Niftski is an American speedrunner who is the fastest person in history to ever complete Super Mario Bros. at 4 minutes, 54 seconds and 565 milliseconds. He also holds other world records for the video game and was the first person to beat it in less than 4 minutes and 55 seconds.
He set his first world record in the any% category for Super Mario Bros. in 2020, with a time of 4:55.430, more than a fifth of a second improvement over Kosmic, the former world record holder. He set the record during a four hour live stream.[4] Justyna Janik notes the practice and study it would take to set this record.[5]
In April 2021, Niftski reclaimed the record from fellow speedrunner Miniland.[6] This time, he brought the time under 4:55, to 4:54.948,[7] a feat that Kyle Orland of Ars Technica compared to the four-minute mile.[6] The 4:55 barrier is expected to be the last "full second" barrier for Super Mario Bros. speedrunning.[6] The community called the milestone "historic".[8]
Orland writes that the video of the run is worth watching to hear Niftski's exclamations. Elizabeth Henges of Eurogamer also notes the emotion shown by Niftski upon reaching the milestone.[9]
After claiming this record, Niftski declared his goal to set world records in other categories, including minus world and blindfolded runs.[6][8]
In late 2021, Niftski reclaimed the world record, again from Miniland. He then improved upon it in August 2022, reducing the time by exactly 5 frames.[10]
In January 2022, Nifstki set a world record of 5:02:785 in the "glitchless" category of the same game. The category disallows the use of exploits. Two years later he would improve his record to 5:02:685.[11]
In September 2023, Niftski broke his own any% world record in the game again, lowering the time to 4:54.631. To make this time, he had to add a technique called "Lightning 4-2" to his run, which shaved fractions of a second off that stage of the game. The technique was established by a speedrunner and TASer named HappyLee who used emulation tools (TAS). Niftski himself updated that method, and development of the method used in this run was aided by KingOfJonnyBoy.[12] This record is the first time a human has achieved the best result with respect to "frame rules", however there is still time to save in 8-4, the game's final stage.[13][14]
Orland describes Niftski's video showing a heart rate of 188 BPM, and his tearful reaction following the run, telling himself to "Get oxygen, dude".[12] Dustin Bailey of GamesRadar+ describes Niftski's reaction at the end of the run "a genuine all-timer that really helps sell the significance of the accomplishment."[14]
During early October 2023, Niftski became the fourth person in the world to hold all Super Mario Bros. main category speedrun records simultaneously, joining AndrewG, Darbian, and Kosmic[15]. He has been holding the highest spot in each of those categories since.
In January 2025, 490 days after his previous record, Niftski again lowered the Super Mario Bros. record, this time to 4:54.565, marking an improvement of 4 frames. This run is 18 frames off a perfect human run.[16]
Niftski usually plays with a keyboard rather than a gamepad,[10]emulated on PC.[18]. That being said, he holds the world record on the original hardware (using a gamepad) with a time of 4:54.814, beating the previous record held by Tree_05 by 3 frames.
