Uploaded February 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Wario Greats: Lose to Win!
This is the first recorded run of the newest route for Superstar% Wario Greats. Up until now we've been wasting a lot of time trying to win our redundant match against Mario (the one that we need to get Wario and Waluigi's strikeout missions in, because those can't be obtained in the same match as Petey Shutout Mario). And why? To get Magikoopa MVP? We have enough matches in the run to allocate that one without issue. To get Pitch & Bat with Phony Ball and Win? But we can just do that in our Magikoopa MVP match or the last match. To farm fielding missions? There aren't even that many in this category, and most of them aren't terrible to get along the way playing at full speed!
All of them, of course, except for Petey 5 Catch. But as this run demonstrated repeatedly, Petey doesn't need to get an out for the catch to count towards his goal. You can pick up the ball fair and then dance around in place until the play ends all five times, and you will be victorious.
This run is the crystallization of two key insights:
1. Because we can't win Mario 1 via mercy rule, the next fastest way to end Mario 1 is to *lose* by mercy rule. (This was mdmason85's idea).
2. You can get Petey 5 Catch while continuously allowing runs and accumulating no outs. (This was my idea.)
In a vacuum, Petey 5 Catch is the goal that above all others forces you to slow down your gameplay in order to clear it. With this new "Total Loser" route, we get that goal, Wario K Mario, Waluigi K Luigi, and possibly a few quick-to-attempt offense goals in a match that might not even fully finish its first inning! Now, in many cases, the CPU will strike out or line out to a Magikoopa before you can dive out of the way, of course, and in situations like those you can play a second inning and try and extract more value from the match as you do. But the best case scenario for this route is ultra-fast and the lesser scenarios are still highly competitive with the earlier of strat of "trying to win".
Waluigi 3 Hit is unfortunately still a pain, though. I have it currently scheduled for the Yoshi/Magikoopa MVP match, which feels like a good fit but not a perfect one. At the very least we can still get Waluigi 3 Hit before getting the Whiskered Eggplant, no sweat, which is probably the most important factor.
There's a little more room for refinement here, but the point is: sub-1-hour is imminent and I intend to make it happen. This run, minus a few unnecessary innings played, is how I'll do it. :)
Wario Greats: Lose to Win!
This is the first recorded run of the newest route for Superstar% Wario Greats. Up until now we've been wasting a lot of time trying to win our redundant match against Mario (the one that we need to get Wario and Waluigi's strikeout missions in, because those can't be obtained in the same match as Petey Shutout Mario). And why? To get Magikoopa MVP? We have enough matches in the run to allocate that one without issue. To get Pitch & Bat with Phony Ball and Win? But we can just do that in our Magikoopa MVP match or the last match. To farm fielding missions? There aren't even that many in this category, and most of them aren't terrible to get along the way playing at full speed!
All of them, of course, except for Petey 5 Catch. But as this run demonstrated repeatedly, Petey doesn't need to get an out for the catch to count towards his goal. You can pick up the ball fair and then dance around in place until the play ends all five times, and you will be victorious.
This run is the crystallization of two key insights:
1. Because we can't win Mario 1 via mercy rule, the next fastest way to end Mario 1 is to *lose* by mercy rule. (This was mdmason85's idea).
2. You can get Petey 5 Catch while continuously allowing runs and accumulating no outs. (This was my idea.)
In a vacuum, Petey 5 Catch is the goal that above all others forces you to slow down your gameplay in order to clear it. With this new "Total Loser" route, we get that goal, Wario K Mario, Waluigi K Luigi, and possibly a few quick-to-attempt offense goals in a match that might not even fully finish its first inning! Now, in many cases, the CPU will strike out or line out to a Magikoopa before you can dive out of the way, of course, and in situations like those you can play a second inning and try and extract more value from the match as you do. But the best case scenario for this route is ultra-fast and the lesser scenarios are still highly competitive with the earlier of strat of "trying to win".
Waluigi 3 Hit is unfortunately still a pain, though. I have it currently scheduled for the Yoshi/Magikoopa MVP match, which feels like a good fit but not a perfect one. At the very least we can still get Waluigi 3 Hit before getting the Whiskered Eggplant, no sweat, which is probably the most important factor.
There's a little more room for refinement here, but the point is: sub-1-hour is imminent and I intend to make it happen. This run, minus a few unnecessary innings played, is how I'll do it. :)
