Super Mario Bros. "Minimum A Presses" TAS Commentary & Explanation

TASVideos Submission Text: tasvideos.org/7...
Premiere video: • Super Mario Bros. "Min...
HappyLee's HD Encode: • Super Mario Bros. "Min...
‣ Twitch: / kosmic
‣ Twitter: / kosmicd12
‣ Second Channel (unedited VODs, etc.): / @kosmicspeedruns
‣ Reddit: / kosmic
Intro music: • Video
Outro music: • Video
#Kosmic #SMB1 #TAS

[@Kosmicd12]

Big shout out to the other authors of this TAS! Kriller37: kzbin.info/door/MhR53C0QcuzDQ3ak8UKSLw HappyLee: kzbin.info DaSmileKat: kzbin.info/door/DB4aXnUueTs7-hUTviQelA Periwinkle: kzbin.info/door/f79kDDOx7p4jtsEp2mnaaw

[@fishydonutsog]

E

[@jinjoball]

F

[@Kat21]

Nice!!!

[@josephshandley4852]

Just FYI, seems that the card linking to the premiere video is missing in the intro

[@gmdrandom6287]

Check out periwinkle. He has WR for cave story. Kriller37 is pretty cool. Dasmilekat is pretty cool too.

[@bjoern_eberhardt]

Before we can understand why Mario bounces on an invisible Koopa on the bottom of the screen while being on top of the screen, we have to talk about parallel universes.

[@BabzaiWWP]

no acutally its mario at the end of the universe and the game wraps it cause it doesnt know what to do

[@Kosmicd12]

It is literally 8 bit parallel universes

[@jan-lukas]

@@BabzaiWWP that's exactly what SM64 also does, but SM64 wraps after 2^16, not 2^8

[@BabzaiWWP]

@@jan-lukas oh i thought mario 64 did something different, my bad

[@quafran255]

@@Kosmicd12 Hey really cool TAS absolutly mindblowing, idk perhaps im missing some info but as I understand it in SM64 they have PU bc mario position is in float and the world (not view just hitbox) is a integer so mario pos never wraps up but the floor and wall does so in SM64 the world behave differently in PU no ennemies, no camera and you still have to go back to the ''real'' universe to activate triggers but in SMB1 everythings is coherent and wraps up at the same time no ? So if I make a TAS wraps up 32 times make a savestate and ask happylee how many times I wraps up he will not be able to respond he could say any numbers between 0 and infinity but in SM64 you could actually know the position of mario in the PU grid just take mario pos divide it by 2^16 in x y z and you know mario pos in the vertical and horizontal PU Grid IMO SM64 have a PU grid and SMB1 is a just a torus, idk perhaps im missing somethings if lets say the subpixel was in 32 bits instead of 16 in this case ok PU it is ^^. anyway really cool keep up the good work :-)

[@nogoat]

You know an 8000 point kick is cool when the best of the best get excited for it.

[@nimnone]

I didn't understand that. Isn't 1-up the best?

[@cst1229]

@@nimnone You can't get 1ups from bounces in SMB1 i think. Same thing with the flagpole

[@Kosmicd12]

@@cst1229 you can, it's just totally impossible outside of shell + stairs

[@cst1229]

@@Kosmicd12 oh i forgot that the shell trick existed

[@bonkdotioimealol]

@@cst1229 You can with shell plus block pyramid, except you have to be very precise since the shell stops if it gets bounced on

[@MeesterTweester]

This TAS had a lot going on, this should make people know how much went into this

[@MichelleSleeper]

The spiny -> koopa conversion might be my favorite ultra obscure bug.

[@timduffy7996]

This commentary makes it 1000 times more impressive, now that I actually know what is going on. Nicely done!

[@rubixtheslime]

Starts groundbreaking minimum a press video immediately with "In this video I'll be explaining..." Legendary.

[@LiEnby]

Does he end it with 'I was not expecting this to be 35 minutes long but I guess there was just that much to explain'

[@mr.cook5]

this commentary made a great premier video even better, well done to both of you. TAS commentary by the authors is sometimes a mixed bag because it's not natural to be able to plainly communicate the sheer depth of game mechanics that led to the TAS but y'all absolutely nailed this.

[@indykwatra2237]

I love it how fireballs are shot to the music. it just makes me smile every time I hear it

[@mczyk17]

Yo, that bit about the Parakoopa transformation thing is sweet! For anyone who had it go over their head, I think I can give an understandable explanation of the engineering behind the issue, although I might get some of the Mario wrong, so please feel free to correct me. Computers store numbers like 5 as binary numbers (101). These numbers are stored in things called registers that have a number of bits in them that determine the length of the register. What's a bit? Great question. A bit in this instance is one of the digits of that binary number up above, so it could be stored in a 3-bit register where the bits are 1, 0, and 1. (Side note: 1 and 0 are stored in the register by thinking of it as on/off where 1 = on and 0 = off.) However, you may know that the NES is an 8-bit console (the system in the video was an actual NES, not the usual AV Famicom), so in the actual game it is stored more like 00000101 (like how you can technically write 5 as 0005 if you wanted to.) How does this relate to turning a Goomba (or any other enemy) into a Koopa? This enemy X-position is apparently the same register that they check to see if the enemy you just killed was a Paratroopa. This could have happened for a number of reasons, so I'll give my best guess. They might've been using partial registers (like the first four bits are read separately from the second four bits, effectively giving you two 4-bit registers) to store enemy information and these certain X-values just happen to match the values for returning "yes" when the computer asks "Was that a Parakoopa?" I'm not exactly sure why the computer asks the wrong register for the answer, but that's a whole different question. This would mean that Parakoopa has an enemy value of something like 0110 and the position is also coincidentally 0110 so it gets the right answer with the wrong formula. I find it very interesting that Kosmic mentions that it has to occur on the left side of the screen which got me thinking about the half-register thing. If you've made it this far into the comment then thank you for reading, I hope I helped explain this at least a little bit. I will try to reply to additional questions/critiques of my explanation as they come up.

[@Kosmicd12]

the console in the vid was an NES actually :)

[@mczyk17]

@@Kosmicd12 You learn something new every day!

[@ruler255]

@@Kosmicd12 FCEUX

[@Kosmicd12]

@@ruler255 ?

[@startedtech]

I still don't understand that much about speedrunning and especially TASing, but I just find the work behind them so captivating.

[@PierceArner]

This is definitely one of those TAS runs that's impressive to watch, and then even more impressive to re-watch after you've listened to the commentary. You all did such an extremely impressive job on this!

[@ribletbasket286]

Amazing. Y'all's continued dedication to the game is truly an admirable thing. Not just this specific run, but to keep this game fresh and challenging in general just makes me smile. I love smb! This was the first game I taught my kids how to play. Well done!

[@babycornsnake]

I don't know who this TAS guy is, but he sure is good at Super Mario!

[@francescovolpini]

please end this copypasta

[@Badspot]

TAS is actually an acronym, it stands for TAS Assisted Speedrun

[@quentind1924]

@@Badspot tool assisted speedrun, no ?

[@francescovolpini]

@@Badspot r/woooosh first, second, tas assisted speedrun? wine is not an emulator? pip installs packages?

[@b1nary_f1nary]

@@Badspot It's an acronym it stands for: Tool Assisted Speedrun: Assisted Speedrun

[@nextkestrel]

lol literally just finished watching the premiere video

[@srwapo]

Lol, I just checked his channel to see if this was uploaded, didn't see it, and was scrolling mindlessly, then refreshed

[@lennihuopa]

I watched it yesterday lol

[@nextkestrel]

@@lennihuopa same i mean the youtube video

[@lennihuopa]

@@nextkestrel yes. I watched the youtube video yesterday

[@jansenart0]

26:10 DEEPEST LORE: the 8-2 Unseen Koopa

[@aoshdiua]

I'm surprised walljumps are only 1 frame, how does Kosmic do them in 8-4 so easily.

[@SnipinG1337]

muscle memory

[@Kosmicd12]

they can sometimes be 2 but all walljumps done in high level runs are 1f and with a backwards jump which makes it even harder haha

[@meraldlag4336]

The world records even for like 4.56 have a kjbhillion frame perfects anyway so :/

[@Kosmicd12]

@@meraldlag4336 yeah walljump is like the first precise trick to be in the run. But that was over a decade ago and things have gotten much crazier since! Haha

[@jan-lukas]

There's a reason you do thousands of attempts when speedrunning, but as mentioned, there are much harder tricks

[@hillmanhung3846]

Pannenkoek proud of the half an a press in 8-4 SCATCH THAT THERE WERE 2 HALF A PRESSES Man's going to parrallel universes soon

[@joethebrospeedruns]

technically boping the koopa in 1-2 through the top of the screen is mario entering a parallel universe

[@LeoStaley]

There is no reason this shouldn't get as many views as a Bismuth or Karl Jobst video explanation. What the hell is wrong with KZbins algorithm??

[@spikosz]

Wild guess (besides Karl having 5x the subscribers), they might have a greater variety of viewer types where this channel is more niche in focus.

[@sebweber99]

Man, I sure am glad there's no parallel universes in this game, otherwise I would've understood even less

[@meraldlag4336]

Aaah... about that xD

[@Radgerayden-ist]

Every old game could have some sort of "parallel universe" mechanic (position overflow), you just have to find a way to accelerate indefinitely.

[@EebstertheGreat]

@@Radgerayden-ist SMB1 has only one universe that just wraps around. SM64 has a smaller word for floor collision and a larger word for other things, which allows for "different" universes. So for instance, if you could somehow get 255 x-speed in SMB1, then you would start moving backward 1 pixel per frame. You wouldn't warp to a parallel universe.

[@Radgerayden-ist]

@@EebstertheGreat true, sm64 is definitely special because of the different precision for different purposes.

[@EebstertheGreat]

@@Radgerayden-ist I just read the TAS submission and realized I was wrong. Vertical position is specified by three bytes: screen, pixel, and subpixel. The screen value is sometimes considered and sometimes ignored, so in a sense there are vertical parallel universes in SMB1. They don't really work the same way though, and they aren't that useful. Still, they exist.

[@brunoramos9747]

What's awesome about these old retro games that people don't know is exactly this you can play the game in two different ways you know what you doing

[@tron_the7the9]

Yoooo , did not know it would come out so soon

[@MeesterTweester]

They were in the same stream

[@Kosmicd12]

nice speedrun to it

[@EebstertheGreat]

To be specific, the x-subpixel is the low byte of the x-position, and the x-pixel is the high byte. Same for y. So your position can be between (0,0) and (255+255/256,255+255/256). Actually though, the vertical resolution is just 240 lines (so that it can fit on every other line of a 486 line NTSC TV and not lose the top or bottom to overscan), so the maximum y position that is visible on screen is 240+255/256. x- and y-speeds and subspeeds work the same way, although obviously you can't really get a speed in the hundreds.

[@LinkageAX]

You guys described what a subpixel is better than most other videos that touch on it, thanks!

[@Eidenhoek]

I pray to the gods that x = 9 is one of the ones that allows morphing into the koopa work.

[@bes03c]

Awesome explanation. It was thoroughly entertaining all the way through.

[@p00rstr94]

man some people couldnt beat that game with 62 lives I would never think that 62 a presses is much xD

[@sagacious03]

I AM SO HYPE FOR THIS!!! So I'm commenting before uploading! Thanks so much for uploading! Will probably comment more later!

[@akahakusho8731]

I have no interest in doing any of this myself but it's fascinating hearing someone with the actual experience discussing it in earnest. More explanation videos please :D

[@fromthegamethrone]

Depending on how you interpret it, this video is most surreal remix of the mario music.

[@ural0304]

I appreciate these behind the scenes in TAS videos!

[@MotiviqueStudio]

It's astounding the degree to which this game has been dissected.

[@KirbyFan4Ever]

9:35 Out of context is scuffed. "You can do goombas?" "Yeah, and they don't stay alive. They-they like die and fall through the floor."

[@wardcraft9106]

This is awesome. I need to find more TAS with in-depth commentary

[@windowsmoke]

Is one of the x values that you can hit the enemy on to turn it into a koopa = 9?

[@hdckighfkvhvgmk]

Oh my god they actually did a half-A press

[@ShermleyCollege]

i have to know if the smb1 ending screen ended up being burned into your tv that day

[@B3Band]

You never explained why the a press in 1-1 underground is necessary. Seems like you could just run to the right without jumping.

[@thunderaxe31]

No, you can't do it without jumping.

[@MyopiaMovie]

Why would anyone find this video and then thumbs down? People are weird and ridiculous.

[@icchorist]

20:20 Thats a good wisdom.

[@sagacious03]

Kinda disappointed the Final A Press Count is revealed from the start. Also, maybe my memory is wrong, but maybe some stuff was under-explained. Still, an excellent video! Thanks for uploading!

[@Kosmicd12]

it's not, I literally told you to go watch the premiere video before watching this one

[@sagacious03]

@@Kosmicd12 My apologies. I'll go check the premiere video & try to better understand this from that. I'm so sorry for bothering you, & thank you for the information!

[@GroovyDominoes]

42:30 if only there was an extra frame

[@SomeGuy712x]

Wow, all of this was really incredible and well done, especially seeing all the work and luck that went into stuff like world 8-2! So, will a minimum A press run of SMB2j (The Lost Levels) be next? :P

[@BlountForce]

You guys are amazing

[@Controllerhead]

Bismuth finally edited himself into Kosmic =p

[@GaborBekkerbboytr1ck2g]

Mario checks collision on every other frame.. even or odd.. thanks for the explanation

[@calvin5147]

14:18 nice fireballs to music

[@samuelmauldin9131]

would some of this be able to be replicated without TAS? Like for example on my Game & Watch of this game? I also want to make a statement that i love how you can turn other enemies into Koopas, cause i have oddly enough turned a buzzy beetle into a red shell Koopa (which normally should NOT be in 1-1 even on hard) and i've also turned a red shell Koopa into a green shell somehow as well in the game and watch of this

[@Kosmicd12]

You can do some of the tricks like the spiny into the koopa thing yeah. Most things are way too precised/rng heavy.

[@brunoramos9747]

I'm an 80s baby people would have saw you playing like this in my time they would have thought the game was broken awesome game genie code or something they would have never believed that you could do this kind of stuff with glitches

[@DouglasZwick]

🎶Minimum A! _Hiyaa!_ (whip crack)

[@not_gaminggamer521]

10:40 I understood register because I write assembly code, I did not understand the usage of the word "truncate" in that example, Like does it omit some bits from the byte?

[@jansenart0]

Oh god, the Pannenkoek virus is spreading....

[@fritzbratwurst136]

Do it again warpless!

[@SnoppleWopple]

Interesting stuff

[@ilikevideogames2807]

just as good as bismuth

[@capttelush539]

Fun fact, bismuth edits these videos

[@puffingdragons]

crazyyy brooo

[@despg]

No matter how many times I get explained what a framerule is... Never do I understand.

[@xxEzraBxxx]

its simple: framerules are an instance of where a certain number of frames is waited preform repeating an instruction routine the one in this case is the level completion routine the game checks if you beat a level every 21 frames (0.35 seconds), so you can lose/gain small amounts time and it not be counted because you can only actually lose or gain time in multiples of 0.35 seconds because of the 21 framerule, except for the last level where every frame count because you end time right as you hit the axe other examples are picking up goods and getting hit in a link to the past, as that is on a 4 framerule, meaning it is only checked every 4 frames (thats why you sometimes pass through enemies)

[@despg]

@@xxEzraBxxx “so imagine a bus”

[@Maxawa0851]

so imagine a bus

[@thunderaxe31]

To make it oversimplified: this game loads the next level only on the 21th frame.

[@SparkyMK3]

I hope someone can do a minimal button press run of Sonic 1 and 2 some day.

[@k-leb4671]

1:20 Wait, what the hell happened here? I feel like the video skipped over about 10 seconds of footage and commentary.

[@willysunny]

couldn't you use the koopa and wall clip into the tile below @ 24:40 and grab the flagpole like you did in 4-1? wouldn't this save another jump?

[@hydroajl5066]

its not tas he just had coke that looked like water, pizza next to his tv that u couldnt see and he was jsut playing with his feet

[@TheMarshiiRose]

That is insane. I can't even beat the game normally

[@MonteMorrible]

I was expecting happylee

[@KernelLeak]

So rewatching this over a year later - has anyone in the meantime tried to, or have any improvements been found to get the count below 62?

[@Kosmicd12]

no A press saves found at this point

[@KernelLeak]

@@Kosmicd12 I had assumed that was the case - thanks for confirming it!

[@Eidenhoek]

Isn't SM64 at around this number, too?

[@ThePharphis]

Interesting and entertaining :)

[@goffe2282]

Really great work. I'm convinced the answer to this question is no, but I'l ltry anyway. In 1-1 at the staircase. Since you are at walking speed from exiting the pipe and have floaty physics., could you clip into the staircase rather than bouncing on top of it? You'd have to clip into the pipe just before the stair which is why I guess it's not possible.

[@jatloe]

Interesting idea. However, I would assume that mario would be moving down into the corner, which is impossible(?) to clip in. Great idea though.

[@damin9913]

9:07 Spiky is just Koopa if you just basically put it would be a lot easier for people to understand😊

[@joethebrospeedruns]

the spiny isn’t a koopa though

[@joethebrospeedruns]

it’s a…spiny…

[@damin9913]

@@joethebrospeedruns spiky!

[@adamlefan]

yes!

[@vitoanania6042]

Why you didn't call it "Super Mrio"

[@ThaAwesome10]

Because the official game name is Super Mario Bros. not Super Mrio

[@vitoanania6042]

@@ThaAwesome10 without "A"...

[@nixneato]

Why no high wall jump at the beginning of 4-2? And of course: this is so awesome :)

[@jatloe]

The inf walljump in 4-2 would actually lose an A press

[@jatloe]

As in, the walljump needs 3 jumps and doing it this way is 2

[@nixneato]

@@jatloe Thanks man :)

[@sceneitallwithjeffandjon6984]

Why jump after Bowser? Can't you kill him with fire and then not have to press A?

[@Kosmicd12]

no, the game ends by touching the axe

[@esotericVideos]

You need to consult pannen

[@Saamsify]

Why is this in boxboxs league playlist??

[@Kosmicd12]

Uhhhh, idk lol. That's not something I could've done right? It's on his end?

[@adrenalinesession4237]

Hey I dont know of it exists but when mario take damage he is ”invinceble” for a few sec. Some one would make an invinceble mario hack that you can play.🎮🕹🖥you are awesome! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@joshuaadamsson3429]

Who did the run

[@oryandunn]

What's the minimum a press for a human?

[@wish]

content

[@kwisowofer9872]

Wait this isn’t Bismuth

[@MrTASer]

Cosmic please explain me the graphic glitch which I did in my TAS of SMB 1-2 There accidentally appeared a half green block after a lag

[@Kosmicd12]

Like this? kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHKQe5h8idmaotE

[@yehonatanroth9467]

Or you can just press A long

[@johneymute]

Can you beat this game without hitting the B button? Haha.

[@RichConnerGMN]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3ayq5V3fbWgrK8 yes

[@KaitouKaiju]

No there are some mandatory long jumps but not many

[@Hot92Shot]

What about 0.5 A presses? 😅

[@PolyAgain]

Jesus hi there

[@Xnoob545]

7:43 brb

[@Xnoob545]

@@sylver8919 wdym than just pausing If i ause and exit the youtube app, it unloads from ram and i have to reopen it

[@Xnoob545]

21:45 brb Lol

[@aloysiuskurnia7643]

No idea that SMB has ABC

[@charlieharrison]

It does now!

[@tangyy27]

Anyone else having pannenkoek2012 vibes?

[@bobbydog6762]

Why post it at 12:00 at night

[@Kosmicd12]

timezones exist

[@trik0me]

Hey please enable subtitles when you get a chance, thanks!

[@Kosmicd12]

youtube still hasn't generated them :( thanks for the reminder I'll do it as soon as they're ready!

[@trik0me]

@@Kosmicd12 Dang KZbin, get it together! Thanks again!

[@Kosmicd12]

@@trik0me theyre finally ready! That took forever!!

[@trik0me]

@@Kosmicd12 Yee thanks dude!

[@charlieharrison]

@@Kosmicd12 At 19:36 it says "wallpaper" instead of "wall clipping"

[@fim...]

22:24

[@inlovewithi]

Which emulator is being used in this replay?

[@_masontong]

FCEUX

[@brendanfields3691]

What's the a press total?

[@capttelush539]

62

[@nujim]

hi kosmic.. again..

[@comeherecupcake701]

H O T

[@Nehimsupacac]

Is it even necessary to kill the plant at 17:19 ?

[@Kosmicd12]

it is if you dont want to wait for it

[@Nehimsupacac]

@@Kosmicd12 how do the conditions change so that it doesn't disappear like in the RTA?

[@Kosmicd12]

@@Nehimsupacac probably whether you stomp the buzzy beetle or not. Why are you making a big deal about this plant though 😂

[@Nehimsupacac]

@@Kosmicd12 it is absolutely not a big deal lol i just knew that the plant disappeared in RTA so it made me curious. Thanks for the answers 😃

[@timkw]

14:18

[@memebio6727]

really cool vid i skipped some parts tho

[@whetrn517]

early gang

[@rob32pigboy]

how many times did you press A???

[@Aurora79]

Unfortunately you can't do half a-presses in this game. EDIT: You can't do a quarter a-press in this game.

[@kriller3771]

The third room of 8-4 was done in half an A press