Minimum Mario Any%
Minimum Mario Any% is a Minimum Mario challenge run where the goal is to beat the game while minimizing the amount of Mario moons in the run.
Minimum Mario Any% in 18 Mario moons has only ever been completed by Dosle.[1] This is mainly due to Moe-Eye Escape, a trick to get many otherwise inaccessible capture moons with a Moe-Eye, being incredibly hard to perform. Since the trick takes around 5-8 hours even if performed perfectly, there is little interest in humanly performing the entire run.
Required moons
Our First Power Moon can be most easily collected by first doing First Moon Skip, going to and capturing the Dino, and then going back and collecting the Moon as the T-rex.
Multi Moon Atop the Falls is then collected with a Chain Chomp, by performing Chain Chomp displacement on 1.0.0, or Death Chain Chomp displacement on any later version.
In Sand Kingdom, more than one capture can obtain the moons Inside a Block Is a Hard Place, Alcove in the Ruins, Top of a Dune, Wandering Cactus, and Bird Traveling the Desert. The [[Bullet Bill] must be used to collect Overlooking the Desert Town, On the Leaning Pillar, On Top of the Stone Archway, Bullet Bill Breakthrough and From a Crate in the Ruins. However, From a Crate in the Ruins can only be collected after Atop the Highest Tower, which is the first Mario moon, because the moving pyramid platforms are used to lower a Bullet Bill. Atop the Highest Tower then also spawns the Moe-Eyes, which must be used to collect Hidden Room in the Flowing Sands, Where the Birds Gather, Lost in the Luggage, Herding Sheep in the Dunes, and Among the Five Cactuses. This adds up to 16 moons possible in the first visit, and since Sand requires 16 to leave, all of these must be collected.
In Metro Kingdom, before entering the Mechawiggler fight it is currently proven possible to collect two capture moons. After obtaining New Donk City's Pest Problem, which is only possible as Mario, it is then possible to collect six more capture moons. Since nine more moons are required to get the total 20, required to leave Metro, it is optimal to collect the remaining eight story moons, which are only possible as Mario. This then puts the Kingdom in peace, so Caught Hopping on a Building!, which is unlocked in peace, can be collected with a Spark pylon. Peace also unlocks more capture moons for Minimum Mario Max Moons as the Letter captures appear during postgame.
✔️ = required Mario moon
| Kingdom | Mario Moon | All Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Sand Kingdom | Atop the Highest Tower | ✔️ |
| Metro Kingdom | New Donk City's Pest Problem (x3) | ✔️ |
| Metro Kingdom | Drummer on Board! | ✔️ |
| Metro Kingdom | Guitarist on Board! | ✔️ |
| Metro Kingdom | Bassist on Board! | ✔️ |
| Metro Kingdom | Trumpeter on Board! | ✔️ |
| Metro Kingdom | Powering Up the Station | ✔️ |
| Metro Kingdom | A Traditional Festival! (x3) | ✔️ |
| Ruined Kingdom | Battle with the Lord of Lightning! (x3) | ✔️ |
| Bowser's Kingdom | Showdown at Bowser's Castle (x3) | ✔️ |
| Total Mario Moons | 18 | |
Theories
It is theorized that in Bowser's Kingdom, the Multi Moon can be collected as a Goomba using Goomba nut jumping, a theoretical trick in which the player can indefinitely bounce a Goomba stack off of a nut midair to get the Goomba stack to the arena, using nut jumping to get the nut under the Goomba stack each time. However, due to the use of nut jumping, this would require version 1.1.0 or earlier.