The Gold Split - Week #3: Super Mario Bros. TAS Retrospective
Week #3 (July 18th): Super Mario Bros. TAS; Tournament News; Largest Leaderboard; Marathon News; New World Records: Ori, Half-Life 2, Banjo-Tooie, Warth of Cortex
This week I’m going significantly out of depth to talk about very technical things within Super Mario Bros. I wasn’t sure if I should write a story of the week about something I’m not all that familiar with. But if I don’t, there won’t be a lot of variety in the coverage. Additionally, I do love learning about these things and tried to do as much as possible within the limited time I had available. But if I got anything wrong or missed something crucial, please let me know!
Contents
Up to Speed ⚡️
I’d like to cover much more, but many great stories stay confined to the communities for a specific game or series and rarely get out. I encourage you to think about what happened recently in the communities you are a part of. If there are any stories, articles, glitches, events, or other topics I should cover, go ahead and submit them here or in the Gold Split Discord! 📨
Story of the Week
TAS Translator and Speedrunning Storyteller Bismuth published a video about “How the perfect Super Mario Bros. speedrun came to be”. They do a great job at compressing more than 14 years of history about the tool-assisted speedrun for the Super Mario Bros. warpless category down to just 28 dense minutes of video.
However, while watching it I did find myself going back several times to make sure I actually understood the previous section. So, instead of simply re-telling the story in an inferior way, I’d like to offer a set of short explanations about the general jargon and the technical terminology to equip you with some prior knowledge and prime you to enjoy the video to its fullest.
We’ll start with some basics and keep increasing the complexity chronologically as terms come up in the video:
Tool-Assisted Speedrun (TAS): A precisely crafted speedrun, using the power of tools like emulators to time button presses more precisely and quicker than any human could ever do. It’s a showcase of the fastest known tech in a game. Creating and perfecting a TAS can take years, as each small section can be replayed and experimented with infinitely through the use of savestates.
Framerules: Possibly the most important term in this list and the key to understanding time saves in Super Mario Bros. The game runs at 60 frames per second in cycles of 21 frames that it uses for certain transitions, like moving from one level to the next. This means that time can only be gained or lost in these increments. If a new strategy saves 10 frames but the next framerule is 15 frames away, no time is actually saved. At 60 frames per second, one framerule is equivalent to 0.35 seconds.
RNG Manipulation: RNG stands for Random Number Generation and it is often used to describe randomness in general. Randomness is extremely hard to program though, so by timing certain actions precisely, players are able to manipulate it and can achieve favourable conditions to optimise the run.
Fast Acceleration: Mario accelerates more quickly when facing left and jumping to the right. TAS creators are holding left and right simultaneously to further speed up Mario's acceleration.
Wall Clip: Mario can enter a wall by moving into at least two pixels while crouched. If done correctly, the game will push Mario out on the other side.
Wall Jump: Similar to the Wall Clip, if Mario finds himself near the top of a block that’s part of a wall and a few pixels inside, he’s able to jump off of that block to reach higher.
Turnaround Room: Ironically, instead of trying to explain, I’ll refer to Bismuth’s excellent explanation in their video about the Any% speedrun. The visuals are essential.
Flagpole Glitch: Normally, the player needs to wait for the flag to descend the pole at the end of each level. But by manipulating Mario’s collision with the flagpole base, he can be pushed into it by a couple of pixels. This skips the flag’s descent animation and can be used on nearly every level, saving about 20 frames each time.
Full Flagpole Glitch: Using an enemy and extremely careful positioning and timing, Mario can clip into the base of the flagpole after stomping the enemy. This immediately makes the timer of the level count down and skips not only the descent of the flag, but also the walk to the castle after. It can require some time to set up and isn’t possible on all levels, but the benefits are well worth it.
Vine Glitch: When pressing left and right simultaneously while on a vine, Mario warps to the right edge of the screen immediately.
Firebar Manipulation: Manipulating the timing of entering a level can change the position of firebars in castle stages.
Before you head to the video below, here is a list of the most notable TAS times in the warpless category since 2004, the timeline the video will follow:
2004: 18:57.73 by Phil & Genisto
2008: 18:48.82 by HappyLee
2009: 18:44.48 by adelikat, klmz & andrewg
2009: 18:41.70 by HappyLee
2012: 18:38.23 by HappyLee
2018: 18:37.46 by MrWint
2018: 18:36.78 by HappyLee & Mars608
It remains to be seen whether or not this time is going to be improved. But considering how many times a speedrun has been called perfect in the past and then beaten, my money is on yes.
If you want to learn more about TAS videos or Super Mario Bros. speedrunning, check out the page on TASvideos.org as well as content creators Bismuth and Kosmic.
Up to Speed
⭐ Suigi, puncayshun, and BeastAssassin67 make Top 3 in first qualifier for PACE Fall 2024
PACE Fall 2024 is a “speedrunning convention” organised by the Global Speedrun Association. Part of the event will be a traditional marathon, but it will also host the finals of some high-profile tournaments, including Super Mario 64. The first of three rounds of qualifiers has concluded, with the following runners coming out on top:
Suigi: 1:37:51
puncayshun: 1:37:58
BeastAssassin67: 1:38:03
The other two rounds run between August 10-11 and September 7-8 respectively. Points are awarded in each round depending on placement and the top seven runners across all three rounds will receive a paid trip to the grand finals at PACE Fall 2024.
🦇 Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance gets even more broken (2 minute read/video)
A recent discovery led to a massive timesave in the “Juste Any%” category. At the time of writing, the record has been improved by over 90 seconds in a run that only took 9:31 minutes to begin with. According to JupiterClimb, the run now features subpixel manipulation, floor clips, out-of-bounds zips, 0HP shenanigans, frame-perfect tricks and off-screen data corruption. To see all this in action, check out the current world record by LuichoX.
⏱️ Speedgaming will be running a Metroid Dread (Any% Glitchless) Tournament (2 minute read)
The tournament is free to register and has a small community-driven prize pool. The qualifiers that decide the seeding will run between July 20th and July 28th, with the head-to-head double elimination bracket running from August 5th through to the end of September. Check out the speedgaming website for more ongoing tournaments.
🏆 Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition releases today (2 minute read)
Today Nintendo is launching a collection of over 150 short challenges taken from 13 NES games including Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid and Super Mario Bros. It’s very similar to the NES Remix series for Wii U and 3DS, but the reason to be excited about it is its focus on speed. Every challenge is about completing it as fast as possible and while you may practice each of them by yourself offline and compete against your own ghosts, the real meat lies in the competitive modes, both online and on your couch. It helps this niche hobby to reach the mainstream. There’s a video review by Nintendo Life that does a much better job than I ever could within one paragraph. I’m curious but might wait for a sale.
🛶 A quick and entertaining explainer on cooperative speedruns of Raft (8 minute video)
A quick one at the end: content creator EazySpeezy with a short look at Raft’s cooperative speedrun. They performed the run with two other friends and do a great job at boiling down 2:20:42 into an 8-minute long video.
Marathon News
🏁 Finished:
Binary Breakers Summer BBQ raised $2,650 for LGBTQ Freedom Fund
LEGOthon 2024 raised $2,233 for Extra Life
🏃♂️ Running:
Until 21.07.2024: Australian Speedrun Marathon 2024, raising money for Cure Cancer (Schedule)
🔜 Upcoming:
Starts 20.07.2024: ESA Summer 2024, raising money for Alzheimerfonden (Schedule)
Starts 20.07.2024: The Fastest Place on Earth 2, raising money for PRISM (Schedule)
Starts 25.07.2024: Lady Arcaders Super Showcase 2024, raising money for CARE (Schedule)
This Week’s Top Times
🥇 First Place:
Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition (All Skills: No OOB/TA) in 00:26:44.000 by graveyarddolphin
VideoHalf-Life 2 (New Engine: Any% No Voidclip) in 00:37:55.590 by Buster12 (He/Him)
VideoLuigi's Mansion 3 (Any%: Solo, Legacy) in 02:23:15.000 by MrGreenLM3 (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeBanjo-Tooie (Any% No Bitclips: N64) in 00:42:13.000 by Falcon
Video • Twitch • YouTubeCrash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (Any% (No Crystal Duplication)) in 00:50:28.000 by Solarson (He/Him, They/Them)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSuper Paper Mario (Flipside Pit of 100 Trials: Wii / Wii U, Classic) in 01:17:53.000 by KoraFloof (Any/All)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeQuiplash 2 InterLASHional (Bad Ending) in 00:02:04.867 by lilleh (She/Her)
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥈 Second Place:
Portal 2 (Single Player: No SLA) in 00:56:07.384 by madin
Video • Twitch • YouTubeThe Simpsons: Hit & Run (All Story Missions: PC (Restricted)) in 01:17:55.000 by 12_Kelvin
Video • TwitchThe Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Any%) in 01:28:02.000 by ToadsWoot
Video • Twitch • YouTubeLEGO Batman: The Videogame (Hero: Story, Solo) in 00:38:54.000 by Nolan_
Video • TwitchBilly Hatcher and the Giant Egg (Any%: Console) in 01:04:07.000 by Kyrrone
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥉 Third Place:
Crash Bash (1 Player Any%: No MM) in 01:52:53.000 by SlySwooper
VideoNoita (Any%: 1.0, Random) in 00:02:05.700 by twist_123
VideoOneShot (Any%: Glitched) in 00:22:24.900 by Kazoeru (He/Him, They/Them)
Video • Twitch • YouTube
Fun Stat of the Week
📊 The largest leaderboard on speedrun.com is… not about being the fastest. Instead, it’s about playing for the longest time: a high score leaderboard for the mobile game Subway Surfers.
Subway Surfers is an endless runner and at the time of writing the leaderboard for the No Coins & No Hoverboard/No Keys category has 18651 runs. To put this into perspective: the 2nd place for largest leaderboard goes to Celeste Any% with just a measly 5315 runs.
The insane popularity can probably be attributed to TikTok. Let me know if you want me to try and turn this into a full story.
Reddit Choice
🔝 The r/speedrun choice of the week is this video of a developer’s own speedrun of their game One Wheeled. It looks impressive, fast, technical, and exactly like the sort of thing I can’t do. You can try the game on itch.io, give it a shot!
👋🏻 And that’s it for this week! See you next Thursday, July 25th 2024. 👋🏻
The Gold Split is free and I have no plans to add a paywall. If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to receive the new issue each Thursday directly to your inbox.
If you are already subscribed and would like to support my work further, you may share this publication with people near to you or even pledge a paid subscription. 50% of all revenue will be donated to charity events within the speedrunning community.
Special shoutout to my incredible wife and co-conspirator Niamh for all the visuals. Let her know how awesome those dividers are!
Special shoutout to Sarim for supporting with some copywriting. Find the words he writes over at gameluster.com!