The Super Mario franchise holds a special place in gaming history. After over 30 years, Mario‘s signature hop-and-bop gameplay still brings joy to longtime fans and new generations alike.
A major reason for this lasting appeal is the series‘ focus on compelling level design. Expertly tuning obstacles, enemies and puzzles to match the capabilities of Mario‘s simple yet versatile moveset is an artform Nintendo has perfected over decades.
Yet even with all Nintendo‘s design brilliance, a special portion of the Mario community yearns to flex their own creative muscles. Equipped with the series‘ beloved sprites and assets, aspiring designers can craft their own devious Mario gauntlets without programming knowledge.
Enter the Super Mario Maker series, which offers exactly that – robust creation tools enabling players to easily build 2D Mario courses. Its sequel, Super Mario Maker 2 on Nintendo Switch, opens infinite possibilities for budding designers.
With over 20 million player-made courses uploaded over three years, Super Mario Maker 2 encourages a thriving subculture of creators trying to push Mario‘s limits. These players pump out increasingly difficult and absurd masterpieces meant to test even Kaizo platforming veterans.
Who is DGR?
Yet quality comes in quantity, and for every precisely tuned obstacle course, 100 disjointed messes exist uploaded by beginners. Curating brilliant user-generated content from Super Mario Maker 2 can prove daunting without guidance.
Enter DGR, a prominent Mario-centric Canadian YouTuber and streamer, whose channel boasts over 800K subscribers. For years, his charm and expertise offered Super Mario Maker fans filtered spotlights of the most interesting courses.
DGR prepares for pain during his 100 Levels run
DGR began his rise by showcasing upcoming player courses in digestible 30-minute episodes. His skilled demonstrations quickly built an audience enamored with his consistency conquering even the most sadistically designed gauntlets.
Eventually, DGR shifted his content towards more edited highlight reels rather than raw uploads. These popular videos depict his journey to victory tackling notoriously punishing Super Mario Maker 2 player creations. Through sheer grit and dedication, DGR displays an impressive mastery of platforming technique – making even the most ludicrous courses seem possible!
His balance of personable charm alongside incredible Mario reflexes built a loyal community who can‘t get enough of the struggle. Now boasting 30+ videos of DGR enduring various Super Mario Maker 2 trials, his fans range from casual viewers enjoying personalities overcoming challenges to platformer enthusiasts studying precise mechanical skill and decision making.
The Allure of Super Mario Maker 2 Speedruns
Central to DGR‘s popularity is his success tackling customized speedrunning challenges within Super Mario Maker 2. ‘Speedrunning‘ refers to players racing to complete games as quickly as possible – optimizing mechanics, reactions, shortcuts and planning to achieve the best times.
Super Mario Maker 2 speedruns capture imaginations by combining randomized user-generated levels with high-precision platforming skills. Expert creators develop special categories focused on swift completion rates. Randomized course orders and the game‘s flexible toolset encourage dynamic tests of versatility and consistency.
| Difficulty | Clear Rate % |
|---|---|
| Easy | 40%+ |
| Normal | 20-39% |
| Expert | 5-19% |
| Super Expert | <5% |
Clear rate percentages across Super Mario Maker 2 difficulty tags
By 2019, DGR noticed demand for a ‘100 Levels‘ Endurance marathon within Super Mario Maker 2. This category challenges runners to complete 100 consecutive random player-made courses under specific rules:
- Play on either Easy (100 lives) or Normal (100 lives spread over 16-level segments)
- Can earn up to 3 extra lives per level
- Lives carry over between levels
- Option to skip up to 3 levels per segment
- Must complete all 100 levels as fast as possible
This seemingly simple premise gave DGR his ultimate test in consistency and speed. Over 11 grueling hours across multiple streams, DGR reached his goal of conquering 100 Mario Maker levels without running out of lives. His journey faced punishing platforming and patient mental resilience – making for an iconic viewing experience.
Now three years later, an improved DGR revisits the 100 Levels category. Equipped with more experience and hunger for gold, he sets out to claim the world record, hoping to inspire future Mario Maker 2 adventurers.
DGR Obliterates 100 Consecutive Mystery Levels at Lightning Speed
On April 23rd, 2022, DGR uploaded a 100 Levels Easy Attempt speedrun clocking in at 1 hour, 19 minutes and 43 seconds across 100 lives. This blistering pace obliterated his initial 11 hour record and set a new global best mark.
Right from the starting buzzer, DGR wastes no time breezing through the beginner-designed course "A Desert" in a mere 38 seconds. His reflexes stay sharp as ever, breezing through basic platforming obstacles with easy mid-air twirls and spin adjustments.
As the run progresses, both simple and chaotic levels cycle through randomly, testing DGR‘s versatility. No two stages share similar obstacles or use identical enemies from Mario‘s deep spritesheet. Ten minutes in, the aptly named "Stop Laughing" serves up wacky challenges including diagonal fire bars, winged banzai bills shooting from all sides, and even repeated sound cues specifically designed to force slip-ups during tense timing-based jumps.
Yet DGR stays locked in, quickly deciphering optimal strategies and rationing his limited lives. His pace balances hastened completion rates for simpler levels while slowing down for trickeration-heavy crises requiring more observation. This risk management proves critical in runs allowing no second chances.
The middling Germany-made course "Adventure of Link" exemplifies DGR‘s assertive pushing of pace boundaries. He skips an early propeller power-up to avoid its required verticality costing him seconds – instead precisely outmaneuvering every last Hammer Bro gauntlet to dash straight towards his only priority – that sweet checkered flag.
Now 20 minutes deep, DGR‘s eyes stay glued for pixel-perfect jumps, trusting his instincts when split decisions separate triumph and disaster. Expert courses like "Red Yoshi‘s Replica" switch up escort mission mechanics which easily frustrate even seasoned players. Yet DGR adapts to guide his Yoshi companion across lava pits and Hammer hazards with seasoned confidence – even using the dinosaur‘s flutter jump to bypass tricky wall jumps whilst carrying boxes!
This rapid mental shifting between randomly generated games tests DGR‘s very limits. From automatic music stages to ludicrous Kaizo block traps, our hero pushes forward in pursuit of glory. His internal level timer estimates ideal pace targets for victory as the tension escalates!
| Player | Time | Deaths | Levels Skipped |
|---|---|---|---|
| DGR | 1:19:43 | 92 | 4 |
| Garfield202 | 1:15:28 | 13 | 25 |
| Keiichi_ | 1:16:00 | 67 | 3 |
Top 3 timed Super Mario Maker 2 100 Easy Levels speedrun records
Now 12 levels from triumph, DGR hits a punishing patch featuring pixel-perfect shell throws and guided platforming reliant entirely on instinct. This gauntlet combined with mounting exhaustion pushes our hero to his absolute mental and physical limits! Lesser gamers would crack under such stressful and demanding conditions – but with his community cheering him on, DGR stays determined til his glorious victory!
Incredibly, DGR crosses the finish line with 8 lives left to spare, winning with a final time of 1:19:43! This monumental run seized him the world record, dethroning his Kaizo Mario rival GrandPooBear who previously held glory. After years of incremental effort and patient skill building, DGR sits atop of the Mario Maker kingdom – but for how long?
Analyzing Design Elements That Make Mario Maker 2‘s 100 Level Run Uniquely Demanding
Clearing Super Mario Maker 2‘s 100 consecutive stage marathon requires tremendous dexterity, focus and mental stamina compared to traditional Mario games. Let‘s analyze key factors that make this specific speedrun category so treacherously demanding:
Coping With Unknown User-Generated Brutality
Core to the run‘s difficulty lies in its unpredictable lineup. Every uploaded player level features new tilesets, custom enemies, varying win conditions and sadistic combinations of hazards. This forces players to rapidly react to foreign scenarios requiring unique precision and quick thinking. Unlike memorizing curated Nintendo levels, Super Mario Maker 2 cycles endlessly through fresh user creativity, mandating sharp adaptability skills.
Creators relish constructing deviously calculated contraptions – like looping rooms of Thwomp-spiked pillars revealed only after triggering Koopa shells. Sadists craft pseudo-random enemy spam patterns relying on RNG manipulation to disrupt even frame-perfect platforming mastery. Iterating on these creations for hours yields polished products with nuanced flaws detectable only by equally seasoned runners.
DGR comments midway through his run: "I will never get used to some of these guys‘ crazy ideas!" Even for battle-hardened Mario veterans, the community‘s unlimited freedom enables diabolical concepts challenging one‘s fundamental grasp over Mario‘s core feel and physics. This unpredictability tests skills far beyond vanilla Nintendo‘s refined but formulaic level templates.
Surviving 100 consecutive stages of player creativity gone rogue pushes gamer adaptability to its limits. DGR‘s consistency clearing courses covering submerged Cheep-Cheep dodging, shell-platform riding, mid-air Thwomp navigating and Yoshi escorting makes every victory bits of hard-earned progress in this marathon. No other platformer so dynamically tests fundamental movement mastery like Super Mario Maker 2.
Tempo Management Across Hundreds of Minutes
Maintaining both speed and precision is paramount for the 100 Levels category. Clear time directly determines final leaderboard standings. DGR must blaze through easier beginner levels rapidly without suffering fool deaths. This allows extra seconds to preserve life counts during dense expert-tagged deathtraps comprising trickier portions of his randomized run.
The absence of save points also constantly pressures tempo management. All progress gets lost by losing your final life, forcing players right back into the fray quickly. Late-game Game Overs can completely shatter hours of grueling progression should concentration lapse. This risk encourages conservative speed modulation based on remaining life totals across sections.
Therefore, survival demands proper balance between rushing simpler early levels while keeping energy in reserve for the certain slaughter awaiting at the hands of merciless player creations. There‘s little time for mental resets either during intermittent automatic music stages – these ‘breaks‘ ironically sap valuable seconds too!
This delicate equilibrium of speed and security every second for 80+ straight minutes commands incredible mental discipline. Outlasting 100 lethal levels gauntlet created by thousands of devious fans is utterly superhuman. Only renown champions like DGR possessing supreme mechanical skills and seasoned mental fortitude can hope to emerge unscathed by the Game Over spectre haunting this trial of Mario making endurance.
How DGR Stacks Against Other Super Mario Maker 2 Legendary Speedrunners
While DGR claimed early bragging rights for conquering 100 Easy Levels, his throne saw rivals quickly attempting to steal his title. Let‘s examine how other top-tier Mario speedrun record holders compare to DGR‘s initial world record run.
| Category | Player | Time | Date Set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Levels – Easy | DGR | 1:19:43 | April 23, 2022 |
| 100 Levels – Easy | BlueX2 | 1:15:28 | June 1, 2023 |
| 100 Levels – Normal | DensetsuNoRusko | 1:03:11 | May 4, 2022 |
| Multiplayer Versus | RPG_LimitBreak | 1:07:01 | August 21, 2022 |
| Minimum Deaths | Jr300 | 3:22:10 | August 14, 2022 |
Record history snapshot across 100 Levels Super Mario Marker 2 categories
As expected, DGR saw his record crushed just over a month later by speedrunner BlueX2, who utilized level skips to pull ahead. By finding automatic quick levels and exploitative exits, top any% runners trivialize actual platforming in favor of optimizing menus and load times.
In contrast, DGR refuses relying on skips or despawning glitches during runs. His approach better respects Super Mario Maker 2‘s intended skill test. There‘s something unsatisfying watching world record pace runs essentially manipulating game queues rather than overcoming devious player creativity. Ultimately for viewers and Mario makers alike, DGR represents the spirit of driving platforming genre excellence.
Other runners instead challenged themselves against the Normal mode‘s limited lives per cluster of 16 levels. Russia‘s legendary DensetsuNoRusko conquered this heightened difficulty in barely over an hour by almost never losing lives. His God-like platforming reflects extensive early days battling demonic Kaizo Mario ROM hacks.
Instead Multiplayer Versus records take an entirely different skillset facing actual human opposition. RPG LimitBreak defeats 104 straight players in nail-biting showdowns requiring adaptable mindgames and lightning warfare reflexes. This competitive category trades randomization for reading enemies, making for intensely aggressive speedruns.
So while DGR saw his record contested, none can deny his legacy popularizing and pioneering 100 Levels at a competitive level. His early success inspired countless players to push their own Super Mario Maker 2 mastery chasing leaderboard glory. Through multiple categories and game modes, DGR‘s influence elevated the platforming community‘s pursuit of greatness.
Closing Thoughts on DGR‘s Ultra Impressive Super Mario Odyssey
Three years since his maiden completion, DGR‘s revamped 100 Levels world record run shows a seasoned veteran realizing his final form. His peerless display of mental composure combined with precise mechanical skills depicts a lifetime perfecting the quintessential platformer. Simply reaching the finish line first proves monumental.
But DGR‘s run means more than just another leaderboard top spot. His contagious passion cultivates an entire community of gamers united by Mario making appreciation. Tuning in and seeing genuine unfiltered struggle resonates deeply in fans from all backgrounds. This run made an entire online following believe in themselves watching someone spends years improving through relentless effort and discipline.
Speedrunning communities often feature inside jokes and intimidating technical minutiae favoring hardcore insiders. Yet DGR‘s charisma and fundamental approachability gives the scene heart – his runs inspire newcomers that within enough passion and grit, they too can achieve gaming glory. Viewers sense how tangibly meaningful conquering gaming challenges proves for DGR which makes his run stand immortal.
So while future Mario gods might claim the leaderboard throne, DGR‘s Super Mario Maker 2 saga demonstrated hallmarks of excellence that shall endure eternally. Determined gamers worldwide watched this run feeling that through similar dedication, they also can transform gaming goals into historic moments.
If this glimpse into the depths of Super Mario platforming dexterity intrigues you, feel free to check out DGR‘s full world record run here! Just watching may exhaust anyone unfamiliar with such concentrated gaming greatness on display here. But years from now, we‘ll recall witnessing the ascent of a true Mario Maestro legend in the making.
