Strategy Guides

Newcomers frequently ask for advice on how to play well. This page gathers resources that give strategy advice.

For now, almost all of the resources discuss speedrunning on the NES, but only because those are the resources we know; if you find something that talks about other modes (like vs. or high scoring) and platforms (like SNES or N64) please feel free to add links here and we can categorize as appropriate.

The Four Pillars of Dr. Mario

This is probably the first document that beginners should check out. It discusses the most fundamental strategy thinking points and some of the terminology that has become common in the community.

Theme Shape! and Dr. Mario triage and prioritization

These two videos take intermediate-level speedruns and review them, pulling out two classes of things that speedrunners can think about as they improve their play: virus/pill shapes that you should be watching out for as your board progresses, and how to decide which thing to do when there are many good choices available.

Slow Thoughts

One of the top NES speedrunners discusses their thoughts as they replay several levels in slow motion to give you a peek into their head as they play.

Dr. Mario (GB) Run Explanation

The GameBoy world record holder discusses what they were thinking as they played each move of their PB run.