This is a completely new type of a Super Mario World run. It beats the game by getting the THE END [dead link removed] screen in the 2nd level (Yoshi's Island 3).
After the discovery of a new glitch by あんた (anta), our Skype TASing community was trying to understand what happened in the .smv. Since he only uploaded the .smv and a japanese documentation, we had to find it out by ourselves.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Snes9x 1.43 v17
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Uses game-breaking glitches
  • Heavy luck manipulation
  • Achieves credits early

The "credits glitch"

"spit sprite position = yoshi X position + offset to spit object(index by Y which is the direction) normally, this would store to the sprites X position, however, because the sprite index is #$FF It writes to #$E4 + #$FF which is #$01E3. This is the stack address that is corrupted. If yoshi is facing left he must be at the position #$86, and if he is facing right it should be #$66."
p4plus2's documentation of the "credits glitch" [dead link removed]

Addresses which have to be manipulated

RAM Addressneeded ValueDescription
$7E:148C#$7CRNG 1 | See explanation below
$7E:148D#$92RNG 2
$7E:148E#$F7RNG 3
$7E:00E8#$86X position of sprite #04 (it's Yoshi in this case) (freezes when the sprite disappears, though you shouldn't have him disappear)
OAM Addressneeded ValueDescription
$01:02D4#$26X position of some score numbers onscreen (freezes when it disappears)
$01:02FC#$A3X position of the "smoke" effect (like when a fireball goes into a wall) (freezes when it disappears)
$01:02FD#$F0Y position of the "smoke" effect (same as above) (sets to #$F0 when it disappears)
$01:0304#$81X position of a Mario tile that appears when Mario is on Yoshi and he is in the turning animation (freezes when it disappears)
$01:0305#$39Y position of the same Mario tile as above (freezes when it disappears)
$01:0308#$B0X position of a cape tile (freezes when it disappears)
$01:0309#$F0Y position of a cape tile (sets to #$F0 when it disappears)
$01:030C#$60X position of a cape tile that appears when mario is flying (freezes when it disappears)
Those addresses starting with "01" are just OAM Addresses. OAM is a chunk of memory that stores the data about the sprite tiles to draw onto screen.
RNG:
The Random Number Generators (RNGs) change with certain events. We have to change the RNG 1197 times for it to work in our favor. When a koopa spawns, it's called once (when the RNG is "called", it changes). Before going into the pipe in YI3, three koopas appear; this leaves the RNG to be called a remaining 1194 times. This is where the fish come in. When a flopping fish bounces on the floor, it calls the RNG three times. So, that means the fish need to bounce 396 times (to call the RNG 1188 more times). After the fish manipulation, there are exactly six koopas that spawn. After they spawn, the RNGs are set perfectly in order for me to activate the credits.
There are also some OAM addresses that have more than one possible values, they have to have the same bytes of opcode and they also have to not affect the A register.
OAM AddressBytes of OpcodeDescription
$01:02FA2Will be the right value when you shoot a fireball with X
$01:02FE2Will be the right value when you shoot a fireball with Y
$01:03004X position of a koopa shell tile
$01:03023Will be the right value when you pick up a shell
$01:03062Nearly always right
$01:030A2Nearly always right
(actually you can change the bytes of the opcode, only the number of bytes between two required values is important)

Stage by stage comments

Yoshi's Island 2

We can't manipulate the addresses here since they would reset in the overworld.

Yoshi's Island 3

If you jump on a p-switch and then get the "pressed" p-switch in Yoshi's mouth on the right time, you will spawn a fish if you spit out the p-switch fast enough. Also, there can only be eight fishes in the room. After this room, I went back to the Yoshi block. I spawned two Yoshi's by hitting the block with Mario and the p-switch at the same time. I jumped on one Yoshi, got the p-switch in his mouth and let him die, so the second - invisible - Yoshi becomes visible and have a null sprite in his mouth. Then I go right to perform a PI (Powerup Incrementation) so i get a cape, to manipulate some values.

Other comments

Potential Improvements

Maybe the part with the fishes can be improved, since its heavy luck manipulation. Also, maybe there is a faster strategy to get all the right values.

Suggested Screenshots

[dead links removed]

Thanks to

  • Our Skype TASing community, for being able to help each other.
  • あんた (anta), for the discovery of this awesome glitch.
  • p4plus2 and smallhacker, for their awesome work exploring the glitch.
  • DarkMoon and Kaizoman666, for helping me writing this submission text.
  • bahamete, for creating some helpful lua scripts.
  • Mister, for helping me with YI2 :P.

adelikat: Judging

Accepting this movie as a new 'ram corruption' category. See this post for details.

Dacicus: Publication underway


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Joined: 12/22/2009
Posts: 291
Location: Michigan
feos wrote:
bahamete wrote:
Was a privilege to watch this before you submitted, and I enjoyed it thoroughly even though I saw antaasas' incredible work (live!) a month or so ago.
Can it be seen anywhere now?
The work he has done is shown in this TAS. He's the one who originally figured it out and documented how this glitch is done.
Current projects: Yoshi's Island Disassembly Yoshi's Island any% TAS with Carl Sagan
MESHUGGAH
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Skilled player (1916)
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I herd u liek glitches. That's all I can say. Amazing. However I don't know what should I vote because I miss the entire credits. I'm also interested in the save file (does it shows you can play the last level or just stays at YI3 which means you only triggered the "The End" picture without doing anything which stands against one of my earlier stated "possible game end states" definition).
PhD in TASing 🎓 speedrun enthusiast ❤🚷🔥 white hat hacker ▓ black box tester ░ censorships and rules...
Joined: 12/22/2009
Posts: 291
Location: Michigan
MESHUGGAH wrote:
I herd u liek glitches. That's all I can say. Amazing. However I don't know what should I vote because I miss the entire credits. I'm also interested in the save file (does it shows you can play the last level or just stays at YI3 which means you only triggered the "The End" picture without doing anything which stands against one of my earlier stated "possible game end states" definition).
The RAM address that handles what phase of the credits that the game is showing is correct, so that's what we go off of. The game doesn't save when you end the game anyway, so a save game file won't prove anything since the game never saved.
Current projects: Yoshi's Island Disassembly Yoshi's Island any% TAS with Carl Sagan
MESHUGGAH
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DarkMoon wrote:
MESHUGGAH wrote:
I herd u liek glitches. That's all I can say. Amazing. However I don't know what should I vote because I miss the entire credits. I'm also interested in the save file (does it shows you can play the last level or just stays at YI3 which means you only triggered the "The End" picture without doing anything which stands against one of my earlier stated "possible game end states" definition).
The RAM address that handles what phase of the credits that the game is showing is correct, so that's what we go off of. The game doesn't save when you end the game anyway, so a save game file won't prove anything since the game never saved.
This was the very same issue with Pokémon Yellow about how the game should be considered as entering into a possible end game state rather than just showing an "ending" thing. Anyone can prove that the "The End" has the very same effects/route (progression within the positive end game state) as a normal completion? Think about if the game would have an unlockable thing that triggers if the game is beaten. Does the TAS would have that? If no, it means the game doesn't entered into a positive end game state just a complicated (due to memory manipulation) game state which visually shows the same with different values.
PhD in TASing 🎓 speedrun enthusiast ❤🚷🔥 white hat hacker ▓ black box tester ░ censorships and rules...
Editor, Expert player (2327)
Joined: 5/15/2007
Posts: 3927
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GeminiSaint wrote:
I like the "Thank You!" version better, with the bonus stage in the background, followed by the enemy roll call and then the "The End" screen.
I agree, please post the smv with the enemy sequences. Because this run and the any% use heavy glitches, it would make the most sense to me if this obsoleted the any%.
Post subject: smw: youtube w/ no ads/logo + video file
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Link to video video file (x264 lossless, 23MB) http://www.multiupload.com/50OADYJUO5
BigBoct
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MUGG wrote:
GeminiSaint wrote:
I like the "Thank You!" version better, with the bonus stage in the background, followed by the enemy roll call and then the "The End" screen.
I agree, please post the smv with the enemy sequences. Because this run and the any% use heavy glitches, it would make the most sense to me if this obsoleted the any%.
I see this run as analogous to the Pokémon Yellow run; it skips (almost) the entire game through the use of memory manipulation. (The Yellow run also uses SRAM corruption to set up the memory manipulation, but that's beside the point.) The any% on the Workbench plays through the game (mostly) as intended, like primordial#soup's Pokémon Blue run. (Which I think should not have been obsoleted by p4wn3r'd Pokémon Red run which used the door glitch to skip to the Hall of Fame.)
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YoungJ1997lol
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well, ain't it obvious? yep. who would want this on any% anyways?
So yea, how's it going? Currently TASing: Nothing
Warepire
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Wow that was broken, I loved it. Due to the fact that the game does not end according to TASvideos requirements I want to urge that this will be published as a concept demo, this is too awesome to not publish. Yes vote.
Player (117)
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 700
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How could I vote no? I kind of have to vote yes! you sir deserve a medal!
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Joined: 12/29/2007
Posts: 489
Can someone tell me why the glitch isn't possible in YI2? I've followed the main SMW thread for a long time and I still can make absolutely no sense out of this glitch (although I can easily understand the goal sphere and goal tape glitches in the other run).
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Does YI2 have a P-block? That appears to be necessary to advance the RNG to the desired value.
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RachelB
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Player (129)
Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579
wat is this i dont even
Joined: 12/17/2009
Posts: 28
amazing but the first 2 seconds ruined it
Active player (301)
Joined: 9/2/2006
Posts: 504
Lol this run is the wierdest thing i've seen since chrono trigger. Easy yes vote.
Player (42)
Joined: 12/27/2008
Posts: 873
Location: Germany
It looks like another game died of a buffer overflow attack. Yes vote, congratulations!
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Joined: 2/19/2006
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Location: Quincy, MA
Now... to do this on console.
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Lil_Gecko
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Zowayix wrote:
Can someone tell me why the glitch isn't possible in YI2? I've followed the main SMW thread for a long time and I still can make absolutely no sense out of this glitch (although I can easily understand the goal sphere and goal tape glitches in the other run).
If I understood it correctly, you need a cape to set up the glitch. And the earliest one you can find is on YI3, using PowerUp Incrementation. Edit : Yes vote of course btw.
Active player (426)
Joined: 3/21/2011
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Zowayix wrote:
Can someone tell me why the glitch isn't possible in YI2? I've followed the main SMW thread for a long time and I still can make absolutely no sense out of this glitch (although I can easily understand the goal sphere and goal tape glitches in the other run).
Well, as mentioned, you need a cape from powerup incrementation (only possible in YI3), but you also still need to be on one of the revolving platforms when you spit out the null sprite to bring up the credits. We can't start the glitch in YI2 with the P-switch and finish it in YI3 or anything either, since the RNG does not carry over between levels (it resets upon level exit).
YouTube Channel - Twitter Current projects: Sutte Hakkun, Hyper VI, RTDL, own hacking projects
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Joined: 1/17/2006
Posts: 775
Location: Deign
I like the The End version better for two reasons. 1) I think it feels more broken this way, which is the point. 2) and probably something "the site" doesn't care so much about, is that it really annoys me when I go to download MovieXYZ.avi in 2:36.4 and then the avi is 7 minutes long. >>I'm also interested in the save file (does it shows you can play the last level...<etc> If you look at a save file after an 11 exit run, you will see it says you've only completed 7 exits. Does that mean they didn't finish the game?
Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign aqfaq Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign
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Joined: 3/31/2010
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Yes vote. The violation of the game is amazing.
When TAS does Quake 1, SDA will declare war. The Prince doth arrive he doth please.
Joined: 12/22/2009
Posts: 291
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Timic83 wrote:
amazing but the first 2 seconds ruined it
Tough shit.
Current projects: Yoshi's Island Disassembly Yoshi's Island any% TAS with Carl Sagan
Active player (426)
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jimsfriend wrote:
If you look at a save file after an 11 exit run, you will see it says you've only completed 7 exits. Does that mean they didn't finish the game?
The game does not save after Bowser, so the game would return to where the game last saved (which in the case of an 11-exit run, is back in Donut Secret House).
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Active player (437)
Joined: 7/23/2006
Posts: 389
Location: Washington
I vote yes...with my fist!
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GeminiSaint wrote:
I like the "Thank You!" version better, with the bonus stage in the background, followed by the enemy roll call and then the "The End" screen.
I think the run going straight to "The End" is the better choice. The game loses it all and just gives up and says, "You win. I quit." It's more surprising to the viewer when that happens.
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