Stephen Colbert Races Against the World ‘Super Mario Bros 3’ Champion With A Hot Pocket

  Now, we all know that gaming gets a pretty damn bad rap sometimes. When the 3DS was first released, for instance, it suffered a lot from bad press. Over here in Merry Olde England, the tabloids were trying to convince us that the handheld’s 3D effect would melt our freaking eyeballs. That’s an extreme case, but the press has always been as anti-games as our mamas were when we had homework to do.  

To be fair though, the industry does its share of good as well. There are a lot of video game-related charities and events and such, raising that cashtacular to help all kinds of causes. Summer Games Done Quick kicked off last weekend, a speedrunning marathon live stream in support of Doctors Without Borders. And in support of the event itself, we were treated to the spectacle of Stephen Colbert racing to eat a Hot Pocket before a speedrunner polished off Super Mario Bros. 3.

Colbert had Mitch Fowler on the show, the man who holds the world record for completing said game. The record is 3 minutes and 8 seconds, which sounds absolutely batshit if you’ve no experience with this speedrunning business. It also sounds, as the host says, about as long as it takes to heat up one of those sweet, sweet cheesy heart attacks in a microwave. You know where we’re going with this. Who would win?

In the first (and last) ever Late Show Three-Legged Race, we’ve got Colbert and his pepperoni Hot Pockets, Fowler and his Mario 3, and a four-man relay team. This is the real sport of kings, right here, and it’s a fun little segment. Check it out.

Via Destructoid.