Super Mario 64: a cosmic ray responsible for the mysterious glitch for speedrun?
Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64 has been the subject of numerous stories, including curiosities and urban legends in its long history, but so far the possibility had never emerged that a prodigious speedrun caused by a mysterious unrepeatable glitch could depend on a cosmic ray that hit the Nintendo 64 of the user in question.Yet, science seems to confirm this bizarre matter: in 2013, the speedrunner DOTA_Teabag managed to set a record time during a speedrun session of the Super Tick Tock Clock level Mario 64, exploiting a strange glitch that led him to skip an entire level.
The question also struck because no one had noticed this glitch before and no one has been able to replicate it, despite the fact that a bounty has also been placed on this from 1000 dollars to understand how it works.
In the end, the explanation given by the youtuber pannenkoek12, the same one who placed the bounty on the glitch, as crazy as it may be, seems to be likely.
In essence, the strange behavior of the game it would have been caused by a cosmic particle hitting the user's Nintendo 64. An explanation was provided by Gavin Burtt of The Gamer, who reported that the glitch in question was a single event caused by a single bit change in a string.
In this case, it would have been a a change of information linked to a single bit, from 11000101 to 11000100, passing from "C5" to "C4", which led to a change from C5837800 to C4837800 in the exchange of information between game and console, making Mario skipped an entire level. This, according to the source, may have been caused by an ionized particle from cosmic radiation, which hit the Nintendo 64 on which the speedrun was taking place.
The theory is bizarre but it is not exactly far-fetched: there are various documentaries that talk about how cosmic rays affect the behavior of electronic equipment and computers, such as this video, also reported by NintendoLife in its report on the story in question. In practice, the energetic particles coming from outer space hit the atoms of the atmosphere, causing a shower of protons and neutrons that can affect the functioning of the electronic devices with which they come into contact.
And so, it seems that the case he wanted a cosmic particle to allow DOTA_Teabag to gain a noticeable advantage in his Super Mario 64 speedrun, but the process will by no means be easy for opponents to replicate.
Source Have you noticed any errors?
Minecraft modder somehow stuffs Super Mario 64 into it
I always think I can never be more impressed with all the insanely cool stuff modders do with games these days, but one person managing to stuff Super Mario 64 into Minecraft has proven me wrong.
Programmer, modder and self-professed 'weird projects' creator Dylan tweeted out his work-in-progress, and it's simultaneously spectacular and unintentionally hilarious. The old, blocky Mario model fits super well into Minecraft's world in a way I'd never considered. Watching him zap around sucker-punching everything in sight doesn't feel quite as harmonious, but I do appreciate seeing a small Italian plumber attempt to take down an Enderman with his bare hands.
Dylan says the mod is using the 'genuine Mario64 engine,' thanks to a couple of different projects with the game's source code. Don't expect to be able to try it out for yourself anytime soon though, unfortunately. Nintendo's relationship with fan projects is a rocky one, and Dylan says he 'sadly can't promise a download, either now or in the future,' but promises to 'post silly videos' of the mod in action. It's a shame that we likely won't be able to give it a go ourselves, but understandable considering how quickly Nintendo would pull the plug.
Minecraft's community have always been a clever and creative bunch, but the last few weeks especially has produced some fantastic mods and wizardry. There's been a texture pack that gives all blocks a Lego makeover, and a cool as hell mod that lets you tame and ride dragons. My favourite is the absolute wizard who managed to create a perfect circle in-game, no mods required (though there is a dizzying amount of maths.)
A fresh writer in the industry, Mollie has been taken under PC Gamer's RGB-laden wing, making sure she doesn't get up to too much mischief on the site. She's not quite sure what a Command & Conquer is, but she can rattle on for hours about all the obscure rhythm games and strange MMOs from the 2000s. She's been cooking up all manner of news, previews and features while she's been here, but especially enjoys when she gets to write about Final Fantasy, Persona, The Sims, and whatever other game she's currently hopelessly fixated on. There's a good chance she's boring another PC Gamer writer about her latest obsession as we speak.
