FF6 SNES Any% World Record History (The Great Gambles of FF6)

[@DoctorSwellman]

I know there’s a few minor glitches and strategies I didn’t include like Vanish + Doom for late game bosses, and specific routing information. If you want to find out more, please be sure to visit the FF6 speedrun site in the description!

[@benruniko]

Oh man, Vanish+Doom was the first ever video game secret I learned on the playground (so to speak) from my best friend in fifth grade way back when. I was an FF6 megafan for my entire childhood doing things like creating my own OST from midi files recorded onto a tape deck, and downloading the sheet music for piano so I could learn to play the Boss Battle song. Goddam I still love that game.

[@margaretann944]

Vanish + Doom (and Vanish + X-zone) were the only way I could clear some bosses as a kid. Atma Weapon was always my immediate target, ngl lol

[@242sighting]

Hey, it seems like when you first mention Essentia's 4:57 run you transposed some numbers on the card and it says 5:47. Small thing on a great video, thanks for making this!

[@Xukkorz]

Its the calling going driving gambling, you are calling people gamblers at the very beginning of the video and that's really not the vernacular of gambling even though it is technically true.

[@benjaminjameskreger]

​@@Xukkorzevery time we hop into a car, there's a non-zero chance it'll lead to our death, but the probabilistic die has so many sides we don't mind betting that it won't land on one.

[@Abyssoft]

The fact that the game doesn't crash with the sketch glitch but turns into something useful is incredible.

[@veghesther3204]

That's why I'll only play the PS1 onwards games last time I triggered the Sketch glitch on the SNES version it was at lvs over 65 In the World of Ruin every single spell learned all on 12 party members + Gogo but when I triggered the sketch bug I had the game itself crash afterwards at the start of ANY random battle or BOSS fight 100% of the time.

[@wohdinhel]

there’s a great video by Elephantgunner called Sketch Glitch Exhibition detailing exactly what is happening with the Sketch glitch and all of the variants and what triggers them. the overwhelming majority of them are totally useless, but the ones that *can* be used for something are WILD

[@OFSheep]

It's because this game is pushing the limits of the snes, and it takes extremely flagrant errors to crash. Most of the time it fails, the ram is too corrupted to returm to normal play and softlocks. It's the increased processing power and available ram of modern systems that make crashes frequent; they're able to monitor the game state and are capable of cutting off the game before the error gets much, much worse. FF6 can't. Skyrim crashes, Final Fantasy 6 turns into static slurry and keeps trying to proceed.

[@blackpepper2610]

No

[@jakewhit9000]

@@veghesther3204 qwqqqqwqqqqqqqqqwqqqqqq

[@Brossentia]

Heck, I forgot I found how to use Baba Breath. (Clarification below - TAS folk deserve this credit, not me) Seriously, though, this was a great video! Everything for FF6 speedrunning builds off what others have learned. I accidentally stumbled across the sketch glitch as a kid, and as soon as I heard about my sister running the game, I thought, "There's gotta be a way to make sketch do something useful." EDIT: I wanted to add another note here to clarify a little of the history. While I worked out a very rough route to skip from the WoB to the WoR, the main theories about BabaBreath were floating around on the TAS forums before I made a video explaining it. Tanooki Teabag is the first one to mention using BabaBreath in 2011, and Catastrophe managed to find the use against the final boss. Keylie also put in a great amount of work to help optimize the glitch for runs. I'm adding this, partly because I've had a runner reach out to me and accuse me of trying to hide credit from those who deserve credit. Ironically, this person claimed I stole ideas from them, but they weren't involved in the discussions at all over on TAS Videos. Memory is problematic for me, especially from that time - I honestly have a couple of years where I barely remember what happened. I wanted to make sure we gave props to the right people.

[@Dessyreqt]

I still remember having a conversation with you at SGDQ 2012 where you mentioned that you thought the sketch glitch was an obvious unexplored avenue in the game. I can't believe that was 10 years ago!

[@Brossentia]

@@Dessyreqt Heck, I knew it could be worth using for the variety of items alone! When I was a kid, we stumbled across sketch and saw the huge variety of items it gave us - pretty sure you can max out Magic Block in many cases without additional work. And the economizers and gem boxes... so, so many good items. I'm honestly shocked people didn't use it until we found the skip to the World of Ruin.

[@jollykirby2138]

you guys are super cool

[@staceykimbell9324]

I remember my dad setting his turbo controller so that he could loop on the river with Bannon to a high level - he left the game on for over 24h with the TV off. He did the same thing on VIII with his boot on cactuar Island- I can't remember what he did to keep the x button down. Spent so many hours watching my dad play FF growing up...he did what you would call "long runs" not beating the game until in lvl 80s

[@DiegoG2004]

As Relm tries to paint absolutely nothing, the world implodes out of what a perfect representation she did.

[@starmangalaxy2001]

Life really does imitate art.

[@foraker6487]

Dyne_Nuitari, one of the three runners who pulled of the warp which is explained at the end of the video also was the first one to beat the US version Any% Glitchless in under 5 hours. Entertaining vid. Thx Doc!

[@couch23]

Great video! I honestly didnt know that much about the beginning of FF6, it's great to see history and to actually be part of it :)

[@raziyatheseeker]

I knew of Relm's Sketch breaking the game in the original FF6 long before I knew much about FF6. It was like the Missingno of more mature RPGs. I am thrilled it's crucial to the latest and greatest strats. Also, real talk. Your presentation has improved leaps and bounds. Spectacular work!

[@ElWaKa69]

Never expected to see you here! lol, I hope everything is alright over there!

[@moh.syafrianabie8899]

It's like as if I'm watching a group of world renowned professional wizard trying to invent new powerful spell

[@POINTS2]

It's great to see what goes on behind the scenes to get the glitches worked out. The TAS community is really helpful I would imagine.

[@dukemagus]

You really took your editing skills to the next level! Amazing video!

[@AtaeruCDX]

Hey, thanks for explaining all the glitches and showing it in action. It makes the video much more cohesive to watch. I hope this series will get more popular now that the quality and presentation is above par.

[@Discoh]

The editing in this video is on-point! Great video as always.

[@camwoodstock]

"In terms of rolling dice, what then?" (side-eyes the D&D dice set we own that we use to stim with)

[@xenxander]

0:41 you showed a dice that has a 3 across from a 6. That's an illegal 6-sided die! Every 6-sided die's opposite sides add up to 7.. There should have been a 1 across form the 6.

[@phillipcraig1120]

Good eye. I didn't notice that right away.

[@xenxander]

@@phillipcraig1120 Glad I could be of help to you.

[@helloofthebeach]

I can't believe Doctor Swellman would scam the speedrunning community like this.

[@spimbles]

oh shit, its illegal, the Doc's gonna get arrested

[@Kurzov]

Damn, really?

[@mikkelelgaard6630]

This video was a hell of a ride thanks for putting in the hard work

[@jacobsiron6929]

I wish to have your pfp erased from my memory

[@apototsky]

You are a spectacular writer - these videos are so, so well done

[@dethaddr]

LOL, I was using the sketch glitch in FF6 ever since I found it myself, long before speedrunning. I spent hours figuring out how to finish the battles with a victory that did things like: Give a full stack of illuminas and other awesome relics, Make someone General Leo until you saved and reset, make someone Kefka until you save and reset, Make someone a rainbow colored Shadow until you reset.

[@jeffrowisdabest]

As an 8 year old kid stumbling upon the sketch glitch, it freaked me out, but then thought it was awesome cuz I wound up with 70-something Atma Weapons.

[@leothetiger13]

My brother and i discovered it one day and it blew our minds. The shields you would get made you invincible.

[@thegreatcrippler]

I helped Pete capture his runs. I didn't even realize that he held the world record for a time. I did not expect to see his name in this video.

[@brandonbiehl9855]

I remember finding the sketch glich on my third playthrough in 1997... I started making observations of the tables of items you could get but then just decided to enjoy what I still believe is the greatest glitch in all FF

[@maskedbadass6802]

I appreciate your music choices. It reminded me that I missed getting the dino crisis save theme. Now I have it as one of my "study at night" type of tracks.

[@Nathaivel]

This video is a serious step forward in the format of speedrun docs. Bravo!

[@IndexInvestingWithCole]

“Have you ever gambled in your life” >me who has an investing channel 👀

[@benoitrousseau4137]

Man how I miss these early days of the GameFAQs FFVI forums. I never particularly cared about speedrunning, but I LOVED to learn how my favorite game worked internally, what made all these bugs happen, and then I made my own ROM hacks. The GameFAQ forums were a gold mine for learning about that stuff. I never found anything myself aside of 2 useless glitches related to Relm's Control command (she's a bug magnet) IIRC most of the finding about the game's internal working was done by users Master ZED and assassin17.

[@kefka14]

TheLCC is also one of very few people to ever run Sneak King. We traded the 50% record back and forth a good hit back in 2014 and 2015.

[@InfernalRamblings]

This is your magnum opus (so far). Awesome video in all aspects. Also FF6 is p. cool I guess

[@Ninshi2g]

I’d like to thank you for using Legend of Dragoon music in your video. Great choice 👍

[@DoctorSwellman]

My favorite ps1 game!

[@Ninshi2g]

​@@DoctorSwellman I do hope you cover the speedrun of it one day as its been going through a recent revolution.

[@globalistgamer6418]

"What's the most frames you ever lost on a coin toss?"

[@sagacious03]

Neat run & analysis video! Thanks for uploading!

[@GGreenHeart]

I love that I'm watching this right after the GMTK Game Jam which had "Roll of the Dice" as its theme

[@darkchiron]

I remember back in the day (sometime in the 90's) using the Sketch glitch in the Gau fights in the Veldt to break everything. You could get unique characters in your party that way, like General Leo from his fight with Kefka or Kefka himself. I got the game on release day, so I apparently got it before they patched it out of the US version of the game.

[@jjcoola998]

I would have DIED if I had figured out how to get general Leo in my party back then.. I still remember my brother holding the box for this game up to the car windows as my mom pulled into the driveway and running into the house after him so excited Nothing brings excitement like that anymore! I remember thinking we were like the only people who knew about cactrots etc 😂

[@kennysmith8665]

US version 1.0 has that glitch, but so few copies of it exist...i was lucky when I was a kid and got it for Xmas in 94, the year it was released. Found the glitch on Jan 2nd of 95...then on my 3rd playthrough I permanently broke the game cuz I could no longer save the game. Lol

[@darkchiron]

@@kennysmith8665 That's very unfortunate. Weird memory glitches definitely have their risks, but you never think of bricking the game entirely. :D

[@CranberryFo]

I "discovered" the Sketch glitch on my own back during a regular play-through of FF6 when I was a young girl. No Internet at the time and no idea if I was the "first" to find it or not. I'm sure a lot of us "discovered" it all on our own back in the day. In my case, I decided to try using Sketch on Gau when he returned after leaping on the Veldt. Stared in disbelief as the game went crazy on me. Knew nothing about why the bug happened at the time, just that it caused all sorts of chaos. I also saw it occur when I was in the final battle and tried to sketch one of the... whatever it is I'm fighting as I "make my way up to Kefka.

[@Supramedical68]

Daily to do list: Drive to work Gamble incessantly Lie to Doc Swellman Mom's spaghetti

[@cesara.segoviaaguirre6168]

Love this, super-geek, super-gamer content, I've been looking for accounts like yours for almost decades hahah keep up the awesome work

[@cesara.segoviaaguirre6168]

Thanks for also having lots of RPG content-- FF lover here

[@DoctorSwellman]

You’re gonna love my next video then 👀

[@etherraichu]

Ninja. Fighter. Furret. Yeah thats a Final Fantasy forum.

[@FilthyCasual268]

At least this game's held together with duct tape and gorilla glue, unlike some games like Ocarina of Time which are only held together with chewing gum and paper clips :P

[@deathstinger13]

and then there's others that are programmed on non-euclidian ducktape, like Gen 1 pokemon or NES Metroid

[@MustacheDavid]

Thanks for the video. Really enjoyed. Found it looking for speed run of ff6 pixel remaster.

[@Dude_Diligence]

Do you want 255 Atma Weapons? Because that's how you get 255 Atma Weapons...

[@TheEternalLightning]

Came For The Speedrun History, Subbed For The Great Vid And The Excellent Taste In Gaming Music (Dark Cloud In Particular Here)

[@moogleboy]

Missed opportunity to name the Game Over Glitch "Deck of Cards" or "52 Pickup".

[@TheSabin]

Oh hey I'm in the video!. Nicely done.

[@SecrePMD]

Holy hearing the dark cloud 2 music at 24:30 was an absolute blast, you really do have good taste swell man, megaman legends AND dark cloud 2, both hidden gems.

[@onimusic29]

These speedrunners could probably invent the time machine if they want to.

[@pepperbunz9093]

24:30 The Dark Cloud 1 music gives me so many good nostalgic feels haha

[@thomasquwack9503]

I’m sorry, but an entertaining and well researched video AND PMD soundtrack to boot? Subscribed.

[@TheRealLink]

As someone who grew up with this game, I don't recall seeing the Realm glitch personally but I also didn't rotate her in to the party too much. It's neat to see people just mindblowingly break this stuff.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

I knew of the glitch since around 1995, but since the risks at the time included bricking your cartridge, I never thought it was worth the risk of trying to perform it.

[@set1237]

Great video. Rpg speedruns are bizarre.

[@Capnsensible80]

0:10 That's not a lie then. There has to be intent to deceive in order to tell a lie.

[@ydk1k253]

Your video edit is top notch

[@SoftwareAgentsTV]

Really interesting and thoughtful look at one of my all-time favorite games, thanks.

[@aciddownpour2185]

im not sure if youd know this but: how different are speedruns for the gba version of ff6? if those are even a thing i played the gba ff6 a lot as a kid so i heavily prefer it over the snes one haha great video btw!

[@DoctorSwellman]

A lot of the glitches in the SNES/SFC version don’t work in the GBA version unfortunately. However I believe you can find any differences in the resources/forums for FF6 GBA on speedrun.com

[@TheGunmanChannel]

you can't lie if you don't know you're lying. just being pedantic but it's true.

[@AmalgamJiena]

Hearing you use bug fables music makes me happy for some reason

[@Goonchtastic]

Hearing the Dark Cloud music makes my brain feel good.

[@AkamiChannel]

The effort put into making this video is incredible. How did you make the effect where a window dissolves in the same way that Kefka dissolves when you beat him?

[@bigbigestwiner92]

Being a sm runner and seeing people like dessyreqt and other old sm players in their other interests is pretty interesting, not to mention the great strats shown and quality video.

[@Siinory]

I remember watching a French streamer doing this category a lot, and I’m still by how cool it looks. Speedrun Ed’s are built different (and TASers, don’t forget them)

[@DoctorSwellman]

That was probably Kadmony!

[@Siinory]

@@DoctorSwellman it was actually MisterMV and a bit of OxydoReduction. I do know Kadmony since he taught me about the Romancing SaGa 3 speedrun :D. MisterMV was a FF6 speedrun where he would... Do the opera in his own way, often resulting in complete laughter of the audience, and was quite known for his MVLuck aka the worst luck possible, with some softlocks! So many names in the video are so familiar to me, nostalgia is a cruel mistress haha

[@Quickmind01]

@@Siinory I miss MisterMV's runs. They were so entertaining to watch.

[@mistertoups]

crazy how the demon chocobo thing was so close to finding this exploit

[@JohnGunn-]

0:03 "tell me...have you ever gambled in your life?" No. "Well you did and your a liar"

[@Write-Stuff]

26:30 What is that peeking from behind the question mark? Kinda looks like Umaro.

[@crystalwater505]

I don't and never have speedran anygame, but they are fascinating to learn about and watch. The way that people discover these exploits, glitches, bugs etc, is absolutely insane. And it is so cool when someone finds something groundbreaking about the game that people thought was impossible.

[@Nicholas-Doyle]

Dat Croft Manor tune in the intro 👌🏻

[@vinzo0913]

When I was younger my only access to snes and other Nintendo consoles/games was emulation, and I didn't have internet until I was 18 and old enough to buy it myself My copy of ff3/6 was corrupted, but I wasn't to know. It crashed after I tried to do anything after the fish scene at the beginning of world of ruin and... My day was ruined. The worst bit was I used a save state just before the crash so... I either started again and hoped or kept crashing. Still haven't beaten this yet

[@masterquest91]

I royally dub this "The Setzer Run"

[@draculactica]

4 day leftover pasta is VERY much a gamble if yr fridge is too warm, respect

[@jonothanthrace1530]

Calling Megaman Legends an "overlooked gem of the 90s" makes my heart hurt.

[@AubLambe]

Fantastic video! Thank you

[@TevitaNZ]

Bold of you to assume I don't gamble every weekend.

[@jerrym1218]

I remember as a young teen when playing this game, I do have the SNES Final Fantasy III (FF VI) cartridge still. I put so many hours into this game and beat it many times, it’s my favorite video game of all time. One day when I was playing the game with some friends of mine, I had just started a new record and just before the prologue started with Terra, Biggs and Wedge walking through the snow into Narshe, one of my friends was complaining and saying come on dude let’s go outside, screw staying inside today, let’s play some basketball, I said no not today, I want to play FF VI again and do some different stuff on my new record. My friend then did a Dickish move and said well what if I accidentally did something like this to your game, would you come outside then?? He then touched the cartridge on the SNES and shook it a little bit, and the screen went black and a buzz noise went off, then the end credits started playing and the game’s ending was playing out. I was in shock, and he said, oh look you beat it already, let’s go!! I tried to make that same result happen again, but I just couldn’t, other weird things would happen like one of my save records getting erased and other new records appearing with some characters in the party already at different points in the game, and sometimes they would have 255 of every item, weapon, armor and accessory in the inventory. Very weird random things would just happen every time I would turn the game cartridge on my Super Nintendo and just shake the cartridge a little bit, I just couldn’t trigger the end credits like my friend did that day.

[@jaxblonk5127]

Dark Cloud, my beloved. Made me smile hearing the songs.

[@TheRealWalt]

Imagine if Square made a canonical lore reason behind Relm breaking reality by simply drawing.

[@LackAttack]

Great video!

[@vegamineral207]

Man, that FF6 speedrun game machine at my local casino always breaks my bank

[@ConstructMayhem]

Wow, Carci has been around a lot longer than I thought. I still watch their resident evil runs on their yt channel these days.

[@jz1443]

Idk, the sketch glitch was widely known long before it became common knowledge. Mainly because 90% of people freaking *HATE* Gau, and would attack him when he showed up and waisted your time. Nothing like being the kid that literally broke the snes cartridge from the rental place multiple times because they used the sketch glitch. Which is why it was known but "Why would you ever use it, there's a giant chance you're going to destroy your game..." before "emulators free, lol buying games" stuff.

[@staceykimbell9324]

GAU is our favorite character with a very deep and relatable backstory - sketch glitch was in a printable text guide we got off the internet in dial-up days & it will not break your cartridge- just maybe your save file. You know not of what you speak

[@simonchai3040]

Ff6 content. Heck yeah! Thank you so much for this

[@Secret0zv]

Pretty unrelated and late, but I liked the Resident Evil sound effects used during some transitions, and the video was very informative as well.

[@Lore_XiV69]

nice music choices for the video

[@Kuronosa]

If you play most video games, you've unwittingly gambled before, especially RPGs...since most JRPGs having random encounters, and each step you take you're rolling the dice that you will or won't get an encounter.

[@oOGambitOo]

Whenever I see the history behind all the Code manipulations in real time and using in game mechanics, I hear a voice in my head that shouts: SCIENCE!!! lol This is mind blowing!!!🤔🤪🧐

[@golderzoa]

31:32.33 is a cool time to have it's numbers that are after one another

[@aspinia]

I owned one of the patched versions of Final Fantasy VI or should I say III, anyways through roms and emulators I could confirm that the Relm's sketch is real, and hell what a helpful glitch it was, getting a lot of rare items was great.

[@Tryagainwithadifferentname123]

6:17 Dark cloud music? Ur such a legend 24:34 again lol

[@someguy1735]

100/10 video good job

[@BlueserStream]

Smellwan content has me going bazinga

[@JasonTownsendJasonTownsend]

I accidentally discovered I had 99 economizers and shit, as a kid, but never understood how I got em

[@zesalesjt7797]

15:15 You could brule a starry night design as a baking method so it could work.

[@staceykimbell9324]

You wouldn't have wanted to give Vincent a blowtorch at the time he painted starry night ( in the mental hospital)

[@zesalesjt7797]

@@staceykimbell9324 Why not?

[@Aeonbarr]

Not gonna lie, I flipped out when I heard the Dark Cloud theme come up during the video. It's a great track and a fun game.

[@raziyatheseeker]

Agreed. I also loved his YuGiOh: Forbidden Memories and Parasite Eve tracks. Doc has a great taste in video game music, no?

[@BlankPhantom-iw8yq]

I love the art of ACE and RNG Manip.

[@bouidge]

I was a bit shocked by the lack of presence from Dyne_Nuitari

[@daver36]

what system are they using, because whether playing the game on the snes or the playstation I never had and "glitches".

[@inthefade]

I'm going through a casual replay of FFVI (The T-Edition romhack English patch), and this video blows my mind.

[@gfhrtshergheghegewgewgew1730]

hey its thelcc from macaw45's chat

[@rompevuevitos222]

Never even played this game for more than a couple of hours and i'm still amazed

[@joonpak]

I never knew of any speedruns for this but FFVI is my favorite game of all time.

[@LEWIS1992]

FYI "niche" is pronounced "neesh".

[@CheshireCad]

"Or even eating that four-day leftover spaghetti sitting in the back of the fridge." ...Y'all finish eating your leftovers *before* four days?

[@anonymousAJ]

This whole "Bababreath one PC, kill the rest and roll credits" thing, does it only work on the final boss?

[@PANGPOWER]

For some reason when I heard the phrase "Reverse Joker Doom" my mind went to it like backfiring and targeting the party but using a reflect type effect to bounce it to the enemy