Sniping
5 years ago
Oklahoma, USA

So, after doing any% and getting a sub-5 time... I never had to learn the technique of "sniping"... once I went to warpless, I found that it was very difficult to get the weird button combinations necessary for "sniping".

Sniping is firing a fireball in such a way that you can take out a plant in front of you, so that you can land on its ledge. In order to do this, you have to shoot the fireball, and then continue to move upward, rather than terminating your ascent as you fire. Since the "B" button controls both running and firing, you have to then switch back to holding B after firing to continue running, or mario will begin to walk.

Ordinarily, without fire mario, all you ever need to do is ALTERNATE between A and B, and never interchange them simultaneously... It's an incredibly useful technique that's honestly SUPER easy to do once you learn it... but super confusing to learn. I thought a series of GIF images might illustrate it.

I know of a few runners that are really good (with times significantly under 5 minutes in any%) that can't get the technique. Maybe this will help?

First, an illustration of the two techniques just jumping straight up.

NOT SNIPING (shooting a fireball with an exchange of A and B will almost certainly mean you will land on the plant before the fireball, or the fireball will go OVER the plant, and you will die) Notice that Mario starts to descend immediately when he shoots the fireball. You want mario to continue to ascend AFTER shooting the fireball, for at least a few frames. https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/1zCYM7gG_bwxYuIJcI9eGLwErgmj5fKTweS6IqntJs0/https/im5.ezgif.com/tmp/ezgif-5-d1a6842d83.gif

SNIPING (you STILL hold onto A (which continues your upward ascent) as you press B (which releases the fireball)) https://media.giphy.com/media/ddR3BmwAQsqdAzDmNg/giphy.gif

Now what it looks like in actual runs... I tried to exaggerate the time holding both buttons... ordinarily it would be only a couple frames that both were held.

6-2 first plant "snipe" https://images-ext-2.discordapp.net/external/bktLEgoe5MU3EG6kRVnYsMdYjdectGWUTdOthXTiNrA/https/im5.ezgif.com/tmp/ezgif-5-5929a18287.gif

6-2 double plant "snipe" https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/eUtHHAS96mF2tljH1ZxlitUsP-M1EoYkFGH6gpF-PQc/https/im5.ezgif.com/tmp/ezgif-5-9cf66b6339.gif

Buttons NOT SNIPING B (running) B B X A (begin to jump) X A X A B (release fireball... while beginning descent) B B Die from a piranha plant

Buttons SNIPING B B B B A X A X A B A B A B A B B B B A B A

Buttons SNIPING (with explanations) B (running) B B B A (initial jump, continue holding A for as many frames as necessary to determine height) X A (only holding A, need to release B to allow "B" to control fireball, rather than runspeed) X A B A (shoot fireball) B A ("A" continues to be held for ascention after firing) B A ("A" still held for height) B (begin to descend) B B B A (jump again after landing on ledge) B A

Maybe this could help people that don't quite get the "A" "B" dance. A sub-20 warpless time would be MUCH easier if you have the ability to "snipe" plants in front of you, and learning optimal strategies for each level is possible.

I know it was confusing to me for the longest time =)

Edited by the author 5 years ago
Omar, MrTim131 and 4 others like this
Utah, USA

This is very helpful Darpey. Thanks man.

Nevada, USA

I have no problem sniping on controller. On keyboard is another story... :D

Game stats
Followers
7,783
Runs
8,788
Players
1,781
Latest news
Requirements for High-Level Any% Runs

Any% (NTSC) runs below 4:57.000 must now fulfill additional requirements in order to be verified.

  • The run's full session must be included in the submission description.
  • For emulator runs below 4:57.000, some form of input display must be visible for the duration of the run. A hand-cam or input
3 months ago