F-Zero GX by TASBot, presented by dwangoAC - SGDQ2018

TAS starts at 00:46. Couch commentary is provided by MediaMagnet, 1davidj, numbers and dwangoAC.
TAS credits:
E-Dragon
jagg2zero
CGN
superSANIC
F-Zero GX Community
Resource Providers:
1davidj
FSF
Advising TASBot
Community Members:
dwangoAC
Serisium
UnclePunch
PistonMiner
bobjrsenior
Reverse Engineering and ACE:
yoshifan28
numbers
metaconstruct
Credits Sequence:
CraftedCart
Graphics and sound:
CraftedCart
Funkmastermp
DrD29k
PistonMiner
Zayitskin
Super Special Thanks:
Extrems
FIX94
F-Zero GX Community
This speedrun was recorded live at Summer Games Done Quick 2018, a weeklong charity speedrun marathon raising money for Doctors Without Borders. Summer Games Done Quick 2018 is just one of the many charity marathons put on by Games Done Quick. For more information on SGDQ2018, find us at: gamesdonequick...
Looking for live updates? Follow us on Twitter: / gamesdonequick
Like us on Facebook: / gamesdonequick

[@gamesdonequick]

TAS starts at 00:46. Couch commentary is provided by MediaMagnet, 1davidj, numbers and dwangoAC. TAS credits: E-Dragon jagg2zero CGN superSANIC F-Zero GX Community Resource Providers: 1davidj FSF Advising TASBot Community Members: dwangoAC Serisium UnclePunch PistonMiner bobjrsenior Reverse Engineering and ACE: yoshifan28 numbers metaconstruct Credits Sequence: CraftedCart Graphics and sound: CraftedCart Funkmastermp DrD29k PistonMiner Zayitskin Super Special Thanks: Extrems FIX94 F-Zero GX Community

[@GrantDavis]

Whoever has been doing the thumbnails on these videos, good job!

[@gigabytemon]

P.S. This run is out of order in the playlist, it should play after SM 0% but instead got slotted after Kirby's Adventure. Love the work you guys are doing!

[@Wilburgur]

"yeah so we're balancing between 3000-6000km/h" *Oh.*

[@bopit7373]

Wilburgur I love you

[@venheartzeil3070]

*bouncing*

[@iP0STcomments]

just casually reaching 10,000 km/h, aka Mach 8

[@lmao_nope]

And that's on the slowest track, yeah.

[@endarior]

If only SSB would go that fast

[@balrogdahomie]

6:30 Doing some quick calculations based on the km/h indicator. that vehicle is pulling approximately 189 G’s Most humans black out around 7 G’s

[@lutyanoalves444]

Woodpeckers withstand 1200 G's. With a bit of tech, i think humans will find a way to build F-Zero.

[@lutyanoalves444]

i thought he was a falcon

[@CombattRogue]

HUMM DUDE... IM SORRY TO INTRUDE BUT YOU ARE TOTALLY WORNG... I DID A 1 SECOND CALCULATION AND THE VEHICLE IS ACTUALLY NOT MOVING ITS THE ENVIROMENT THAT MOVES TOWARDS IT.... SO THERE FORE ITS NOT PULLING A SINGLE G FORCE ON IT... CHEERS

[@smh9902]

Hence the "G-Diffusion" system found on Arwings and F-Zero race cars.

[@9volt65]

Lutyano Alves Woodpeckers only experience that force when they slam their heads into a tree- they only experience this briefly, as oppposed to a constant a 189g pressure. In addition, they have evolved to be able to withstand this force. Humans have not evolved to withstand 189g. Also, this entire section is wrong since speed /=/ g-force. Acceleration = g-force.

[@Travisdeste]

I blinked once and missed the whole run. 10/10

[@Travisdeste]

Maybe I have a condition uuuuuhhhhh check your privilege.

[@lutyanoalves444]

DID I JUST HEAR SOMEONE USE A MICROAGRESSION?

[@nathanielchiles8617]

I love how this is in the top three results when I searched "F-Zero on crack"

[@astiesjgifugufuhf541]

😂

[@DDoodles_]

Im just curious in what circumstance would you search that

[@DDoodles_]

@MageBurger I see

[@underscore319]

more like f-zero on _s p e e d_

[@Neon_Dragon339]

In the beginning, the guy said all the TAS presented here are replayed on an unmodified Gamecube, meaning that even if the encoder have trouble dealing with that speed, the Gamecube doesn't and still send a 60 fps signal. I still can't believe how well F-Zero GX is coded, maybe the reason Nintendo didn't release another F-Zero yet is because there is no way they can do a better Job (a HD remake on Switch would be nice though)

[@StaszGonyon]

At the very least, all the old F-zeroes should be remade in a modern or pseudo-modern style. However, we get abundant yet minor tweaks to the Mario formula, not necessarily "better" but despite the lack of significant changes, they keep pumping them out regardless. More and more characters added to each Smash Bros. is not really altering much in the core gameplay; how much "better" is each new game really? Why not get variations of these types for F-zero? Just because the change isn't MAJOR, as alleged by Nintendo, doesn't mean we don't deserve tweaks or variations on the existing formula. Since they never try, how do we know what can or can't be done with F-zero anymore? Finally, if they can constantly tweak the Mario Kart formula with non-kart vehicles being the only big change, then they have no excuse to hold back potential Fzero material that many fans would appreciate just as much like the plethora of inconsequential changes in these other series. I sure would!

[@shny_scott]

Video encoders have trouble with things moving fast. Most game engines (especially those designed for going fast, like any F-Zero game) don't struggle with that. This is nothing special.

[@Putnam3145]

Sega actually made F-Zero GX, and it was done in Super Monkey Ball's engine. Fun fact!

[@junpei6180]

They actually genuinely couldn't even at the time,they even asked the source code to amusement vision to understand how tf they did this in the game lol

[@junpei6180]

@@StaszGonyon it's no secret to anyone that Nintendo loves to contradict itself lol They only said that "we can't innovate f zero" bs just to not say the real reason to not make a new f zero,Witch was "yeah it doesn't sell as well as Mario kart so we don't care"

[@ArcRay20]

"Walls are merely a suggestion."

[@Kylemsguy]

Arc Ray I mean, this is true in regular F-Zero GX gameplay too. Same with gravity.

[@ArcRay20]

its just a funny statement to quote it regards to a "logical" reality, its not exactly normal to phase through a wall as if it wasnt there.

[@Kylemsguy]

Arc Ray well I mean in regular gameplay often the tracks send you either over the wall, or if you lift off the track you flip and fall up to your death. It's just that the quote is especially apt in this particular game

[@trunkskoolkid]

Same thing applies for most video games Arc Ray

[@breakerboy365]

CAN YALL JUST LAUGH AT THE QUOtE?

[@arturozavala4315]

Game: You can't go any faster! C.Falcon: hold my beer

[@lutyanoalves444]

He doesn drincc beer only grape juice;

[@davidficca8963]

@@lutyanoalves444 no he drinks Falcon Punch!

[@Phantasmeels]

What I find ironic is that according to the game manual for the original SNES F-Zero, flat-out skipping most of the track by hopping and flying across the map like this is specifically programmed against and now here we are

[@DrewPicklesTheDark]

It is in GX also since there are death triggers if you go too far off the track, but I guess the people who make the TAS' found away around them.

[@drasticgray]

​@@DrewPicklesTheDarkthere are little checkpoints in the track that are invisible planes. if you cross one but didnt cross the one before it you explode. flying runs carefully go through the edges of the checkpoints to cross all of them otherwise the minimum time would just be how fast the maximum dragon can spacefly around the finish line 3 times.

[@maxspecs]

Nintendo continues their stand on the fact that they won't release a new F-Zero game until they figure out how to top this one, but personally, I don't think the Switch could handle all of this speed, finesse, and abuse.

[@Frapskillar]

Look at Fast RMX it Shows How powerful the Switch can be

[@StaszGonyon]

@RS1 What about the older games? No remasters or upgrades for them? A collection package at the very least.

[@Kapten_R3]

Are you kidding me, the switch is a lot more powerful than the gamecube

[@gewuerzgurkeev]

Damn, if you go any faster you will have to calculate the Time dilation for an accurate Timer Ask Einstein for help

[@davemarx7856]

😊 good one

[@Neon_Henchman]

*Car going at 5000km/h* "This is the slowest of the levels."

[@plutterton]

"This is the first console verification of any disk based system ever. This is actually a big deal." I have no idea what any of that means.. 😑

[@dwangoAC]

Disc-based systems are a challenge because we can't deterministically predict how long it will take to read data off a spinning optical disc. The method using the GBA and listening for hooks from the game on when the level starts combined with the unique game engine F-Zero GX uses made true console verification possible. I'll be providing more info on my next Twitch stream at twitch.tv/dwangoAC if you're interested.

[@plutterton]

dwangoAC Thanks, I understand now. I always look forward to Tasblock. Thanks for stopping by the comments 👍🏾

[@lvcsslacker]

that the given inputs with an emulator are possible and doable with a console. Though I'm not entirely sure if that's exactly what they mean.

[@fanathewanderer4417]

m e When playing a disc game, you can't predict when the game will start. Because of that, it's hard to do a good TAS. For instance, if you start accelerating after 5 seconds, you might be early because the game loaded in 3 ... Or too early if the game loaded in 7. In either case, the TAS won't work. The main difference here with the GBA is that the GBA is waiting for cues of the game to start driving. The TAS will be OK whatever the time it takes to load. Theres 2 implications : - 1 : you could do a TAS that works online. A bot that start driving exactly when all player are loaded in. - 2 : you can do an AI that 'see' what happens and react accordingly (think fighting games).

[@danmanx2]

Thanks for explaining...your team deserves a lot of credit! I don't know if an average person knows how much work it takes to run your own code on these systems, let alone the disc based breakthrough. As a gamer, I appreciate the hell out of these exploits.

[@evertime123]

"Hasn't been touched by us in strange ways"

[@dwangoAC]

Which is to say, that was GDQ's unmodified Gamecube and an original disc. We made no internal modifications to the hardware and the only things we did were insert memory cards and controller devices.

[@voxelfusion9894]

I do believe that evertime123 tried to make a lewd joke. The TAS was amazing, great job!

[@Livingeidolon]

dwangoAC do you have anywhere where you explain more of the science behind these tas exploits/adventures?

[@davemarx7856]

This realistic background footage is jarring and unnecessary

[@228zip]

I'm assuming you can't get a save like that without modifying it on a computer ?

[@luckyfox2997]

I still state that while watching this live, they had gone beyond plaid at that point, I still question what sorcery I witnessed in this TAS run.

[@zerorequiem42]

"Are we saving or killing the animals?" "They are still being saved." "okay." ... Audience "Kill them anyway!" Brought to you by the monty python school of comedy. 13:21

[@NeverduskX]

This was pretty fun to watch, though I do wish the commentary went a bit more into what the TAS was doing (and what it could do vs humans). At least as much as they could in the very short time they had.

[@dwangoAC]

Raven Smalls Agreed, we had a shortage of runners of the game at the event for commentary and the honest truth is I didn't prioritize rehearsal of the individual level sections as well as I probably should have. We were focused on fixing some consistency issues that kept us distracted.

[@dwangoAC]

TV-GAME Fan I think I've personally managed to overcome mumbling but I can tell you it's nearly impossible to get more time to explain at a GDQ. It's one of the reasons I tell people to come to Twitch.tv/dwangoAC as I can explain what's going on in a longer format.

[@TimoKanal]

This was just insane.

[@JustinsaneS222]

I agree

[@dwangoAC]

JustinsaneS222 I see what you did there

[@JustinsaneS222]

thank you for acknowledging my witty comment. My life now has no regrets :D

[@SwitchyWitch_]

Boi is the bot doing fucking straight snaking at 6:30 That's fucking amazing man.

[@eudaimonistic]

As a long time fan of this game, this was just incredible to see. That there was even an attempt at console verification through the GBA (genius solution btw) blows my mind. I was so amped to see this and I hope GX gets more attention because of this.

[@sarysa]

13:06 - that heckler who shouts "casual!" and then goes off on a rant, though...

[@AberrantVision]

Me: ... Capt. Falcon: *YES*

[@DylanBelievesInTheNet]

I FEEL THE NEED THE NEED FOR SPEED

[@johnsimon8457]

yeah, we found a previously unknown exploit for running arbitrary code for the gamecube, just gonna casually slip that in there

[@friendofp.24]

This must be the new racing tournament, "F-Negative One!"

[@lyoselli]

1990: "oh man, I bet the demoscene will have ultra realistic graphics and the most badass sequences ever" 2018: 13:00

[@QuarrelsomeLocalOaf]

Now *_THIS_* is podracing!

[@AndroHomeTV]

F-Zero is such a fast paced game, imagine you are able to play it with the higher framerates of today like 120/144/240+ and have the chance to utilize your sharingan to finally recognize the level structure while having a sonic-boost-psychosis. Forget xbox series x and ps5 with failing to achieve a higher fps value than 60 in a stoned slow game like assasins creed or something - F-ZERO my boys! And a sonic unleashed style game. Boost your eyes out of your brain!

[@TheDiegiset]

How to break reality and do falcon punches in the brain meanwhile

[@zephyfoxy]

These guys are amazing programmers.

[@JoystickV2]

NOW THIS IS PODRACING! - V.D.

[@archdiangelo7930]

I stopped trying to keep track of their highest speed around mach 10. For reference, that's ten times faster than the speed of sound. Screw science, Captain Falcon's gonna get that PB dead! (Not dead or alive of course because he's paste on the upholstery long before the car starts to break apart from the sheer speed and g-force, BUT THE FRAMES ARE KING)

[@O_RLY]

3000 km/h is 2.42x the speed of sound.

[@Lethaltail]

inb4 someone finds an exploit that enables ACE on not just F-ZERO GX, but F-ZERO AX as well. Imagine Triforce ACE...

[@corvax8644]

Only relevant for the first three seconds huh? You mean that whole run?

[@RurouniZel]

Imagine playing like this in VR... puke city!

[@yoshi314]

i wonder how many people got the linux jokes in that run.

[@dwangoAC]

Not many just yet, it's going to take a few replays in slow motion to catch them all as some of them are only up for a few frames. There's some good stuff in there, credit to CraftedCart for having a fun sense of humor.

[@MhxAir]

Only those with a Linux or Pi, so probably a very small 1%.

[@npc6924]

The systemd screen, or something else?

[@yoshi314]

@NPC that , and sudo jokes, /proc or /sys stuff. i'll just take another look and probably see more.

[@dwangoAC]

yoshi314 There's a lot more, especially during the color a dinosaur segment. :)

[@hiimshort]

"Is that systemd?" Lost it 😂

[@r1l426]

The track: exists Tasbot: ok the track is lava The game: 4:26

[@RyanMan767]

10:19 - they clearly didnt actually expect it to de-sync there... it literally wasnt console-verified in this run. but they played it off as if nothing happened lmao nice

[@michaellk2254]

YES IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS. Cant wait to see a new live Fzero GX run by CGN sometime

[@1davidj]

if you're interested, F-Zero GX All Tracks was run just last AGDQ by AKC12, another top GX player.

[@welestgw]

I appreciate the coolness of a TAS run on f-zero, but somehow to me not doing the TAS run live on it loses its appeal.

[@Mayhemzz]

As far as I know it's impossible for them to TAS disc games live.

[@NovaCyn]

they demonstrated how far they are in replaying TAS on disc games with the GBA about 9:00. So you got as much of a console verification as they can do at this point, and the what it should have looked like using the replays

[@nicholaswhite7056]

thats why the trick with the gba was treated so seriously, that was an actual tas runnning verification in real time, and yeah so far its extremely difficult because of loadtimes being so variable, especially between individual consoles, one might have a dirty lens, one might have a borked drive...not to mention the disc might have a scratch. Too many variables to account for.

[@dwangoAC]

As others have noted, we showed replay files for the first few levels then demonstrated that we can with enough effort get real honest-to-goodness console verification using a GBA to provide inputs through the controller ports. It's very challenging as you saw but it's possible with enough effort.

[@Enny_Gima]

couldnt somebody modify some controller hardware so that it would be possible to program a series of inputs purely electronically, from a computer?

[@pleaserespond3984]

Guess Nintendo were still angry about that whole "Blast Processing" ads from Sega, lol. Notice how they stopped making F-Zero games when Sega stopped making consoles?

[@ReyZar666]

would have been better if they show a casual gamplay first, so we can appreciate even more this insanity

[@Exponaut_R-01]

This TAS stuff is always a wild ride.

[@CharCole]

5:44 I literally looked at a text for 2 seconds and he's already done. What the actual Fuck

[@Bobcat205]

Jeremy Clarkson is frothing at the mouth at the amount of SPEED.

[@Eiertschik]

Can you use the replay system to play back literally anything like you did with Super Monkey Ball or is there some sort of plausibility check?

[@dwangoAC]

Eiertschik We did a lot of work to reverse engineer the replay file format which is pinned in our Discord.TASBot.net server but we found a way to take complete control of the entire console which was deemed more interesting.

[@witnessme602]

Gallant Star 64? More like Supersonic Fuckmachine.

[@fluffy_tail4365]

Dang, systemd got into a GC too? Awesome TAS anyway!

[@HeroChao132]

That last one of the first five just had him going through Dimensions.

[@rileyagricola1530]

"Reticulating splines"

[@Hawkeye04300]

Ah yes, I was really hoping we'd see CGN's work here! Saw some of his and they're absolutely mental.

[@mllarson]

Spoilers... I lost it at Color a Dinosaur, especially since it was ASCII art....

[@KiyokaMakibi]

That was incredible O_O!

[@anidiot5153]

ah yes f-zero characters have their g-diffusers become useless: the tas

[@Simmcal]

Excellent work from the TAS teams and DwangoAC as always.

[@TheDanielradio]

Art TASes are ju amazing to watch! I'm in awe! Thanks for this!

[@fourme7690]

3:43 ＡＳＣＥＮＤＥＤ

[@birdfacemd]

Is there like a technical paper or anything on how this was all done?

[@dwangoAC]

I did not write a long article about this run specifically but the basics of TASing are documented at TASVideos.org and TASBot.net has information on the process of console verification.

[@SumeaBizarro]

that GBA tasbot code probably is based on Extrmems GBA-as-controller code from his GBA player alternative.

[@dwangoAC]

SumeaBizarro It very much is which is why he's in the credits. He was super helpful (albeit terse).

[@wildfluffyappeared]

*Y E E T*

[@Peachy232]

6:37 *WHAT*

[@WilliamShinal]

I'm surprised that the encoder even survived for as long as it did.

[@dwangoAC]

It was one of my biggest concerns ahead of time. I asked them to use tighter shots so there was less crowd movement to contend with so there were more bits available for the game. The higher bitrate of this event definitely helped.

[@euphorictail2319]

That guys laugh at 1:59 Sounds like Igor's laugh from Persona 5

[@karlsmith4270]

And you thought the Genesis had blast processing. Oh no. AV did wonders by making their engine way too fast and that's on the Gamecube.

[@blazingblackness4442]

6:40 Did anyone else hear that guy scream "WHAT?!" in the background? 😂😂😂

[@takeshiC1]

Awesome TAS bot skills, but can we please stop using 'walls are mearly a suggestion', feels like every speedrun game someone sais that lol

[@dwangoAC]

takeshiC1 Heh - any thoughts on alternative things to say? :)

[@PurpleSunTAS]

Vertical panels are but a recommendation

[@gosucab944]

Pants are an illusion and so are walls.

[@Yuzuki1337]

dwangoAC Wall collision only exists in your head :p

[@aenigmaticus_ca]

Collision detection is but a suggestion

[@hardwaylacruz]

How does the game not crash at that speeds? XD

[@kablooey60]

CGN made the replay desync in a TAS of Cosmo Terminal.

[@Kylemsguy]

Hydroxoid yeah, but that was more due to the inaccuracy of the emulator than anything

[@norigib6186]

Carefully

[@Foiiiii1]

Asians: Tutorial mode complete

[@Mario_bland]

Wait, did they deprogram the game with only button presses? Or is this some sort of romhack?

[@CraftedCart]

It was done using specially crafted replay saves on the memcard. I wasn't really involved with the ACE so can't give any specifics.

[@Eiertschik]

My best guess is that there is a bug in the game's code they managed to exploit using a modified replay file. Then they were able to run their own code stored on the memory card.

[@Eiertschik]

reprogramming the game/console using button presses is only required for consoles they can't plug a modifiable storage medium (like a memory card programmed on a PC) into, like NES or SNES.

[@CraftedCart]

Precisely!

[@Mario_bland]

Thanks everyone I just remember the smb run they had years ago where they did it all by button presses. They didn't say they did that this year so I was curious.

[@SylphidUndine]

pretty sure the poor pilot in that vehicle is dead.

[@tonizamboni7362]

brb throwing up

[@lutyanoalves444]

nvm just swallowed everything back

[@miaesesawarren9033]

Moore Joseph Wilson Cynthia Smith Patricia

[@GalaxianSR]

How is he going so much faster than what humans have done, it still doesn't really make sense to me 😅

[@demondoesstuff3837]

Dude the freakin pilot

[@CardboardOdyssey]

e dragon? i used to play redout with that guy a few years ago, cool talented dude

[@ZetaMAGES]

I was so sad I didn’t catch this. CGN in AGDQ2014 got me into speed running.

[@exorias625]

The speedlimit in this game isn't 10k believe me

[@Tetrisboyz]

mind blowing tas

[@Neoprimal]

Run: Exists Encoders: Am i a joke to you?

[@paltryshelf816]

Need for speed cops are faster

[@tylerdeetz]

No offense to any of the commentators or announcers throughout the runs at the GDQ events. But it would be nice to see just the raw game footage of the run, with none of the commentary.

[@Disatiere]

I mean, you can always mute it.

[@Pinkskull69420]

wow i just realized the clock animation rectangles are binary

[@phantomspaceman]

Set the playback speed to 0.5 if you want to see the courses.

[@FallenMeowBob]

i would love to see that zeroday exploit, ive used modchips for stuff like this but a memory card used like this is pretty cool. i do imagine it is game based

[@dwangoAC]

Swing by Discord.TASBot.net and we'll give you more info, there are a few git repos containing what we did as well.

[@nanopi]

5:54.86 would make a nice thumbnail

[@Tiptuuup]

it´s like going backwards in AVGN "Big Rigs"

[@Sonicgott]

I think I’m gonna be sick... :x

[@callinater6133]

The AI rubberbanding in story mode:

[@aclonymous]

that's a lot of shit boosting

[@Dracula_sb]

What size

[@georgem2768]

5:38 It peaked at 10,120 miles per hour

[@saltyderpy8343]

I blinked, what happen?

[@Dummigame]

Still couldn't beat master cpu's.

[@Order-Sol]

This vs. Boost Fire

[@FaliggetFTW]

Didn't catch this live and was super hyped for this video. Kinda disappointed that there was only one new TAS in this block of TAS's. Especially as seeing they've all been on KZbin for multiple years at this point in time.

[@dwangoAC]

FaliggetFTW What were you expecting us to do? In general we have to use content that's already been created, in part because the GDQ submissions process requires submitting a video of the run and we don't get special treatment from the committee (although I do keep in close contact with them). On rare occasions in the past we've been able to show entirety new content but I have to rest sometime so I try to take it easier for SGDQ events. This is probably the most complex SGDQ I've organized in fact.

[@FaliggetFTW]

dwangoAC honestly, I was hoping it'd be a Grand Prix, like the Mario Kart tas videos I've seen. I dunno. I also was kinda sad to see it was just replays. Like I was thinking it was going to be Entirely TAS gameplay and wouldn't require inputs from anyone after the game started. I'm sorry if my expectations were to high. I appreciate the work you do for the community.

[@Cyber_Kriss]

Seriously WTF

[@Harrison244]

Make a new F Zero you cowards!

[@seba2366]

Color a dinosaur from Super Mario Bros 3 Run and the Save the animals from Super Metroid GOD