I'm just getting into speedrunning and all the steps before seem easy with enough practice, but all the tricks that go into 8-1 seem quite complicated. Any tips or a guide on just 8-4?

darbians tutorial is very useful

I've got a tip if the Hammer Bro at 8-4 bothers you. When entering the last room, there will be a hammer bro. Just run and when you fall from a pipe (where you came from to the last room) just do a long jump and you'll land on it.

When encountering Bowser, wait so he do a jump to the left, that's when you should go down him to touch the axe.

But, like StrickeredNolmy mentioned, you should watch the World Record holder Darbian's any% tutorial (if you are playing Warpless-no warps i can't help you).

Link for the tutorial:

Hope that helps.

thank you im glad im not the only one left speedrunning this game after darbs record