How Speedrunners Delete the Flag to Save Time

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#Kosmic #SMB1 #Mario

[Kosmicd]

Going to be working hard to put out more videos and stream more.

[Bismuth]

Great video! I particularly enjoyed the sprite icons next to their RAM values.

[ExtremeBirdTypography]

I love that even with no possible time saves, you went looking for more places to despawn the flagpole just to style on the game. Even without any practical use, these tricks can just be fun!

[Sixfortyfive]

I've only been aware of this phenomenon on a surface level because there are at least a few places in Lost Levels where crucial trampolines will despawn if too many enemies are present. World C-3 is a big one; if you don't kill the Lakitu right away there's a good chance that he'll toss a Spiny while multiple enemies are already present, and the trampolines will just start disappearing, leaving you with literally no way to cross all the huge gaps. Something similar will happen in World D-2 if you don't use fire to kill a few Piranha Plants. On some level I've always been curious if the designers were aware of this and arranged things like this intentionally; D-2 does actually provide the player with the means to loop through the first part of the stage a few times to collect a Fire Flower if needed, which makes it always possible to clear even if you started out small. So, this has always blurred the line between "glitch" and "intended play" to me.

[otakubullfrog]

I never realized just how many piranha plants I had been despawning all these years. They must have known about that happening and probably didn't care because a missing plant never breaks the game in any way.

[MikoLotte]

This happened to me in 2-1 once: I hit the block with the vine in it, but then I realized I had 00 coins, so instead of climbing I decided to keep going to try for the Flagpole 1UP. I accidentally kicked a Koopa shell and stopped it in front of the end stairs before the three Goombas made it down. I did NOT get the Flagpole 1UP because of the missing flag, even though I kept my coins at 00 and finished at 170 time!

[KOrgan]

The gif of Y really came out of left field for me, I nearly spat out my drink. Hilarious.

[trayson]

Even if flag-despawning only ends up being feasible for speedrunning a few levels in SMB2J, the thought process required here still adds such a fresh new feeling to speedrunning these games. I love all the new discoveries and oddities people keep finding here.

[Userminusone]

This gives me an idea for a new speedrun category: min flags, where you beat the game while encountering as little flags as possible. It would work a lot like any% but would also allow for the use of flag despawning in levels where it doesn't save any time...

[radiak]

I find learning the intricacies of the exploits in speedrunkig to be very entertaining. The kind of fun you can only get online with user content. Even though I'm a casual player, I now get what speed runners get out of playing a single game more than average on a lifetime. It becomes its own meta game by that poimt

[ElizabethClements-npgc]

This was a super great video! Part of the reason I love Speedrunning so much is finding about the ways runners take advantage of the code to cut time. Excited to see more content like this from you

[Cabarkin]

Kosmic is such a wholesome... ehm... content creator? There's a word for it.

Anyway, Kosmic is always a mood lifter with his content and personality. Like I can temporarily forget about my troubles thanks to Kosmic. I'm just watching videos, but this honestly is one of the few positive constants in my life and I'm very appreciative for it. Hopefully it'll last for a while, but a thank you is in place either way.

[TheCasualMark]

There’s something so fascinating about such a simple game with SO MUCH working under the hood at times. It’s always a pleasure watching your videos :)

[dogg-paws]

It's amazing how speedrunners can find new things about Super Mario Bros. over 35 years after its release

[milesdtexe]

Awesome ! was curious about this the other day after seeing it in lost levels speedruns, but couldnt find an explanation anywhere easily for how it happens

[mattguy]

Super Mario Bros speedrunning has evolved into something amazing

[seanbrockest]

Speedrunners should be hired to beta test new games. Something a lot of people don't realize is that "playtesters" are people who are really good at noticing patterns, figuring out mechanics, and seeing if they break a game for better or for worse. One of the best "found a bug" stories I know if was a guy who left a car running full speed at a wall while he went for lunch. He came back and found the car roaming around out of bounds. It led to a game-saving bug being discovered. Speedrunners do that kind of thing for fun/discovery, and are invaluable to game dev teams.

[Hyper_Slade]

Kosmic out here sending these glitch hunters to the Shadow Realm

[staudinga]

Interesting. I've watched a lot of your content, and also some other people speedrunning, playing or discussing Super Mario, but somehow I made it until today without ever seeing Mario jump off the flagpole.

[whee]

I'm loving these video essay-style videos!