Yeah, I just tried it using the PRG0 ROM and it doesn't seem to work that way either. I guess the G&W version has been modified to allow world select. I know you can continue from the minus world by holding A, but that's irrelevant and useless. Ah well.

So I was playing SMB on my Game & Watch today, and of course the first thing I decided to do was go to the minus world, because that sounds like a solid plan right? What I didn't realize was that the tiny screen of the console would make it extremely difficult to judge my movement in relation to enemies, so I would go on to lose all my lives. As I went back to the title screen, it dawned on me: I can press B and choose a world, even though I didn't finish the game! It seems there's some sort of flag in the game that enables world select if your world is 9 or higher.

Anyway, this had me thinking: It MUST be faster to lose all your lives at or before the minus world, and then continue at world 8 after Game Over, right? Worlds 4-1 and 4-2 are not that long, but they're definitely longer than it takes to lose all your lives. I could see this category saving a good 15 seconds off your time, easily.

So what I don't really understand is: If one Mario second is 24 frames, and one frame rule is 21 frames, where do we lose at least 4 frames to make both runs line up to the same frame rule, if one is at 244 and the other is at 242?

First of all, I would like to state that I am not a speedrunner, and never will be, but I am interested in some of the mechanics of this speedrun in particular. I used to follow it more closely years ago.

There is something I have been wondering for ages, and this is the perfect topic to post it. A long time ago, I saw a TAS get 244 in 8-3, something that allegedly requires pressing both left and right at the same time at the start of the level. With all the insane tricks people have managed to pull off with frame-perfect inputs, I would assume that this one would have been tackled by now, unless it doesn't save a framerule. But a frame rule is not as long as a Mario second (21 frames per framerule to 24 frames per second on the Mario clock), so one would assume it would be enough to save at least one. But in a recent video, I saw Kosmic claim someone would be able to tie the TAS in a run. How is this possible without getting a 244 on 8-3?