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This Practically Impossible Mario Level Took Over 4000 Hours To Beat

On September 30, Braden "ChainChompBraden" Moor finally conquered "Trials of Death," a level once designated as "impossible" that they created for "Super Mario Maker." The dedicated builder started their project not long after the release of "Super Mario Marker" on the Wii U in 2015. It took six years and 4,368 hours to complete. "It was unreal," Moor told Vice after clearing the course. "Not only was I unable to process it then, but days later I still feel like I haven't processed it yet."

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Vice's Patrick Klepek has kept tabs on Moor's progress over the years, from 385 hours in 2016 to over 4,000 in 2022. In the beginning, Moor predicted that "Trials of Death" would take up to 500 hours to complete. By 2020, they had earned the Guinness World Record for the "longest time spent trying to beat a 'Mario Maker' game," with 2,979 hours invested — a gaming record that will likely never be broken. "Every time I found myself improving, I started feeling as though the level didn't meet my expectations in terms of difficulty," Moor admitted to Vice in 2016. "It's now reached the point where due to the limitations of the game's level editor, I literally cannot add anything more to the level. The version of the level I have now will be what I ultimately challenge myself to upload," they said.

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Unfortunately, uploading "Trials of Death" may present its own roadblocks.

Will other players get to experience Trials of Death?

"Super Mario Maker" had a rule that the creator must beat their own level before uploading it to prove that it's possible. Moor still hadn't beaten "Trials of Death" when Nintendo's darkest day (turning off the upload function for "Super Mario Maker") arrived on March 31, 2021. As a result, fans worried that "Trials of Death" would never be available to the public. However, Moor assured their followers that this wouldn't be the case.

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"Trials of Death exists on the server under an alt account with no traces to it. It is also kept afloat by a few stars from other untraced empty accounts via another Wii U," Moor tweeted. "When I get the real clear, I will make the level code public." Moor still hasn't revealed when they plan to release the level code now that the impossible has happened. Their latest priority seemed to be publishing the "Trials of Death" completion video, which aired on Twitch and YouTube earlier today.

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