Categories

SMS speedrunners play in 5 main disciplines.

1. Any% (No ACE)
   1. Skips
2. 120 Shines
3. ILs
4. Misc RTA Categories
5. Bingo

Any% (No ACE)

Beat the final boss starting from a fresh file, timed in real time. The requirement for unlocking the final boss is beating episode 7 in all 7 worlds (excluding the hub world). This usually involves collecting 44 shines.

Current Routes

Skips

The shines can be done in the intended order, except for 5 skips that are usually used:

1. Bianco 1 Skip
   This shine is easily accessible in episode 1, so the Bianco 1 shine is always skipped.
2. Gelato Beach Skip (GBS)
   Collecting the Gelato 8 shine during Episode 1 lets you access episode 7 right after, and so swaps episodes 1–7 in Gelato Beach with episodes 7–8, saving ~12 minutes. Alternatively, you can play episodes 1–7 as normal.
3. Pianta Early
   Pianta Village can be accessed at any time using a couple of methods to climb to its entrance without rocket or Yoshi. This is usually done in Any%; alternatively, you can visit this world later, after unlocking either the rocket (requires 30 shines) or Yoshi (requires Pinna 4 shine).
4. Yoshi Skip
   Pianta 5 as intended requires Yoshi to complete, but is usually done without Yoshi using this technique. Alternatively, do Pianta after unlocking Yoshi (requires Pinna 4 shine).
5. Early Yoshi-Go-Round (EYG)
   Pinna 5 is usually skipped by accessing Pinna 6 secret from an earlier episode (usually 3 or 5). Yoshi is used so this must be done after Pinna 4, which unlocks it. Alternatively, do Pinna 5–6 as intended.

120 Shines

Any% (No ACE) with the additional requirement of collecting 120 shines (= 96 physical shines + 240 blue coins) and beating the final boss as the final shine.

Current Routes

ILs

Complete an individual level (single shine), timed using an in-game timer. The full guide for these is here.

Misc RTA Categories

The other popular real-time categories are:

Shine Completion
A group of categories that extend Any% (No ACE) by requiring a specific set of additional physical shines:

• All Episodes
  Every episode from 1–8 in all 7 non-hub worlds, amounting to (2 + 7 × 8 = 58 shines).
• 79 Shines
  Every shine from all 7 non-hub worlds, meaning 8 episodes, 2 hidden shines and 1 100-coin shine, amounting to (2 + 7 × 11 = 79 shines).
• 96 Shines
  Every physical shine, meaning each one from 79 shines plus the additional 17 Delfino (hub-world) shines.

Shine Rush
Categories starting from after Airstrip with the goal of collecting shines (physical or from blue coins) as quickly as possible.

• 10 Shines
  Collect 10 shines.
• 20 Shines
  Collect 20 shines.
• Sunglasses%
  Collect the sunglasses (requires 30 shines).
• 60 Shines
  Collect 60 shines.

Blues Rush
Categories requiring collecting blue coins as fast as possible.

• 10 Shines (No Shines)
  Starting from after Airstrip, collect 90 blue coins and trade them all for a total of 10 shines (including Airstrip); collecting physical shines is forbidden.
• All Blues (NG)
  Starting from a fresh file, collect all 240 blue coins, trade them all in, then beat the final boss.
• All Blues (NG+)
  Starting from a completed Any% file, collect 240 blue coins and trade them all in.

Any% Hoverless
Any% with using the hover nozzle banned.

There are many more real-time categories on the Category Extensions leaderboard.

Bingo

SMS has a competitive bingo scene and biannual league; see the Discord and website.