Super Mario, a plumber who became the most famous video game character ever, has been overcoming incredible odds for decades. He has braved dark sewers and haunted castles, he’s driven on rainbow roads and avoided barrels chucked by a giant gorilla, and he throws one hell of a party. But he might finally have met his match, because someone has created a level in Super Mario Maker that only gives the mustachioed hero a 1-in-7.5 million chance of beating it.
Vice Games reported (on a story we learned about at Kotaku) on a level in Super Mario Maker on the Wii U from a level-maker known as Phenotype. His Lucky Draw level is exactly like playing the lottery, only you don’t even get to pick your numbers. All Mario has to do is cross a bridge over lava. The problem is, once Mario enters the level, the game takes over.
The random generator guides what happens; if Magikoopas hanging over the bridge don’t create a coin that moves to the right, Mario falls into the lava below him. And if they generate any of the other six options, the coin falls on the P-blocks under Mario, which also drops him into the lava, ending the level. The only way Mario can pass is if six coins are created and all of them go right. And there’s absolutely nothing players can do—no jumping, running, or any other movements—about it.
It’s really that simple, which is why it’s nearly impossible. One Reddit user explains that the odds of a successful bridge-crossing are roughly one-in-7.5 million. (Each individual six passes has a one-in-14 chance of being successful. Multiply that to the sixth power and you get these absurdly low odds.)
Players who want to defy the odds have been setting up their Wii U to keep repeating the level, and after over at least two million attempts, Phenotype says he has a confirmed pass.
We have first confirmed clear with photo! https://t.co/PEjQDVWE3g
— Jaku (@Jaku) May 30, 2019
Never tell Mario the odds.
Featured Image: Twitch/Jaku
