With this, I think, you could get a potential 21:22 at least; with some glitches being used. Like BBG on SMB1, (We all now know it saves 0.7 over the regular strategy...) the animation of the flag is discarded, so Mario jumped immediately to the castle and start the timer to count... However, unlike FPG, it saves an extra framerule because that Mario's at the highest possible point of the flag so Mario accelerates faster because Mario running backwards is faster than forwards. I wonder if it works on other levels that maybe has multiple enemies at the end... Like maybe 2-2; and I wonder if it works on SMB1? I know it won't, but it's not gon' hurt if we try to experiment the mechanics of the flag. That's all I gotta say to your vid, @GTAce99GTAce99! What a great discovery by you!

We managed to make it work for A-1 too. We're still trying to figure out 2-2, but it seems impossible. After we're done with 2j, we'll probably look at the only few options we have for SMB1, as the game isn't really stacked with enemies like 2j is. We know it's possible to make it despawn, we just have no idea where would it save time

What levels does have many enemies at the end? I'm thinking of the level where there's like a koopa at the end and a bullet bill, forgot what's that level... For me, SMB1 doesn't have many enemies nor vines at either the middle and at the end of the stage... And after I watched @GTAce99's video, I still can't understand why the flag despawns, explain it pls lol. I have a theory that can you clip at the warp zone at 4-2 at the stairs? I'm pretty sure it's not but when I started to know what clipping is, I came up (Not quite) with this theory which is I think gon' bust... Anyways, I also have my stupidest question to ask, is there a way to clip BUT almost without any slowdowns? That's all I'm gonna say for this...

The flag despawns because there are too many entities loaded, which prevents the flag from loading. In SMB1, I actually can't really think of any level on top of my head where we might be able to flag despawn (maybe 6-2?). Also, no, you can't clip in the 4-2 warpzone stairs (just like any stairs really), Mario jumps too high

Thanks for the answer!! What is the time on TAS? I know they're gon' improve it in a while now... New SMB2J TAS will be like some levels are now using the Flag Despawn Strat at 2-1, and maybe at some levels. Hope we'll discover new things soon lol. (Accidentally)

So far we saved 1 framerule over the Warpless 8-4 TAS. Idk how much more we'll save tho

What ideas do you have like you theorized about? And also what IS the Sum of Best time?

Wow, its even faster than FPG. I never would expect the flag to despawn