Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'Super Mario Bros.' speedrunner hits nearly inhuman 4:55 world record

mashable.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 124 posts

Re: 'Super Mario Bros.' speedrunner hits nearly inhuman 4:55 world record

#21

Post by Hattes »

Dowwie wrote: post #7

This trivializes my childhood accomplishment. I don't like it! It blows my mind how speed runners learn to exploit the inner workings of a game, from timing hacks of the RNG to positioning actors on the screen to unlock design weaknesses. While it takes a lot of skill and many hours of practice to pull off these exploits, advancing through a game at record speeds through exploits takes away from the experience that w…

Seems like a false dichotomy to me. This run has a fair amount of exploits, but also a lot of plain "being good at Mario". Compare to the any% run of Pokémon Red/Blue for instance (which uses an exploit to warp to the final screen of the game without any "traditional" gameplay).

Re: 'Super Mario Bros.' speedrunner hits nearly inhuman 4:55 world record

#22

Post by colordrops »

dzdt wrote: post #10

There is something amazing about artforms when the performers and spectators have an appreciation for the subtlest details. Mario speedruns are an oddball artform surely, but right now it has enough of a community to appreciate those details. For example, from the article I gather to "clip the wall to warp into the first level of world four" is a well-known and discussed precision move in the genre. It reminds me a l…

Naw, clipping the wall is taking advantage of a well known intentionally created bug where you walk through a wall to get to an area to skip levels. Every kid playing the game back in the 80s knew about it.

Re: 'Super Mario Bros.' speedrunner hits nearly inhuman 4:55 world record

#23

Post by kennyadam »

joshschreuder wrote: post #12
pattle wrote: post #11

If anyone is interested in speed runs I really recommend this YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtUbO6rBht0daVIOGML3c8w Thy're a series of videos on how world records have been lowered over time on various games. It's fascinating watching particularity the one on Super Mario 64 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7ePi38LnrA&t=16s

Love the SummoningSalt vids and second the recommendation. I just wish there was more as they are so interesting!

There's a guy on YouTube & Twitch, who posts N64 Goldeneye speedrunning breakdowns at the start of each month. Very specific niche but oddly interesting! RWhiteGoose is his username.

Re: 'Super Mario Bros.' speedrunner hits nearly inhuman 4:55 world record

#24

Post by ilitirit »

mrob wrote: post #9

>When Kosmic says he's tied with the TAS run at 4-1, that means his inputs are matched up exactly with the program's and he can't physically do any better. It means he can't physically get a better time, but it does not mean his inputs are matched up exactly with the TAS. SMB1 level transitions are based around the "frame rule", which means you don't advance to the next level until the number of elapsed frames from t…

> It means he can't physically get a better time

... using the same techniques the TAS does.

It's possible (although unlikely) that a new glitch/exploit could be discovered that allows for faster times.

Re: 'Super Mario Bros.' speedrunner hits nearly inhuman 4:55 world record

#26

Post by bhickey »

tribby wrote: post #15

super impressive stuff. I'm generally unfamiliar with speedrunning, but I am familiar with the billy mitchell controversies, so I'm surprised that people accept the legitimacy of streamed runs. wouldn't it be trivial-enough to fake? tangental: my personal favorite mario-related feat is sethbling injecting flappy bird into super mario world manually: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB6eY73sLV0

Billy's live performances were miles away from his spliced runs. The live performances of top level SMB runners are in line with streamed performances. Some communities are moving toward controller cams to show each button press.

Re: 'Super Mario Bros.' speedrunner hits nearly inhuman 4:55 world record

#27

Post by topmonk »

Hattes wrote: post #19
tribby wrote: post #15

super impressive stuff. I'm generally unfamiliar with speedrunning, but I am familiar with the billy mitchell controversies, so I'm surprised that people accept the legitimacy of streamed runs. wouldn't it be trivial-enough to fake? tangental: my personal favorite mario-related feat is sethbling injecting flappy bird into super mario world manually: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB6eY73sLV0

To an extent I think that streaming has solved this problem, compared to the days of people just submitting videos that they recorded by themselves. Streamers might fake a single run to get a record, but it would be a huge amount of work to fake all the progression they had to go through to get there.

I agree, but furthermore after you get to a certain level of skill, you pretty much have a free pass to cheat if you like.

To wit, I don't think many people suspected Billy Mitchell of cheating until there was undeniable proof of that fact.

Re: 'Super Mario Bros.' speedrunner hits nearly inhuman 4:55 world record

#28

Post by dezgeg »

Hattes wrote: post #19
tribby wrote: post #15

super impressive stuff. I'm generally unfamiliar with speedrunning, but I am familiar with the billy mitchell controversies, so I'm surprised that people accept the legitimacy of streamed runs. wouldn't it be trivial-enough to fake? tangental: my personal favorite mario-related feat is sethbling injecting flappy bird into super mario world manually: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB6eY73sLV0

To an extent I think that streaming has solved this problem, compared to the days of people just submitting videos that they recorded by themselves. Streamers might fake a single run to get a record, but it would be a huge amount of work to fake all the progression they had to go through to get there.

I would have previously thought so too, but recently there was a cheating incident in the GTA speedrunning where already a top runner started cheating: https://old.reddit.com/r/speedrun/comments/98utvr/grand_thef.... So for a year there was apparent progression to be seen in the streams, but it was all/most due to modifying the game files to gain advantage.

Re: 'Super Mario Bros.' speedrunner hits nearly inhuman 4:55 world record

#29

Post by guipsp »

nsmith14 wrote: post #3

How much time until it's proven he cheated? I give it one year. (This comment is in jest, but that has been my experience with the speedrunning community thus far.)

Kosmic is a seasoned speedrunner. I highly doubt he's cheating.

Re: 'Super Mario Bros.' speedrunner hits nearly inhuman 4:55 world record

#30

Post by feanaro »

colordrops wrote: post #22
dzdt wrote: post #10

There is something amazing about artforms when the performers and spectators have an appreciation for the subtlest details. Mario speedruns are an oddball artform surely, but right now it has enough of a community to appreciate those details. For example, from the article I gather to "clip the wall to warp into the first level of world four" is a well-known and discussed precision move in the genre. It reminds me a l…

Naw, clipping the wall is taking advantage of a well known intentionally created bug where you walk through a wall to get to an area to skip levels. Every kid playing the game back in the 80s knew about it.

How is this different from what the previous post said?
Post reply on HN