mccJun 27, 2023

Speedrunning is kinda cursed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEQWT9rSkfM

Did you know this? Apparently if you bought a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 in the US, depending on when you bought it the "bros" in the logo is either aligned left on the label or right.

*If the logo on your cart is aligned right, you can't get a world record under current strategies.*

And until *last year*, nobody realized this was a problem. It was believed the versions were functionally identical.

(image source reddit user stang189)

Mario 3 Version Difference Is Faster VS Slower!?

YouTube
Show threadmccJun 27, 2023

If this video confuses/bores you: Read this post then jump to 10:19.

In warpless SMB3 runs, there's an early (second world) instance of randomness where a hammer brother can run either right or left, and if it runs left you can skip three entire levels and save an entire minute:

https://smb3.bf0.org/smb3mechanics/2018-08-22-early-hammer/

Getting this randomness is important, so players use a "manipulation"– they play in a very precise way (in Mitch's case, literally miming along to a video of a TAS) to get exact random numbers.

Early Hammer

An in-depth description of Early Hammer and Hammer Brother movement

SMB3 0r4ng3
Show threadmccJun 27, 2023
Infosec-minded people watching this video will have a slow-dawning realization that what this speedrunner is haltingly describing is a timing attack performed on the video game. The version difference would not have been a problem if Nintendo had used constant-time algorithms in their end-of-level score check arithmetic. There's some DJB shit going on here.
Show threadmccJun 27, 2023

Incidentally Mitchflowerpower says something near the end of the video that really sounds like a Quote. Like something that would go in a list of Quotes. This is like a dictaphone from an alternate universe version of The Witness that has better philosophy of science.

"I can't take all the credit for figuring this out. I can only take credit for asking the right questions." – Mitchflowerpower

Show threadmhoyeJun 27, 2023

@mcc "This is like a dictaphone from an alternate universe version of The Witness that has better philosophy of science" is a great line.

Blow wrote that he wanted make a game for "people who read Gravity's Rainbow", and I think he nailed that as long we're talking about people who read it for a compulsory humanities credit in first year, cranked out a disinterested C+ essay and never thought about it again.

I'd like to play The Witness That Might Have Been someday.

Show threadRavindra KanodiaJun 28, 2023
@mhoye @mcc this makes me want to go back in time and un-read Gravity's Rainbow
Show threadmhoyeJun 28, 2023

@ravindra @mcc The incredible thing to me about that game was how fast it went from being a game to being a job. Like, once you've understood the gag - and if you didn't quite get it by the time you get to the top of the mountain, that's when you're clubbed over the head with the punchline - then the whole world stops being an exploration and starts being A Chore.

On the other hand, it did give us this amazing clip: https://youtu.be/GdQp-KSmwT8

An amazing moment in The Witness

YouTube
Show threadRavindra KanodiaJun 28, 2023
@mhoye @mcc incredible. What really elevates it is the camera movement, as though the player is looking for someone else in the room that the video might be addressing
Show threadmhoye
@ravindra @mcc I hadn’t even noticed that, but you’re right. “You smart.” “Uh …who?”
Jun 28, 2023 at 2:10pmWeb