Super Mario Bros. - TAS - "Moonwalk%" (Backwards Challenge) (7:10)

This is a tool-assisted speedrun of Super Mario Bros. using a unique (and totally arbitrary) ruleset:

1. Mario must always face in the opposite direction of travel (i.e., face "backwards").

2. Collect as few coins as possible.

I also gave myself a few other limitations for no real reason other than personal style:

1. Maximize "moonwalking" time (i.e., keep Mario on the ground and walking backwards).

2. Press A as little as possible.

3. Avoid killing enemies.

This run was inspired by the James & Mike Mondays "Backwards Super Mario Challenge!" video seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=348pv...

A few additional notes:

1. Sometimes you'll see seemingly-random slowdowns. This is to either set up a specific subpixel to make a wall-jump happen or run out clock time to prevent fireworks.

2. The "flagpole glitch" seems to be impossible using this method. My theory is that Mario's backwards horizontal speed (24, same as walking forward without B) is insufficient to clip into the flagpole block.

3. That same limitation in horizontal speed seems to affect Mario's X-position gains when backward-jumping into objects in 4-2, so "fast 4-2" strategies appear impossible as well.

4. Mario cannot moonwalk to the left, so in the instances where moving left is required I used repeated backwards jumps.

5. Mario also cannot "moonswim" (i.e., swim backwards), so the swimming section in 8-4 is straightforward (and straight forward, lol).

As a final note, if anyone knows a way to remove the NES music channel while leaving the SFX intact in Bizhawk please let me know; I'd love to make a version of this run with 8-bit Michael Jackson songs as the background music. 😀