The End of the A Button Challenge - The History of the A Button Challenge Part 8

Additional Notes: pastebin.com/m3mCG6eE
Playlist: • The Complete History o...
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Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:26 - Slow Bully Battery
06:15 - Fast Bully Battery
11:14 - The final speed transfer
13:12 - TTC 0xA is dead... or is it?
19:38 - Obstacles past the pole
27:29 - The 17 trips up the clock
31:09 - The 14 remaining A presses
43:49 - The Legacy of the ABC
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Kosmic
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Notorious revolutionary, Tommy J

[@Bismuth9]

Thank you so much for watching this series. I hope you enjoyed the journey! You can expect a 5-hour supercut of the whole series coming sometime before Christmas. If you don't wanna miss it, well, why don't you subscribe!

[@Naftoreiclag]

Thank you for making this documentary. Future A button history students will be writing essays on this.

[@endonde2007]

Can you imagine if just as this video comes out someone discovers how 2 remove the rest of the A presses, and you have to make a terraria (doing 5 last updates)

[@thunder7433]

@@endonde2007 terraria has said literally every update from 1.01.5 to current was last update lmao

[@thenoobygamer9000]

Oh that's going to be fun to try to watch lol, it's been an awesome ride, I haven't seen the rest of this video yet, I hope someday this series could get an epilogue or something, if and when the jump count is at 0, which idk how I'd feel about that 😅

[@TheAquaKnight]

Awesome video Bismuth!

[@B3Band]

Shout out to Marbler, who wrote a dissertation on how something CAN'T be done, only to go "oh wait, yes it can" lolololol

[@GeneralBolas]

It's not that surprising. One problem solving technique is to start listing all the reasons why it can't be solved. It causes you to systematically analyze every part of the problem in turn. Which makes it way more likely for the solution to present itself.

[@Grane1234]

@@GeneralBolas still, the fact they managed to collect the most vertical star in the game without an a press is insane

[@Indigoestobed]

Hell, if anyone could figure out how to do it it’s probably the person who wrote a whole dissertation about it

[@lucasdesvignes7190]

Yep it's litterally the scientific way of solving problems, trying to find all the reasons why it would be wrong. Those guys are geniuses anyway

[@snoozbuster]

Rubber duck debugging at its finest

[@crimsonDestroyer]

"Mount Everest wasn't designed to be climbable. Mountains don't care if anyone manages to reach the top or not. Super Mario 64 was never designed to be beaten with 0 A presses. The game doesn't care if it's possible. We do. And until we reach the top, we will keep climbing." Damn, that's a powerful line. Amazing series. Absolutely amazing.

[@dmas7749]

i know people say this a lot but i read this exactly when it was said in the video

[@ethanknodel8778]

I definitely got choked up at that part.

[@TheQuicksilver115]

That line gave me chills man, what a legendary thing to say

[@FORGOTTENMINDFREAK23]

I got a little emotional at those lines ngl. Not sure why, but I did 😆

[@Charcoal190]

I slammed my desk out of happiness and then cried as soon as I heard the words "Mount Everest was--". I was waiting for that analogy, and I'm SO glad it was brought up.

[@Kosmicd12]

Wow. Gotta be the best series in this corner of the internet- stupidly complex video game science and puzzle solving. Can't decide what's crazier: The sandbox they gave us for SM64 ABC, or the dedication of the community. We really don't deserve their dedication, or Bismuth's level of quality he delivers the information at! We are truly living in the upper echelon of timelines (Only refraining from saying the best timeline because there are still A presses to go!)

[@Roxrock]

Missed opportunity to say upper echelon of parallel universes.

[@sippingthepeachsoda]

ong

[@danielyoutubechannel407]

@@sippingthepeachsoda *oug

[@user-li5lx3vi8o]

EXACTLY

[@skyblade7438]

"How did they do that? Simple...except it wasn't simple, it was an absolute nightmare and barely worked. *Inserts essay* " That describes this entire challenge incredibly succinctly.

[@richardpike8748]

asterisks and citations everywhere

[@blazethegame]

Programming in a nutshell

[@PixalonGC]

ceave would say it was surprisingly not simple

[@ramsescampollo2506]

​@@PixalonGC man I miss that mario maker guy

[@TreeFlob]

33:31 you know they’re desperate for that star when they literally say “this rock has a lot of potential”

[@ikercalderon163]

The pannen video of ideas saying he dive recover more times than he wants to admit

[@moonmelons]

And then, using that rock, (and some other things) they removed another A Press.

[@Nesisorator]

this rock has more potential than me tbh fr

[@T_Man]

Turns out that rock really did have a lot of potential

[@dk64abuttonchallenge86]

This series does an unparalleled job of taking viewers through the puzzle solving mindset. Watching TTC 0xA finally come together feels like an impressive composition instead of magic or memes. Truly fantastic series.

[@Bismuth9]

Hey, you, reading this comment, click on that channel and go watch the DK64 ABC

[@ultrio325]

@@Bismuth9 wait, me?

[@S0larisPrime]

@@Bismuth9 I just subscribed

[@GammaFn.]

SotT 0xA is the ABC Team's magnum opus. Clever HOLP manipulation, cloning, SCGPC, PBH extension, BCA, SDC... And of course, a nice VSC at the end.

[@dlog]

@@GammaFn. WYKS PEU WTAAM

[@TJ-Henry-Yoshi]

I can't believe we're actually at the end. After so many videos ending with 1 more surprise warranting an entire new part of its own, we're finally living in the present now. Thank you so much for documenting all of this Bismuth and I hope you finally allow yourself to take the break that you deserve after rummaging through all of this batshit insane set of exploits that take the phrase "pushing sm64 to its limit" to an entire new level.

[@The_Mister_E]

The complicated concept curmudgeon shows himself once again! Though to be frank, you couldn't shake your attribution to this project if you tried. At least you've come to terms with it properly.

[@plushifoxed]

happy to see you staring up at the peak of the mountain with the rest of us

[@JK17-1]

3rd I'm so happy that its down to 14

[@Empostir]

Despite not contributing to the challenge itself, you have also become a part of the ABC's history thanks to "that" comment. Thanks for sticking with us, TJ ""Henry"" Yoshi.

[@keroppiandyyuen]

Can't believe it is 2022 and """"""we""""""" are all still here together

[@SSM24_]

Two months later and this video is already outdated again. What an incredible community.

[@sniceverything4944]

Which a press did they save, and is there a video

[@SSM24_]

​@@sniceverything4944 They figured out a half-A-press strat for Treasure of the Ocean Cave in JRB.

[@hardcoreclassicenjoyer]

@@SSM24_ what is a half press?

[@SSM24_]

@@hardcoreclassicenjoyer It means you have to hold the A button throughout the level. On an individual basis that still requires an A-press, but in a full run you can just continue keeping A held from a previous required A-press, meaning it doesn't actually add anything to the total. Since it counts as 1 A-press on an individual basis, but 0 during a full-game run, the way we refer to it is just averaging those two numbers. Therefore, 0.5 A presses.

[@percyvile]

Scuttlebug Jamboree

[@aidanbennett3586]

These past 8 episodes have displayed some of the most detailed knowledge of any game I have ever witnessed. The ABC crew have shown time and time again their endless commitment to the challenge, spending hours and hours on complex techniques, each one more mesmerising to watch than the last. I adore the work you’ve put into each episode and can’t wait to see where you go next. As for the challenge, I wish nothing but the best for the ABC crew, as I’m sure their creativity will be rewarded fully one day. I want to wish them the best of luck with the 14 a presses remaining. Thank you Bismuth for everything.

[@Zadamanim]

"this fall takes 20 frames and moves mario across 975 parallel universes" has cemented this in my mind as the unofficial successor to the watch for rolling rocks video lmao

[@kirby771]

Fun fact: if we consider that each parallel universe position has a distance of the observable universe, we can calculate Mario's speed in this segment, it being as a result 2'574e31 m/s which is 8'5859e22 times c (speed of light) which is around 85 sextillion times the speed of light.

[@jongyon7192p]

@@kirby771 each PU is 655.36 meters apart. according to NoA patent 1 unit=1cm

[@kirby771]

@@jongyon7192p In this case, if the PUs are lineal, it would be 958464 m/s, which is 0'003c, still quite fast, it's still 958 km/s

[@jongyon7192p]

@kirby 7 the game crashes when Mario's speed = (2^31)/4 cm/f, iirc. The game is 30 fps. Try represent the speed in c

[@onlysmiles4949]

There's something incredible about the fact that a lot of the last remaining stars are just a pure result of being ever so slightly too high

[@B0ssguy]

with some stars being ever so slightly lower than the max height you can get to so it's possible there's bound to be a few slightly above that

[@FakinhaDash]

Probably intentional, "you should press A to get the stars" must've been on their minds, to add both meaning and limits to the movement options. I'd do like that at least 🤷🏻‍♂️ Edit: their = the devs

[@Pashizzle500]

It’s funnier to me that it’s possible to go hundreds of units high tick tick clock but a 7 unit discrepancy in height might be too much

[@I-did-September-11th]

It's either "5 pixels to high" Or "There's nothing in this room at all"

[@Odyanii]

Finding out that Mario's health is actually measured in units much more precise than what is shown was extremely illuminating for me. Suddenly so many times of feeling like Mario took inconsistent damage from lava make a lot of sense.

[@Bismuth9]

Lava damage is consistent but fire isn't. The burn timer goes down faster when Mario is airborne, which is why grinding on an edge is actually crucial for survival. I say crucial, but in reality, they could have solved it with more coin clones; it would simply have been even more annoying to set up.

[@ikercalderon163]

@@Bismuth9 lava without hat is "inconsistent", it makes 4,5 of damage, so sometimes it displays as a 4 or as a 5 damage loss

[@Bismuth9]

@@ikercalderon163 It's not inconsistent, it's consistently 4.5 sectors of health

[@ikercalderon163]

@@Bismuth9 yeah, that's why I put it between quotation marks 😅 I meant for an amateur player it can seem inconsistent, but yeah, is consistent

[@redcrewmate1813]

At this point, "which takes about an hour" just sounds like an everyday statement.

[@ikercalderon163]

Tbh most of the stars are done faster than the casual player would do 🤣

[@MJnHerAbsolution]

no comments yet on this so i guess i'm first, but JRB was jus taken down to 0.5xA. hasn't premiered yet but the description indicates that we're at 13 now!

[@guillaume5313]

Honestly one of if not THE best youtube series/documentary I've watched. Mad respect for the hundreds of hours of work

[@DanielVCOliveira]

Let me introduce you to Ahoy

[@lucasdesvignes7190]

Come on, say it. It IS the best series in youtube XD

[@guillaume5313]

@@lucasdesvignes7190 yo Lucas, do you know a Servane by any chance?

[@brb23960]

Guillaume I have also have a strange question. Did you ever go by Guillaume Racine?

[@lucasdesvignes7190]

@@guillaume5313 not at all x)

[@EvdogMusic]

45:49 Adeal started only ~3 months ago, but has already figured out how to use 2-Cannon to get to World 5, with only 1 jump unsolved at 1-Tower. Everyone should definitely check them out!

[@JK17-1]

9+10=21

[@want-diversecontent3887]

@@JK17-1???

[@ItsYee64]

Yes!!

[@samuelthecamel]

It should also be stated that he's doing a more difficult verison of jumpless with some other small rules that make the run a lot more interesting

[@fangier0]

@@JK17-1 I don't get this "meme"

[@Pheenoh]

Still can't believe that Tick Tock Clock -- an entirely vertical level -- can be done in 0xA presses

[@lunlunnnnn]

your comment confused me, I thought the 0xA was hexadecimal 10 instead of "0 times A" at first

[@Smogshaik]

if only the re-entries were also doable!

[@pkinsect6618]

To me the saddest thing about this challenge is that even if by miracle a way is found to remove the most difficult A presses, it would necessarily be thanks to a "master glitch" that would render obsolete most current really complex strats and replace them with just "do this glitch"

[@Lockirby2]

The best scenario IMO is that the "master glitch" exists, but takes so long that every existing strat is faster, and therefore still relevant. But that seems even less likely.

[@Xbob42]

Or it could be something small but crazy like if you move the stick and hit certain buttons on a specific set of frames during a ground pound, you gain 11 units of height just once! Or maybe not, but I think there's so much potential left that feeling sure about anything seems odd at this point!

[@marcoasturias8520]

@@Lockirby2 yeah, half the tech here takes a day and a half to set up and this is just half exaggeration

[@olipolygon]

@@Lockirby2 Super Mario 64 DS has EXACTLY this. a glitch that saves many B presses (the game's equivalent to the A button)... provided you don't mind waiting actual centuries

[@suomeaboo]

Arbitrary code execution.

[@david-tb9jp]

Cant wait for BitFS getting solved 5hrs after the premiere!

[@the_cheese_cultist]

if only... well, at least we got jrb

[@_Snowflame]

In which Marbler takes a long enough lever, finds the fulcrum on which to place it, and moves a thousand parallel universes, while the team bridges eight impossible gaps in the course of explaining that they are impossible, *by accident.*

[@masrock9203]

The monologue at the end of this video is so, so powerful. I can't possibly express the depth of my adoration for Bismuth, pannenkoek, Marbler, and all other members of the ABC crew. It's projects like this one that keep me motivated to think, to be creative, to dive headfirst into problems without having any clue if they can be solved. Thank you, Bismuth.

[@padraicfanning7055]

It reminded me of a famous speech given sixty years ago this year. At that point, it had been only nine years since Mount Everest was first successfully summited, and thirty-five years since the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Before the decade was out, the astronauts of Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, accomplishing the very challenge given in that famous speech. Now that I type this comment, I wonder what kind of monumental "one small step" reaction we might get from pannenkoek2012 when this challenge is ultimately accomplished.

[@Jackgalaga]

i can just imagine the perspective of a dev that worked on mario 64 at the time seeing that the bug they ignored for being trivial is now being used with other bugs that weren't even discovered

[@eldersedai870]

Or the bug that they saw once, but was never recreated, so they forgot it existed.

[@Eidenhoek]

@@eldersedai870 It was solar rays.

[@Razsteroid]

@@Eidenhoek microcosmic background radiation

[@BAVBAVBAV]

23:40 Just wanted to say all of these 3D visuals are insane. They add so much understanding to a nightmare of complexity within the run. I do want a Part 9.

[@JK17-1]

There will maybe,JRB save on 16/2/2023

[@Jakewebmaster8]

UPDATE (2/15/23): The A press count has now been decreased to 13 thanks to Treasure of the Ocean Cave now being possible in 0.5 A presses. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnLampikqptqmbc

[@HopUpOutDaBed]

"Mount Everest wasn't made to be climbable." is such a good quote. Did you come up with that? I'm going to start using it.

[@Bismuth9]

Not really, actually. I wrote that ending on my own at first, but I had a feeling I had read something like it before. Turns out one of the top comments on Part 6 is quite similar. I think there might be other similar comments on Pannen's videos as well. I must have read these comments (definitely the one on my own video) but at the time of writing it I didn't realize it. I told the person who wrote that comment and they were cool with it.

[@richardli4038]

​@@Bismuth9 for millennia people lived near mountains without needing to summit them. the idea that climbing mountains is inherent arose with western colonialism / imperialism, the need to 'conquer' everything around them

[@sterneno1107]

When you have to completely redo the most insane strategie in the entire game to save one button press; incredible!

[@megatenshi]

Genuinely hard not to tear up at the end, hearing that rendition of the file select screen at the end of all of this. I've been watching the ABC since I was a kid, and reliving the past + learning about its present and future has been an absolute joy.

[@adealtas]

This was an absolutely wonderful conclusion to the best history videos ever made on KZbin. Thank you so much for this ❤ I've tried to do similar challenges in other games such as SM64DS and NSMBW, but nothing comes close to the awesomeness of SM64. For me, this is the perfect challenge, the best puzzle game Nintendo ever gave us. The rules are as simple as it gets, but the strategies are harder than any other challenge in any video game. The game handles so many interactions between objects, and the glitches are so full of different applications, and the physics are so meticulously designed... And most importantly, the solutions are always beautiful, unique and rewarding in their ingenuity. This challenge, in my opinion, is the perfect challenge.

[@floppa_gamer1111]

hello

[@miadesynced]

yooo it’s Adeal from Nathaniel Bandy

[@theevilsnips]

@@miadesynced ain't you Nathaniel b?

[@miadesynced]

@@theevilsnips uhhh who is Nathaniel B

[@theevilsnips]

@@miadesynced a meme

[@thetruegoldenknight]

ALSO, don't forget, the closer we get to "Absolute Zero", the more diminishing any returns will be. It's like trying to get a physical object down to 0 Kelvin, the better-known Absolute Zero. You guys are close, like 14 Kelvin close.

[@Veilure]

Pannen's original Watch for Rolling Rocks is what me got interested in how games work. I LITERALLY would not be here without him, and without this whole challenge. I'm crying. Thank you.

[@orlandocr2061]

hey Bismuth the JRB has gone down to 0,5 A presses now it's just 13 A presses left

[@SeanCMonahan]

God, this was so frickin' good. Great work putting this documentary series together, Bismuth, and hats off to Pannen and the entire ABC Crew for their achievements.

[@potatobearsmo]

When Part 1 released in April 2021, I was a much different person. Now, 20 months later, when this series has finally concluded, I am able to look back at all that happened in that time. It's an incredible amount. I have been in the speedrunning community for over twice as long as I was when this series started, and when I think back to what initially got me interested in speedrunning, it was your video(s) on the Super Mario Bros. Any% records by Kosmic. I don't think it is an overstatement to say that your videos have changed my life more than just about anything. So thank you for all the incredible content, and I hope you stay making this for a long time.

[@tepig2828]

As someone who has been watching Pannen from before the Watch For Rolling Rocks video blew up, it feels so amazing to see how this challenge grew and I’m super proud of everyone in the ABC community.

[@Malfeason]

My daughter and I were so excited when we found out Episode 8 was coming out! I can't wait to see it.

[@Malfeason]

Update: I bought snacks just for the occasion. 😀

[@Nico2718_]

A dad that watches crazy SM64 stuff with her daughter? I'm happy for you both, I want to be like that too in the future 😅👏

[@lunlunnnnn]

@@Nico2718_ "her daughter" HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

[@Malfeason]

@@Nico2718_ I'm the luckiest dad on the planet. 😀

[@RichConnerGMN]

@@lunlunnnnn trans rights

[@NeoKad99]

Your piano cover made me tear up a little bit in the end Well done, and thank you for this wonderful, insane series

[@JDLupus]

Episode one made me cry. This episode made me cry. This has been the documentation of a crazy and utterly beautiful journey. Thank you so much for this wonderful series!

[@XT-8147]

The ABC crew truly are ridiculous. Ridiculously talented. Ridiculously dedicated. Ridiculously persistent. Ridiculously knowledgeable. Ridiculously awesome.

[@ZTimeGamingYT]

I watched both minutes after release. I'm still in awe of the work put into the ABC. Thank you so much for the deep-dive into the many complex subjects and exploits in the game. And thank you, pannenkoek, along with everyone else in the community who came from more than two hundred to under fifteen.

[@noahabry619]

I have always been interested by the ABC challenge, but the lack of easy documentation always made it hard to learn more about it. I loved the videos o' the impossible coin and goomba, and even the A button challenge videos that had been recorded vocally, but I could never go deeper into all of this. So a series of hours long videos with explanations, vocals and incredible visuals that go into all the details of this topic is a god send. You did an amazing job with this, and you helped the entire ABC crew so much by popularizing this even more. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart ♥️. Keep up this amazing work! PS : I have not yet watched the video, as it's late where I'm at currently, but I just wanted to get these thoughts I had a few days ago out.

[@shiverian5970]

This series is an insane achievement. While obviously nothing can really compare to the work of pannenkoek and the actual TASers and researchers of the community, this series no doubt will bring new people, new attention, and new ideas to the ABC for years to come.

[@RichConnerGMN]

thank you to everyone who has ever worked on this project over the years

[@deezbees4303]

"JRB Unlikely to ever be solved" Gets solved just 2 months later

[@TheNoSwearGuy]

I watched Pannenkoek's "LLL Elevator Tour in the Volcano 0xA" video the other day and had no idea what was going on. Can't wait to see the explanation! :D

[@LordHonkInc]

I swear we'll get to 0 A presses and some mad lad will still find a way to save one more. I love following this epic since I was still in university and it's not gonna get less interesting for these few last presses. Thank you so much for coalescing all this into a focused docu series 👍

[@floppa_gamer1111]

-1 a presse

[@marqimoth6987]

0 a presses is 100% impossible

[@floppa_gamer1111]

Ok tj "marai moth" something cant be proven impossible

[@LordHonkInc]

@@marqimoth6987 Most saves up to this point were deemed impossible at one point or another. Not saying that it will definitely happen, of course, but there was also a time when people thought beating the game with less than 31 stars was impossible ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@entitylockington]

@@LordHonkInc I absolutely believe that at some point or another we will get to 0xa, question is whether the people who started it all will still be alive by then. The more knowledge we gain about the game, the harder it becomes to discover some tho g new, so the very last improvements may very well take hundreds of years unless some form of A button free Arbitrary Code Execution is discovered

[@MachDialUp]

this whole series has been fantastic. of course this whole time you've been showing the ABC crew's amazing progress but having just recently re-watched the first part it's incredible how much these videos have advanced too. your visuals and scriptwriting have never been better and i love that your humor is shining through more than ever. sad to see the abc series end but I'm excited to see what you do next

[@rogersasanka3408]

Update: Treasure of the Ocean Cave was reduced from 1 A press to 0… not quite 0, but 0.5x A presses.

[@TheThirdPrice]

God the end was... Really touching. Thank you to everyone who made this series possible

[@Lugmillord]

This made me appreciate Marbler exponentially more. There are so many smart, talented and highly patient and determined people in the ABC crew. Simply incredible. The same goes for this video series. One of the most fascinating video series about gaming in general.

[@ElTaitronAnim]

Unfortunately, I don't have the proper words to express how monumental every single achievement documented in this series is, as is the series itself. Seriously incredible work to everyone involved in the ABC crew, and to yourself for documenting and editing it all, especially the visuals. All of you have done amazing work.

[@jackbloom6062]

These people are doing theoretical physics to beat a game without using a single button. God I love this community

[@W.H.V.]

The year is 2099, you live in the sovereign principality of Pittsburgh, the national anthem of which in Black and Yellow by Whiz Khalifa. For the first time in history, a human being just completed Super Mario 64 120 stars without pressing a even once. At the exact same moment, it started raining liquid water for the first time on Mars.

[@InvaderWakkoReborn]

Can't wait for chapter 9 with the new JRB 0.5x A press save.

[@KevinKolpack]

"Mt. Everest wasn't designed to be climbable. Mountains don't care if anyone manages to reach the top or not. Super Mario 64 was never designed to be beaten with 0 A presses. The game doesn't care if it's possible. *We* do. And until we reach the top, we *will* keep climbing." - Bismuth, 2022 Man, I got chills hearing that. Somebody needs to put that quote on a plaque or poster or something.

[@btf_flotsam478]

This generation's "wir mussen wissen, wir werden wissen".

[@Poopemoji500]

The year is 2563, only one a press remains, pannenkoek's immortalized brain has an epiphany, after all this time, the last A press has been defeated.

[@coachmcguirk6297]

Can't wait for the "history of the A button challenge 2 : part 1"

[@theevilsnips]

season 2

[@DKTrue]

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached 13 A presses.

[@MTGreat202]

This is the best series I’ve seen in a while. You started my love for speed running, thank you and this channel

[@boiboi6847]

All I can think of for new possible strats is to replicate SMW's game-breaking glitches. Manual data writing on the 64 or even the emulated version sounds impossible to me but if we figured it out there would be effectively no limit as to what we could do. Amazing series by an amazing creator.

[@gankro]

thank you so much for making this series, and for everyone who worked on the ABC genuinely cried at the end

[@lynqsx]

The first 5 parts of this documentary carried threw, when I Had COVID. Thank you♥️

[@circleo1992]

Honestly, there might be even more A press saves in the future. I've seen patterns in speedruning and advancements in video game discoveries. I think that there's a decent chance that the number of A presses will be at zero eventually. It's like what Bismuth once said: "The limits are never where we think they are."

[@gabrielrhodes9943]

I think the experts would know best, and they are quite certain it will never reach zero. Many of the people working on the challenge think 13 will be the limit, which you can see from looking at their discussions in Discord.

[@bmobmo6438]

I don't think so, there's some rooms and stages that are just too simple for any shenanigans. Without some truly gamechanging new glitch they'll never solve WMOTR or the red coin room in THI. There's just nothing there to use.

[@lasagnapig630]

Marbler himself said SOTT 0x was utterly impossible only a short time before he started working on the final strat

[@gabrielrhodes9943]

@@lasagnapig630 Their guesses are still better than ours. People that are not involved directly with the challenge will obviously not have as good of an understanding of the limitations.

[@supermarble94]

@@lasagnapig630 A big part of what made SotT 0x possible was the mass amount of resources and all the level geometry coincidentally lining up to make everything work. But for something like Princess's Secret Slide, there's simply nothing to work with. The only three remaining stars I could possibly see happening without another major discovery are BitFS, JRB, and WMotR 1x, the latter two of which I'm very skeptical of because they've already been analyzed into the ground by myself and others. I always word it, though, by saying "another major discovery" because there could always be things in the game we don't know about. Just a week ago, I found a brand new tech with Chuckya Wrong Throw, so who knows what the future will hold.

[@level_breaded5364]

I believe in our boys and girls on the front lines, one day, maybe not in our lifetimes there will be a Super Mario 64 without the need of a. Mario is all about pipe dreams after all

[@NeutralOfficial]

i have finished this video at exactly 4:44am, and i am crying over a silly little video game challenge that I first learned about 6 years ago These videos are art, thank you so much for making them

[@ZaxxaOfficial]

The way that you are so professional with the presentation while imperceptibly dropping clever and cheeky jokes is amazing. Oh, and that ending was so poetic that it brought me within 1 unit of activating the HOLP that would make tears snap up to my tear ducts. Well done, Bismuth!

[@a2aaron]

Thank you for making this video series. This is the most detailed and incredible series that explains the ABC. It captures why people care about TASing so much--the magic of seeing some utterly impossible set of constraints being just _barely_ satisfied by the most absurdly complicated plan. The way everything comes together for this last video--all the prior parts making the unbelievable tech comprehensible is beautiful.

[@Bismuth9]

Thank you for that beautiful comment that inspired the final words!

[@Patashu]

Above everything else, the incredible work put into visualization and communication in this series has been beyond belief

[@VocalMabiMaple]

Im gonna spend a whole night rewatching the super cut as a movie. Thank you Bismuth, and the entire ABC community, for one of the greatest stories of our time. May their future travels be void of A presses and their endeavors fruitful. Happy holidays!

[@Nslugger13]

Thank you so much for this journey Bismuth (as well as Pannen and the ABC crew). I had been following the progress of the ABC challenge for probably 5 years now, and all of these videos have done an amazing job at capturing the work put into it. This set of 8 videos is probably the best "speedrun explained" or "world record history" type video ever made in my opinion.

[@HanCurunyr]

This series of videos really show what a masterpiece really is, amazing work Bismuth. And amazing work of pannenkoek2012 and all the other runners who turned a 3D plataform game in pure science for a challenge!

[@TheQuicksilver115]

*standing ovation* Bismuth, you need to add yourself to the ABC legends list. Without this work, this would have remained off the radar for thousands and thousands of us. This is one of the best game docuseries I have ever come across. So sad to have reached the conclusion of it! Simply incredible what you have done piecing all of these INSANE discoveries together for us in such an understandable format. You have brought the joy of this madness to the masses and I simply cannot thank you enough 🙏

[@JarheadHME]

There was a small part of me that hoped there'd be a small word from pannen at the end haha Thank you so much bismuth for making these, and the ABC crew for working so hard over the years. The work put in is so absolutely, unfathomably incredible and I'm so glad that it's persisted all this time!

[@ianmathwiz7]

I can't believe this video is already outdated. JRB 0.5x hype

[@PierceArner]

Man, the ending perspective recap and quotes you picked to use for this are absolutely brilliant. Thanks for all the work that went inti making this whole series and sharing it with us!!

[@draculactica]

this series has been so incredible. to explain such convoluted, esoteric mechanics in a way that us laypeople can understand is an incredible accomplishment- not to mention the artistry on display with your editing, visuals, and of course the beautiful arrangements that you wrote and played throughout. the everest metaphor is apt; just like reaching that summit, this challenge is another feat that people have taken on purely to challenge and push themselves to the edge of possibility. and i think it's beautiful how a group of people have cooperated for years in the hopes of reaching that ultimate goal. if you decide to do so, i would love to see future videos as they get closer and closer to beating the game without a single A press. just amazing work all around. and even if this video turns out to be the end of the series, you should be very proud of the phenomenal work you've done.

[@baldcarrots]

I've never felt more emotionally attached to something I can't even begin to understand.

[@waterwraith3334]

Finally, the end is in sight. But who truly knows how far this challenge will go? We could be stuck at 14 a presses until the end of time, or all of them could be saved tomorrow! That tier list of probabilities for a presses being saved is not concrete! There were countless instances of a press saves being deemed impossible, but the abc crew still found a way. We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds for this challenge. Maybe bismuth will have to make a part 9?

[@janthehuman1679]

Well done on this series! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every video in the series you’ve made so far. This truly is a wonderful work of gaming history documentation, and must have been a massive endeavor of its own. Thank you Bismuth and all the others who contributed to this series and to the ABC over the years. Congrats on completing the series 😁🎉

[@eyesistorm]

My favorite part about the A button challenge is how each new A press save builds off of the ones that came before. With each new discovery comes a new tool that can be used to clear new gaps and reach new places, doing stuff that just a year before were unimaginable. Stomp on the Thwomp 0x is the perfect example of this. Cloning, vsc, misalignments, bca, and of course, the remote squish cancel, if just one of those things didn't exist, the entire thing would be impossible.

[@alexwalker5716]

this was absolutely amazing. but I have to say it broke my heart a bit hearing that it'll be almost impossible to reach zero a presses. here's hoping for 70 stars in zero! pannenkoek and all of the absolute wizards in the abc community have all of my respect. and thank you to Bismuth for sharing their story with us!

[@Kebabrulle4869]

Thank you for making these videos. I loved every second to bits, and I'm overjoyed that I have something this good to show outsiders when I tell them about my interest in this.

[@naucs_]

Bismuth, Thank you for this series. It was such an amazing journey. I hope humanity never loses fascination with this amazingly groundbreaking, lovingly quirky, and endlessly fun game. It seriously feels like I've just finished one of the best Netflix shows I've ever watched. What an amazing ride, and bravo sir. Great job, to you and the entire ABC crew.

[@miradrgn]

the challenge of trying to explain to any normal person why i'm getting teary-eyed over the endeavor to make mario not jump honestly though, thank you for the work on this series, it's been such an amazing dive into not only the mechanics of the ABC but also the people and community behind it. it's really bittersweet for me, seeing TTC conquered after all these years of whittling down that mountain one pebble at a time, only to see the endless canyon wall behind it. the ones left now are the old foes as notorious as WMotR, as frustrating as JRB, as unassuming as peach's slide, the ones that are unsolved not because nobody's quite found the right way to assemble the puzzle but because there just aren't any pieces to work with the ABC has had some amount of presence in my life for the better part of a decade, it's one of those things that's been around so long it feels like it'd keep being around forever. it's survived through real-world disasters, political upheavals, a devastating pandemic, and multiple distinct eras of my own personal life too. i had a different dang gender when i first started watching pannen's videos lmao i know the ABC crew won't give up without a fight, and there are almost certainly still some tricks we've yet to find, but.. the immense growth of the community, the advancement in knowledge and computing techniques, bruteforcers and decomp and being able to simulate the code of the game with immense speed, the crew has shined so much light on the deepest inner workings of the game that it seems like we must be running out of shadow, the amount of unexplored territory grows smaller and smaller. the landscape embodied in mario 64's code is rich and beautiful and more vast and deep than even the developers of the game themselves could've possibly imagined, but it is fundamentally finite. to think that after everything the ABC's been through, that it may simply fade into its twilight and be done, concluded, finished, that the concrete limit could be set and reached, and probably sooner than later... it is hard for me not to get sad about it i think there's also a temptation to be disappointed too. to confront the fact that 120 stars 0x or even 1x is with almost-sure certainty out of reach, after so many years of pushing that number ever lower and many of us watching hoping deep down to see it squashed entirely. but really that's missing the point. pannenkoek and a ton of other dedicated, hardworking, smart, creative people have spent over a decade pushing this game in ways nobody could've possibly even conceived of, and then pushing it 10 times further after that. and then once people finally started getting used to that, pushing it another 100 times more. people have worked tirelessly together, come together to form a community to support each other and work through this completely silly arbitrary video game challenge that's really more like a massive applied computer science problem at this point and that is genuinely beautiful thanks again, to bismuth and pannen and everyone else involved in this series and this challenge and community. even as a simple spectator it's left a huge mark on me over the years, and even if the ABC is coming to an end, in a year or in 10, it's something i'm never going to forget, and i know i speak for plenty of other people looking on as well

[@Whitsoxrule1]

Can't wait for the epilogue! I know it will come someday :)

[@youngthinker1]

I cannot wait for the animation "Something about 10 A presses" and Mario duplicates enemies, coins, and elements to jump through PU's to obtain all 120 stars.

[@a.d.t.mapping]

"jump" impossible

[@john_gamecube]

This was an absolutely fantastic series of videos and I can’t imagine how much work they have taken. All the editing and production was amazing, with excellent research and scriptwriting tying everything together. And I love the sentiment at the end. Just excellent.

[@armythecat]

And finally the end of a sage, which I will definitely watch again at some point for a good binge Thank you for so much care on this subject, it was an amazing journey to see!

[@ballom29]

There is an other hurdle for SOTTC that wasn't mentionned on the video. Bismuth at one moment used the term "item slot" .... and at some point that was big issue, because all tis cloning made each segment possible but together impossible because ALL available slots would be filled with clones. So it was a necessity to reduce the number of trips and cloning not only because of timesave and a limited number of positions for several fire clone, but simply because otherwise no further cloning would have been possible.

[@LRFLEW]

I feel like the compilation of other games' button challenges inspired by the ABC should have included the SM64DS B Button Challenge. I've seen a little bit of it, and it seems like an interesting contrast with how it has to tackle the same levels in often wildly different ways.

[@Drayiss]

I’ve been keeping up with this challenge for a while now, and all I gotta say is, well done! The journey has been insane up until now, with tons of dedicated members of the community working on it. And thanks for doing such a fantastic job with the commentary Bismuth! It’s been so fascinating seeing all the hurdles and roadblocks that have come their way, and how they’ve managed to overcome them

[@SegmentW]

Part 8 just dropped and that's good enough reason to watch the series from part 1 again. Thank you ABC community and Bismuth for the insane amount of effort that's been put into this incredible phenomenon.

[@_fudgepop01]

where was that fantastic Everest quote from?? It literally sent chills down my spine - fantastic closing line and sentiment for a fantastic series documenting and appreciating things in incredible detail while still making it relatively digestible. Kinda funny - humans, who have given mt Everest it’s name, have never been known to *truly* rest as a species until the bitter end. Fantastic work, thank you so much

[@shiitakiaandqwsad3859]

I feel so emotional, such a brilliant series, challenge, and community.

[@NotaSkeleton]

And with that, it's finally over. What a fascinating series this was. Some of the best produced and narrated videos on YT. The outro monologue was such a perfect bookend for this ridiculous yet inspirational journey.

[@CibuYT]

one year and a half later, it is done. You have truly done it bismuth. What an awesome series this has been, I will for sure watch it again in the following years, and if I ever have kids, you bet I'll show them. Thank you so much for uploading this. I found this series because I tried to do mario 64 without jumping myself with a friend just to see how far we would get, and now I now a ton of cool stuff about how 3D games were made and how TASes work. On top of that I feel as inspired as ever as achieving my own goals, all of that because of the abc crew of course, but also because of you and how you made these videos, again, thank you so much

[@Cloiss_]

wow... I nearly cried at the end. Thank you for this legendary series

[@askplays]

Same, awesome ending quote

[@finale1905]

This has been the greatest KZbin series I have ever seen. Amazing work Bismuth.

[@alih6685]

Fantastic series. The later videos became longer and more mired in technical analysis I couldn’t bring myself to understand but the entire series, especially the introduction, is so well documented and obviously very passionate. Bravo.

[@AndySG7]

Absolutely incredible work man!!! I don't even know what to say but I feel like I should say something... for me personally this was hands down the best documentary series I have ever watched! Not only was it extremely informative and well made but I also feel a certain emotional connection to it since it's about a challenge I have been more or less casually following over the years in the game that means a lot to me all things considered. Even though or maybe especially because I grew up with the DS version of SM64, the original SM64 has always been something that intrigued me ever since I first saw some videos of it on the internet back when I was just a child, more than a decade ago. Back then the existente of game itself was already like a mystery to me since I didn't really understand what it was and why it looked so different from what I had on my DS (I had no clue about even just things like different video game consoles existing back then). As time went by I saw more videos of it, I saw glitches, I saw rom-hacks, I saw my first tool-assisted speedrun and slowly but surely I began to figure out the mystery that was Super Mario 64. Even as my interests shifted to other things over the years of growing up, I always kept a look out for anything SM64 related which is also how I discovered pannenkoek and the A-button challenge. These days I don't play any videogames anymore, neither do I really watch follow people who do. And yet the only video game related channels I always kept an eye on even till this day are those related to SM64/SM64DS TASing. And that's why I love this documentary so much. It even thought me things I hadn't yet known. I never really had a full grasp of the A-button challenge but now it's like, at long last, I finally fully figured out that childhood mystery of mine that was SM64 and the TAS community surrounding it. After watching this my respect for pannenkoek and everyone in the ABC crew has risen even further to a level that I can't even express with words. On that same note I also can't imagine the amount of work and effort in must have taken to produce this documentary, hats off to you man, seriously. The amount of mental fatigue the production of even just one of these kinds of well produced videos can cause is no joke, as we know from pannen, so I hope you can take some time to relax and enjoy this Christmas to the fullest, you deserve it!