SM64 - Somewhere Over the Rainbow - 0x A Presses @pannenkoek2012

pannenkoek2012 I collect the star Somewhere Over the Rainbow in Rainbow Ride using 0 A presses. For the record, this is TAS.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 1 A press. You can find that video here: youtu.be/2agJMFZ67Vc. Since then, I worked out a strategy to use fly guy's twirl to get to the island from the ship's mast.

Here is a play by play of the strategy. First, I go down to fly guy to lure him out of his starting position. You see, in order to manipulate fly guy's movement, he needs to be 2000+ units away from his starting position, and so I need to lure him away. I also use him to get off at the top of the pole, because Mario is unable to do that by himself. I then deactivate fly guy while he's in the direction I wish to transport him. From there, I manipulate him into a lunge, and activate him so that he lunges up to a particular height. While he's at this height, I repeatedly manipulate him into a lunging state in the direction of my choosing, then reactivate him right when his lunge runs out. In doing so, I am able to move him laterally without him moving up or down (if he moved up or down, I would lose the ability to manipulate him easily). Once fly guy is at a certain checkpoint, I ride the carpet up and allow fly guy to lunge up to another particular height. Then once again, I repeatedly manipulate fly into lunges at particular angles, effectively transporting him horizontally to another checkpoint. From there, I manipulate lakitu such that I use him to get onto the ship using vertical speed conservation. Then, I climb up the ship's mast, reactivating fly guy while he is in a spinning state. I strategically climb up and down the pole to manipulate fly guy just right so that he flies into the top of the mast. I also position Mario just right so that fly guy knocks into him while also causing Mario to bounce on him and twirl. The twirl's slow descent combined with the initial momentum of the knock back is just enough for Mario to reach the island. And from there, it's a simple matter of having chuckya throw Mario into the star.

I put a lot of effort into studying fly guy in order to have the necessary tools to perform this strategy. Here is a video explaining how to manipulate fly guy: youtu.be/vY7nNNT9qCo. Additionally, here is a diagram of how fly guy turns back towards his starting position as his lunge ends: http://imgur.com/rou6WMy. This was important so that I could maximize his displacement with each lunge. Also, here's a picture of my calculations [http://imgur.com/zqoFP8t] and here's a picture of my setup [http://imgur.com/8IBuFiM].

If you don't know about the vertical speed conservation trick, it works like this. When Mario does a dive recover and lands, the variable that maintains his vertical speed does NOT reset to zero. So, if Mario lands while he is falling, then this vertical speed will be negative. But if Mario lands while he is still ascending (as is the case when he diver recovers between the falling blocks), then this vertical speed will be positive. This vertical speed WILL reset to 0 if Mario moves at all, but punching and breakdancing will not affect it. Anyway, once Mario becomes airborne, then his vertical speed takes instant effect. So by storing a positive vertical speed and not resetting it, I am able to have Mario "pop up" when he punches his way off of the falling block. The reason I needed this vertical speed bounce instead of a regular dive recover is because Mario is able to ground pound with the former, which can ascend just enough height to make it to the ship platform.

.m64 stats:
Length: 24 minutes and 47 seconds
Re-records: 16280
Frames: 89221 (44573 input)
Time to Make: ~13 hours

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

updated 11 years ago

SM64 - Somewhere Over the Rainbow - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-14 | I collect the star Somewhere Over the Rainbow in Rainbow Ride using 0 A presses. For the record, this is TAS.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 1 A press. You can find that video here: youtu.be/2agJMFZ67Vc. Since then, I worked out a strategy to use fly guy's twirl to get to the island from the ship's mast.

Here is a play by play of the strategy. First, I go down to fly guy to lure him out of his starting position. You see, in order to manipulate fly guy's movement, he needs to be 2000+ units away from his starting position, and so I need to lure him away. I also use him to get off at the top of the pole, because Mario is unable to do that by himself. I then deactivate fly guy while he's in the direction I wish to transport him. From there, I manipulate him into a lunge, and activate him so that he lunges up to a particular height. While he's at this height, I repeatedly manipulate him into a lunging state in the direction of my choosing, then reactivate him right when his lunge runs out. In doing so, I am able to move him laterally without him moving up or down (if he moved up or down, I would lose the ability to manipulate him easily). Once fly guy is at a certain checkpoint, I ride the carpet up and allow fly guy to lunge up to another particular height. Then once again, I repeatedly manipulate fly into lunges at particular angles, effectively transporting him horizontally to another checkpoint. From there, I manipulate lakitu such that I use him to get onto the ship using vertical speed conservation. Then, I climb up the ship's mast, reactivating fly guy while he is in a spinning state. I strategically climb up and down the pole to manipulate fly guy just right so that he flies into the top of the mast. I also position Mario just right so that fly guy knocks into him while also causing Mario to bounce on him and twirl. The twirl's slow descent combined with the initial momentum of the knock back is just enough for Mario to reach the island. And from there, it's a simple matter of having chuckya throw Mario into the star.

I put a lot of effort into studying fly guy in order to have the necessary tools to perform this strategy. Here is a video explaining how to manipulate fly guy: youtu.be/vY7nNNT9qCo. Additionally, here is a diagram of how fly guy turns back towards his starting position as his lunge ends: http://imgur.com/rou6WMy. This was important so that I could maximize his displacement with each lunge. Also, here's a picture of my calculations [http://imgur.com/zqoFP8t] and here's a picture of my setup [http://imgur.com/8IBuFiM].

If you don't know about the vertical speed conservation trick, it works like this. When Mario does a dive recover and lands, the variable that maintains his vertical speed does NOT reset to zero. So, if Mario lands while he is falling, then this vertical speed will be negative. But if Mario lands while he is still ascending (as is the case when he diver recovers between the falling blocks), then this vertical speed will be positive. This vertical speed WILL reset to 0 if Mario moves at all, but punching and breakdancing will not affect it. Anyway, once Mario becomes airborne, then his vertical speed takes instant effect. So by storing a positive vertical speed and not resetting it, I am able to have Mario "pop up" when he punches his way off of the falling block. The reason I needed this vertical speed bounce instead of a regular dive recover is because Mario is able to ground pound with the former, which can ascend just enough height to make it to the ship platform.

.m64 stats:
Length: 24 minutes and 47 seconds
Re-records: 16280
Frames: 89221 (44573 input)
Time to Make: ~13 hours

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

Collecting Unlimited Coins in SM64

pannenkoek2012 2023-06-12 | I show what happens when you collect unlimited coins in Super Mario 64. Note that the 32 hours of collecting coins from moneybags was brute forced via a script I wrote.

Thanks to CadBrad for cleaning up the audio. (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Why Some 1-Ups Dont Flicker Before Disappearing

pannenkoek2012 2023-05-20 | I explain why some 1-ups don't flicker before disappearing.

Thanks to the following people for making this possible:
➤ miftasee, for drawing the picture of the arrows (fiverr.com/miftasee)
➤ CadBrad, for cleaning up the audio (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Crashing SM64 by Shrinking a Fly Guy

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-26 | I show how to crash Super Mario 64 by shrinking a fly guy.

Thanks to the following people for making this possible:
➤ nim, for researching the exact cause of the crash (youtube.com/channel/UCG_b-lywDked3HfbZQXU8Gw)
➤ devwizard, for creating functionality for me to graph fly guy's graphics triangles (youtube.com/@devwizard64/videos)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Scuttlebug Path

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-24 | I show the path of a scuttlebug.

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Unused Warps

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-23 | I show the unused warps in Super Mario 64.

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Toad Star Requirements

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-22 | I explain the star requirements for the toads in SM64.

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Enemy Paths

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-21 | I show what various enemy paths look like over time.

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Koopa the Contortionist (Music Video)

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-18 | Previously, I showed various ways of messing with Koopa the Quick (youtube.com/shorts/xK5SJ6CuezY). One of those ways was placing a bowling ball on his path, which caused him to walk backwards and make some strange animations. I didn't feel that the few seconds I showed of it in that video did it justice, and so I thought I'd show it in more detail, this time in song form!

Thanks to Ray (fiverr.com/rayy700) for doing the piano music.

Lyrics (to the tune of "This Land Is Your Land"):
His arm goes this way
His arm goes that way
Racing’s not boring
When you’re contorting
Sometimes he’s underground
Sometimes he’s all around
This koopa will be here the whole day

His leg goes this way
His leg goes that way
Crushed to a tiny mass
Or plastered on the grass
But it can’t feel too great
To be stuck in this state
This koopa sure wants to make me pay

He backs up this way
Goes forwards that way
He’ll be here day and night
It’s quite the busy life
No one to get him out
I’ll never let him out
This koopa will be here till next May

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Messing with Koopa the Quick

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-14 | I show various ways of messing with Koopa the Quick.

Thanks to CadBrad for cleaning up the audio. (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Bowser Glitches

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-13 | I show several Bowser glitches.

Thanks to CadBrad for cleaning up the audio. (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Quadruple Star Spawn

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-12 | I show a quadruple star spawn.

Thanks to CadBrad for cleaning up the audio. (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Pupil Adoption

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-11 | I show the pupil adoption glitch. To do it, Mario has to be far away from Mr. I when he dies. In BBH and HMC, that means being in a different room, and in LLL, that means just being far away. Secondly, another object has to load into Mr. I's object slot on the frame after he dies. The pupil is programmed to be attached to its parent object, but this glitch makes it so that the parent object changes from Mr. I to a new object, causing the pupil to be attached to that new object instead.

Thanks to CadBrad for cleaning up the audio. (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

The Mystery Objects of SM64

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-10 | I show the mystery objects of SM64.

Thanks to CadBrad for cleaning up the audio. (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

Weird Ways to Defeat Enemies in SM64

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-08 | I show weird ways to "defeat" enemies in Super Mario 64. Note that this involves making use of many glitches.

Thanks to CadBrad for cleaning up the audio. (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

The Misplaced Objects of SM64

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-06 | I show the misplaced objects of SM64.

Thanks to Alexpalix1 for providing me his TAS of collecting the 1-up in CCM. (youtube.com/@PaLiX)
Thanks to CadBrad for cleaning up the audio. (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

The Coin Failsafe for Bob-ombs but not Scuttlebugs

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-04 | I explain the coin failsafe that bob-ombs have but scuttlebugs don't have.

Thanks to CadBrad for cleaning up the audio. (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

How to Crash SM64 Using a Pendulum (Commentated)

pannenkoek2012 2023-04-02 | I explain how to crash Super Mario 64 using a pendulum.

Thanks to the following people for making this possible:
➤ rcombs, for console-verifying the TAS (twitch.tv/rcombs)
➤ Sjmhrp, for inspiring this endeavor (youtube.com/channel/UCXaMUq0xqL6N-nLDzL6o0gQ)
➤ nim, for being my consultant on floats and N64 hardware (youtube.com/channel/UCG_b-lywDked3HfbZQXU8Gw)
➤ kaze, for making the slinky visual (youtube.com/channel/UCuvSqzfO_LV_QzHdmEj84SQ)
➤ CadBrad, for cleaning up the audio (youtube.com/c/CadBrad)

Timestamps:
0:00:00 Background
0:01:32 TTC Settings
0:02:56 Pendulum Variables
0:10:41 Pendulum Code
0:12:31 Variable Types
0:14:57 Floats
0:20:18 Converting a Float to a Signed Integer
0:21:50 Creating and Running the TAS
0:22:47 Corners
0:24:25 RNG
0:30:15 Brute Forcer
0:31:20 The Mini Pendulum
0:32:56 Phase 1
0:38:28 Phase 2
0:42:51 Fixing the Sleep Problem
0:44:17 Watching One Complete Swing
0:45:24 Phase 3: Intro
0:47:00 Float Rounding
0:51:44 The Modulo Operator
0:54:08 Phase 3: Rounding Explained
1:05:49 Phase 3: Pendulum Behavior
1:07:23 Will It Crash?
1:08:50 Stats
1:10:56 Ending

If you like my content and want to support me, please consider becoming a member of my channel.

The ABC Trials

pannenkoek2012 2019-12-07 | Update: The competition is now over. The winner is jongyon7192p, as he submitted a 0 A press entry. Consequently, all restrictions around collaboration and discussion about the trials are lifted. So you may stream the trials, make videos about the trials, discuss the trials, share m64s of the trials, etc. I will now start working on a video about the trials, explaining the intended solutions and how the competitors did. Please be patient as I do this, as it will take quite some time to do.

I showcase The ABC Trials (a ROM hack that Kaze and I created) and offer a $1000 prize to whoever can submit a TAS of it using the fewest A presses by January 20th, 2021. This ROM hack tests your ABC TASing skills and knowledge, so I hope you’ve been paying attention all these years! In case it wasn't clear, this is a *TAS* competition, which normally doesn't allow people to share their strats, since then other TASers would see their strats and copy them.

Find all rules and resources in the discord: discord.gg/VNZcr4C

Big thanks to Kaze (youtube.com/channel/UCuvSqzfO_LV_QzHdmEj84SQ) for all his help. You see, Kaze has a Patreon (patreon.com/Kazestuff) where you can pay him to make ROM hacks for you, and so I took him up on this offer. Specifically, I told Kaze all the details of how I wanted the ROM hack to be (e.g. what platforms/objects there should be and where, what the HUD should look like, what the music should be, etc.) and he made it exactly as I envisioned. So this hack is the brainchild of my level design and Kaze’s hacking skills.

Also, thanks to JoshDuMan (youtube.com/channel/UCKd0W028Csk7WhEPjeLN5pg) for making a ROM hack for me that made it easier to test pieces of my level design.

Music
(1) Erased from Atom Music Audio
(2) Near Holli Jolli Village Theme from Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time
(3) Astral Observatory Theme from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Note that as part of the licensing agreement with Atom Music Audio, I’m required to put the following links to their services:
Bandcamp - bit.ly/34yYkTH
iTunes - apple.co/2PV4IAH
Amazon - amzn.to/32lojg3
Google Play - http://tiny.cc/3lctfz
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2JUhlrP
Deezer - bit.ly/33hzN5v
Tidal - bit.ly/2Ceq2Jw

pannenkoek2012 Live Stream

pannenkoek2012 2018-08-17 | ...

SM64 - Watch for Rolling Rocks - 0.5x A Presses (Commentated)

pannenkoek2012 2016-01-12 | I collect the star Watch for Rolling Rocks in Hazy Maze Cave using 0.5 A presses. The A press is to perform AB kicks on the rising elevators. Without doing these kicks, Mario would go through the elevator, and so there'd be no way to navigate out of the lake area with QPU speed. For the record, this is TAS.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 1 A press. You can find that video here: youtu.be/yGic8wwhm6g. Since then, we discovered PU movement and scuttlebug raising, which made this strat possible.

For convenience, here are the informative parts of the video:
0:35 for half A presses
3:44 for scuttlebug transportation
5:01 for scuttlebug raising
8:07 for hyper speed walking (HSWing)
10:40 for parallel universes (PUs)

Here is a play by play of what I do. First, I use scuttlebug transportation to move a scuttlebug to the corner of the Watch for Rolling Rocks platform. Then, I use scuttlebug raising to raise him to about the height of the platform. Next, I use hyper speed walking to generate massive speed. Finally, I use PU movement to navigate to the top of the course, launch to the scuttlebug to bounce on him, and ground pound in the misalignment of the platform to get onto it. And from there, I collect the star.

If you want to see my workspace/calculations and read about the process of TASing this, I've chronicled it here: http://imgur.com/gallery/rK24p

.m64 stats:
Length: 13 hours and 49.5 minutes
Re-records: 6824
Frames: 2986271 (1493100 input)

This video is without a doubt the one that I've put the most time into out of all my videos. I knew this going in, and so I decided to keep a log of how much time I spent on each aspect of it (note: if my computer was doing work like compiling/recording and I could let it be, I didn't count that time). Here are the stats:
Time to TAS: 12 hours
Time to record/manage raw avis: 9 hours
Time to create uncommentated version: 31 hours
Time to add visuals/commentary: 75 hours

Update: The PU route used in this video actually crashes on console, as it turns out PU crashes can still occur even when locking the camera in the main map. Nevertheless, an alternate route has been found that avoids these PU crashes and has been console verified: youtu.be/T-G4ymVwajw

Uncommentated Version: youtu.be/X-zAWbM50JM
ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Watch for Rolling Rocks - 0.5x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2016-01-12 | I collect the star Watch for Rolling Rocks in Hazy Maze Cave using 0.5 A presses. The A press is to perform AB kicks on the rising elevators. Without doing these kicks, Mario would go through the elevator, and so there'd be no way to navigate out of the lake area with QPU speed. For the record, this is TAS.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 1 A press. You can find that video here: youtu.be/yGic8wwhm6g. Since then, we discovered PU movement and scuttlebug raising, which made this strat possible.

To learn about the tricks, glitches, and vocabulary used in this video, please watch the commentated version: youtu.be/kpk2tdsPh0A. I even listed the time of each explanation in the description of that video.

Here is a play by play of what I do. First, I use scuttlebug transportation to move a scuttlebug to the corner of the Watch for Rolling Rocks platform. Then, I use scuttlebug raising to raise him to about the height of the platform. Next, I use hyper speed walking to generate massive speed. Finally, I use PU movement to navigate to the top of the course, launch to the scuttlebug to bounce on him, and ground pound in the misalignment of the platform to get onto it. And from there, I collect the star.

If you want to see my workspace/calculations and read about the process of TASing this, I've chronicled it here: http://imgur.com/gallery/rK24p

.m64 stats:
Length: 13 hours and 49.5 minutes
Re-records: 6824
Frames: 2986271 (1493100 input)

This video is without a doubt the one that I've put the most time into out of all my videos. I knew this going in, and so I decided to keep a log of how much time I spent on each aspect of it (note: if my computer was doing work like compiling/recording and I could let it be, I didn't count that time). Here are the stats:
Time to TAS: 12 hours
Time to record/manage raw avis: 9 hours
Time to create uncommentated version: 31 hours
Time to add visuals/commentary: 75 hours

Commentated Version: youtu.be/kpk2tdsPh0A
ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Stomp on the Thwomp - 6x A Presses [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-12-31 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/7S5CF1vsDPQ

I collect the star Stomp on the Thwomp in Tick Tock Clock using 6 A presses. The A presses are as follows:

A Press #1: to get past the first rotating block
A Presses #2-3: to get past the 3 rotating blocks onto the mesh floor
A Press #4: to get onto the rotating cogs
A Press #5: to double jump to the top of the clock
A Press #6: to jump onto thwomp

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 7 A presses. You can find that video here: youtu.be/5W6_55IDpbU. Since then, Tyler Kehne discovered that there is a pedro spot within the cogs if the clock parts are frozen. Furthermore, he figured out that Mario could reach this pedro spot using a bob-omb. I then optimized the A presses needed to achieve that pedro spot enough so that we ended up saving an A press.

Here is a play by play of what I do. First, I use the crazy box in TTM to set the HOLP to a precise location. Then in TTC I use instant release to place the bob-omb at the HOLP. I then climb up TTC and reactivate the bob-omb to have it snap to me. I bring it to the cogs and use its hitbox to push Mario into the pedro spot. From there, I use the pedro spot to build up speed until I have enough to double jump to the top of the clock, and from there I collect the star.

What is instant release? If Mario both dives into a grabbable object and bonks his head on a wall simultaneously, he'll both grab the object and release it on the same frame. The HOLP is a variable in the game that keeps track of the last place Mario has held an object. It updates continuously as Mario holds an object, and it's the position where released objects appear. However, when Mario performs instant release, the object is released at the HOLP (as it usually is), but the HOLP has not been updated to where it should be since Mario released the object after 0 frames! This means the object will appear at the previous HOLP, i.e. the coordinates of the last place Mario held an object.

What is a pedro spot? It's a spot where Mario can be airborne and about to move onto a floor that has a ceiling right above it. The game calculates Mario's intended position, which is then raised up by the floor. However, the ceiling prevents Mario from moving to that spot. Consequently, Mario will end up remaining in place while able to gain forward speed. His forward speed will increase until the ceiling or floor runs out and he breaks free from the pedro spot.

.m64 stats:
Length: 4 minutes and 38 seconds
Re-records: 2021
Frames: 16660 (8250 input)
Time to TAS: 2 hours

Commentated Version: youtu.be/vaJOVyfPaBE
ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Stomp on the Thwomp - 6x A Presses (Commentated) [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-12-31 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/7S5CF1vsDPQ

I collect the star Stomp on the Thwomp in Tick Tock Clock using 6 A presses. The A presses are as follows:

A Press #1: to get past the first rotating block
A Presses #2-3: to get past the 3 rotating blocks onto the mesh floor
A Press #4: to get onto the rotating cogs
A Press #5: to double jump to the top of the clock
A Press #6: to jump onto thwomp

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 7 A presses. You can find that video here: youtu.be/5W6_55IDpbU. Since then, Tyler Kehne discovered that there is a pedro spot within the cogs if the clock parts are frozen. Furthermore, he figured out that Mario could reach this pedro spot using a bob-omb. I then optimized the A presses needed to achieve that pedro spot enough so that we ended up saving an A press.

Here is a play by play of what I do. First, I use the crazy box in TTM to set the HOLP to a precise location. Then in TTC I use instant release to place the bob-omb at the HOLP. I then climb up TTC and reactivate the bob-omb to have it snap to me. I bring it to the cogs and use its hitbox to push Mario into the pedro spot. From there, I use the pedro spot to build up speed until I have enough to double jump to the top of the clock, and from there I collect the star.

What is instant release? If Mario both dives into a grabbable object and bonks his head on a wall simultaneously, he'll both grab the object and release it on the same frame. The HOLP is a variable in the game that keeps track of the last place Mario has held an object. It updates continuously as Mario holds an object, and it's the position where released objects appear. However, when Mario performs instant release, the object is released at the HOLP (as it usually is), but the HOLP has not been updated to where it should be since Mario released the object after 0 frames! This means the object will appear at the previous HOLP, i.e. the coordinates of the last place Mario held an object.

What is a pedro spot? It's a spot where Mario can be airborne and about to move onto a floor that has a ceiling right above it. The game calculates Mario's intended position, which is then raised up by the floor. However, the ceiling prevents Mario from moving to that spot. Consequently, Mario will end up remaining in place while able to gain forward speed. His forward speed will increase until the ceiling or floor runs out and he breaks free from the pedro spot.

.m64 stats:
Length: 4 minutes and 38 seconds
Re-records: 2021
Frames: 16660 (8250 input)
Time to TAS: 2 hours
Time to edit video: ~15 hours

Uncommentated Version: youtu.be/5t-ZbJsFEwg
ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Go to The Secret Aquarium - 0x A Presses (VC Only) [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-10-09 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/7YhJcF9v7QQ

I go to The Secret Aquarium using using 0 A presses. Unfortunately, this method is only possible on emulator and virtual console, and NOT console. This is because if Mario goes to a PU on console without fixing the camera in the main map, the game will freeze. Normally we can get around this by fixing the camera, but this isn't possible in the castle foyer because the foyer has a special camera that automatically follows Mario around. Thus, whether or not this A press save truly counts is up for debate.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I did this using 1 A press. You can find that video here: youtu.be/mlHzqJn2SMs?t=5m37s. Since then, Tyler Kehne discovered how to exploit PUs and described to me how one could use them to get into the Secret Aquarium using 0 A presses. Consequently, I planned a route, tested it, and ultimately made a TAS that did just that.

So what are PUs? Well, Mario's position is a float, but is treated as a short for testing collisions. Since shorts can only hold up to 2^16 values, some information is lost in this conversion. For example, a float of 1 is converted into a short of 1, but a float of (2^16)+1 is also converted into a short of 1. In other words, the modulo 2^16 operation is performed. This means that in some sense, being at position p + k*(2^16) for some integer k is treated the same as being at position p. Following this logic, there isn't just one map, but a grid of near infinite maps spread out by 2^16 intervals. These other maps are invisible, and are called Parallel Universes (PUs). With enough speed, Mario can travel to these PUs. However, 2^16 speed isn't enough, because the game checks if Mario is above land at each quarter step of his movement. Consequently, Mario needs 4 * 2^16 = 2^18 speed, so that each quarter step point is above a different PU. Thus, 2^18 is referred to as a quadruple PU distance, or QPU. Read Tyler's full description of PUs here: http://pastebin.com/uH5GhHbp

Here is a play-by-play of what I do in the video. First, I go into HMC and use hyper speed walking to generate a vast amount of speed. Hyper speed walking occurs when Mario walks uphill on a steep slope in shallow water. After 25 hours, I've accumulated enough speed for the rest of the journey. From there, I navigate through PUs to arrive back in the HMC main map's water. I then exit out, and conserve my speed into the castle by pressing Z+C^ and punch to get out of C^ mode. From there, I navigate through PUs to ascend up the foyer stairs and then up the BitDW stairs. See, I needed to get sufficient elevation in order to grab onto the SA entrance, and the BitDW hallway was the only place high enough to do so. Once there, I simply return to the main map exactly at the SA entrance.

Note that platforms with different slopes require different speed multiples to cross PUs from. Thus, when going from a platform of one slope to a platform of a different slope, I must drop my speed until it syncs up with the next available speed multiple of the new platform. Decreasing speed can be done quite quickly by jumping with A, but since this is the A button challenge, the quickest way to decrease my speed is to continuously punch, which can take quite some time.

For viewer pleasure and enlightenment, I also show the route a second time with helpful visuals. The 4 screens I show are:
(1) a Standard View: showing the natural view that the game displays
(2) a Relative View: showing Mario's relative position within each PU, which normally cannot be discerned because each PU is invisible
(3) a PU Map: showing which PU Mario is in out the infinite grid of PUs
(4) a Relative Map: showing an overhead view of Mario's relative position within each PU

Pictures of my calculations: http://imgur.com/a/05op7
Scale map of what the PU grid looks like: http://imgur.com/wTHujrX

.m64 stats:
Length: 27 hours and 55 minutes
Re-records: 2936
Frames: 6,030,103 (3,015,000 input)

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - TTC Upwarp $1000 Bounty

pannenkoek2012 2015-08-04 | Update: Due to people using hacked savestates to fraudulently recreate the upwarp, all submissions going forward must be an m64 file that begins from game start.

Recently, a video by twitch user DOTA_TeaBag was brought to my attention, in which he did an upwarp in Tick Tock Clock. I believe this is a new, unexplored glitch, but unfortunately I have been unsuccessful at recreating it myself. Thus, I'm putting a bounty of $1000 on the glitch. In other words, the first person to recreate the glitch and send it to me will earn $1000 from me.

The submission should be a .m64 from game start. The bounty will hold until the first person successfully submits a recreation of the glitch, at which point I will add the word [CLAIMED] to the end of this video's title, and then no one else will be eligible for the prize.

Helpful downloads (a savestate in the TTC room on the Japanese version and an MHS file showing the ceiling currently above Mario):
drive.google.com/file/d/0B3JCRPC09lDtR0N2RzVzWlNZQVU/view?usp=sharing

DOTA_TeaBag's highlight of the glitch:
youtube.com/watch?v=bhBf5crp0i8

Full VOD of DOTA_TeaBag that day:
youtube.com/watch?v=TTh3LY-5KKg

The song I used at the end was a Benny Hill Techno Remix Demo made by Dj Freshwinter, which you can find here:
youtu.be/fesYUkG4Kyg

Additional Notes:
(1) Some people are wondering why the spinners are rotating instead of being still. You must enter Tick Tock Clock when the long hand is at 12 for the objects in the course to be still.
(2) I've been told others have reuploaded this video. Basically, the bounty is awarded to the first person to submit a valid recreation of the glitch. If you submit your entry to someone else and they send it to me, then that person will earn the bounty. I'm not responsible for tracking down the original creator of the .m64; I award whoever sends it in, as is said in the rules. So don't submit to someone else.
(3) Your submission should be a .m64 file that Mupen64 can play. Anything else (such as .avi, .rec) is not valid. So don't use Project64 or Bizhawk.
(4) I've heard of and thought of every theory in the book. Maybe it was the bob-omb, the bob-omb's explosion, the bob-omb's coin, when Mario hits the corner, when Mario presses the wall, when Mario hits his head on the spinner, when Mario touches the other corner, when Mario lands at the edge, being under certain ceilings, etc. Telling me you believe one of these is the cause is not very helpful. I'm looking for hard evidence.

SM64 - The Remaining A Presses [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-07-30 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/RHU1BdDCClE

I show the remaining A presses that have yet to be saved. Currently, the 120 star ABC run takes 37 A presses, and of these only 27 are unique A presses.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Snowmans Big Head - No Buttons Allowed

pannenkoek2012 2015-07-30 | I collect the star Snowman's Big Head in Snowman's Land without using any buttons (I only use the joystick and adjust the camera angle).

Here are the specifics of what I do. I first moved a moneybag all the way over to the shell's item block, duplicated the moneybag excessively, and then rode over to the shell by repeatedly bouncing on the moneybags. From there, I use the shell to gain hyper speed in order to reenter fly guy's zone exactly in front of him, causing him to lunge forwards. I then move far away enough from fly guy to deactivate him. Note that in order to manipulate fly guy, he needs to be deactivated 2000+ units away from his starting point, so to accomplish this, it was necessary to have him lunge away and then quickly deactivate him before he turned back. From there, I repeatedly manipulate fly guy to transport him closer to the snowman. Then I climb the snowman, reactivate fly guy, and bounce on him as he flies by. The twirl from bouncing on him provided Mario with enough height to get onto the snowman's head to collect the star.

.m64 stats:
Length: 41 minutes and 18 seconds
Re-records: 9309 [2431 since branching off]
Frames: 148695 (73950 input)
Time to Make: 12 hours [5 hours since branching off]

The song I used was Sword Lord's remix of the William tell Overture, which can be found at: http://youtu.be/P7svUxY2Gns.

To see more of my No Buttons Allowed videos, you can go to my playlist of them here: youtube.com/playlist?list=SPmvvhlevqC2fXLL55ZQT1cesNmM2qHPn1

SM64 - Elevate for 8 Red Coins - 0.5x A Presses [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-07-18 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/lT3SnMMLY0w

I collect the star Elevate for 8 Red Coins in Hazy Maze Cave using 0.5 A presses. The A press is to perform AB kicks on the rising elevators in order to maintain the hyper speed while going up.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 1 A press. You can find that video here: youtu.be/zQgBScffFXI. Since then, Tyler Kehne discovered that hyper speed walking could be performed in the underground lake in order to accumulate 1500+ speed [youtu.be/EX2CCKfXBpc]. Additionally, Plush collaborated with Sonicpacker to figure out how to bring hyper speed up an elevator without losing too much of it [youtu.be/4e6neRw-32E]. Expanding upon this, I figured out that by relocating the scuttlebug in the rolling rocks room, we could bounce on it to cross the gap back to the beginning area, and from there clip into the red coin room on the other side of the red wall [youtu.be/4ekMOxfn0bs]. And from there, it's it's history!

So how does hyper speed walking work? It involves a steep slope that descends into water. Normally, Mario wouldn't be able to stand on a slope this steep, but the shallow water gives the ground special properties that allows him to do so. Furthermore, if Mario tries to run uphill on this ground, he will end up running backwards at an increasingly fast rate. Usually, this walking can't be used to accumulate all that much speed, because (1) the slope runs out, (2) the slope connects to a wall at angle that isn't 90 degrees and so running backwards into it moves Mario either uphill or downhill, or (3) Mario gains too much speed and can no longer properly follow along the shallow water. Of course, all of this was already known. What wasn't known (and what Tyler discovered) was that the red wall stops Mario from moving while allowing his backwards speed to increase.

If you're wondering about the half A press, read this before commenting to ask why. I use a special notation that allows for half A presses. Specifically, if you enter a level already holding the A button, then that A press only counts as half. It's actually pretty important to distinguish between the A button being PRESSED and the A button being HELD. While pressing A allows Mario to execute several kinds of jumps, the holding of A allows Mario to swim in water, do little kicks up slopes, grab the owl, and twirl slowly. So if a star requires the A button to be held, the pressing of the A button could have been done at some point in the past, and just held until that moment. For instance, let's say there are two stars: one that requires the A button to be pressed (1x A presses), and another that only requires the A button to be held (0.5x A presses). Individually, these stars would both require a full A press. But if these stars were collected one after the other, then the A button could be pressed during the former, and held all the way through to the next star to be used in the latter. In this manner, these stars together would only use 1 A press, whereas they would take 2 A presses if done individually. So during a 120 star run, you would round these half A presses down, but on a star-by-star basis you would round them up.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - A-Maze-ing Emergency Exit - 0.5x A Presses [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-07-13 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/lwcGE7Js1QE

I collect the star A-Maze-ing Emergency Exit in Hazy Maze Cave using 0.5 A presses. The A press is to perform AB kicks on the rising elevators in order to maintain the hyper speed while going up.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 1 A press. You can find that video here: youtu.be/l802xZp4TBY. Since then, Tyler Kehne discovered that hyper speed walking could be performed in the underground lake in order to accumulate 1500+ speed [youtu.be/EX2CCKfXBpc]. Additionally, Plush collaborated with Sonicpacker to figure out how to bring hyper speed up an elevator without losing too much of it [youtu.be/4e6neRw-32E]. Furthermore, Plush worked out a route for A-Maze-ing Emergency Exit that seemed promising, though he was unable to conserve enough speed to make it fully work [youtu.be/TXiXN0njdFg]. Finally, I came along and put everything together, managing to conserve enough speed to make the strat work.

I actually didn't know how much speed would be optimal, so I just got as much as I could (~1450). However, the out-of-bounds clip to the second elevator hallway turned out to have a speed cap, as bringing more than ~430 speed caused all my momentum to be lost. Consequently, I had to drastically reduce my speed at the top of the first elevator to comply with this speed limit. After this speed reduction, I had to be EXTREMELY conservative with what remaining speed I had, since I needed 236+ speed to initiate a successful launch to the star platform. Note that Mario cannot simply AB kick onto the star platform, since that move doesn't go high enough. Instead, he must launch fast enough to grab onto the ledge, and launching with anything less than 236 speed causes Mario to be too low to grab on by the time he's within grabbing-on distance.

So how does hyper speed walking work? It involves a steep slope that descends into water. Normally, Mario wouldn't be able to stand on a slope this steep, but the shallow water gives the ground special properties that allows him to do so. Furthermore, if Mario tries to run uphill on this ground, he will end up running backwards at an increasingly fast rate. Usually, this walking can't be used to accumulate all that much speed, because (1) the slope runs out, (2) the slope connects to a wall at angle that isn't 90 degrees and so running backwards into it moves Mario either uphill or downhill, or (3) Mario gains too much speed and can no longer properly follow along the shallow water. Of course, all of this was already known. What wasn't known (and what Tyler discovered) was that the red wall stops Mario from moving while allowing his backwards speed to increase.

If you're wondering about the half A press, read this before commenting to ask why. I use a special notation that allows for half A presses. Specifically, if you enter a level already holding the A button, then that A press only counts as half. It's actually pretty important to distinguish between the A button being PRESSED and the A button being HELD. While pressing A allows Mario to execute several kinds of jumps, the holding of A allows Mario to swim in water, do little kicks up slopes, grab the owl, and twirl slowly. So if a star requires the A button to be held, the pressing of the A button could have been done at some point in the past, and just held until that moment. For instance, let's say there are two stars: one that requires the A button to be pressed (x1 A presses), and another that only requires the A button to be held (0.5 A presses). Individually, these stars would both require a full A press. But if these stars were collected one after the other, then the A button could be pressed during the former, and held all the way through to the next star to be used in the latter. In this manner, these stars together would only use 1 A press, whereas they would take 2 A presses if done individually. So during a 120 star run, you would round these half A presses down, but on a star-by-star basis you would round them up.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Watch for Rolling Rocks - 1x A Presses [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-07-11 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/kpk2tdsPh0A

I collect the star Watch for Rolling Rocks in Hazy Maze Cave using 1 A press. The A press is to do a hyper speed double jump up to the star from the underground lake.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 2 A presses. You can find that video here: youtu.be/DZxaWsnucGM. To understand the improvement since then, we're going to need some background information:

Originally, Plush figured out we could accumulate hyper speed in the underground lake using hyper speed water sliding, which can be seen here: youtu.be/69NMgKGFKC0?t=1m29s. This technique involved using Z to conserve horizontal speed out of water, and C^ to slide down steep slopes while gaining speed. Soon after this, I realized that with enough hyper speed, we could do a very high double jump all the way to the Watch for Rolling Rocks star [youtu.be/DahyjxZzRIs]. Unfortunately, this technique required ~1500 horizontal speed, whereas hyper speed water sliding could only accumulate ~500 speed, and this was simply not enough [youtu.be/hipaBm6UWUM]. All hope seemed lost, until today when Tyler Kehne discovered that hyper speed walking could be performed in the underground lake as well [youtu.be/EX2CCKfXBpc]. With this technique, we could accumulate 1700+ hyper speed, which was more than enough to collect the Watch for Rolling Rocks star using 1 A press.

So how does hyper speed walking work? It involves a steep slope that descends into water. Normally, Mario wouldn't be able to stand on a slope this steep, but the shallow water gives the ground special properties that allows him to do so. Furthermore, if Mario tries to run uphill on this ground, he will end up running backwards at an increasingly fast rate. Usually, this walking can't be used to accumulate all that much speed, because (1) the slope runs out, (2) the slope connects to a wall at angle that isn't 90 degrees and so running backwards into it moves Mario either uphill or downhill, or (3) Mario gains too much speed and can no longer properly follow along the shallow water. Of course, all of this was already known. What wasn't known (and what Tyler discovered) was that the red wall stops Mario from moving while allowing his backwards speed to increase. With this observation, the Watch for Rolling Rocks strat became 100% doable.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Jolly Roger Bay 100 Coins & Red Coins on the Ship Afloat - 1x A Presses [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-06-23 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/Onae2YHOv9E

I collect both the 100 coin star and the star Red Coins on the Ship Afloat in Jolly Roger Bay using 1 A press. Individually, the 100 coin star requires 1 A press, and Red Coins on the Ship Afloat requires 1 A press. That makes a total of 2 A presses, whereas collecting them together only requires 1 A press. Thus, I recommend combining these two stars, as it is the optimal strategy.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected these stars in 2 A presses. You can find that video here: youtu.be/GBRLdHZYabo. Since then, Tyler and I worked out a way to ground pound the blue coin block without needing to press A. You see, we had known for a while that a goomba bounce could be used to ground pound the blue coin block, though it seemed impossible to lure goombas far enough [youtu.be/eQ2GG08l3j8]. We knew we could lure goombas a bit by repeatedly knocking into them, but this required too much health to be used in practice [youtu.be/4jujYUtJm8E]. Fortunately, Tyler came along and analyzed the code behind goombas' behavior, and realized that there were ways to exploit their behavior to extend their chase sequence. By doing so, Tyler was able to make goombas walk further away from their home than they normally would [youtu.be/lonr-XBRwnY]. Seeing Tyler's progress and hearing his explanation of the exploit, I played around with it myself and ultimately worked out a technique that saved the A press [youtu.be/955e-pay6bg].

Here is how the goombas' code works: When Mario gets close to a goomba, it will notice him and then chase after him. This chase ends when any of the 3 following conditions are met:
(1) the goomba moves too far away from its home
(2) Mario moves too far away from the goomba's home
(3) Mario moves too far away from the goomba
During a chase, the goomba's target angle is towards Mario, and the goomba turns to try and face this target angle. However (and this is where things get complicated), there are 3 situations that "extend" the chase:
(1) when the goomba walks into a ledge
(2) when the goomba walks onto a steep slope or into a wall
(3) when the goomba collides with another goomba
When any of these occur, the goomba's target angle is recalculated (using complicated equations that aren't too important for this discussion). Thus, the target angle is no longer being set to towards Mario - instead, it will just stay constant, unless another chase extension is performed. Following a chase extension, the goomba will just turn towards its target angle, and once it reaches this angle, then the chase stops.

Upon reading this behavior, you may have realized just how we can exploit it. We simply need to have the goomba chase Mario, then extend the chase, and then repeatedly extend it so that the goomba's facing angle never actually reaches its target angle. In other words, the goomba will constantly be turning towards its target angle, but we have the goomba keep bumping into things that cause this angle to change, and so it never manages to face its current target angle and instead just keeps chasing forever. This is precisely what I do in the video to move a goomba all the way to the blue coin block. Using a rock's steep slope and a wall, I extend Goomba A's chase to move it far away from its home. Then, using a rock's steep slope, a wall, and Goomba A, I extend Goomba B's chase all the way to the blue coin block!

.m64 stats:
Length: 3 minutes and 26 seconds
Re-records: 5694
Frames: 12371 (6150 input)
Time to Make: ~7 hours

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Jolly Roger Bay 100 Coins - 1x A Presses [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-06-23 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/Onae2YHOv9E

I collect the 100 coin star in Jolly Roger Bay using 1 A press. The A press is to jump onto the ship / neighboring platforms, since there are 21 coins located up there, and so collecting 100 coins without them is impossible.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 2 A presses. You can find that video here: youtu.be/16wI-vutotw. Since then, Tyler and I worked out a way to ground pound the blue coin block without needing to press A. You see, we had known for a while that a goomba bounce could be used to ground pound the blue coin block, though it seemed impossible to lure goombas far enough [youtu.be/eQ2GG08l3j8]. We knew we could lure goombas a bit by repeatedly knocking into them, but this required too much health to be used in practice [youtu.be/4jujYUtJm8E]. Fortunately, Tyler came along and analyzed the code behind goombas' behavior, and realized that there were ways to exploit their behavior to extend their chase sequence. By doing so, Tyler was able to make goombas walk further away from their home than they normally would [youtu.be/lonr-XBRwnY]. Seeing Tyler's progress and hearing his explanation of the exploit, I played around with it myself and ultimately worked out a technique that saved the A press [youtu.be/955e-pay6bg].

Here is how the goombas' code works: When Mario gets close to a goomba, it will notice him and then chase after him. This chase ends when any of the 3 following conditions are met:
(1) the goomba moves too far away from its home
(2) Mario moves too far away from the goomba's home
(3) Mario moves too far away from the goomba
During a chase, the goomba's target angle is towards Mario, and the goomba turns to try and face this target angle. However (and this is where things get complicated), there are 3 situations that "extend" the chase:
(1) when the goomba walks into a ledge
(2) when the goomba walks onto a steep slope or into a wall
(3) when the goomba collides with another goomba
When any of these occur, the goomba's target angle is recalculated (using complicated equations that aren't too important for this discussion). Thus, the target angle is no longer being set to towards Mario - instead, it will just stay constant, unless another chase extension is performed. Following a chase extension, the goomba will just turn towards its target angle, and once it reaches this angle, then the chase stops.

Upon reading this behavior, you may have realized just how we can exploit it. We simply need to have the goomba chase Mario, then extend the chase, and then repeatedly extend it so that the goomba's facing angle never actually reaches its target angle. In other words, the goomba will constantly be turning towards its target angle, but we have the goomba keep bumping into things that cause this angle to change, and so it never manages to face its current target angle and instead just keeps chasing forever. This is precisely what I do in the video to move a goomba all the way to the blue coin block. Using a rock's steep slope and a wall, I extend Goomba A's chase to move it far away from its home. Then, using a rock's steep slope, a wall, and Goomba A, I extend Goomba B's chase all the way to the blue coin block!

.m64 stats:
Length: 3 minutes and 21 seconds
Re-records: 4738
Frames: 12046 (6000 input)
Time to Make: ~7 hours

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Pole-Jumping for Red Coins - 0.5x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-06-18 | I collect the star Pole-Jumping for Red Coins in Dire, Dire Docks using 0.5 A presses.

The A press is to swim with the shell in order to:
(1) clone a pole
(2) place the HOLP using a dummy clone
(3) clone the whirlpool

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 1.5 A presses. You can find that video here: youtu.be/2irYbgBSppU. Since then, I worked out a way to get to the red coin in the cage using a whirlpool clone and a new glitch known as "no translation loading".

You see, all red coins can be collected easily except for the two behind the red walls and the one in the cage. To collect the two red coins behind the red walls, I first placed the HOLP in a specific location using Whomp's Fortress. I then cloned a pole and released it at this HOLP using the hat in hand glitch. Consequently, I could use this cloned pole as an intermediate stopping point to help traverse the distance between two far apart poles.

Collecting the red coin in the cage was an entirely separate and more complicated matter. Backstory: Kyman showed the ABC crew some odd behavior he observed upon releasing the whirlpool clone at the loading point. Specifically, he demonstrated that he ended up in different locations throughout the course, which peaked our interest since what if it could warp Mario directly to the red coin in the cage? Tyler then looked into the matter, and informed us that Mario continues to spiral around whatever object overwrites the whirlpool's slot. Thus, I tested and played around with this, but ultimately declared it to be impossible to use [youtu.be/NCCID9hHrlI]. All hope was lost, until I realized Kyman had one more clip that seemed to defy my model. In this clip, he ended up going around in a big spiral in the beginning area (what I show at 13:31). I then looked into this and meticulously mapped it out [http://imgur.com/Mn1ut23], and realized Mario actually evaded the translation that normally applies to him at the loading point. Hence, no translation loading was discovered. I then tested and played around with the new possibilities and came up with a theoretical route that worked, but again declared it to be impossible in practice [youtu.be/EHWitWBHzi4]. However, after even more testing and playing around, I discovered that we could use the original whirlpool clone to achieve no translation loading, IF we placed it out of bounds. And of course, we could achieve this by placing the HOLP using the OTHER area's coordinate system and then using the hat in hand glitch. Finally, the strat all came together and an A press was saved!

To learn more about object displacement and the HOLP, you can watch my video on them here: http://youtu.be/seQ-IL-eNqk

If you're wondering what a half A press is, read this before commenting to ask. I use a special notation that allows for half A presses. Specifically, if you enter a level already holding the A button, then that A press only counts as half. It's actually pretty important to distinguish between the A button being PRESSED and the A button being HELD. While pressing A allows Mario to execute several kinds of jumps, the holding of A allows Mario to swim in water, do little kicks up slopes, grab the owl, and twirl slowly. So if a star requires the A button to be held, the pressing of the A button could have been done at some point in the past, and just held until that moment. For instance, let's say there are two stars: one that requires the A button to be pressed (x1 A presses), and another that only requires the A button to be held (0.5 A presses). Individually, these stars would both require a full A press. But if these stars were collected one after the other, then the A button could be pressed during the former, and held all the way through to the next star to be used in the latter. In this manner, these stars together would only use 1 A press, whereas they would take 2 A presses if done individually. So during a 120 star run, you would round these half A presses down, but on a star-by-star basis you would round them up.

Note: If it ever looks like I'm goofing around or stalling, it's because I'm waiting for the poles to get into position, and there's nothing I can do to speed it up. So just because I'm styling doesn't mean I'm wasting time!

.m64 stats:
Re-records (already on .m64): 13243
Re-records (added to .m64): 4527
Re-records (in total): 17770
Length: 10 minutes and 53 seconds

Picture of my calculations: http://imgur.com/PIeqSZk

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Mario Wings to the Sky - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-05-29 | I collect the star Mario Wings to the Sky in Bob-omb Battlefield using 0 A presses. For the record, this is TAS.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star using 1 A press. You can find that video here: youtu.be/j6W37o8_GE4. At that time, I believed it to be infeasible to use a goomba staircase to reach the secrets, because the number of goombas required was exponential in terms of the number of bounces. However, since then, I developed two new goomba structures: the goomba cluster and the goomba oasis, described as follows:

The goomba cluster is a group of goombas released at a single HOLP, but at different angles. This causes the goombas to be in slightly different positions, meaning that each of their hitboxes can be accessed with precise enough positioning. Consequently, the required number of goombas for a staircase dropped from exponential to quadratic.

The goomba oasis is a group of goombas released via transport cloning using a single HOLP. Transport cloning causes the goomba clone to end up midway between the interaction point and the HOLP. Since the goomba interaction may occur anywhere within a roughly circular region surrounding the goomba triplet, this means goomba clones can be released anywhere within a roughly circular region of half that radius midway between the goomba triplet and the HOLP. This allows the freedom to place multiple goomba clones in various positions in a difficult-to-reach area, and this was pivotal for collecting both secrets in one go.

Here is a play-by-play of what I do. First, I create goomba staircase up to a particular point above the floating island, and place the HOLP there. Then, I exit and reenter the course to reset the goombas (but the HOLP placement will stay). Next, I use shell hyper speed to collect the lowest three secrets. Then, I create a goomba oasis between the fourth and fifth secrets. Finally, I create a second goomba staircase up to the oasis, and then ride both the staircase and oasis to collect the last two secrets in one go, and lastly collect the star.

Picture of my calculations/TASing setup: http://imgur.com/a/HANeE

.m64 stats:
Length: 56 minutes and 44 seconds
Re-records: 15828
Frames: 204231 (97650 input)
Time to Make: ~55 hours

The song I used was Nighthawk919's remix of the Bob-omb Battlefield theme, which can be found at: youtu.be/Cg5VRg_43VY.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Roll into the Cage - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-05-22 | I collect the star Roll into the Cage in Tick Tock Clock using 0 A presses.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 1 A press. You can find that video here: youtu.be/UnXahB54yRQ. Since then, the ABC crew learned of the instant release glitch, which was pivotal for saving the A press.

Story time! So Plush showed the ABC crew this video from Honey [youtube.com/watch?v=v7Xcxr2rZ24]. This actually reminded me of something unexplainable that had happened to me years earlier, in which I dove with a bob-omb in TTC and the bob-omb warped across the stage. Eventually, we recreated it, studied it, and figured out exactly what was going on.

We've henceforth named this glitch the instant release, and here's how it works. If Mario both dives into a grabbable object and bonks his head on a wall simultaneously, he'll both grab the object and release it on the same frame. The HOLP is a variable in the game that keeps track of the last place Mario has held an object. It updates continuously as Mario holds an object, and it's the position where released objects appear. However, when Mario performs instant release, the object is released at the HOLP (as it usually is), but the HOLP has not been updated to where it should be since Mario released the object after 0 frames! This means the object will appear at the previous HOLP, i.e. the coordinates of the last place Mario held an object.

In the video, I first achieve a very precise HOLP using the chuckya in WDW. I then enter TTC and perform the instant release on one of the bob-ombs. The bob-omb is thus released at the HOLP laterally, but at Mario's current height. Consequently, the bob-omb ends up at a position out of bounds, and it's far enough away from Mario that it deactivates. Leaving the bob-omb there, I use the other bob-omb to clone coins so I have almost 100. Then I make my way onto the cogs and reenter the bob-bomb's radius. The bob-omb becomes active, but the game doesn't want it out of bounds, and so as a failsafe, it places the bob-omb at Mario's position. This is convenient for me, because then I can use the bob-omb's backwards momentum to get over to the cage, and from there I can use vertical speed conservation to get the star.

How did I make that ascent up to the cogs? First, I made a fire clone and got burned by it. Then I made a second fire clone, and was able to release it without getting burned because its hitbox was overshadowed by the first fire clone's now dormant hitbox. Then I cloned the 100th coin, and activated the 100 coin star near the fire clones. Finally, I dive recovered into the still active fire clone, got burned, did a fire bounce in mid-air, collected the 100 coin star, and "grabbed on" to the ledge using the star dance clip.

So what is vertical speed conservation? When Mario does a dive recover and lands, the variable that maintains his vertical speed does NOT reset to zero. So, if Mario lands while he is falling, then this vertical speed will be negative. But if Mario lands while he is still ascending (as is the case when he dive recovers on the lip of the cage's treadmill), then this vertical speed will be positive. This vertical speed WILL reset to 0 if Mario moves at all, but punching and breakdancing will not affect it. Anyway, once Mario becomes airborne, then his vertical speed takes instant effect. So by storing a positive vertical speed and not resetting it, I am able to have Mario "pop up" when he punches his way to over the crack in the ground between the treadmill and the cage floor, and then ground pound into the star.

So what is a star dance clip? The star dance clip is a technique where Mario collects a star, thereby allowing him to get onto ledges he wouldn't normally be able to get on. You see, when Mario collects a star, he enters a state where he is able to grab onto ledges. But when he grabs on in this state, instead of entering the grabbing on animation, he just appears at the top of the ledge and does his star dance. Thus, I am able to "grab on" to ledges after being burned.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Stop Time for Red Coins & Reenter TTC - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-05-20 | I collect the star Stop Time for Red Coins and then reenter Tick Tock Clock using 0 A presses.

Normally, it takes a full A press to enter TTC, because the painting is so high off the ground. However, using a glitch exclusive to the Japanese version, it is possible to exit TTC in such a way that Mario can reenter the painting without using an A press. This glitch (which we'll call spawning displacement) has been known for a while, but this is the first time it's being used for the A Button Challenge. This means the final 120 star ABC run is now planned to be done on the Japanese version, in order to make use of this A press save.

So how does spawning displacement work? You see, the game keeps track of the object Mario is standing on, and updates Mario's position each frame in accordance with how that platform is rotating or translating. We can exploit this by having Mario leave a course while on a moving platform, either by collecting a star, dying, or exiting out while on it. The game makes a mistake and remembers the platform Mario had been standing on for one frame into the new area Mario appears, thereby applying one frame's worth of rotation/translation to Mario's position. This can result in unusually large displacements, larger than any frame of movement achievable while standing directly on the platform. This is because when the game updates Mario's position, it takes his NEW position into consideration. And from a geometric perspective, rotational displacement will be magnified proportionally to how far away from the pivot point Mario is. In other words, the further away from the platform Mario spawns, the greater the displacement may be. Of course, the speed of the rotation is also equally important.

Eventually I'll make a formal video about the spawning displacement glitch, but in the meantime I made a short video to illustrate the underlying geometry: youtu.be/Z5BltOA7Ejs

Now, you may be wondering if we can do something similar for other stars in TTC. Unfortunately, the answer is currently no. The red coin star is unique in that it loads during play, unlike all the other stars that instead load right when you begin the stage. That means it's the only TTC star that can be cloned (other than the 100 coin star), allowing us to collect it wherever we choose. In this case, I collected the star on a spinning platform that caused Mario to spawn lower than normal when coming out of the TTC painting, causing him to land on top of the clock. Note that I have also tried to use the AB kick to do something similar with the Get a Hand star, but to no avail: youtube.com/watch?v=cHdpPh2OGbA

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - To the Top of the Fortress - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-11 | I collect the star To the Top of the Fortress in Whomp's Fortress using 0 A presses. This video is TAS.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 1 A press. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/5aE58AbrXgE. Since then, I worked out a way to get onto the tower without pressing A. To do this, I have Mario throw a cork box remotely using the hat-in-hand object displacement glitch. Then while the cork box is falling, I dive recover onto the side of the elevator and store 26 vertical speed by cancelling a dive recover. The cork box then collides with Mario, both pushing him off of the elevator to activate his vertical speed and providing helpful horizontal movement. While Mario is being pushed, I ground pound into a strategically placed 100 coin star, thereby using a star dance clip to get onto one of the tower's platforms. You can see an alternative view of the box throw here: youtu.be/BU21moLI3Og.

Here is a play by play of what I do. I first enter Bob-omb Battlefield in order to place the HOLP in a precise position. This position is above the mountain, and so it’s necessary to construct a goomba staircase to reach it. This is the debut of a more efficient goomba staircase I developed, which makes use of goomba clusters. A goomba cluster is a formation of goombas placed remotely using one HOLP, but thrown at different angles so they have slightly different hitboxes. This technique vastly improves the goomba staircase, resulting in a quadratic number of goombas rather than exponential. Once the goomba staircase is complete, I use it to place the HOLP in the correct position, and then exit out of BoB and go to WF. Once inside, I collect 99 coins and use object displacement to destroy one of the cork boxes next to the tower, allowing me to place the 100 coin star next to one of the tower’s platforms. I then bring up the second cork box, and remotely throw it into myself right after I store vertical speed on side of the elevator. Using the cork box, the vertical speed, a ground pound, and a star dance clip, I am able to get onto the tower!

So what is vertical speed conservation? When Mario does a dive recover and lands, the variable that maintains his vertical speed does NOT reset to zero. So, if Mario lands while he is falling, then this vertical speed will be negative. But if Mario lands while he is still ascending (as is the case when he dive recovers on the side of the rising elevator), then this vertical speed will be positive. This vertical speed WILL reset to 0 if Mario moves at all, but punching, breakdancing, and being pushed by other objects will not affect it. Anyway, once Mario becomes airborne, then his vertical speed takes instant effect. So by storing a positive vertical speed and not resetting it, I am able to have Mario "pop up" when the cork pushes him off of the elevator.

So what is a star dance clip? The star dance clip is a technique where Mario collects a star, thereby allowing him to get onto ledges he wouldn't normally be able to get on. You see, when Mario collects a star, he enters a state where he is able to grab onto ledges. But when he grabs on in this state, instead of entering the grabbing on animation, he just appears at the top of the ledge and does his star dance. Thus, I am able to reap the height benefits of a ground pound while also being able to grab onto ledges.

So what is the HOLP and hat-in-hand object displacement glitch? You see, when Mario has his hat in his hand, objects he releases don't appear in front of him, but instead appear at a point known as the HOLP. The HOLP represents the last place Mario held an object without the hat in hand glitch. There was no way to place the HOLP in the desired location from within WF, and so it was necessary for me to place the HOLP there in a course that had a more accommodating layout, namely BoB. The HOLP doesn't reset between courses, so when I switch to WF, the HOLP is already in the desired spot, and I can release a cork boxes there. To learn more about object displacement and the HOLP, you can watch my video on them here: http://youtu.be/seQ-IL-eNqk

.m64 stats:
Length: 14 minutes and 46 seconds
Re-records: 17681
Frames: 53147 (26400 input)
Time to Make: ~20 hours

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Five Itty Bitty Secrets - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-09 | I collect the star Five Itty Bitty Secrets in Tiny-Huge Island using 0 A presses.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I entered this course from the huge entrance. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/Xy7XDStV5WE. Since then, Tyler and I collaborated to find a way to get to the mainland of the island starting from the tiny entrance. Starting from the tiny entrance rather than the huge entrance implicitly saves an A press, because it takes 1 A press to enter the huge painting but 0 A presses to enter the tiny painting. Here is the route for getting to the mainland from the tiny island starting platform:

For the first gap, I activate one of the butterfly bombs, the explosion of which pushes the tiny goomba into the water. Then I immediately bounce on the goomba to get to the fire spitter island.

For the second gap, I strategically manipulate the RNG to have a tiny goomba from above walk off of the cliff. Specifically, I lure him next to the cliff, and then have him randomly jump, causing him to go over the edge. As this is happening, I have Mario perform a dive recover, using the falling goomba to bounce across the gap.

Once I made it to the piranha plant platform, finding a way to the mainland was no easy task. But after several failed ideas, I finally discovered a way to do it. Here’s how it works: I first collect 99 coins using the large piranha plant infinite coin glitch. Then, I kill the mini piranha plant, and have its coin take a very precise trajectory, with high speed at a particular angle. From there, I have to escort the coin across the cork boxes, since if Mario isn’t within a small distance of a box, the box will not be tangible and so the coin would fall through. I also strategically use this to my advantage, by allowing the coin to fall through the boxes just enough to be pushed forwards without actually falling all the way through. Once the coin moves into the correct position, I collect it to activate the 100 coin star and use a star dance clip to get onto the mainland.

So what is a star dance clip? The star dance clip is a technique where Mario collects a star, thereby allowing him to get onto ledges he wouldn't normally be able to get on. You see, when Mario collects a star, he enters a state where he is able to grab onto ledges. But when he grabs on in this state, instead of entering the grabbing on animation, he just appears at the top of the ledge and does his star dance. So the reason that this is useful is because we can ascend by the height of a dive recover, while also being able to grab onto ledges above us.

Note that the mini piranha plant’s coin needed to have a very precise trajectory for this technique to work. Through empirical testing, I determined that the coin needed to have an angle between 28128 and 28511 and a speed of at least 9.5 out of 10. Tyler then looked into the RNG, and determined that of the 65114 possible RNG values, only 17 of them produced such a trajectory. See, the RNG goes through the same sequence of 65114 values in order on repeat. So from there, it was a matter of locating the next closest RNG in the sequence that would produce the correct trajectory, and that was the RNG I would aim for. This RNG was a bit ways off from the current position in the RNG sequence, so I had to wait 45 seconds for the current position to move closer to the goal. Then to make sure the coin used that specific RNG, I manipulated the current RNG position using dust frames, and then killed the piranha plant on the exact frame when my goal RNG was up.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Rematch with Koopa the Quick - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-09 | I collect the star Rematch with Koopa the Quick in Tiny-Huge Island using 0 A presses.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I entered this course from the huge entrance. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/y45UqT-U6NU. Since then, Tyler and I collaborated to find a way to get to the mainland of the island starting from the tiny entrance. Starting from the tiny entrance rather than the huge entrance implicitly saves an A press, because it takes 1 A press to enter the huge painting but 0 A presses to enter the tiny painting. Here is the route for getting to the mainland from the tiny island starting platform:

For the first gap, I activate one of the butterfly bombs, the explosion of which pushes the tiny goomba into the water. Then I immediately bounce on the goomba to get to the fire spitter island.

For the second gap, I strategically manipulate the RNG to have a tiny goomba from above walk off of the cliff. Specifically, I lure him next to the cliff, and then have him randomly jump, causing him to go over the edge. As this is happening, I have Mario perform a dive recover, using the falling goomba to bounce across the gap.

Once I made it to the piranha plant platform, finding a way to the mainland was no easy task. But after several failed ideas, I finally discovered a way to do it. Here’s how it works: I first collect 99 coins using the large piranha plant infinite coin glitch. Then, I kill the mini piranha plant, and have its coin take a very precise trajectory, with high speed at a particular angle. From there, I have to escort the coin across the cork boxes, since if Mario isn’t within a small distance of a box, the box will not be tangible and so the coin would fall through. I also strategically use this to my advantage, by allowing the coin to fall through the boxes just enough to be pushed forwards without actually falling all the way through. Once the coin moves into the correct position, I collect it to activate the 100 coin star and use a star dance clip to get onto the mainland.

So what is a star dance clip? The star dance clip is a technique where Mario collects a star, thereby allowing him to get onto ledges he wouldn't normally be able to get on. You see, when Mario collects a star, he enters a state where he is able to grab onto ledges. But when he grabs on in this state, instead of entering the grabbing on animation, he just appears at the top of the ledge and does his star dance. So the reason that this is useful is because we can ascend by the height of a dive recover, while also being able to grab onto ledges above us.

Note that the mini piranha plant’s coin needed to have a very precise trajectory for this technique to work. Through empirical testing, I determined that the coin needed to have an angle between 28128 and 28511 and a speed of at least 9.5 out of 10. Tyler then looked into the RNG, and determined that of the 65114 possible RNG values, only 17 of them produced such a trajectory. See, the RNG goes through the same sequence of 65114 values in order on repeat. So from there, it was a matter of locating the next closest RNG in the sequence that would produce the correct trajectory, and that was the RNG I would aim for. This RNG was a bit ways off from the current position in the RNG sequence, so I had to wait 45 seconds for the current position to move closer to the goal. Then to make sure the coin used that specific RNG, I manipulated the current RNG position using dust frames, and then killed the piranha plant on the exact frame when my goal RNG was up.

Note: I accidentally entered THI on a mission that wasn't Rematch with Koopa the Quick, and so Koopa the Quick wasn't present. But to avoid having to do redo the entire strategy just for this star, I decided to make this video a hybrid of two videos, and I switch between them while exiting the warp pipe (at 3:36). Since then, I've reTASed this star in a single segment (youtu.be/qHK3MKrcJd8), ensuring that it's 100% possible to do 0xA.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Wigglers Red Coins - 2x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-09 | I collect the star Wiggler's Red Coins in Tiny-Huge Island using 2 A presses. The first A press is to jump up to the blue coin platform. The second A press is to jump to the pillars in the corner that hold a 1-up and red coin.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I entered this course from the huge entrance. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/4-MA030Yldk. Since then, Tyler and I collaborated to find a way to get to the mainland of the island starting from the tiny entrance. Starting from the tiny entrance rather than the huge entrance implicitly saves an A press, because it takes 1 A press to enter the huge painting but 0 A presses to enter the tiny painting. Here is the route for getting to the mainland from the tiny island starting platform:

For the first gap, I activate one of the butterfly bombs, the explosion of which pushes the tiny goomba into the water. Then I immediately bounce on the goomba to get to the fire spitter island.

For the second gap, I strategically manipulate the RNG to have a tiny goomba from above walk off of the cliff. Specifically, I lure him next to the cliff, and then have him randomly jump, causing him to go over the edge. As this is happening, I have Mario perform a dive recover, using the falling goomba to bounce across the gap.

Once I made it to the piranha plant platform, finding a way to the mainland was no easy task. But after several failed ideas, I finally discovered a way to do it. Here’s how it works: I first collect 99 coins using the large piranha plant infinite coin glitch. Then, I kill the mini piranha plant, and have its coin take a very precise trajectory, with high speed at a particular angle. From there, I have to escort the coin across the cork boxes, since if Mario isn’t within a small distance of a box, the box will not be tangible and so the coin would fall through. I also strategically use this to my advantage, by allowing the coin to fall through the boxes just enough to be pushed forwards without actually falling all the way through. Once the coin moves into the correct position, I collect it to activate the 100 coin star and use a star dance clip to get onto the mainland.

So what is a star dance clip? The star dance clip is a technique where Mario collects a star, thereby allowing him to get onto ledges he wouldn't normally be able to get on. You see, when Mario collects a star, he enters a state where he is able to grab onto ledges. But when he grabs on in this state, instead of entering the grabbing on animation, he just appears at the top of the ledge and does his star dance. So the reason that this is useful is because we can ascend by the height of a dive recover, while also being able to grab onto ledges above us.

Note that the mini piranha plant’s coin needed to have a very precise trajectory for this technique to work. Through empirical testing, I determined that the coin needed to have an angle between 28128 and 28511 and a speed of at least 9.5 out of 10. Tyler then looked into the RNG, and determined that of the 65114 possible RNG values, only 17 of them produced such a trajectory. See, the RNG goes through the same sequence of 65114 values in order on repeat. So from there, it was a matter of locating the next closest RNG in the sequence that would produce the correct trajectory, and that was the RNG I would aim for. This RNG was a bit ways off from the current position in the RNG sequence, so I had to wait 45 seconds for the current position to move closer to the goal. Then to make sure the coin used that specific RNG, I manipulated the current RNG position using dust frames, and then killed the piranha plant on the exact frame when my goal RNG was up.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Make Wiggler Squirm - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-09 | I collect the star Make Wiggler Squirm in Tiny-Huge Island using 0 A presses.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I entered this course from the huge entrance. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/JKomqmP72Jg. Since then, Tyler and I collaborated to find a way to get to the mainland of the island starting from the tiny entrance. Starting from the tiny entrance rather than the huge entrance implicitly saves an A press, because it takes 1 A press to enter the huge painting but 0 A presses to enter the tiny painting. Here is the route for getting to the mainland from the tiny island starting platform:

For the first gap, I activate one of the butterfly bombs, the explosion of which pushes the tiny goomba into the water. Then I immediately bounce on the goomba to get to the fire spitter island.

For the second gap, I strategically manipulate the RNG to have a tiny goomba from above walk off of the cliff. Specifically, I lure him next to the cliff, and then have him randomly jump, causing him to go over the edge. As this is happening, I have Mario perform a dive recover, using the falling goomba to bounce across the gap.

Once I made it to the piranha plant platform, finding a way to the mainland was no easy task. But after several failed ideas, I finally discovered a way to do it. Here’s how it works: I first collect 99 coins using the large piranha plant infinite coin glitch. Then, I kill the mini piranha plant, and have its coin take a very precise trajectory, with high speed at a particular angle. From there, I have to escort the coin across the cork boxes, since if Mario isn’t within a small distance of a box, the box will not be tangible and so the coin would fall through. I also strategically use this to my advantage, by allowing the coin to fall through the boxes just enough to be pushed forwards without actually falling all the way through. Once the coin moves into the correct position, I collect it to activate the 100 coin star and use a star dance clip to get onto the mainland.

So what is a star dance clip? The star dance clip is a technique where Mario collects a star, thereby allowing him to get onto ledges he wouldn't normally be able to get on. You see, when Mario collects a star, he enters a state where he is able to grab onto ledges. But when he grabs on in this state, instead of entering the grabbing on animation, he just appears at the top of the ledge and does his star dance. So the reason that this is useful is because we can ascend by the height of a dive recover, while also being able to grab onto ledges above us.

Note that the mini piranha plant’s coin needed to have a very precise trajectory for this technique to work. Through empirical testing, I determined that the coin needed to have an angle between 28128 and 28511 and a speed of at least 9.5 out of 10. Tyler then looked into the RNG, and determined that of the 65114 possible RNG values, only 17 of them produced such a trajectory. See, the RNG goes through the same sequence of 65114 values in order on repeat. So from there, it was a matter of locating the next closest RNG in the sequence that would produce the correct trajectory, and that was the RNG I would aim for. This RNG was a bit ways off from the current position in the RNG sequence, so I had to wait 45 seconds for the current position to move closer to the goal. Then to make sure the coin used that specific RNG, I manipulated the current RNG position using dust frames, and then killed the piranha plant on the exact frame when my goal RNG was up.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - The Tip Top of the Huge Island - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-09 | I collect the star The Tip Top of the Huge Island in Tiny-Huge Island using 0 A presses.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I entered this course from the huge entrance. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/t7P_XM6zllI. Since then, Tyler and I collaborated to find a way to get to the mainland of the island starting from the tiny entrance. Starting from the tiny entrance rather than the huge entrance implicitly saves an A press, because it takes 1 A press to enter the huge painting but 0 A presses to enter the tiny painting. Here is the route for getting to the mainland from the tiny island starting platform:

For the first gap, I activate one of the butterfly bombs, the explosion of which pushes the tiny goomba into the water. Then I immediately bounce on the goomba to get to the fire spitter island.

For the second gap, I strategically manipulate the RNG to have a tiny goomba from above walk off of the cliff. Specifically, I lure him next to the cliff, and then have him randomly jump, causing him to go over the edge. As this is happening, I have Mario perform a dive recover, using the falling goomba to bounce across the gap.

Once I made it to the piranha plant platform, finding a way to the mainland was no easy task. But after several failed ideas, I finally discovered a way to do it. Here’s how it works: I first collect 99 coins using the large piranha plant infinite coin glitch. Then, I kill the mini piranha plant, and have its coin take a very precise trajectory, with high speed at a particular angle. From there, I have to escort the coin across the cork boxes, since if Mario isn’t within a small distance of a box, the box will not be tangible and so the coin would fall through. I also strategically use this to my advantage, by allowing the coin to fall through the boxes just enough to be pushed forwards without actually falling all the way through. Once the coin moves into the correct position, I collect it to activate the 100 coin star and use a star dance clip to get onto the mainland.

So what is a star dance clip? The star dance clip is a technique where Mario collects a star, thereby allowing him to get onto ledges he wouldn't normally be able to get on. You see, when Mario collects a star, he enters a state where he is able to grab onto ledges. But when he grabs on in this state, instead of entering the grabbing on animation, he just appears at the top of the ledge and does his star dance. So the reason that this is useful is because we can ascend by the height of a dive recover, while also being able to grab onto ledges above us.

Note that the mini piranha plant’s coin needed to have a very precise trajectory for this technique to work. Through empirical testing, I determined that the coin needed to have an angle between 28128 and 28511 and a speed of at least 9.5 out of 10. Tyler then looked into the RNG, and determined that of the 65114 possible RNG values, only 17 of them produced such a trajectory. See, the RNG goes through the same sequence of 65114 values in order on repeat. So from there, it was a matter of locating the next closest RNG in the sequence that would produce the correct trajectory, and that was the RNG I would aim for. This RNG was a bit ways off from the current position in the RNG sequence, so I had to wait 45 seconds for the current position to move closer to the goal. Then to make sure the coin used that specific RNG, I manipulated the current RNG position using dust frames, and then killed the piranha plant on the exact frame when my goal RNG was up.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Tiny-Huge Island 100 Coins - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-09 | I collect the 100 coin star in Tiny-Huge Island using 0 A presses.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I entered this course from the huge entrance. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/WoZBxOGbxLA. Since then, Tyler and I collaborated to find a way to get to the piranha plant platform from the tiny entrance. Starting from the tiny entrance rather than the huge entrance implicitly saves an A press, because it takes 1 A press to enter the huge painting but 0 A presses to enter the tiny painting. Here is the route for getting to the piranha plant platform from the tiny island starting platform:

For the first gap, I activate one of the butterfly bombs, the explosion of which pushes the tiny goomba into the water. Then I immediately bounce on the goomba to get to the fire spitter island.

For the second gap, I strategically manipulate the RNG to have a tiny goomba from above walk off of the cliff. Specifically, I lure him next to the cliff, and then have him randomly jump, causing him to go over the edge. As this is happening, I have Mario perform a dive recover, using the falling goomba to bounce across the gap.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Stomp on the Thwomp - 7x A Presses [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-09 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/vaJOVyfPaBE

I collect the star Stomp on the Thwomp in Tick Tock Clock using 7 A presses. The A presses are as follows:

A Press #1: to jump onto the platform preceding the cogs with the bob-omb
A Press #2: to jump off of the pole
A Press #3: to jump onto the lower one of the two rotating cubes
A Press #4: to double jump from the upper rotating cube to a platform
A Press #5: to triple jump into the wall
A Press #6: to wall kick off that wall to get onto the walkway
A Press #7: to jump onto thwomp

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 8 A presses. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/Ns2QSI5N0Ag. Since then, I worked out a way to get from the up-and-down elevator to the pole platform without having to press A. Specifically, I bring a bob-omb all the way from its starting point to the elevator and collect its coin there to activate the 100 coin star. I then combine vertical speed conservation, a ground pound, and a star dance clip to get up to the pole platform.

So what is vertical speed conservation? When Mario does a dive recover and lands, the variable that maintains his vertical speed does NOT reset to zero. So, if Mario lands while he is falling, then this vertical speed will be negative. But if Mario lands while he is still ascending (as is the case when he dive recovers on a rising elevator), then this vertical speed will be positive. This vertical speed WILL reset to 0 if Mario moves at all, but punching and breakdancing will not affect it. Anyway, once Mario becomes airborne, then his vertical speed takes instant effect. So by storing a positive vertical speed and not resetting it, I am able to have Mario "pop up" when he punches his way off of the elevator. The reason I needed this vertical speed bounce instead of a regular dive recover is because Mario is able to ground pound with the former, and so the combined height advantages of vertical speed conservation, a ground pound, and a star dance clip were just enough to make it up to the pole platform.

So what is a star dance clip? The star dance clip is a technique where Mario collects a star, thereby allowing him to get onto ledges he wouldn't normally be able to get on. You see, when Mario collects a star, he enters a state where he is able to grab onto ledges. But when he grabs on in this state, instead of entering the grabbing on animation, he just appears at the top of the ledge and does his star dance.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Timed Jumps on Moving Bars - 4x A Presses [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-09 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/XH2YyLT7N70

I collect the star Timed Jumps on Moving Bars in Tick Tock Clock using 4 A presses. The A presses are as follows:

A Press #1: to jump onto the platform preceding the cogs with the bob-omb
A Press #2: to jump off of the pole
A Press #3: to jump onto one of the moving bars
A Press #4: to jump from that moving bar into the cage

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 5 A presses. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/4NmiHECYtw8. Since then, I worked out a way to get from the up-and-down elevator to the pole platform without having to press A. Specifically, I bring a bob-omb all the way from its starting point to the elevator and collect its coin there to activate the 100 coin star. I then combine vertical speed conservation, a ground pound, and a star dance clip to get up to the pole platform.

So what is vertical speed conservation? When Mario does a dive recover and lands, the variable that maintains his vertical speed does NOT reset to zero. So, if Mario lands while he is falling, then this vertical speed will be negative. But if Mario lands while he is still ascending (as is the case when he dive recovers on a rising elevator), then this vertical speed will be positive. This vertical speed WILL reset to 0 if Mario moves at all, but punching and breakdancing will not affect it. Anyway, once Mario becomes airborne, then his vertical speed takes instant effect. So by storing a positive vertical speed and not resetting it, I am able to have Mario "pop up" when he punches his way off of the elevator. The reason I needed this vertical speed bounce instead of a regular dive recover is because Mario is able to ground pound with the former, and so the combined height advantages of vertical speed conservation, a ground pound, and a star dance clip were just enough to make it up to the pole platform.

So what is a star dance clip? The star dance clip is a technique where Mario collects a star, thereby allowing him to get onto ledges he wouldn't normally be able to get on. You see, when Mario collects a star, he enters a state where he is able to grab onto ledges. But when he grabs on in this state, instead of entering the grabbing on animation, he just appears at the top of the ledge and does his star dance.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - The Pit and the Pendulums - 2x A Presses [OUTDATED]

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-09 | THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED - SEE A BETTER VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE:
youtu.be/3UW5KSvtBcU

I collect the star The Pit and the Pendulums in Tick Tock Clock using 2 A presses. The A presses are as follows:

A Press #1: to jump onto the platform preceding the cogs with the bob-omb
A Press #2: to jump off of the pole

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 3 A presses. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/q9HFvjwMtFg. Since then, I worked out a way to get from the up-and-down elevator to the pole platform without having to press A. Specifically, I bring a bob-omb all the way from its starting point to the elevator and collect its coin there to activate the 100 coin star. I then combine vertical speed conservation, a ground pound, and a star dance clip to get up to the pole platform.

So what is vertical speed conservation? When Mario does a dive recover and lands, the variable that maintains his vertical speed does NOT reset to zero. So, if Mario lands while he is falling, then this vertical speed will be negative. But if Mario lands while he is still ascending (as is the case when he dive recovers on a rising elevator), then this vertical speed will be positive. This vertical speed WILL reset to 0 if Mario moves at all, but punching and breakdancing will not affect it. Anyway, once Mario becomes airborne, then his vertical speed takes instant effect. So by storing a positive vertical speed and not resetting it, I am able to have Mario "pop up" when he punches his way off of the elevator. The reason I needed this vertical speed bounce instead of a regular dive recover is because Mario is able to ground pound with the former, and so the combined height advantages of vertical speed conservation, a ground pound, and a star dance clip were just enough to make it up to the pole platform.

So what is a star dance clip? The star dance clip is a technique where Mario collects a star, thereby allowing him to get onto ledges he wouldn't normally be able to get on. You see, when Mario collects a star, he enters a state where he is able to grab onto ledges. But when he grabs on in this state, instead of entering the grabbing on animation, he just appears at the top of the ledge and does his star dance.

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Snowmans Big Head - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-05 | I collect the star Snowman's Big Head in Snowman's Land using 0 A presses.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star in 1 A press. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/5wIowS5Uhrw. Since then, I learned how to manipulate fly guy, and by doing so I am able to lure him up to towards the star and use his twirl to get on top of the snowman's head.

Here are the specifics of what I do. I first go to fly guy on foot and lure him into a particular position at a particular angle. I then get the koopa shell and generate hyper speed. While speeding around, I reenter fly guy's zone exactly in front of him, causing him to lunge forwards. I then move far away enough from fly guy to deactivate him. Note that in order to manipulate fly guy, he needs to be deactivated 2000+ units away from his starting point, so to accomplish this, it was necessary to have him lunge away and then quickly deactivate him before he turned back. At this point, I manipulate him to face a particular angle and go into lunging mode. Then I climb the snowman, reactivate fly guy, and bounce on him as he flies by. And of course, the twirl from bouncing on him provides Mario with just enough height to get onto the snowman's head.

.m64 stats:
Length: 1 minute and 6 seconds
Re-records: 2778
Frames: 3931 (1950 input)
Time to Make: 2 hours and 48 minutes

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Top O the Town - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-03-05 | I collect the star Top O' the Town in Wet-Dry World using 0 A presses.

This video is an improvement from my previous videos in which I collected this star in 1 A press starting from the low water level [http://youtu.be/PFlKKuLAcpo] and 0 A presses starting from the high water level [http://youtu.be/L-5kj0CCrA0]. Because it takes an A press to enter the WDW painting on the high water level, both of those routes would effectively cost one A press during a 120 star run. In this video, however, I collect the star with 0 A presses starting from the low water level, and thus it will cost 0 A presses during the 120 star run.

This star was interesting, in that it was just BARELY out of reach in so many ways. In fact, after some in depth testing, I had reduced it to 10 actions, and if even a single one of these actions could be performed without pressing A, then the whole star could be done without pressing A. These actions were:
(1) enter the painting at the high water level
(2) return from the town on the low water level
(3) hold light chuckya on chuckya's platform
(4) get heavy chuckya onto the plank
(5) get past the 50 unit barrier of the star platform with less than 50 speed
(6) have 2+ air frames of speed while diving onto the spinning platform
(7) have 1.012 more units of room on the star platform
(8) bring a flame or flame clone onto the star platform
(9) ascend 1 unit higher than a DR can on the star platform
(10) be able to remotely open the star block

Luckily, Plush came along and made a major breakthrough by discovering a new trick. The trick was the ability to grab light chuckya using an edge, instead of having to use water. This simple trick matched action (3) listed above, and so the star became doable in 0x A presses. Here is how to do the trick. Have Mario try to grab chuckya while also facing off of a ledge. If Mario falls off the ledge 1, 2, or 3 frames after the grab starts, then he can immediately dive and will end up grabbing chuckya in a diving state. When he stands up, he will be holding light chuckya.

.m64 stats:
Length: 1 minutes and 11 seconds
Re-records: 4357
Frames: 4274 (2100 input)
Time to Make: ~2 hours

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit

SM64 - Hazy Maze Cave 100 Coins - 0x A Presses

pannenkoek2012 2015-02-14 | I collect the 100 coin star in Hazy Maze Cave using 0 A presses.

This video is an improvement from my previous video in which I collected this star using 1 A press. You can find that video here: http://youtu.be/Eepq4z2rfTI. Since then, I worked out a new route to collect 100 coins with 0 A presses. The first change to the route was getting to the Mr. I in the red coin room so that we could collect his blue coin. This was thanks to Plush who figured out how to get there. The second and more prominent change was what happens in the maze. I figured out that (1) Mario could ground pound on the blue coin block using vertical speed conservation and two swoopers, and (2) Mario could get to the Navigating the Toxic Maze exit using two swoopers and a snuffit. Before I figured this out, both of these actions required 3 swoopers, and so there was no way to do both of them in a single route, even though it’s necessary to do both to get to 100 coins (assuming the top blue coin is unreachable).

The maze alone took 8 hours of TASing to properly manipulate the swoopers. Fortunately, Tyler informed me that the swoopers’ paths are deterministic once they are started. In other words, a couple seconds into a swooper’s flight, its path is set and cannot be altered by any RNG or Mario movement. Thus, to get two swoopers properly placed (as I had to do for both the blue coin block and the Navigating exit), I first manipulated one swooper to get there at a certain time, and then manipulated the second swooper to get their at the same time. By manipulating them independently rather than at the same time, it makes it much easier to get sufficient RNG.

If you don't know about the vertical speed conservation trick, it works like this. When Mario does a dive recover and lands, the variable that maintains his vertical speed does NOT reset to zero. So, if Mario lands while he is falling, then this vertical speed will be negative. But if Mario lands while he is still ascending (as is the case when he lands on the blue coin block), then this vertical speed will be positive. This vertical speed WILL reset to 0 if Mario moves at all, but punching and breakdancing will not affect it. Anyway, once Mario becomes airborne, then his vertical speed takes instant effect. So by storing a positive vertical speed and not resetting it, I am able to have Mario "pop up" when he punches his way off of a ledge. The reason I needed this vertical speed is to land on the swoopers while also being able to ground pound.

.m64 stats:
Length: 12 minutes and 37 seconds
Re-records: 17604
Frames: 45391 (22650 input)
Time to Make: 8 hours for the maze, ??? for the rest

ABC Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvvhlevqC2d6vis077yFHuLJHYtTtqe_
ABC Routes: docs.google.com/document/d/1ypRVVRyf4x-v8GqCSmKYnicrfKSIjao3Y1ZVl52RIyM/edit