I checked the maps of each stage for the Any% category. The 1-1 pipe is worth it, the 1-2, 8-1 and 8-2 ones are not worth it, 8-3 has no pipes and 4-2 and 8-4 have the wrong wrap. But 4-1's entrance pipe does not seem to be too close to the exit pipe. Is it worth using or does it lose time?

im pretty sure it loses time because of the pipe entry and exit animations, though you can get 341 by taking the pipe

Taking the 4-1 pipe loses time. So it's not worth it unless you wanna stock up on lives by collecting as many coins as possible.

Ok, it seems that it loses time. I guess only Warpless can make better use of the pipes.

Wasn't it obvious though? If it was worth it people would actually do it in runs

The only pipe worth taking to move through a level faster in the any% category is the pipe in 1-1. I forget how much time is lost due to pipe transitions but it's pretty considerable; I want to say it is something like 6 seconds lost per transition.

And the one in 8-4.

Ones

I don't count the pipes in 8-4 as time savers (with the exception of the wrong warp pipe) because they are required in order to traverse the level normally.

So it’s like a maze?