How One Man Completely Broke Chrono Trigger Speedrunning

[@DoctorSwellman]

Post E if you're staying hydrated

[@slimebuck]

E

[@giovanniprovost]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[@donoteatmikezila]

little e

[@RealityMasterRogue]

E

[@BlueserStream]

☑

[@BlueserStream]

shoutouts to the 2000's community for inspiring inichi to go all in on CT. what a legend.

[@audyo14]

I literally grew up on this

[@mattkim96]

Whenever a player or speedrunner comes out of nowhere with absolutely wild time claims and no video evidence like Inichi did, I get so excited. Because it’s always followed either by a fraud getting called out, or the beginnings of an absolute prodigy who’ll shape the course of speedrunning forever. There’s no in-between.

[@juanstarnotip8122]

It's true, either Jobst or salt will show up.

[@psymar]

​​@@juanstarnotip8122Usually it's neither. Some dude claiming a time, especially back prior to like 2010, happened all the time and just nobody cared unless you had some evidence or at least an explanation of what you did differently The point you start freaking out is when they start posting evidence or a known player vouches for them. That's when it goes from "some 12 year old bragging on the playground" to "actually serious claim". It's a similar thing with major scientific or mathematical discoveries. Someone claims to have discovered cold fusion, or room-temperature superconductors, or a proof to a Famous Unsolved Problem in mathematics? Yawn. In the latter case I might take a glance at the proof (if given) just to see if I can find the flaw (in at least one case recently, the flaw was that it was blatantly just the result of someone typing "prove the collatz conjecture" into chatGPT, which spewed 10 pages of obviously true stuff, an inductive step that didn't prove anything and merely *said* that it was true with no relevant evidence, and 6 more pages of repeating what it just said. The obviously true bits weren't all even relevant, either.) ... anyway, if a second laboratory or other mathematicians confirm that hey these dudes have something here, that's when you get excited. The other time you get excited is when a physicist or speedrunner goes "Huh, that's weird." Because either you have dust on the equipment (laboratory equipment or video game cartridge contacts), or you have a discovery of Something New.

[@CrAzYpotpie]

​@@juanstarnotip8122So glad I blocked Jobst videos from showing up. That guy is the absolute worst!

[@wrathfirex]

​@CrAzYpotpie why is that? He exposes cheaters right?

[@juanstarnotip8122]

@@wrathfirex he must be a Billy Michelle fan lol

[@SamsaraTAS]

i knew this would be about inichi as soon as i read the title. having been around tasvideos long enough to watch this all happen, the things he did for that game and its speedruns have made them inseparable for me. inichi IS chrono trigger in my mind, and it's gonna stay that way for as long as i live.

[@Snowboard420]

Yeah it sucks how we'll never be able to trust anything as a legit speedrun.

[@CoobyPls]

Hero of the day is LEGENDARY. My favorite TAS theyve ever been a part of can be found by searching "Super Metroid Reverse Boss Order "Taco, Kriole, Hero of The Day". This run is like MYTHICAL.

[@Reynsoon]

on your reccomendation, that's the next video i'm gonna watch.

[@dustin202]

Added to watch later

[@ChairmanMeow1]

It just makes me so happy people are still playing these games I loved as a kid in 2024. I would have never ever guessed that 20+ years later people would still be enjoying the OG jrpg's.

[@emanuelperez3595]

XD wait wat

[@420Cortex]

Yep! I'm 40 and just got it on my phone haha! It's still awesome and maybe my favorite game of all time

[@CowCommando]

A good game is a good game no matter when it was made.

[@nunyabiznass2617]

It’s because these were AAA titles of their day. They had tech limitations but they hit it out of the park with music, characters, gameplay, and story.

[@CowCommando]

@@nunyabiznass2617 Not just the AAA titles, the good ones. There's plenty of AAA titles then and now that will be relegated to the dust bin of history.

[@moemanxx]

i have no idea wtf you're talking about. but i watched this whole 25 minute video because Chrono Trigger.

[@joebeezy9471]

This game is amazing. Played it for the first time earlier this year. As soon as I beat it I immediately started a new game due to the game being just that amazing.

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

I last played it over a decade ago, and now I really want to redo a run

[@JobeStroud]

Great to see people still discovering this game.

[@Poisonjam7]

Its reputation is well deserved. One of the best RPGs on the SNES, or any system really.

[@Meilk27]

I'm 35. It was the first RPG I ever played on SNES. my favorite ever since

[@Vitomazzarino]

These speedrun retrospective videos understate David "marshmallow" Gibbons and his contributions to early speedrunning. Absolute legend.

[@Just.Kidding]

yes, david gibbons, the famous _jet force gemini_ runner. i was like uhhh is this the same marshmallow? lol

[@Vitomazzarino]

@@Just.Kidding Writer of dozens of prime N64/SNES gamefaqs, holder of multiple mid 2000s WRs with the first known video recording, writer of the first 100% speedrun guide for Super Metroid, etc...

[@Bulleta]

@@Vitomazzarino No he didn't, I did. I had the 100% 1:00 and :55 100% videos. You can't spell trash without TAS

[@Bulleta]

They compared to regular ones 20+ years ago, they are shitty gamers

[@LLeonheart]

Love Legend of the Dragoon music on background! Underrated game

[@bijan8713]

I actually checked your youtube page a few hours ago looking for a new upload. I was a few hours early. Thank you! You're my favorite youtuber and I've rewatched many of your videos a bunch already. Stay hydrated!

[@AshewynLucatiel]

Awesome video Doc 😊 Thanks for the shoutouts, and for... well, giving me some ideas on how to improve Save Corruption. Stand by - might see some changes in the near future...

[@christopherrogers532]

As they say, "Sometimes to beat a game, you got to break it over your knee."

[@RagingBigfat]

Thanks man I needed this one. CT is one of my favourite games and I love the speedrun it's so interesting to know its history

[@raynmanshorts9275]

"Here's this Chrono Trigger crashing TAS I made a while back. Anyway, I'm tired. I'm going to head to bed." >Last online: 9 years ago

[@cronoesify]

RIP

[@aznedy]

The amount of research and effort that went into this video is impressive. Mad respect @DoctorSwellman. You created an engaging and interesting presentation that was fun to watch. Thank you.

[@MC-wh3xm]

Zohar's composition of secret of the forest is one of the most beautiful things i've ever heard in my life

[@Poisonjam7]

I hope Inichi-san is doing well. What an absolute legend.

[@loszhor]

Speedrunners are so cool on how they can figure all this stuff out!

[@mathprodigy]

If that is the same Marshmallow I'm thinking of, this guy is like a mythical legend of gaming. Not only has he done speedrunning of many games, he used to write comprehensive guides on GameFAQs for a wide variety of games. Dude was everywhere all over some of the best games, including setting some early Mario Kart 64 records back in the day.

[@user-fy7ru4ii1i]

I'm listening to what you're saying...I really am. I HEAR the words you're saying... But, I don't understand a lot of what you're saying. This is really complex. But, I'm enjoying every moment of it. Thank you!

[@Dolceandgabana]

Will always love to hear legend of dragoon music. Gives me MAJOR nostalgia vibes.

[@grawlix311]

4:28 LOVE LOVE LOVE Crosscode and its music. If you’re reading this and are unaware of this game, and love indie action RPGs, give it a shot!

[@DoctorSwellman]

vouch, easily one of the best indie games I've ever played

[@MagMassacre]

I recognized the first song immediately! A modernized LoD would be soooo badass!!!

[@TraxtasyMedia]

I loved CT back in the day, even though I played a German emulation, but tbh. I always asked myself how this game would be breakable long before I knew speedruns existed or stumbled upon my first speedrun on the internet. I saw a CT speedrun two years ago and was deeply impressed how bosses were skipped, how items were used to confuse the RAM and manip the RNG. :D I love the story of this game and just for clarification: I also love speedruns of such games. It's just the cherry on top. :D

[@Red-wc1br]

wow absolutely insane. Inichi was a real pioneer

[@osukarui]

Fantastic editing as always! And a great story and explanation as well!

[@SullySadface]

"Primitive version of google translate" people were probably shoving that thing into Babelfish tbh

[@Juniorweed1]

20 seconds in and I'm already hooked from the legend of dragoon castle music in background....my all time game

[@mork6668]

Nothing pleases me more than finding a random video about speedrunnig,of a video game I played!!

[@jeremyf1901]

I’m just liking and commenting to videos that look interesting to spread a kind deed. Now I want to watch the whole video🍿

[@BrunoValads]

As a late TASer (joined in 2015), now I'm sad that i wasn't there to see this live. What an amazing documentary!

[@falk7718]

Today I learned that there's such a thing as a too good bgm choice. Just started the video, heard the Royal Castle theme & will be off to listen to the rest of the TLoD ost. But I promise I'll be back right after & watch the vid!! Edit: Did come back, great video!

[@RBMGamer]

alright doc you have inspired me to play through this game again sometime soon

[@raho500]

No rather then that, go to the Gym.

[@Schnabelcraig]

A 25 minute video about speed running a game I played once 25 years ago? YES PLEASE!

[@TheTomtaru]

How fitting to hear Final fantasy 10 music while in my first playthrough of Chrono trigger (which happened after my first playthrough of FFX) I named the Epoch "Tidus", for riding the waves of Time.

[@Thomfamily5]

10:45 you can do this in super mario rpg snes, but only if the loading zone starts a cutscene if certain quota are met. Examples are the loading zones in the main area in yo'ster isle, both loading zones in the 8 bit mario room on boosters tower, or the pit in booster pass.

[@geneericname7138]

The music choices take me back, especially Legend of Dragoon and Duelists of the Roses.

[@Phil_597]

That feeling when a Sea of Stars song plays. "Wait, which of my fond 90's favorites was this from again?" "Oh wait, that was last year!"

[@jonwhite549]

These speedrunning lores are nothing short of amazing. I’m stuck on these sagas.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Neat. C-trigger was a great story, but the music was EXEMPLARY.

[@efrenarevalo2025]

How many glitches did you find? Inichi: Yes

[@Just.Kidding]

Is the marshmallow you talk about in the beginning David Gibbons, or a different marshmallow? If so, only mentioning Jet Force Gemini given how _extremely_ prolific he is is odd. or hilarious. not sure.

[@ShayyTV]

babe wake up, new doctorswellman video dropped

[@Emilio1985]

There is something very nostalgic over seeing a link to an Angelfire website. Holy hell, I went back to being 20 years old.

[@kyab2815]

Ok so i love the video but also i can hear the legend of dragoon ost at the start and it made me happy

[@safeontalk]

I havent played thru this game but for a minute i legit thought you added that dino tail animation in editing hahah. Was like “well thats a weird thing to work on”

[@lieutenantarex1393]

Dat dragoon music got me at the start, so good

[@KantiDono]

When you read the title and you're like "Oh, this is the story of sub-frame resets?"

[@SirVG]

5:12 - Huh, uh, hi there, past me.

[@i3uster7]

Awesome history of this run, what a crazy origin to the skips and the equipment stat boost.

[@simonchai3040]

E And thank you for covering such a legend. I didnt know him until now ❤

[@EdenNeedsAYoutubeHandle]

Ah, so this is the fabled Chrono Break...

[@Timorio]

Magus: MAY-guss Lavos: LAH-vohs Epoch: EH-puhk

[@kenzacario5196]

Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe. Let people say things how they want.

[@Timorio]

@@kenzacario5196 I'd say there's a difference between regional dialects and simply not knowing how something is pronounced. Why get offended at the correction?

[@Hjbfd6436]

Is that legend of dragoon music in the background in the beginning? did you just combine my two favorite rpgs of all times into one video ?

[@alexduff159]

Yes it is haha i was freakin out lol, cuz i was playing legend of dragoon at the same time i start that video xD

[@birdfacemd]

I will hear that song when I die, I just know it

[@Reynsoon]

5:13 That's a name! Sir_VG! He's really active on the FFXIV subreddit and does a lot of solo clear stuff for FFXIV.

[@martymcfly88mph35]

Ive bought this game but never played it... imma give it a try this weekend

[@jamesb3317]

Immediately recognized the Legend of Dragoon music, I love it.

[@Zambada88]

I've never played CT or done a speed run in my life, but enjoyed watching this for some reason xD

[@Debbie-qs2xo]

I like how you kept showing a picture of marshmallows to eliminate any chance for confusion 😅. Just to be safe. "Ohhh.. I thought you were talking about pillows.." But molotov? No picture. 🤨 Interesting..

[@Beard_of_Thor]

i liked this immediately due to the Legend of Dragoon OST in the background.

[@patdeen3960]

I should probably get out of bed and start my day. But, Chrono Trigger.

[@Xanderstrife2]

I don't care WHO you are but the whole TAS community will break ANY game into tears, no matter how old the game is. This video shows just that, and it was ONE dude that did it. Keep up the good work TAS guys. Also great video 😀

[@ddsmywrists]

Amazing video. Props to you for doing such in-depth research.

[@teitonii]

seeing inichi's accomplishments and posts later on is beautiful, his english and mannerisms got extremely good, which definitely saved the english community at the time, seeing as japanese isn't taught almost anywhere natively english. wish we could know how he's doing now.

[@WildArmACF]

Hah the truce canyon enemy skip was something i did just because i beat them enough.. back on the original release, I didnt think it would be speed running tech. The fade out tech is impressive. skipping whole bosses

[@michaelmacfarlane8207]

I heard you put in that track from Yu-Gi-Oh Falsebound Kingdom. You thought we wouldn't notice, I love that game :)

[@TheRealHaloCorps]

The background music is great! Brings back good memories!

[@ivansalcedo2290]

Game Speedrunners: This is your brain on Sandevistan and Focus Pill Supplementations.

[@dyvyby]

Inichi is like the anime protagonist you can cheer on endlessly and he will find endless power ups to beat their villains.

[@yukaiyami]

Wow. Inichi is the CT speedrunning version of Billy Mays. “You think I’m done?! Just wait, there’s more!!”

[@tswan137]

Legend of dragoon music?? Let's gooo Also E

[@AxelRyman]

E Man, seeing the old SDA and TASvideos stuff and names being brought bring back a ton of memories. I even remember reading the threads at the time. I think Inichi might have had involvement with a couple of other RPG related speedruns too like KH2, though I could be misremembering it. Edit: Actually nvm it wasn't inichi, now that I'm remembering. But Inichi was definitely a big name around that time because of his work.

[@ChefChucko]

Is this low sodium summoning salt? 😂 *intended as a compliment, not insult*

[@mcmillanjustin903]

I just wish the didnt kill the series with Chrono cross. I hated that game why make 100 characters with very lil story when u can make a great story with 6 or so.

[@dec2]

Maybe it was Lavos glitching Inichi the whole time, to aid in his quest to eat that world

[@RealityMasterRogue]

damn mad respect to inichi that guys awesome

[@robdean9216]

No. No. No. This game is like a symphony you show up to, in your nicest attire, and you end up weeping throughout the performance because everything is so moving and beautiful. You take your time. I, for one, am appalled by the notion of doing this. Who tells Bach, or Mozart or Hayden to hurry it up? Good day sir 🎩 !

[@zcanann]

You're tellin me the Any% is still over 2 hours despite having crazy memory glitches? This game is just waiting to be broken more

[@shawn576]

1 minute in: man that would suck if you were doing a TAS run and realize you can't beat the final boss. It takes LOTS of time to make a TAS.

[@Sugar3Glider]

8:15 Good job using the game mechanics to your advantage with that buildm

[@HyperDefective]

This is some damn good editing. Subbed

[@randalthor2859]

Appreciate the LoD background music 🤘🏻

[@ericmoll1530]

Legend of Dragoon background music is always a win.

[@noThankyou-g5c]

1:51 oh ya let me just pause the video for 20 hours then get back to you 😂

[@Jason75913]

The man, the myth, the legend: Inichi-sama.

[@global-sequence]

I recognize that legend of dragoon ost at the beginning

[@AuroraIceKid]

Great video, hope to see more.

[@chongyeungchan4660]

Inichi, should be hired by every game company as a QC, a legendary one

[@aldelaro]

15:35 Question: why does it wrap around to 0? If the upper limit is 32768, it probably means the value is a signed 32 bit integer, but in that case, an overflow would result in wrapping around -32769. Am I missing something? like do they clamp hp to 0?

[@josiahmanson]

This also confused me. It doesn't make much sense for anything to happen at 16384, because that isn't anywhere near the max value of a 16 bit signed integer, which is 32767. As you say that would wrap to a negative number, -32768.

[@RezuSlasher]

Yes as I understand it, the negative value is invalid so error handling does just set HP to 0.

[@diobrando3119]

It might be because the heal value is above 32767, wrapping it to negative and the game reduces the health because negative healing = health loss

[@mfisher9977]

What's up with the jiggle filter

[@SHKEVE]

japanese text actually jiggles

[@harborwolf22]

I was expecting it to be Matt Turk.

[@CreamerOfTheDairySquad]

Legend of Dragoon music is amazing

[@Vex_man]

bruh, I unironically always do the skip at 10:20, maybe it's easier on the ds though

[@Grounded-Healer]

Enjoy watching speed runs. When it comes to enjoying a great RPG, I won't be racing the clock 😂

[@FranciscoShreds]

So you're telling me chrono trigger is held together by scotch tape and a dream.

[@MiBrCo4177]

I've often wondered where these people are at now. Gaming and speedrunning was a very different thing back then then it is today.

[@centurosproductions8827]

I heard the first note of that CrossCode song, and immediately recognized it.

[@brianm.4243]

Is that legend of Dragoon music playing in the background at the start of the video? The castle lavitz belongs to that I'm totally spacing.

[@LordOakrum]

Indels Castle in Bale! The song also plays in the Twin castle.

[@gregoryechekwube2242]

You have a very good and clear voice.