Post by dlevere on Jan 25, 2015 6:44:45 GMT -4
By Jordan Minor
Just because Awesome Games Done Quick is over doesn’t mean people aren’t still trying to finish classic video games in insanely short amounts of time. Case in point, YouTuber SethBling has just set a new speedrunning world record for Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo. To complete such a lengthy game in less than five minutes, he uses a mind-bending glitch that has to be seen to be believed.
In the video above, SethBling describes the “Credits Warp” glitch that allowed him to reach the game’s credits in four minutes and 49 seconds. It’s so technical and complex though that he doesn’t have time to explain every detail.
Basically, by placing certain objects in exact locations on the first level, the player is able to write new binary code into the console’s memory. But the margin of error is razor thin. If one mushroom, turtle shell, or exploding block fragment is just a hair out a place, the glitch will fail.
Speedrunners originally used emulators to pull off the trick after rummaging through the game’s code. However, what makes this record so impressive is that SethBling was able to do it on through the Super Nintendo itself, without tools, after nearly 200 attempts. He actively hacks the console by playing the game.
Say what you will about the legality of emulators, but they can help us understand video games in crazy new ways. Super Mario World came out in 1990 and we’re still finding out new stuff about it. No one would ever just stumble across a glitch that requires this dizzying level of precision. SethBling says he’s experimenting with new strategies to bring his time down even further, this latest record is a full minute shorter than his previous run, so we haven’t even reached peak insanity.
Just because Awesome Games Done Quick is over doesn’t mean people aren’t still trying to finish classic video games in insanely short amounts of time. Case in point, YouTuber SethBling has just set a new speedrunning world record for Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo. To complete such a lengthy game in less than five minutes, he uses a mind-bending glitch that has to be seen to be believed.
In the video above, SethBling describes the “Credits Warp” glitch that allowed him to reach the game’s credits in four minutes and 49 seconds. It’s so technical and complex though that he doesn’t have time to explain every detail.
Basically, by placing certain objects in exact locations on the first level, the player is able to write new binary code into the console’s memory. But the margin of error is razor thin. If one mushroom, turtle shell, or exploding block fragment is just a hair out a place, the glitch will fail.
Speedrunners originally used emulators to pull off the trick after rummaging through the game’s code. However, what makes this record so impressive is that SethBling was able to do it on through the Super Nintendo itself, without tools, after nearly 200 attempts. He actively hacks the console by playing the game.
Say what you will about the legality of emulators, but they can help us understand video games in crazy new ways. Super Mario World came out in 1990 and we’re still finding out new stuff about it. No one would ever just stumble across a glitch that requires this dizzying level of precision. SethBling says he’s experimenting with new strategies to bring his time down even further, this latest record is a full minute shorter than his previous run, so we haven’t even reached peak insanity.