I’ve been following this game’s speedrun for years; I never expected to see it on the front page of HN! This post could use a (2021), because this trick was discovered years ago. For anyone interested in speedrunning, this game has some of the most insane tech I’ve seen in any game and is definitely worth checking out.
> While SHiFT insists that the method of smudging your disc will give you enough time in a lag to beat the SpongeBob game, he adds a clear caveat that it's not worth the risk of permanently damaging your game or original Xbox console
How would reading a scratched/dirty disc permanently damage a console? That seems like a very bad issue for a device expected to read frequently swapped discs.
If you put tape on cartridge pin #14 of NES Platoon (or other bad connection), the game will boot to a glitched version of the ending, thus making it a zero-second speedrun.
Pin #14 is the CPU R/W pin, and if it's not properly connected, the game will be unable to write to the MMC1 mapper to perform bank switching. Platoon happens to be programmed in a way that address 0x8000 of every bank is an entry point that will run a particular level from the game. So you boot up the game, and it tries to switch to the Title Screen bank, then jumps to 0x8000. But the bank switch fails, and instead it runs code from the first bank. It just so happens that the first bank contains the program for the ending.
If the cartridge connection improves and mapper writes start to succeed, the graphics will return to normal as it continues to run the ending.
This comment is how I find out there was a Platoon game based on the movie. Legit hilarious, and for a movie tie in game it doesn't look half bad! Like a mixture of Contra + those dungeon explorer RPGs around the time too:
My copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops that I bought from a rental store was corrupted in that sniper scopes didn't have the black scope silhouette when zoomed in, so essentially the whole screen just zooms in.
My first "gaming" PC was a secondhand thing with a RIVA TNT2 M64. It had cooked memory from presumably prior abuse, in such a way that if I ran Counter-Strike with 3d accel on, some of the wall textures were transparent.
But it also relatively frequently crashed so I rarely tried using it for the better graphics, and at that young age never appreciated the cheating aspect of it.
The diagram showing where to smudge the disc looks so incredible, a kind of flower shape, no rotational origin. Seeing the video it makes more sense. All this is highly artisanal, the diagram is just a hint.
This give me an idea. Here's my smudge pattern that works better: (shows a diagram with blotches in the shape of Rick Astley singing).
Speed running is so bizarre to me, the rules seem so arbitrary. I struggle to see how any form of hardware level modification that results in a meaningful deviation in the behavior of the game would be allowed. At that point what's the difference between smudging your disk and using a GameShark, etc?
Similar thoughts on things like shiny hunting in the Pokemon community.
17 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 45.8 ms ] threadHim: So, have you ever thought about basing the hacking mechanics on Hyrum's Law?
Me: ...No, but I'm sure that if it ever develops a speedrunning community, they will do just that!
How would reading a scratched/dirty disc permanently damage a console? That seems like a very bad issue for a device expected to read frequently swapped discs.
Pin #14 is the CPU R/W pin, and if it's not properly connected, the game will be unable to write to the MMC1 mapper to perform bank switching. Platoon happens to be programmed in a way that address 0x8000 of every bank is an entry point that will run a particular level from the game. So you boot up the game, and it tries to switch to the Title Screen bank, then jumps to 0x8000. But the bank switch fails, and instead it runs code from the first bank. It just so happens that the first bank contains the program for the ending.
If the cartridge connection improves and mapper writes start to succeed, the graphics will return to normal as it continues to run the ending.
If I record the game to VHS, and fast forward to the end, does that count?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiXkbQ17frY
But it also relatively frequently crashed so I rarely tried using it for the better graphics, and at that young age never appreciated the cheating aspect of it.
This give me an idea. Here's my smudge pattern that works better: (shows a diagram with blotches in the shape of Rick Astley singing).
That is not a core tenant of speed running. Software preservation is completely separate from speed running.
Similar thoughts on things like shiny hunting in the Pokemon community.