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Super Mario 'Speed Runners' Are Setting New World Records (fivethirtyeight.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the video-velocities dept.

Virginia software engineer Brad Myers has played Super Mario 22,000 times, and just set a new speed record earlier this month -- 4 minutes and 56.878 seconds. An anonymous Slashdot reader summarizes a new article at FiveThirtyEight: "In this 31-year-old video game, there is a full-on, high-speed assault on Bowser's castle under way right now..." writes Oliver Roeder, describing a collaborative community of both theorists and experimentalists "who test the theories in game after callus-creating game... 'Everything in my run, so many people contributed so much knowledge at various points in the game's history,' Myers told me. 'Now someone can come along and use that as their starting point.'"

Online broadcasts form a kind of peer-review system, with an ever-expanding canon of tricks -- for example, intentionally bumping into objects for a slight increase in speed. But the success rate for the maneuver is estimated at 3%, meaning speed runners spend most of their time stating over. "On average, about 1 out of 1,000 times does a record-setting campaign continue beyond its halfway point..."

62 comments

  1. Neat. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Neat.

    1. Re:Neat. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really. It's not impressive when they are using glitches and warps to get to the end. Let's see how quickly they can do it when playing through the entire game.

  2. Exhibit A by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I present to you, Exhibit A for "why Millennials never accomplish anything."

    World record time to beat Super Mario. Who gives a shit?! Why would you spend time on this?!

    It really does explain the Millennial work ethic, though. Spend no time doing productive work and all your time playing stupid video games. And for that extra dose of hipsterism, make sure it's old video games that no one cares about any more.

    1. Re:Exhibit A by Mitreya · · Score: 2

      World record time to beat Super Mario. Who gives a shit?! Why would you spend time on this?!

      I agree with you, but let me be the devil's advocate anyway

      TFA also plots recent advances in "time to assemble Rubik's cube" and "time to run 100m dash".
      So why do people care and spend time on that? Because there are more spectators?

    2. Re:Exhibit A by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      And here is Exhibit B, human nature and Exhibit C, the reason people are refusing to work

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    3. Re: Exhibit A by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And this is why you can point to so many of your own achievements that are globally recognised? Yes?

      And all the things you are the best in the world at yes?

      If your biggest trouble with the generation is their ability to focus and accomplish difficult (if maybe arguably pointless) things - then things aren't so bad.

    4. Re:Exhibit A by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd say this is less useful than some of the electronics and machine learning stuff that's going on around this. We've built learning machines that can progressively refine a speed run on a Mario level, and the value is in just how crazy the results can be. Once you start iterating solutions at that frequency it becomes possible to exploit game code in ways nobody thought of (the flagpole glitch??). It's strange how the results of those experiments are heading back into the players and driving speed runs.

      "We taught a computer to play so it could teach us how to play better"

      Reminds me of an old genetic programming experiment that was so highly tuned it could exploit the electrical properties of the FPGA it was running on to generate a solution. The engineers couldn't understand the solution. That's actually quite an amazing result. ...but no, speed running with a controller is just an exercise in personal training. Skillful, but not exactly reusable.

    5. Re:Exhibit A by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (You)

    6. Re: Exhibit A by hackwrench · · Score: 1

      We like to believe that we have come a long way from the pharaoes of old, but have we really?

    7. Re: Exhibit A by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      They're still up there between Iceland and Norway.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    8. Re:Exhibit A by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      Yeah I know. god forbid anyone have any fun in life. It should all be about work work work work work.

    9. Re:Exhibit A by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Funny

      I present to you, Exhibit A for "why Millennials never accomplish anything."

      I know right! I mean they only broke 65 Olympic records and 19 world records this year alone!

      Though I have to hand it to you, you may have just broken a record of your own for stupidest comment on the internet.

      CONGRATULATIONS!!

    10. Re: Exhibit A by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's for the same reason people like you and I waste time posting to slashdot.

      The same reason people climb mountains, or play football, or paint, or make music, or collect stamps, or watch tv shows and go to movies, or have and play with pets.

      Pretty much anything you've ever done that doesn't involve keeping your body healthy and alive, or attempting to procreate, is equally "worthless" time spent that doesn't further the goal of living.

      It's no different for being entertained by playing video games, or being entertained watching glee someone else play video games, or being entertained by learning the program flow of a video game in such detail as to be able to exploit functionality that isn't known by the original creator(s) of the game, sometimes to the extent that the functionality wasn't intended or opposed to the intent of the game creator(s).

      So you are just as qualified to answer your question as any of the rest of us are.

      I highly recommend you spend some introspective thought on the subject, if for no other reason than for "pointless" entertainment purposes.
      And if you do, please do come back and share your thoughts. Despite some anon posts, there are plenty of us that would enjoy knowing your conclusions.

    11. Re:Exhibit A by hackwrench · · Score: 1

      Because the only worthwhile thing to accomplish is to build intergalactic nuclear bombardment facilities to nuke anything that fails to build intergalactic nuclear bombardment faciliities. Or was that neurotoxin plants. What were we talking about again? Your name wouldn't happen to be G.L.A.D.O.S. or Ripley, would it?

  3. Compare to sports by tepples · · Score: 2

    Why do people care about sports at all? Why do the Olympic Games exist?

    One possible angle that I might accept is that unlike well-known ball sports, notable video games are proprietary. A video game's publisher has state-backed power to dictate whether, how, and by whom its game shall be played in public.

    1. Re:Compare to sports by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A video game's publisher has state-backed power to dictate whether, how, and by whom its game shall be played in public.

      Don't challenge MLB if you know what's good for you.

    2. Re:Compare to sports by ArtemaOne · · Score: 2

      Well, Olympics existed for a similar reason as the early space race. A way to engage in non-deadly combat with other countries. That was the form of competition, and war wasn't needed. I think it has had some elements of success.

  4. This week on 'America's Got Too Much Free Time' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not to judge anyone for their choice of pastime... but what the hell is the point of this choice of pastime?

    1. Re:This week on 'America's Got Too Much Free Time' by Calydor · · Score: 2

      Now, this is just a guess so there is a chance that I am wrong, but hear me out.

      Here goes.

      The point of this pastime, according to my own thoughts and beliefs, is ... ...

      To have fun.

      I know, MIND BLOWN. But how is this more pointless than, say, building model aircraft or watching NASCAR?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  5. Awesome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If the millenial to whom you refer is labeled an engineer in academia I'd declare this gamer a winner.

  6. If you like this stuff by wbr1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    or if not... Check out this guy playing tetris. At the end the pieces are invisible when they drop in. Crazy stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
    1. Re:If you like this stuff by lobiusmoop · · Score: 1

      Is that for real? I think I got RSI just from watching the video.

      --
      "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
    2. Re:If you like this stuff by BlackPignouf · · Score: 1

      Oh. They're literally invisible.
      I thought you meant that they're so fast that you cannot see them on the video.
      Crazy stuff.

    3. Re:If you like this stuff by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

      Trump will hire him to build The Wall.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    4. Re: If you like this stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's pretty funny

    5. Re:If you like this stuff by Z80a · · Score: 1

      He don't seem like a good man for the job, after all, the blocks disappears as soon the finishes doing a line.

    6. Re: If you like this stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He don't seem like a good man for the job, after all, the blocks disappears as soon the finishes doing a line.

      Bush Sr had his blocks disappear after doing a line too, and he became president of the USA!

  7. How do you know this guy's a millenial? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How do you know this guy's a millenial? TFA doesn't say he is.

    Or did you just want an excuse to sob about something? That seems to play well on Slashdot.

    (Disclaimer: I'm not a millenial. But I'm not a whiny Professional Victim that likes to complain about random things, either.)

    1. Re:How do you know this guy's a millenial? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you just assume Brad's gender based on a name? *TRIGGERED*

    2. Re:How do you know this guy's a millenial? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it says "he" in the second sentence of the article?

    3. Re:How do you know this guy's a millenial? by Megol · · Score: 0

      Just pull the trigger already - snuff out your cowardly existence in a fitting manner.

    4. Re: How do you know this guy's a millenial? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol someone got butthurt

    5. Re:How do you know this guy's a millenial? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would you assume it wasn't?

    6. Re:How do you know this guy's a millenial? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You completely missed the point. Do you have Asperger's Syndrome?

    7. Re: How do you know this guy's a millenial? by Megol · · Score: 1

      Nope, just pissed by trolling. It adds noise. But I also added noise and in a very bad form too. Can't take it back though :/

  8. Paywall warning by tepples · · Score: 2

    Exhibit B, human nature

    From the linked page:

    Price: $32

    I guess it's human nature to charge for human nature.

  9. Asdflkjsfksljf editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "who test the theories in game after callus-creating game"

    please help me understand what this string of words means

    1. Re:Asdflkjsfksljf editors by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I suspect "callus-creating" is where you're stumbling? It functions as an adjective, describing [the second instance of] "game".

      A callus is like a hardened bit of skin caused by repeated wear. Manual labourers & athletes often get them.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:Asdflkjsfksljf editors by ledow · · Score: 1

      It takes a lot of parsing but it is English.

      I got stuck on that, and on:

      "On average, about 1 out of 1,000 times does a record-setting campaign continue beyond its halfway point..."

      If you have to re-read sentences multiple times, it's NOT good writing, even if it uses all English words.

    3. Re:Asdflkjsfksljf editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you had to reread that multiple times to understand it, your English needs improvement. I had no difficulty understanding it, and I'd wager that few other people did.

    4. Re:Asdflkjsfksljf editors by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      A proper (i.e. not Indian) English speaker would write it as "On average, a record-setting campaign continues beyond its halfway point about 1 out of 1,000 times ..."

      Not noticing errors doesn't mean you're cleverer than those who do. Quite the opposite, in fact.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    5. Re:Asdflkjsfksljf editors by pjt33 · · Score: 1

      Leaving aside the racism in that comment, why change the word order but not the bigger problem of the choice of words? A record-setting attempt may be more likely than not to be abandoned, but a record-setting campaign is surely a campaign which sets a record, and it can't do that if it isn't completed.

    6. Re:Asdflkjsfksljf editors by Calydor · · Score: 1

      That's like saying you were only in a presidential campaign if you won. A campaign is an attempt to do something, with more than just "I felt like trying" behind it.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    7. Re: Asdflkjsfksljf editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You haven't spent much time reading the classics, have you?

    8. Re:Asdflkjsfksljf editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What does an article written by a white American (who happens to have won awards for economics writing) have to do with Indian English speakers?

  10. moar liek... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hoo! hoo!!
    yep!

  11. s/ia / / by Hognoxious · · Score: 0

    n/c

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  12. Is "game after game" grammatical? by tepples · · Score: 1

    To help you understand, we will first need to understand your English proficiency. Of the following phrases, which is the first to sound ungrammatical to you? That'll help me craft an explanation.

    A. Researchers "who test the theories"
    B. Researchers "who test the theories in games"
    C. Researchers "who test the theories in game after game"
    D. Researchers "who test the theories in game after callus-creating game"

    1. Re:Is "game after game" grammatical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh. I was reading it as "test the theories in-game" which made the sentence really confusing.

    2. Re:Is "game after game" grammatical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a retard then. Try reading the whole sentence to the end next time.

    3. Re:Is "game after game" grammatical? by pjt33 · · Score: 1

      That was how I read it first time. It didn't help that there was a line break immediately after "in game".

    4. Re:Is "game after game" grammatical? by lgw · · Score: 1

      Bit of a garden path sentence there. It's not "the horse raced past the barn fell down", but it could be worded more clearly.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    5. Re:Is "game after game" grammatical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes it is. So is "time after time".

    6. Re:Is "game after game" grammatical? by tepples · · Score: 1

      I know it is. I was trying to find the best point to start my explanation of why it is.

    7. Re:Is "game after game" grammatical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Huh?

      I can only make that out as "the horse raced past; the barn fell down". (the horse raced past the barn) fell down doesn't make grammatical sense, and since fell is the only alternate verb I see, I don't see how you are getting some other construction. Yes, fell could be an adjective, but that doesn't make sense. Past could be an archaic past tense verb, but that doesn't make sense either. Is this referring to the fell down of a duck, or something? That's pretty weak.

    8. Re:Is "game after game" grammatical? by CByrd17 · · Score: 1

      The intent of this semi-famous sentence is that the horse was what fell, after it was raced past the barn...

      From the "Garden path sentence" entry in Wikipedia:

      This sentence relies on the ambiguity in English between the passive participle and past tense. Since raced is usually encountered as an active verb, the initial parsing of this sentence is the horse (noun phrase and subject) raced (active past-tense verb) past the barn (prepositional phrase), but this parsing cannot make sense of the word fell at the end of the sentence. The proper parsing is The horse (noun phrase) raced past the barn (participle phrase) fell (verb). More explicitly this sentence can be written as The horse that was raced past the barn fell, where that was raced past the barn tells the reader which horse is under discussion.

    9. Re:Is "game after game" grammatical? by lgw · · Score: 1

      It's meant to be read as "the horse (raced past the barn) fell down", but no one is going to parse it properly on first reading. Pernicious grammar.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  13. I was planning on survival running it lately by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 1

    On twitch or youtube, I want to see if I can complete the game with one life, no powerups, no warps. Could take me a couple months or years.

    --
    God spoke to me
  14. Crap. by God+of+Lemmings · · Score: 1

    I didn't know this was a thing. Me and my friends did this all the time in high school. You'd hold the run button down and take all the shortcuts.

    --
    Non sequitur: Your facts are uncoordinated.
    1. Re:Crap. by Calydor · · Score: 1

      But was your time anywhere close to this, or was it like high school kids doing the hundred meter dash in about 20 seconds?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  15. Prior art: Quake Done Quick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can do that? has got to be the most overused question from viewers

  16. Not all baseball matches are MLB matches by tepples · · Score: 2

    Don't challenge MLB if you know what's good for you.

    I don't know what you're getting at because "challenge MLB" can have any of several meanings. If you start your own league unaffiliated with MLB, do you "challenge MLB"?

    Major League Baseball has copyright over broadcasts of matches between MLB clubs or between clubs in MLB-affiliated minor leagues. It does not have copyright over broadcasts of baseball matches in other leagues. Video game publishers, on the other hand, control which leagues are even allowed to exist.