Choosing an SMB3 category

So you wanna learn SMB3. Awesome! It's a fantastic speedgame for first-time runners and seasoned vets looking to branch out into new territory. There's just one problem: which category should you learn? This is a question I've seen pop up numerous times, and honestly it's a tough one to answer. I've mentioned it before, but SMB3 doesn't really have a definitive intro category, you either have to learn a lot (or all) of the game, or only get a brief taste of what the game has to offer. So which category is right for you? Let's take a look at the pros and cons of each of the main 4 categories of SMB3.

Any% - Estimated length for a beginner 4-5 min.
Any% is the "newest" category of SMB3, with the discovery of the wrong warp in 7-1. The premise is pretty simple, get a couple of warp whistles and get to 7-1. Set up the shells in the right spot, take a wrong pipe and BAM you're in the princess' room (it's much more complicated than that).

Pros- short category, fun to pull off the glitch
Cons- 7-1 setups are very tricky and precise to learn, most of the category is the glitch itself and doesn't feel much like the rest of the game does.

Any% no WW - Est. 15-20 min.
The old any%, the route that grabs a couple whistles and dashes to World 8. Unfortunately for this category, world 8 is not the greatest world. It's filled with autoscrollers and luck based hands. It gives you a decent taste of what speedrunning SMB3 is like, but unfortunately there's a lot of unfun stuff mixed in.

Pros- fairly short and simple to learn
Cons- Most of the run is autoscrollers and luck

Now we come across the GREAT DIVIDE. There's no categories with anywhere between a 25-55 minute time window for beginners. Outside of some meme categories, you're going to have to decide on one side of this line or the other.

Warpless - Est. 1:15-1:25
Warpless was the first category I ever learned, so it will always have a special place in my heart. It's fast-paced, full of interesting routing, and is by far the best category to race against people with. People talk about how "oh there's so much luck, you'll never get a good run if you get hands", but the luck in Warpless really does not matter until you're looking at around the 55-56 mark, and even then you can still get times like that regardless of luck if your execution is solid.

Pros- Fast-paced, routing options make each run interesting, super fun to race
Cons- Quite a bit to learn, many unforgiving and difficult sections can make early attempts frustrating

100% - Est. 1:35-1:45
Finally, we close with my personal favorite category, hundo. The run actually plays out quite a bit similarly to warpless, with the added benefit of luck having a MASSIVELY less effect on your run. If you want the run that relies almost completely on execution. This is the run for you. The downside, of course, is the addition of a few extra autoscrollers and a couple of the most difficult stages to execute. Honestly though, nearly all of those autoscrollers have at least something fun to do on them, so it's never completely boring.

Pros- More forgiving, relies very little on luck
Cons- A healthy chunk of the extra 20 minutes are autoscrollers or very tough stages

So hopefully this gives you a little more insight into what each category entails. Obviously, if you ask other runners, you'll likely get different takes on what categories are the best, so don't hesitate to ask. Whatever category you do choose, I hope you enjoy it!