2015-09-10. TIME Tech Editor talks about the genius of Super Mario Bros. as the NES game turns 30._ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 21, 2015 2:53 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 21, 2015 2:53 PM UTC Princess Peach didn’t have to suffer the indignities of King Koopa’s kidnapping for very long when YouTuber [Darbian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgjAt1VZBVo) was running the Nintendo Entertainment System controllers. Darbian beat _Super Mario Bros._ in just 4:57:627 on Sunday (yes, warp zones were involved), beating out the previous world record of 4:57:69\. The impressive feat was performed on an actual old school NES console. To blaze through the levels at a rapid clip involved some very deft and incredibly economical gaming skills allowing for few extraneous moves. The best part about these world record runs is that while they can still be played in a living room or mancave, they are posted to the web in their entirety, so wannabe gamers can watch every tense moment from the edge of their seats. Thanks to Twitch, [you can even watch Darbian’s heart rate](http://www.twitch.tv/darbian/v/21376369) as it spikes in response to the onscreen speedrun action. While other gamers will undoubtedly try to shave a few seconds (or even just milliseconds) off this world record time, it probably [won’t be a teenager](http://time.com/3303348/teens-react-to-nes/). \[H/T [Death and Taxes](http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/267808/beats-super-mario-bros-under-5-minutes/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4081112/super-mario-bros-world-record/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4081112/super-mario-bros-world-record/"},"headline":"Gaming Hero Beats Super Mario Bros in Less Than 5 Minutes","datePublished":"2015-10-21T14:53:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:00.359Z","description":"Run Mario Run!","url":"https://time.com/4081112/super-mario-bros-world-record/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Video Games","Gaming","Super mario bros."],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4081112/super-mario-bros-world-record/","name":"Gaming Hero Beats Super Mario Bros in Less Than 5 Minutes"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Tech Time: Why Super Mario Bros. is One of the Best Video Games Ever Made","description":"TIME Tech Editor talks about the genius of Super Mario Bros. as the NES game turns 30.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/b86vuoEJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-10T14:07:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/b86vuoEJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4081112/super-mario-bros-world-record/","duration":"PT1M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4081112/super-mario-bros-world-record/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```