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

Super Mario Bros warp zones were intended to work slightly differently [video]

youtube.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 108 posts

Re: Super Mario Bros warp zones were intended to work slightly differently [video]

#21

Post by ChrisClark »

baisq wrote: post #4
raldi wrote: post #2

For those who can't watch the video or just want a text summary: The underground 1-2 level is supposed to stop scrolling as soon as the mundane return-to-surface pipe comes onto the right edge of the screen. (Unless you're walking on the ceiling.) But because of a programming error, it keeps scrolling, revealing that the warp zone room is there. It was originally intended to be a much more hidden secret than it turne…

Thank you, I'm so tired of 15 minute videos for something that can explained in text and images that can be read in one minute.

So you know exactly how the minus world glitch works then? I didn't get that from the comment at all.

Re: Super Mario Bros warp zones were intended to work slightly differently [video]

#23

Post by raldi »

coldpie wrote: post #19
Pxtl wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you've glossed over the most significant bug, which is that for no apparent reason at all the Scroll Unlocker increments the Warp Zone Control value, which configures the 2,3,4 warpzone to instead function as the World 5 Warpzone. If you don't get properly into the warpzone (which triggers the proper warpzone object), this is what causes it to function as a World 5 Warpzone, whereas the other bug is the one t…

> Also, the video has a lot of info about how levels are constructed in Mario in general, which I found very informative. If you'd like a lot more on this kind of topic, check out the book "I Am Error" by Nathan Altice (published by MIT Press; don't buy from Amazon). It goes into a bunch of detail about how the NES hardware worked and how specific games used it.

Indeed. I'm the guy he thanks at the end of the video, and the inspiration I passed along came directly from that book. This video would not exist without it.

Re: Super Mario Bros warp zones were intended to work slightly differently [video]

#24

Post by raldi »

coldpie wrote: post #20
seanwilson wrote: post #17

Is there any disincentivize to using the warp zones so that people don't always skip levels when they know how to?

No. My philosophy has always been, if you want to play less of the game, why are you even playing it to begin with? :) So I just don't use them.

Sometimes I want to listen to an album straight through; sometimes I want to skip to specific tracks. Either way, it's the same amount of experiencing the music/game; it's just a shift in what parts of the work you're giving your focus.

Re: Super Mario Bros warp zones were intended to work slightly differently [video]

#25

Post by coldpie »

LocalH wrote: post #13

I love how deep analysis finds stuff like this even nearly 40 years after a game's release. I hope we in the Guitar Hero II/Rock Band scene can reach that point someday.

You may enjoy this look at an easter egg from 50 years ago :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z97TfAhDKGk

Re: Super Mario Bros warp zones were intended to work slightly differently [video]

#26

Post by petercooper »

baisq wrote: post #4
raldi wrote: post #2

For those who can't watch the video or just want a text summary: The underground 1-2 level is supposed to stop scrolling as soon as the mundane return-to-surface pipe comes onto the right edge of the screen. (Unless you're walking on the ceiling.) But because of a programming error, it keeps scrolling, revealing that the warp zone room is there. It was originally intended to be a much more hidden secret than it turne…

Thank you, I'm so tired of 15 minute videos for something that can explained in text and images that can be read in one minute.

Star Wars is set in a remote galaxy where a civil war is taking place. Rebels, led by Princess Leia, are fighting against a baddy called Darth Vader and his Imperial forces. Leia steals some Imperial blueprints for a deadly weapon called the Death Star but she is then captured by Imperial forces so...

.. yes, text is great, but video can, too, be great, whether it's explaining something fictional or not. Different strokes for different folks.

Re: Super Mario Bros warp zones were intended to work slightly differently [video]

#29

Post by VyseofArcadia »

mysterydip wrote: post #6

I was expecting typical youtube "you won't believe THIS!" but it was actually really informative, as someone without knowledge of how they stored levels in SMB1.

Displaced Gamers is great. Nice dives into the code and architecture of NES games. Not so deep that it's inaccessible, but deep enough that you could go start hacking on NES games yourself (assuming some prior exposure to assembly).

My only beef is the NES focus on the Behind the Code series. I'd love to see some Sega Genesis games get broken down like that.

Re: Super Mario Bros warp zones were intended to work slightly differently [video]

#30

Post by boringg »

aaaaaaaaata wrote: post #12
tablespoon wrote: post #7

I wonder if this kind of obsessive analysis of popular NES-era games will end in a couple decades, as the people who grew up in the console's heyday grow too old; or if they'll continue because interest in these particular games transcended a particular generation (and they're simple enough for people to really take them apart).

The day people stop studying ancient religious texts is the day people stop studying Mario ROMs.

To confirm you mean that the codebase for Mario ROMs are indeed ancient religious texts.
Post reply on HN