Comments on: Genocide of the Marios

Genocide of the Marios

JHarris — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:44:18 -0800

Remember Super Mario Frustration? Kaizo Mario World is another of those super-hard Mario level hacks, this one of Super Mario World. Someone played through its first level 134 times, with save states, recording all his deaths, then digitally composited them into one trip through the level. The result was Many-Worlds Mario. (For those interested, here's a video of a tool-assisted perfect run of much of the game. Here's the rest. Here's some more.)

By: JHarris

JHarris — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:50:28 -0800

Hey, here's a blog post by the guy who made it, describing its construction.

By: danb

danb — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:50:46 -0800

Thanks. I love this stuff. Here's a recent essay by Jason Scott on speed runs.

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:01:19 -0800

This reminds me of a novel I read back In the 90's--I've forgotten which one. But the idea was there was someone who was able to take advantage of quantum eigenstates or something like that to pull off some impossible heist or break-in or something. Every time he made a decision he created a branching universe/timeline/whatahoozit or something. Eventually one of the many, many branches (mostly resulted in dead or incarcerated selves) accomplished the goal. Might have been written by someone named Egan but I'm to lazy to look it up and I'm sure the book is long-donated. So yeah. It reminded me of something. Carry on.

By: parallax7d

parallax7d — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:02:52 -0800

Wow, it's like being able to see the various outcomes in the realities relatively close to us in the multiverse. Although I feel sad for the guy in that one universe where he made it all the way through on the first try, posted a video of it, and no one believed him. :(

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:08:03 -0800

http://fromearth.net/LetsPlay/Kaizo/ ^ This is a fun little series featuring commentary and various failures and hilarity and so forth.

By: Dave Faris

Dave Faris — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:08:10 -0800

Mario on acid.

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:08:33 -0800

Now, why the heck did it not link? I could have sworn... No matter. Here.

By: parallax7d

parallax7d — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:22:58 -0800

Thanks! Phew, I almost copied and pasted.

By: wanderingmind

wanderingmind — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:29:30 -0800

Oooh. Nondeterministic Mario World. Awesome.

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:35:26 -0800

Glad I could save you the seventeen hundredths of a calorie, parallax. I live only to serve.

By: parallax7d

parallax7d — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:56:07 -0800

Yeah, I actually had already copied, and was just about to select the address bar when I was like "score!". 2 clicks saved is 2 clicks earned.

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:58:29 -0800

Remember to file your click taxes early this year!

By: Parannoyed

Parannoyed — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:20:07 -0800

In this one, Jon goes in blind to a Special Stage level. http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8995799804738175148&hl=en-CA I believe I may have toxic mirth syndrome from too much laughing. My face hurts. Why is other peoples frustration so funny?

By: Danila

Danila — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:40:48 -0800

Oh Parannoyed, that was so funny and sad! Thanks for sharing.

By: nmiell

nmiell — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:14:24 -0800

As somebody who followed the SomethingAwful Let's Play Kaizo World thread as it was happening, I heartily recommend watching the videos on the page that sonic meat machine linked to above. If not all of them, at the very least the three-way blind race through Bowser's Castle with only a single save state per room.

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:30:02 -0800

That would make for an awesome superhero. Quantum Mario, spinning off a skillion expendable doppelgangers to achieve the impossible! ♪♫ Quantum Mario... ♫♪ ♫♪ (CAN WE DO IT) ♪♫ ♪♫ Quantum Mario... ♫♪ ♫♪ (YES WE CAN) ♪♫ (0.0000000000000001% of the time.) (You die horribly the rest of the time.) (♪♫)

By: zardoz

zardoz — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:39:15 -0800

These videos of yet another Mario clone are even more hysterical.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:41:31 -0800

Just found this: why not give it a try, too?

By: thecjm

thecjm — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:15:21 -0800

sourmonkey, it was a Greg Egan short story.

By: thecjm

thecjm — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:15:51 -0800

grrr. i mean sourwookie. It's time for bed.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:16:52 -0800

Paranoyed, that was basically the best thing I have ever watched online.

By: teraflop

teraflop — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:48:58 -0800

sourwookie: You're probably thinking of Quarantine by Greg Egan. There's also a short story by Paul Melko called "Ten Sigmas" which follows a similar theme.

By: parallax7d

parallax7d — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:01:33 -0800

thanks zardoz, very cool.

By: grouse

grouse — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:37:28 -0800

I was guilty of not reading the whole blurb before clicking the link. I said to myself, "well of course it's easy if you keep generating all these extra Marios." That was hilarious, Parannoyed.

By: wastelands

wastelands — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:43:42 -0800

Reminds me of a movie I just watched, King of Kong. It's a documentary about these guys who are insanely good at Donkey Kong. They'd play for hours only to have their "man" killed by the random path of a barrel. Same kind of persistence as this Mario stuff.

By: mikeo2

mikeo2 — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:53:58 -0800

Great post! I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Thanks!

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:22:59 -0800

Thanks thecjm and teraflop. That was the story!

By: craven_morhead

craven_morhead — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:41:04 -0800

More tough mario, w/ commentary

By: aftermarketradio

aftermarketradio — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:25:36 -0800

Shadow Nina Mario (SnM) wins again! I love the part with the Bullet Barrage at the end.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:59:32 -0800

I just wasted far too much time watching Kaizo Mario videos. And I used to be proud about having beaten The Lost Levels.

By: ignignokt

ignignokt — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:39:37 -0800

It ends up looking remarkably like that DS game, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. Except that it makes me flinch.

By: graventy

graventy — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:02:47 -0800

I really enjoy those Let's Play threads, especially the ridiculously hard games. It's fascinating watching what people are willing to throw themselves at.

By: flatluigi

flatluigi — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:49:36 -0800

If you're interested in people playing romhacks, extremely difficult ones in particular, then you're in luck: this is raocow. Difficulty highlights: these two from VIP3 and these three videos from SMI2.

By: SmileyChewtrain

SmileyChewtrain — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:56:59 -0800

Bizarrely, the newest game reviewed on jayisgames.com right now is a game called "A Sea Gull Company", which is basically a tough platformer in which this "past dead selves" replay element is 'essential' to (or more or less a part of) the gameplay. It's pretty neat!

By: pantufla_milagrosa

pantufla_milagrosa — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:56:51 -0800

sourwookie said:

This reminds me of a novel I read back In the 90's--I've forgotten which one. But the idea was there was someone who was able to take advantage of quantum eigenstates or something like that to pull off some impossible heist or break-in or something. Every time he made a decision he created a branching universe/timeline/whatahoozit or something. Eventually one of the many, many branches (mostly resulted in dead or incarcerated selves) accomplished the goal. Might have been written by someone named Egan but I'm to lazy to look it up and I'm sure the book is long-donated.

Interesting. Terry Tao (young genius and Fields medalist) wrote an article about this video games/quantum mechanics analogy. It's in his blog .

By: pantufla_milagrosa

pantufla_milagrosa — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:02:09 -0800

sourwookie: Also, the novel you're referring to is probably by Greg Egan. He has a homepage, and there's a short story in it with the same theme. I also remember reading the book or story you describe but can't recall the title. I personally enjoyed his book Permutation City very much. It also has a many-worlds theme, but it doesn't sound like the one you meant.