Game objectives

  • Emulator used: lsnes rr2-β15
  • Demonstration
  • Heavy glitch abuse
  • Heavy luck manipulation

Comments

My first submission of 2014 is a Total Control TAS. I would suggest watching the movie before reading this submission text. Since this run was (just) streamed at AGDQ 2014, you can say that this was console verified :D. As you might notice, this TAS doesn't aim for speed and the reason why it doesn't end on last input is because I wanted the last picture as a suggested picture.

How did you do this?

If you really want to know then I suggest reading the submission text of the glitched SMW TAS, as the first around 100 seconds (until the game-breaking glitch) are the same.
In short: I manipulate where the moving objects (sprites) are located or where they despawn, then I swap the item in Yoshi's mouth with a flying ?-block (thus the yellow glitched shell) and using a glitch (stunning) to spawn a sprite which isn't used by SMW and since it tries to jump to the sprite routine location, it indexes everything wrong and jumps to a place I manipulated earlier with the sprites (OAM) and because of the P-Switch it jumps to controller registers and from there the arbitrary code execution is started.
Even shorter: Magic.

This run and the TASBot

So this TAS was designed to sync on the TASBot by true and dwangoAC. For example, I was limited by using only 3 multitap frames while I'm able to do 30. Though the bot can use all 8 controllers (2 multitaps) and since every controller has 16 buttons, that means 16 bits or 2 bytes for each controller, which are 2*8=16 bytes per multitap frame and 16*3=48 bytes per frame.

Suggested Screenshots

Thanks to

  • p4plus2 for helping me with more experienced ASM stuff
  • everyone that gave me weird ideas what to include in this run :D
  • AGDQ 2014 for creating a huge time pressure for me (that wasn't actually good)
  • true and dwangoAC for the console verification of this
  • YI2 for being the perfect level for Total Control

feos: Judging...
feos: Added AGDQ TASBot stream.
feos: This TAS is definitely TEH GREATEST MOVIE EVAH. Which somehow didn't prevent flamewars about it. First, I'll say about the similarities of this and the current any% run.
They use the same input to setup total control. It is known to be optimal, the fastest. Which means there is no copyright on it - in some cases only certain combination of button presses can be used to achieve the best result, and no matter how you alter it, it's basically the same.
None of these movies is a playaround within that setup time, so artistic choices would not matter. The way it is done is, again, the fastest. And therefore it was directly picked to be used in this submission (by the same author).
So what is the actual difference, after total control is gained? The any% run completes the game as fast as possible. It jumps right to the ending sequence. It is a world record in SMW. This submission does not complete the game. It does not jump to real ending. And it does not aim for speed (shortest input). Its goal is to demonstrate a concept: what can be done within SMW when total control is gained.
Second, due to heavy time pressure (AGDQ 2014), what we see here is what Masterjun came up with overall. It may be not perfect for everybody, so there is a room for obsoletion - if better stuff is programmed within total control. But for now it is the best payload existing. And posts and votes on this submission prove that.
Since this movie's goal is in no way speed, it can not be obsoleted by reaching the total control point faster, or by making input during total control shorter. Only by providing a better payload. Which will be judged by the audience response. If people like the new movie more (as happened with Pokemon total control), this one will be obsoleted by it.
Sum: accepting as a new branch.


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Noxxa
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thatguy wrote:
A thought; if the first 1 min 40 of this run are the same as the finish-as-quickly-as-possible movie, does that count as an obsoletion?
Since they have different end goals, no.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Joined: 12/6/2008
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Spikestuff wrote:
Shoutouts to Nathan Stinson for capturing both chats and the livestream, to show epic reactions
Well the twitch chat really is not worth it. It's just a bunch of idiots spamming smilies and single words. I swear it's getting worse and worse. But the other chat is interesting. :)
Glitcher
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Didn't people say "TAS of the year" last week for Ocarina of time? I wonder what TAS of the year will come out next week....
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What? You failed to beat both pong and snake! I'm disappointed. But I don't know why, I can't vote anything other than YES :D
Joined: 11/26/2006
Posts: 115
Can someone explain the concept of a TASBot to me? whats the difference to a normal TAS run of SMW? thanks!
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YES vote cause of Tompa assisted speedrun maybe TAS of the year is a bit early (i mean we're like 6 days into 2014 ) but it's sure a great candidate
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PreddY wrote:
Can someone explain the concept of a TASBot to me? whats the difference to a normal TAS run of SMW? thanks!
TASbot plays back TASes on a real console just by being plugged into the controller ports.
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I didn't know what to expect as this was a secret even from me as I sat on the couch. This was fantastic!
Current Project: - Mario Kart 64
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Honestly? Since I had already seen the SMW Glitched TAS, this TAS didn't really provide anything new for me. Sorry, but I was honestly bored. The original plan to recreate SMB and TAS that would have been more entertaining to me, though probably not publish-worthy.
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MASTERJUN YU NO STOP BREAKING GAMES
Current: Rayman 3 maybe? idk xD Paused: N64 Rayman 2 (with Funnyhair) GBA SMA 4 : E Reader (With TehSeven) TASVideos is like a quicksand, you get in, but you cannot quit the sand
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got4n wrote:
MASTERJUN YU NO STOP BREAKING GAMES
He loves to hate them.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
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Mind = blown. Here's looking forward to SMB on SMW!
Joined: 3/3/2010
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I wonder, is it possible to use this on the SMW+AllStars cart to jump between games? Maybe find a similar entry vector in each of the All Stars games to jump between them without using the menu? Overall, great run. No, wait, make that *GREAT* run.
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evknucklehead wrote:
I wonder, is it possible to use this on the SMW+AllStars cart to jump between games? Maybe find a similar entry vector in each of the All Stars games to jump between them without using the menu?
Seems plausible; the games almost certainly aren't sandboxed so each should have access to the others' memory addresses. You might even be able to set up a jump back to SMW (or your own custom code) by modifying the other games. E.g. change the behavior of the Hammer Brother powerup in SMB3 to instead send the player to SMB2 when used, change the POW block in SMB2 to send you to SMB2J when used, etc.
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You never cease to amaze me Masterjun....well done!
Post subject: Knowing what this was ahead of time nearly killed me :)
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So I knew about the contents of the run ahead of time based on testing runs on true's board. It was fun to see the first tests turn into what is in this final version. What was really awesome was hearing the audience's reaction behind us. I've obviously voted Yes. Masterjun, thank you very much for allowing me to be a part of this. A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Cooljay
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Yes Vote This is just amazing. Good stuff Masterjun.
ars4326
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This run blew me away. Groundbreaking stuff, man! Amazing work!
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
Mitjitsu
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This takes My Little Pony hack on Pokémon Yellow to a new level. Could the author please explain the limitations of what can be created during the hacking process? For example would a more advanced game like Space Invaders or Pacman be possible? Is the input limited to one controller?
Joined: 11/9/2012
Posts: 23
While I agree that this is a massively important run for the TAS community, the run itself does not bring or show much new. The first Pokemon total control was huge. The improved Pi version was also quite nice, but at that point, the total control hacks reached the limit. Once you can program anything you want, what makes Snake more impressive than a Pi showcase? This is on top of this run being the same run as before. While the memory corruption run was quite impressive, just seeing it again with a different ending is not. The run is important, but I don't think it should considered better than it is because it is important.
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Cyber_Kun wrote:
While I agree that this is a massively important run for the TAS community, the run itself does not bring or show much new. The first Pokemon total control was huge. The improved Pi version was also quite nice, but at that point, the total control hacks reached the limit. Once you can program anything you want, what makes Snake more impressive than a Pi showcase? This is on top of this run being the same run as before. While the memory corruption run was quite impressive, just seeing it again with a different ending is not. The run is important, but I don't think it should considered better than it is because it is important.
Visually it's not something out of this world (even though many people consider it is), the main point of this movie is to make a playable game inside SMW. And with time limits this is what was possible to do visually. Both previous total control hacks were just streaming precoded demoscenish stuff.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
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This did not turn out the way I had expected. When watching the stream I thought it was a joke. Probably the best TAS I have ever seen.
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
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Eh. There is no real difference between making a demoscene or making a tiny game once you can program into the games RAM. It is the same run as the previous Super Mario World "glitched" run to show something that has already been proven on another console. It is important, but I am not that impressed or awed by it. I just feel like it is massively disingenuous to call it the best TAS ever or the like.
PCachu
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I would have been quite content just to watch Mario crapping Yoshis for two minutes, but apparently that wasn't enough for SOME people.
Spikestuff
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Cyber_Kun wrote:
Eh. There is no real difference between making a demoscene or making a tiny game once you can program into the games RAM. It is the same run as the previous Super Mario World "glitched" run to show something that has already been proven on another console. It is important, but I am not that impressed or awed by it. I just feel like it is massively disingenuous to call it the best TAS ever or the like.
Agree, Glitchy TAS of 2014 (maybe) It cannot be TAS of year, seeing the list of what could/should be coming this year.
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