This Insane New Glitch Just BROKE Castlevania!

[@karljobst]

Thanks legends. Got a couple of juicy vids coming up! Get 4 months extra on a 2 year plan here: nordvpn.com/karlgaming. It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!

[@Aimbok]

Karl Jobst, if I was the first person to ever beat a Quake speedrun blindfolded, do you think it'd be worth a video? You unironically would be motivation enough as one of my favorite creators to try and pull it off. Incidentally I found a (now banned) credits warp strat (involving what you could consider ACE?) in Quake that beat the WR in about 40 seconds using the poorly sanitized name console command to change my bounding box size, to clip through the floor in the start area to skip straight to Shub. Sadly they thought the strat defeated the spirit of the run, and made it a meme category, before deleting the extension entirely. :c So this would sorta be my attempt to have a first run that WOULDN'T get deleted, because I think blindfolded Quake runs could really catch on like they have for SM64.

[@smackameproperly]

I live in Sydney, and I got a trial with NordVPN, I went one day over and I never even used the app, and they would not refund me. I had to call ANZ and get a claim going. I said they used "dark patterns" because i remember what happened i went to cancel it, but i couldn't find how, so i forgot all about it. ANZ gave me the money back. I hate this company

[@Big_Boats]

cant wait for that damn cube

[@SlidingRhino]

No public NVP protects you from anything, it only allows you to backdoor Netflix. You are still being monitored by big brother and other companies including NordVPN, in everything you do.

[@BOLDBANGER]

What.. do you here?

[@timephire]

"What a horrible night to have Arbitrary Code Execution..."

[@WerewolfKweef]

Wrong game, but I’ll allow it

[@D0NU75]

@@WerewolfKweef "It is good day to have [Arbitrary Code Execution]"

[@LaCazaLP]

didnt even start the video. Saw this comment...Yep. Castlevania is done for lmao

[@Mr.Spongecake]

"The Arbitrary Code Execution has vanquished the rest of the game."

[@JorgeLopez-qj8pu]

💔 speed runner you don't belong in this game

[@NeonVenomProductions]

After beating Castlevania 76 times, no wonder you'd want to skip directly to the end credits.

[@siskavard]

for real, I had this as a kid & never beat it, brutal

[@MasterJohnam]

76? For these guys I'd imagine it's more in the mid to low thousands for these top speed runners.

[@YammoYammamoto]

To do this speed run you need to play the game 76 times. err... not much of a speed run, then... is it?

[@NeonVenomProductions]

@@MasterJohnam fair point.

[@bawbehh]

@@MasterJohnam i'm sure you saw after watching the video but the 76 clears is solely to set up the ace manip

[@PunctualGuy]

As a programmer, I can totally see how something like this could have happened: "Hey, it looks like there's this weird bug when you exit this level, but it doesn't happen if the player jumps before exiting." "How long will it take to find a fix?" "Probably a few days." "...Just make the player jump..."

[@ezgarrth4555]

It hurts how true it is. Code death by a thousand cuts

[@Rahul_Sastry]

I think it's the tester's fault should have told the developer to not place the Bat there.

[@AliceErishech]

@@Rahul_Sastry The tester isn't necessarily one of the devs, let alone a programmer, so they might not have any idea that the bat's placement could actually be problematic.

[@Rahul_Sastry]

@@AliceErishech I think this is a prime example as to why bugs pass testing.

[@gwentarinokripperinolkjdsf683]

I find it much more likely they didn't even think about the bug at all and never discovered it

[@SBDWolf]

Thanks to Karl Jobst for featuring this recently discovered ACE! It was very enjoyable to help on this. A few things I'd like to address that I'm seeing some people wondering about: Q: Is the discovery of this glitch marking the "death" of this speedrun? A: Not at all. As mentioned in the video, this was made its own separate category, while ACE is banned everywhere else. The speedrunning community at large still favors the main Any% categories which do not use ACE. This is seen more as a fun novelty so to say. Q: Why is the time that it takes to acquire the save files not included in the final time? A: While it would be nice to not rely on any pre-existing save data for this, it's impossible to completely reset the save data to a clean state on an original disk anyway, because this game also memorizes a "High Score" without offering a way to reset it (global across all 3 save slots, never even displayed anywhere which is kind of odd). If someone wanted to rely on a different setup that doesn't make use of the save data from playthroughs on other slots (which does exist and involves using object X-coordinate data, but it's not RTA viable atm), then based on current knowledge they'd need to use the High Score and Current Score as part of the setup (as those are the last things that would get executed as code with this setup, before the game would pretty much inevitably crash). If using those save slots was disallowed, it would create a situation where someone could save too high of a High Score on their disk and "brick" their disk in such a way that they wouldn't be able to pull this off at all, which is kind of undesirable. Of course, there's external ways to rewrite the data on the disk, and it's easier to just clean save data out if playing on emulator or on flashcart, but then it's kind of a whole thing to have to do. It was easier and more practical to just allow those saves to chill on the disk and do the run :) once they're there, you can grind runs out forever so long as you never overwrite the first two slots.

[@MajesticDemonLord]

Cheers for the additional details :)

[@mintyfreshdeath7128]

Definitely appreciate the additional info. I literally just commented that the run should include the saves setup. That’ll show me for commenting on something I have no real knowledge of, lol. Great work btw, as someone that codes themselves I always love seeing how seemingly “impossible” user states can be taken advantage of. What an absolute legend!

[@evadecaptcha]

Great work as usual, SBDWolf!

[@SBDWolf]

@@evadecaptcha Hey captcha, thank you!

[@mb2776]

Thx for the great work and the additional info! I guess that highscore thing was a planned feature which just never really was fleshed out in the end. Happens often in games as u allready know I guess xD

[@brennanruiz1803]

I really love that the ACE doesn't look like doing a bunch of random movement like it does for other speedruns, and I really _really_ love that he was willing to actually grind out the 76 runs for the second save file. Crazy the dedication that runners put into their games.

[@saphi20]

thats exactly why i dont think this should be a world record, those 76 runs are required for this one to qork, so those 76 runs should count for the timer, invalidating it as a world record…. cmon, is a nice discovery but feels like he cheated the system.

[@Moleoflands]

​@@saphi20it's a different category, calm down.

[@majorpwner241]

@@saphi20 The dedication to do all that grinding, let alone discovering this exploit, is more than enough to merit the recognition he deserves for this. It's pretty epic. Most speed-running is cheating the system in some way or another. This is straight up hardcore gaming at its best though.

[@NotSnak]

​@@saphi20that is pre preperation for a trick to work on the actual run for almost any game speedran things like this are not counted for time in the run

[@danielblanchette8593]

I kinda prefer pre ACE shenanigans, like the beat ganon speedrun of oot of way back then

[@TheNethIafin]

It's also a separate category because it requires you to have a correct save files from before, and not a game from scratch

[@excellentswordfight8215]

Thank you for that information! I was just going to start googling this, as I found it odd that setting up the save files wasnt part of the timer.

[@ThePharphis]

@@excellentswordfight8215 at that point the normal any% strat would be hours and hours faster than using ACE anyway

[@t23c56]

Great video! Love to see you explaining cool speed runs and not youtube drama. More like this please!!

[@skoetkonung7353]

@@excellentswordfight8215 It says your reply was posted 1 day ago, yet the original comment that you were adressing was posted only 22 hours ago?

[@oz_jones]

@@skoetkonung7353 A wizard did it.

[@DAcheekO]

Todd rogers already used this trick in the 80s that’s how he got the WR

[@c0wbait]

Togers*

[@NbNgMOD]

That's how Billy got the wr xD

[@SayAhh]

​@@NbNgMODBy suing ppl lol

[@Hatemode_NJ]

With a clutch

[@WerewolfKweef]

The REAL dragster

[@theowinters6314]

I'm honestly more impressed that he made the second save file without an editor.

[@oz_jones]

"F it, we'll do it live." Also this way he can get bits (heh) and subscriptions on Twitch.

[@Ange1ofD4rkness]

It makes the accomplishment that much sweeter. To be honest they may have to test it out, and once it worked, was like "let's earn this the right way now"

[@whtiequillBj]

@5:59, I'm not sure I'd call it "cutting corners". There just isn't enough memory. Reusing memory was a normal practice. Probably everything else was in use by something more important to the functioning of the game.

[@mb2776]

Kinda the same with the missingno glitch in pokemon. Your name is changed to old guy and your orginal name is stored in the place which defines what wild pokemon you'll encounter in a specific area. Since that information is changed once u enter an area, it wouldn't matter. But you'll probably remenber that tiny piece of sand near an island you're able to surf. and then you'll have wild pokemon encounters. which are defined by your trainer name^^

[@Qbe_Root]

It was cutting corners by necessity, but still cutting corners imo

[@CleetusDaFetus]

Thats still cutting corners, that doesn't mean its a bad thing or the devs were lazybut it is still cutting corners

[@KaitlynBurnellMath]

Yes, there was less memory, but as someone who has worked as a game programmer, I'm pretty sure this glitch was avoidable. A few options: The countdown after taking damage could have stopped at 0 instead of -1. When you trigger the scene transition, you could set the variable to 0. And just in general, I don't know about Castlevania specifically, but there are some NES games with shockingly bad coding. Like NES Tetris, the score you get is multiplied by the level, but instead of using the built in NES multiply function, it implements multiplication by just adding repeatedly (causing the game to sometimes crash at high levels when the repeated addition takes too long). People have gone back into the NES Tetris game code and optimised it to the point that they can run it at several times normal game speed without crashing, so...yeah, code from the 80s can definitely be improved upon. Obviously Castlevania had to deal with limited memory, but it's very likely there were tricks they were not using that would have used the limited space more efficiently, and which would have avoided two different systems fighting over the same variable. For example dividing up the variable being used here so that a couple of the bits are responsible for one system, and a couple of bits are responsible for the other system might have worked.

[@Finkelfunk]

I'd go so far as to say it's an optimization technique. If Karl knew half the shit modern engines do to save fractions of frames he wouldn't call it "cutting corners".

[@Skymography]

CONGRATS ON 1 MIL SUBS 🥳 you should win a lawsuit to celebrate

[@EurekaX]

lol

[@jestfullgremblim8002]

I love this channel's community

[@goofball236]

@@jestfullgremblim8002real

[@Gweebi]

I love you ​@@jestfullgremblim8002

[@soundspark]

His ad could lose him one.

[@kingdomcomesuperman3669]

Arbitrary code execution is never the most entertaining to watch but seeing the process of discovery for it is always entertaining. Especially for one on my favourite franchises in Castlevania, still dumbfounded Konami did nothing new gaming wise to collaborate with the shows.

[@KainYusanagi]

Exactly. It's neat that it exists and a way to use it is found, but after that it becomes dull immediately for any form of actual recordholding. There is no skill to it.

[@gairisiuil]

​@@KainYusanagi Not really, the rest of the game before the warp is still up for optimization, and because credits warps are usually much shorter, the optimization can get extremely difficult. What you said is sort of like saying a 4:56 in SMB1 takes no skill.

[@KainYusanagi]

@@gairisiuil Yes really. And yeah, SMB1 is at that point now; there is so little difference between runs that it's not entertaining to watch beyond the first time exposure; it's more just appreciating that someone found some way to get closer to mechanical perfection. As for this, there being less time before the warp means that the competition to get the closest to frame perfect is stronger, sure, but that's still boring. Always has been. There is no variation. Speedruns are best when they are not at the level of sweaty balls that such maximal optimization is at; same reason that LttP speedruns and so many more are boring, with all the glitching they do instead of actually playing the game, once you've seen the glitches for the first time.

[@AliceErishech]

ACE TASes can be pretty entertaining though. Just look at the Super Mario World one where they program several different other games into SMW.

[@fojisan2398]

I mean, they released the Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood duology on PS4 when season 2 rolled around.

[@Weldedhodag]

"At this point, Castlevania is almost 40 years old" WHAT *WHAT THE FUCK!?*

[@nanopi]

How many years has it been since the release date? 1986 (JP Famicom Disk System)

[@spk1121]

Emotional damage! 😣

[@lifespanofafry1534]

Are you ok?

[@AliasA1]

Also, the movie Shrek was released closer to the release of Castlevania than today, and if Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a child, it would just barely be starting puberty.

[@legion162]

And I was playing it and getting frustrated pretty much when it came out 😭😭

[@verbnoun1531]

4:10 The tiles at the bottom-right of that corrupted screen look like a skeletal Sonic the Hedgehog.

[@20jcontra]

Imagine being a kid and making it this far back in the 80s and have this crash happen with no idea how it was caused. The rage was real I'm sure

[@werdna_sir]

This kind of shit happens all the time and we just call it a game crash. We never know exactly why it occurred, but the game code was just following its logic.

[@ntma]

imagine being me this year trying to do the wrong warp like forty times on the JP version, which doesn't work because the first climbing-through-the-sky RAM land screen takes you into quicksand and you just die

[@viperdemonz-jenkins]

you are not an 80's kid are you?

[@20jcontra]

@@viperdemonz-jenkins I'm almost 40...so yes. I just didn't have this game as a kid.

[@Sterlin18]

@@Bfkcjscbsnjc - Yeah this always sucks - Fortunately they did make this its own category which I wish games like Mario Kart 64 did for its SC and then like super short cuts if you will - Its silly to have a given short cut be x:xx:xx then a new glitch short cut be x:xx - At least Castlevania put this speedrun in its own category

[@Ganonmustdie2]

Now we need Castlevania ACE%, where the speedrun is less about using ACE and more about beating the game 76 times to set ACE up

[@YOSSARIAN313]

If you want that to be a category the best way to start one is to do it yourself and upload the video

[@rvreqTheSheepo]

A miserable pile of secrets

[@SirRage666]

you forgot "little"

[@vaiyt]

A fascinating little pile of secrets

[@HouseOfFunQM]

WHAT IS A SPEEDRUNNER

[@JorgeLopez-qj8pu]

@@HouseOfFunQM But a miserable little pile of cheats

[@TimothyGod]

​@@JorgeLopez-qj8pubut enough talk, have at you

[@tiagotiagot]

00:50 Well, there have been some examples where ACE was used to overwrite the game with a completely different game or even other sorts of software altogether; so in a certain sense, it's useful even in some situations where you do completely break the game.

[@Jackal776]

What I love about this channel is you take a game I've never heard of or played, explain a complex glitch/shortcut in a way that is easily understandable, and make it all entertaining. Thanks Karl!

[@piratebear3126]

I didn’t realize how similar this discovery was to Pokemon Gold and Silver’s Coin Case ACE. Growing up everyone thought it was just a weird crash, but once people figured out it was actually executing your party as code they made set ups to rewrite the game. Love seeing some ACE in action.

[@mb2776]

also kinda similar to pokemon blue/red with missigno. Space to store data used in multible ways.

[@addictedtoRS]

​@@mb2776 Very similar indeed! Can't believe we all figured out these game breaking glitches so long ago before internet really kicked off, considering the same type of glitches are still being discovered in 40 year old games today

[@powertomato]

It's called a buffer overrun or buffer overflow and it is actually one of the most exploitable types of bugs out there. The CVE database currently lists over 15000 known exploit vulnerabilities in online software. That is over 10% of all entries there.

[@NintendoComplete]

Neat! I had no idea a secret like this lurked in Castlevania, and it was quite a trip to get a notification that I'd been mentioned in a Karl Jobst video. Thanks! 🍻

[@Torta--is--PLUR]

If Milly Bitchell didn't discover it then it isn't real

[@SayAhh]

Here comes Billy with a VHS tape showing you how he discovered this 10 years ago but did not want to share it with anyone. It was certified by Walter Day. And no, he did not know what MAME is and if he did then he never played on it. /sarcasm

[@DarkstarArchangel]

You mean Silly?

[@jestfullgremblim8002]

​@@SayAhh😂😂

[@Bokatrice]

@@SayAhh He discovered it the day Castlevania came out, and he played it on real arcade hardware, on a joystick with a black top (not a red one). Todd Rogers can confirm.

[@ThatCasulGuy]

@@SayAhh Except on the other VHS tape showing you how he discovered MAME 10 years before it existed but did not want to share it with you, and it was also verified by Walter Day, clearly it is real but until someone else sees it it is real and fake. It is like Schrödinger's cat from quantum states, but we shall call it Bitchell's VHS tape.

[@ThunderBurgers]

The Famicom Disk version of Castlevania 1 has save files??? That would've literally saved me weeks of my life - that and tears.

[@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli]

That's the cool part of the FDS. They're literally floppy diskettes and can be rewritten or modified just like any other magnetic floppy disk, tape casette, or hard drive. You can save your custom tracks on Excitebike or Wrecking Crew, save your game in Metroid and Zelda, etc., and because it's magnetic media, it will last basically until the end of time as long as you keep it stored properly.

[@Krushak8888]

​@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli famicon disks are very fragile, unlike normal hard disks(a:/) drive. They don't have a shutter and even if it did, over time the disks deteriorate.

[@jeffhosler6701]

Just came here to say I discovered your channel a few months ago and now I actively look forward to your content. Thanks Karl

[@lilaccreeper2005]

I hoping to do my computer science dissertation on ACE in video games next year. This is just one more I can study. Good video!

[@respawn1234]

That's a great topic for a dissertation! Academic research on video games is something I'm always excited to hear about

[@Koospa]

I don't want this to look like a mean spirited comment, but genuinely curious. What's the merit of such a study? If it's a PhD dissertation, it needs to advance the field in some novel way. In a more general sense, ACE is exploiting of bugs existing in the code, but in a way that wouldn't happen in modern day styles of programming, from my understanding.

[@raafmaat]

make sure to look up Sethblings stuff! at one point he even did live on real controllers: convert a normal SNES game into Flappy Birds by just using controller inputs!

[@lilaccreeper2005]

It's not phD, it's just a bachelor and I think the main purpose is to teach research skills more than anything. Someone this year did glitches in gen 1 of Pokémon and my friend did Roblox scams. It's a fair question tho, I would do something a lot more important for a phD or even masters if I were ever to do one

[@jimcameron6803]

@@Koospa I imagine it's a dissertation as part of an [under]graduate degree course, where the idea isn't to perform novel research but to demonstrate that the candidate can undertake a reasonably sizeable project and write up the results. Not that there isn't still PhD-worthy work to be done in the area (and many people have doctorates in videogame-related fields).

[@TearyEyesAndersonReacts]

I called this the "Glitch Room" in my walkthrough of the game, and gave an explanation of how it worked. But I didn't know the FDS version brought you to the Ending. I also like the glitch that makes a money bag appear below a platform, outside the Mummy boss room. It tyook me a lot of attempts to try and solve that one. I eventually had to use a emulator and several Game Genie codes to reach it. There are also parts of the stage that scroll further, but you'd need to be able to jump in midair to see what's at the end. I named the video "Castlevania 1 NES, Bonus Item Locations, Unreachable Areas, and Glitch Room" it also shows the location of the Bonus items for first and second quests, such as the Moai heads, and a few other fun wall/roof glitches.

[@TheAureliaLuna]

Love these kinds of in-depth videos explaining glitches and how the code works! I find it really interesting, and can't wait for more!

[@chritlevgaming9297]

In speedrunning, you have the any% category, which allows any glitch, then there's ANY%, which allows ANY glitch

[@chaojiku8749]

Any%, and AnyAny%

[@gwentarinokripperinolkjdsf683]

The biggest argument for why credits warp shouldn't be allowed in any% (not withstanding the "fun" or "competition" arguments) is that you didn't really beat the game, like yeah when you allow glitches beating the game kinda has a grey area but i don't think you beat the game, philosophically speaking, just because the the end sequence displayed.

[@nabieladrian]

Maybe the real speedrun is the friendship we made along the way...

[@Janonas]

@@gwentarinokripperinolkjdsf683 Well you can argue that you didnt truly beat the game if you use any kind of skip then.

[@vincentbormann7191]

Ok but what about all the time you used to set up the glitch. If this same skip required waiting 1 minute in a stage. We would count that extra minute as time. So I belive the first 70 games should count towards the time but then stop when he completes the glitch

[@MrThirtyH]

Karl: *Explaining the exact pixels and frames and perfect executions needed to load save file data from a screen transition* Me: "...Castlevania has save files?"

[@InaudibleSlinky]

Stop structuring comments in a meme format. Just communicate normally.

[@MrThirtyH]

@@InaudibleSlinky While I don't disagree with you on principle, communication is all about clarity. I felt, in this situation, that this format was the best way to clearly get across what I wanted to say, especially in regards to Karl doing everything to explain in excruciating detail except one fundamental part of the entire process. For the record, it did occur to me eventually that this must specifically be the Famicom version instead of the NES version. I just didn't think there were such big differences between them.

[@Jutastre]

​@@InaudibleSlinky Stop being an asshole.

[@party4keeps28]

Just a random guess, but maybe using the whip while jumping resets to a different number vs using it while on the ground because Simon will not stop moving if he whips while jumping, but he pauses while using the whip on the ground.

[@smigbobvonsmelborp10]

Oh boy, I can already see Terminal Montage making a video for this speedrun, it's the icing on this already amazing cake of a run, great work!

[@lancesleeps]

Great video, you made this concept easy to understand while still being comprehensive

[@imakuniaw]

For the longest time, I was wondering if Carl would cover this. Now, I don't have to anymore.

[@charlottecorday8494]

What are you going to do with your life now?

[@oz_jones]

Who is Carl?

[@aikisteven0616]

Interesting, but I feel like if it REQUIRES 76 games to set up this one glitch, the time played in those 76 games should go to the total time for completion using this glitch.

[@werdna_sir]

Which whilst incredibly long and boring is actually a far more interesting run. It becomes an endurance speedrun, like a long JRPG or something.

[@PsychoSpartan7]

Exactly.

[@bbbbbbb51]

Completely agreed.

[@TSD4027]

100% agree. All the time put towards setting up the glitch counts towards the run.

[@Nabekukka]

Then suggest to the people running the speedrunning sites that a separate category be made for it, and then post your runs.

[@strohkoenig]

yeah, it's fair that this became a new category. crazy that they found such a cool thing!

[@SrAlanBriz]

Hell yea, been wanting you to cover Castlevania for the longest time. It'd be amazing if you made a video on CV2's current Any% WR, as it's one of the most interesting and difficult to execute runs in history, it's a true test of patience and resolve and I'm eagerly waiting the moment it gains more traction. It felt like a true category killer when it happened, not to mention it was also a minute barrier breaker. A whole titan of a run by the CV legend Jaycee

[@nabieladrian]

So basically the jump platform is necessary section like elevator in modern games? So cool.

[@wardrich]

The run relies on values set in the other slots... While this is an awesome find, why isn't the time to set up the other two save slots considered part of the overall run time?

[@minirop]

each community decide if they count it or not.

[@ferociousfeind8538]

Yeah, different communities have different rules. For example, Donkey Kong 64 has irreversible unlockables, so speedrunning a fresh save file is impractical, so these unlockables are allowed to be unlocked when you start. Punch-Out!! uses in-game time because there is lots of random flavor that uses a bunch of real-world time, but pauses the timer to match the time if that random flavor event hadn't happened. In minecraft (and a bunch of other games), timing is paused while the game is paused! Different communities choose different rules that make sense to the community members

[@gblargg]

it's too bad they didn't consider this a 6,5-hour run because optimizing the setup of the save files now might not be pursued. What if someone got it down to just a few minutes to set up the save files from scratch?

[@rfs1506]

Because that's unfun, no one would ever want to optimize a 76 playthrough marathon of the same game just to get a 12 hour long record on a completely arbitrary category. Just counting the savefile that's being used allows for this new game breaking glitch to actually be used in an interesting run. EDIT - Not to mention that in these kinds of game breaking runs that rely on other save files its customary to just not count the setup time, Hollow Knight any% comes to mind.

[@bbbbbbb51]

​@@rfs1506ACE is also unfun. There's a reason it kills both the amount of runners and viewership of any game it's heavily exploited with. It's a cool novelty one time, and then it becomes nothing more than a slog. Everyone loses interest

[@Raistmaj]

Long day at work - get home - sit down at pc and .... see a new video from Karl -- posted only 3 minutes prior!! Always a good way to start a night.

[@nabzy28]

This stuff is just absolutely fascinating and the depth of knowledge needed to even piece this type of stuff together is amazing. Seeing all these games we grew up with getting broken by code manipulation all these years later is so cool.

[@mb2776]

Decompiling those old games was the key to it which is an absolutly insane amount of work!

[@herpyderpyderp]

thanks for the exposure, karl. trisk's channel already blew up from 24 to 40 subscribers.

[@sheeringobject]

13:37 Trans Fisher

[@NatalieExists]

trans fisher

[@ModernDayRenaissanceMan]

Whipping while jumping allows you to continue walking at a faster pace. So you are already a step ahead.

[@Tanks.With.Teeth.Malloy]

This reminds me a bit of the missingo glitch from pokemon. The game dumps the players name and (iirc) pokemon into map tiles during a cutscene when the old man teaches you how to capture pokemon. The game basically made a cutscene to show how this is done. But due to limited resources, your trainer info and pokemon data has to go somewhere. For some reason, the programers chose map tiles for wild pokemon encouters. After this cutscene you can fly to (iirc) cinnabar island, surf on the east side map tiles and meet missingno. and other glitched pokemon. I wonder how many more old video games can be broken like this?

[@mb2776]

haha, damn, had exactly the same thought and commented it on another post! you are absolutly right, it is remarkable similar how they used the same memory space for different information to store into.

[@mb2776]

funny thing is, it wouldn't matter in any way if they just didn't forget to define which pokemon to encounter in that tiny area of shore.

[@TheYouTubeGame]

Many older games can and have been.

[@Tanks.With.Teeth.Malloy]

@@TheKZbinGame yeah the more I thought about it the more I realized this isn't as rare as I thought. I guess the missingno glitch is just the most popular/how people get introduced to this glitch.

[@TheYouTubeGame]

@@Tanks.With.Teeth.Malloy It's rare if you don't know, haha. It just got me thinking that all that I've learned in the past 10 years now might not be common knowledge. MissingNo was actually one of the first if not the first I heard about way back when. It started as playground rumors concerning shiny Pokemon - they thought they were called "missingno" Pokemon. Super interesting.

[@B0BBYL33J0RD4N]

Even if the any% were to be in the running, i would say that keeping the 12+ hours to setup the ACE should count towards the time, meaning any% should be safe. Then the ACE ruleset just says 'ignore the 2nd file setup'

[@Finkelfunk]

Automate it using a script and the proper values are injected in a fraction of a second.

[@B0BBYL33J0RD4N]

@Finkelfunk Injected. I would love to just inject a save for SMB1 where it booted to 8-4. Would say that doesn't fly by most games rules (though acceptable in a special ruleset)

[@BigBuckies]

​@@B0BBYL33J0RD4N I would assume it was put to some kind of vote and the ability to inject was allowed because the community agreed on it, it's meaningless to bring up the rules of other games because they are different games with different communities, while some stuff is shared across game rules, no game is obligated to follow the rules of another

[@B0BBYL33J0RD4N]

@BigBuckies was just saying it shouldn't be any%.

[@BigBuckies]

@@B0BBYL33J0RD4N and it's not, it was already put into its own category separate from the regular any%, which banned all this stuff

[@FloydMaxwell]

The longer you've been in the computer biz, the more you will appreciate this exploit/implementation.

[@charlottecorday8494]

I've been in the biz about eleven days now, so I don't appreciate it at all yet.

[@Soundhound101]

For many years I've been watching speedruns and even techical analysis such as this, and it atill boggles my mind. The dedication and determination is truly admirable. Thanks for another great video KJ!

[@ChatBot1337]

I just hit the pause button on the VCR that's recording between level one and Dracula's defeat. 😆 This takes for granted that I ever beat this game. 😮‍💨

[@ruraladventurer1884]

Im typically not interested in this form of speedrunning but i am in awe of the kind of technicsl knowledge and hard work involved in this.

[@josephb7214]

Great video. Leaving a comment to help in the fight against GBF

[@pmpmpmpm22]

Great video! Mad props for still being active despite everything that's going on. We're all behind you.

[@ZapatosVibes]

Never fails to amaze me how people figure this stuff out. Speedrun community truly is amazing. Thanks for covering it!

[@ph8808]

Love your vids, hope the preparation for the law suit goes well you absolute legend 👻

[@ModernDayRenaissanceMan]

I've gotten that glitch before but never knew why. Dang.... It was actually an invitation to a mystery

[@zeromega]

Karl "Hello you absolute legends" Me *smashes like and restarts the video to hear it again.

[@TrimmTrab]

Eyyyy, you featured SBDWolf! He's so great. Awesome.

[@gonzalomunoztapia]

Somebody should explain the "NOW LOADING" screen (just before the ending animation) in a NES game.

[@tokeivo]

It only works on the famicon disk system version of the game. (As I remember it) It's not Castlevania "NES". There are also no savefiles in the nes version.

This is the Famicom Disk System version of the game.

[@gonzalomunoztapia]

@@tokeivo thank you very much.

[@Joeyisagonnawin]

I gotta be honest, I don't see this as a good thing. Whenever a speed run discovers code manipulation, it's on the fast track to dying. Ocarina of Time is the best example of this. It's intense for the wrong reason, and it gets boring to watch and to play. Hopefully, this becomes its own category.

[@emmettturner9452]

You mention that the game launched on FDS but then you don’t mention FDS again until the end when you say “the disk.” The whole time I was like “Save file data? What save file data? Is this the FDS version or something? Surely Karl would have said it required that if it did.”

[@AxiomofDiscord]

Yeah on the FDS it is also not exactly Castlevania. ;)

[@TrollMalefico1984]

What is FDS? Save data as in emulator? I'm not getting the catch. Please someone explain.

[@briankarcher8338]

@@TrollMalefico1984 Famicom Disk System. It's a Japan-only accessory that contained games on floppy disks. It allowed for larger games and saving. Zelda 1 launched on the FDS. More advanced Memory Management Controllers took most of the beneficial features of the FDS and allowed NES cartridges to run the games and include most of the features like, again, saving. MMC's also mimicked the extra storage space of the FDS by using memory banks. This allowed games to exceed the addressable memory limit on the NES by swapping memory blocks in and out. There's whole articles on this so I won't delve any deeper.

[@flush287]

Of course, it doesn't require the FDS.

[@AxiomofDiscord]

@@TrollMalefico1984 Famicom Disk System they are using the floppy version of this game and it had the option to save your game directly to the floppy.

[@lu.cicerone.cavalheiro]

SBD is a truly legend. Running and beating Castlevania 76 times just to set up an ACE and get the WR is awesome!

[@DrAlberts]

If i've learnt anything from retro games speedruns is that the developers program the games in a couple of weeks and then they spend months cutting corners to fit them in a nintendo cartdridge.

[@xOrlparx]

Hi Karl, as a long time viewer I noticed that this video feels kind of lackluster. What had at first drawn me to your content was the immense passion you have for speedrunning. Myself being an outsider to the community, never had played a majority of the games you cover, I was still very much entertained by your videos. Comparing this video to another I just re-watched: "Speedrunners dont know how to enjoy video games", this latest release seems like a quickly churned news post. Surely the achievement that is finding a code execution exploit is absolutely amazing, but the way its conveyed in your video feels not up to par to the previous videos - it goes like "here's the exploit, here's how it's done, this guy did it, sponsor segment, byeee". In the past your excitement about these absolutely LEGENDARY achievements made me also equally excited. That passion is what I'm missing in this new video. Love you Karl, and wish you the best! Best regards.

[@Mache.]

ACE is definitely the Holy Grail, but historically it's considered the death of speedrun for glitch% runs. I remember when it happened "recently" to OoT and MM, almost everyone just quit, both runners and viewers. I think it was also the death of SMB3 glitch% runs. It's just kinda boring to watch, after you've watched it once you've seen it all.

[@alcoracthemage]

A porn bot stole your comment and got like 100 likes and 4 comments while you get nothing, feels bad man. I could tell it was stolen so I scrolled for 5 minutes to find it.

[@Mache.]

@@alcoracthemage oh damn I just noticed. Well, they got the alts to boost their likes in comment sections, but as long as my opinion/comment is seen that's good enough for me.

[@mistashadow]

The problem is that your real comment takes some scrolling to find... unless people report the bot

[@foxhero1337]

5 minute world record with a 12 hour setup, lol. Seriously though, this is a ridiculous find. Well done!

[@beavis8167]

Billy Mitchell the SHOOTER MCGAVIN OF GAMING

[@SayAhh]

Shooter eats **** for breakfast. Maybe Billy eats it with hot sauce.

[@WerewolfKweef]

You just changed the way I’m going to remember this man for the rest of my life

[@beavis8167]

​@@SayAhh u no it , That's what them Breed of people do

[@fvdeddrift]

@@SayAhh He's a Last Dab type of guy. The stuff is so damn hot it makes you DELUSIONAL! Lol! Literally, you hallucinate if you take it too far! 👽👾🤖🤡😳

[@Pinkfongfan24]

lol 😂

[@DarkShines051987]

Karl, your explanations are usually spot on, but this time is different. This was 4 parallel universes ahead of anyone else. Even though I have a lot of experience in technological matters, I could absolutely see that anyone interested, without prior knowledge, could understand what was happening, because of you setting up the context of the glitches and then precisely explaining what happens in these specific cases. At first, I was not interested in any Castlevania content, but followed through anyways. And boy did I NOT regret watching this video!!! Thank you! Please don't ever stop making this enlightening content!

[@MarMaxGaming]

I’m glad they made it its own category, there used to be a lot of dumb hang ups that ruined some other games and runs back then, but it should’ve always been kept this simple with new categories. Beating it 76 times for 12 hours, to set up some internal value to get a credits warp… it’s so wild and strange, speedrunning is always amazing in many different ways.

[@KLunzX51]

It feels like the time for those 76 other runs should be counted as well. If he hadn't done them, the trick wouldn't have worked, so they have to be considered part of the setup for the warp.

[@MarMaxGaming]

@@KLunzX51 that does make sense, I see where you’re coming from! It’s a very unique set up for its own run, but needs all that time beforehand for it… you make a good point!

[@evadecaptcha]

Wow, it's crazy how much this run has changed the past 3 years. SDBWolf is a legend as always! He was always finding new ways (usually difficult as hell lol) to save time, even before scroll glitches came along, when the run already seemed extremely optimized.

[@mayborneflower]

… Gamechamp can finish her “Don’t Break Dracula’s Stuff” run!

[@CosmicPlatonix]

Unlikely. She's the type to treat the several dozen game clears on Save File #2 as part of the challenge run.

[@lunatheluma3804]

​@CosmicPlatonix she generally just bans new game plus stuff outright, I think there is even an example where she says she won't use a glitch because it requires a completed save file but I can't remember what it was

[@bramble553]

She would also probably constitute ACE as a form of cheating for the challenge run, ngl.

[@mayborneflower]

@@lunatheluma3804 Ratchet & Clank Wrench Only is what you’re thinking of. Also, dammit!

[@lunatheluma3804]

@@bramble553 she uses glitches all the time so I dont think she would, she might though

[@joshgiesbrecht]

Congratulations on 1 million subs Karl! With the amount of effort you put into these videos, and all the crap you have to put up with from Silly Bitchell, nobody deserves it more than you do! Been a top favourite of mine for many years! Happy for you man.

[@merman1974]

It makes sense to put this in its own category. You could even argue that his run has taken the 12+ hours he took to set up the save file plus the timed run performing the glitch. But it is very interesting to see how the values in the save file can affect the game - which lends itself to experimenting with other NES/FDS games.

[@ryanschindler923]

Any run that involves ACE is always a treat. Mad props to the community for figuring this out.

[@XzMondayNightzX]

Oh shit silly billy is going to do this run... BLINDFOLDED with this new tech. Will be 100% as legit as anything he's ever done. That being said, speed running is like an interesting dissection of coding. Even after all these years people are still finding stuff in that miserable little pile of coded secrets.

[@SayAhh]

Ppl like these have the brain power needed to come up with ingenious ways to reroute Voyager 1's programming to bypass the damaged and corrupt memory sectors and still execute algorithms that will keep taking photos and sending them back to Earth.

[@crunchyfrog555]

Yeah but Billy Mitchel has undoubtedly beaten the game in -10:00. Yes, MINUS 10 minutes. He has a glitch that reverses time. He'll let you know the clear evidence in due time.... honest.

[@Zihark_]

Congrats on 1 mil, Karl!! 🥳 Long overdue.

[@johneygd]

I really love those explenations about these games behavior including this game, it makes those old school games feel new and modern again. It’s just incredible how such oversights as well as technical limitations in both hardware and games could lead to new ways of breaking new world records or how to fix those games through rom hacks. It’s just that mind blowing.

[@SayAhh]

Glad to see you drop a video. Wasn't expecting any new videos until after the Billy Mitchell lawsuit.

[@gairisiuil]

How on earth is he supposed to pay for his lawyers if he doesn't do his job?

[@SayAhh]

@@gairisiuil I am not wealthy but I donated once. But my assumption came from what Karl himself had said in an earlier video. I could have or must have misunderstood him.

[@gairisiuil]

@@SayAhh You may have heard him say that he would not say anything more publically about the lawsuit specifically until the lawsuit was over.

[@SayAhh]

@@gairisiuil Maybe that's it. I must have confounded the two things in my head erroneously. That makes sense. Thanks.

[@jesuizanmich]

this is really neat. there should be a speedrunning category where they perform code injection and arbitrary code execution to program and run pong as fast as possible

[@kevnerx]

I believe the old DK arcade machines were particularly susceptible to ACE, to the extent that even the hardware could change, such as changing the colour of the joystick and frame rates if you're good enough.

[@jamesphillips2285]

I see what you did there!

[@MrGiovanniPollio]

But did you play on a black joystick?

[@Sinn0100]

Yes, there are Donkey Kong cabinets that are effected by ACE. The very first recording of this phenomenon was done by Walter Day. He noted changes to the joysticks themselves, ball tops, fluctuating frame rates, and most bizarre of all Mame replacing real arcade hardware. It's a real Scooby Mystery....;)

[@YSHRHA]

Fascinating. Truly unique channel . Hope all the legal prep is going well! Can't wait for the biggest W in good vs evil court case history haha!

[@-ZH]

My god, this is exactly like the paper mario lava room

[@MrMurphdog96]

been watching since the start, congrats on the 1M subs mate! super happy for you, keep pushing you have one of the best channels on youtube :)

[@johnmoser3594]

VPN pitch be like "non-existent extra security and you can violate the law"

[@asdasdae]

in a way that doesn't even work 99% of the time, I've tried VPNs when I was younger and unaware of what they actually did and Netflix blocked that shit immediately lmao. That being said, Karl's gotta pay those legal bills somehow and I'm not particularly offended by it

[@johnmoser3594]

@@asdasdae It's not Karl so much as it's everyone. VPN providers are overselling themselves and people are unaware of how VPNs actually work; a few youtubers have dropped VPNs from their sponsors because they looked into how they work and what they can really promise and decided they didn't want to associate themselves with false and misleading advertisement. Most of them aren't the kind of tech experts that understand all that-you'll notice Karl's explanations of complex stuff like code injection are kind of rough, same deal, his expertise isn't programming or reverse engineering. More interestingly, when a legitimate business makes a pitch about the value of their service, your brain tends to bypass things like whether it's actually telling you to violate the law or Netflix ToS or whatever else. Mind you, I support evading censorship.

[@Finkelfunk]

@@johnmoser3594 There was this advertisement on TV for a while where a guy put up posters with his ID and a voice over going: "This is how it is to surf without using a VPN". As a CS student this made me cringe on all levels imaginable.

[@johnmoser3594]

@@Finkelfunk Sounds like the CompSci PhD who testified at the Twin Galaxies trial.

[@oz_jones]

@@Finkelfunk "You wouldn't VPN a car!" Uhh... I think I'm having a stroke.

[@jenbanim]

This is such a cool glitch. I love that it's not near the beginning of the game, requires a ton of setup, and doesn't look like a ridiculous inputs when actually executed. It's really got that black magic vibe going on

[@HolyFlare484]

once any speedrun community finds ACE, the run dies Paper Mario 64 for example

[@pelgervampireduck]

the "beating the game 76 times to set up the file" part was mentioned almost casually but to me that's the most insane part of this whole thing.

[@tadferd4340]

There is an argument that setting up the save files is part of the run, since speedruns are typically intended to be from fresh saves to credits. However, the community seems to take tge position that it would just be pointless then and not including the save setup results in a more enjoyable experience. I agree with this.

[@hemmy8645]

Yes it is understandable else no one would probably run it except for maybe Wolf himself. There is a secound setup thought , and if i understand it right it uses a secound controller to execute the code , instead of setting it up with save files.

[@VincentPresley]

Soon we'll be able to start games at the end credits for maximum "take the fun out of everything"

[@BlackHoleForge]

I mean technically it is a full game run, 76 times at least. Wow😮

[@mattshuey1]

We'd never have known this was possible if the devs knew to put a clone version of the substage at the 255 value. You'd never notice it wasn't the actual substage 0. Pretty interesting how it all plays out.

[@Vintagedoggo]

nmot gonna lie, if u gotta spend 7 hours on a different save to set up the code, that should be counted towards the run time because it is necessary for the run to be done, and cant be done with out it then

[@Saktoth]

I kind of love that there is the glory that comes from getting a new world record, and then there is the glory that comes from creating a whole new category cuz you broke the game so badly.

[@MacBaza]

One time I beat Mario is missing as a child in a couple minutes. I clipped through the castle wall in the very beginning. And ended up fighting Bowser

[@JorgeLopez-qj8pu]

That's not story about beating the game, that s story of fighting a boss.

[@MacBaza]

@@JorgeLopez-qj8pu well I found and saved Mario. Mario was missing and I found him. Beat the game

[@JorgeLopez-qj8pu]

@@MacBaza 🤔By that logic, knowing where someone is will automatically save them

[@MacBaza]

@@JorgeLopez-qj8pu lol. Well I found Mario and also got him baptized in the name of Jesus Christ

[@JorgeLopez-qj8pu]

@@MacBaza That's not story about beating the game, that's a story of "finding yourself".😉

[@leroyvisiongames2294]

Speaking of developers cutting corners, look closely at the large statues in level 3 of castlevania (shown at the 6:01 mark)--you can see a small heart sprite among the tiles used for the ivy growing on the pedestals!!

[@xxfloppypillowxx]

Does Nord even still work for Netflix? I'm pretty sure they send you a message if you're viewing from outside of your house

[@yukdum]

Nice! Hopefully we'll see some new records and get a Summoning Salt sequel too!

[@Mescherje]

So this speedrun took 12 hours, not 6 minutes.

[@Sefier85]

That could be said for every single speed run ever. No one ever gets a world record time in one shot

[@ghastlynavigator]

not the same...the 12 hour session was necessary to set up the glitch, without it, it doesn't work so it should be part of the time. Not the same as practicing a run a million times.

[@DenkyManner]

I just barely followed how the glitch worked, but I really like the detail of the stage being designed to make you jump. It's like being able to dig into code to peer into the mind of the programmer

[@fusionspace175]

Ethically speaking, I don't think that counts as a speedrun, because you have to play the game all those times to set up the save data first, so you have to include all the time that took as well. It's like a magic trick, it's just an illusion of a five minute finish, and if it isn't then the scoring rules are what's actually broken here. Interesting data nonetheless.

[@YukoValis]

well it is still a speedrun, but with alterations. I see no difference between this and people who play an old version of a game just to use an exploit. As long as it is in its own category it should be fine.

[@SirFlopsy]

I'm not a programmer, but I still find it fascinating to learn a very tiny amount through speedrunning/glitch videos.