Episode 56: Super Mario Bros Review

Topic:  Super Mario Bros Review + Speed Running + Twitch/Streaming

So this week, we had some homework that would have been difficult for some to accomplish if you didn't already have any of the included games.  I'll be linking videos for those who couldn't play the games, but this week, thanks to some help, Mom actually played them.  And while she had difficulties playing Super Mario Bros. 1 with out any help, even she admitted she'd get it eventually given enough time.

Home Work:

Super Mario Bros. 1
Game picked because in video games, there’s quite a bit of learned knowledge that comes from years of playing video games.  Some of this includes controls, visual language, enemy interaction, and certainly familiarity with the world.  Some example of this learned knowledge is:

• Jumps are better when you run
• We always want power-ups
• Understanding Health Bars
• Controls in an FPS
• Pits are bad

I also choose it because the Game Design in Mario is very smart, even though it would never feel like it.  It assumes that you never played a game like this, because back then you wouldn’t have, and lets you experiment naturally with little punishment. 



Mario Kart
I picked this because it’s likely the second most popular Mario franchise after Super Smash Bros.  This game lets you jump in and goof around easily with friends, and always felt like it very easy to pick up and get going.  What I feel is nice about the game is that you can develop your skills over time to do better in races, rather than needing to develop your skills to progress further in to the game, which is difficult for some people to do. 



Mario Party
I picked this because I found it interesting how Mario franchise can be adopted to fit just about any genre, including a board game.  I appreciate the board game because it allows for lots of mini-games that always seem to offer unique game play and interaction.



Speed Run
The term ‘Speed Run’ comes from the intent of playing a video game and completing it as fast as possible.  Playing a game with the intent of doing a Speed Run is referred to as ‘Speed Running’.

While there are lots of games that are fun to play, there are some that are better for Speed Running.  These are games that involve:

• Skill – mastery of the game and controlling your character
• Precision – the game must be consistent in its controls and how the game mechanics work
• Low RNG – RNG is basically randomness in enemy or world actions outside of your own.

While these are not deal breakers for many games that have Speed Runs, they tend to be the more common elements. 

Some important terms:

• Frames – Essentially the micro-seconds of a game, or rather, states in which the game screen changes by even a small pixel
• RNG – Game Randomness, many games rely on random elements to keep players on their toes.  These can include random dice rolls, cards that are chosen, hit chance, or enemy actions.  Lots of games include RNG in multiple ways. EX: Pokemon: what a pokemon will do in battle.
• Cycles – In some games, enemies or mechanics work in a repeat cycle, IE, enemy will always jump, run forward, then jump again.  Various cycles or rotations in games exist and players who Speed Run tend to see them often enough to know what best to do when they encounter it.
• States – The state of the game at any time.  IE how far has a character progress, what upgraded or items to they have, what part of the story are they on.  Simple example could be board game, where the pieces are and whose turn is it is a ‘State’
• Glitch – An unintended error in the game, where the game doesn’t work right in one particular pixel or way, allowing players to exploit the game 
• Sequence Break – This is when a player performs an action that allows them break the intended layout or order in which the game developers intended the game to be played in.  IE: obtaining items out of order, skipping portions of a map, or skipping required actions the game intended.  These are usually done via Glitches or exploiting mechanics of a game to do things that the developer did not intend.

Most common games for Speed Runs are usually older games, games from the 80s and 90s, but not exclusively.  Some popular titles include:

• Super Mario Bros 1. – NES
• Super Mario World – SNES
• Super Metroid – SNES
• Super Mario 64 – N64
• Doom – PC
• Quake – PC

Some newer titles are also run, including:

• MineCraft – PC
• Resident Evil 2(2019) – PS4
• UnderTale - Multiple
• Mario Kart 8 – Wii U/Switch
• Super Mario Odyssey - Switch
• Cup Head - Multiple
• Portal 2 - PC

Depending on the video game, additional rules and limitations can be placed on the game in order to achieve various different times.  This can include:

• Any% - Typically the simplest, completing the game as quick as possible, regardless of using glitches or sequence breaks to bypass elements of the game.
• 100% - Full completion of the game, Plus collecting all available items, collectables, or upgrades
•  Low% - Full completion of the game, but while collecting the bare minimum of items, collectables, or upgrades necessary to complete the game.
•  Glitchless – Similar to Any%, however, avoiding any glitches or elements of the game that were unintended by the developers.
• Challenge – These may be completing a game while invoking a challenge, IE, fewest jumps or weakest weapons

Various websites exist to track the Speed Running community, where they upload videos or scores to leader boards to track their progress and who is currently the fastest.  One of the more popular is Speedrun.com, which tracks hundreds of games.

It’s a community that is very much friendly with one another, as they try to find new routes or tactics to overcome the time crunch. 


Tool Assisted Speed Run (TAS)

A Tool Assisted Speed Run(TAS) is where a person is assisted by tools to complete a Speed Run.  So rather than completing it purely by skill, a person has manipulated the controls to allow them to play in a better or worse way. 

Typically, this means a program will play the game by making precise inputs as previously recorded by a programmer.  The programmer, using emulation tools, will go Frame by Frame of a game, mapping out the inputs of the game at a speed or responsiveness that cannot be replicated by a human.  This allows a game to be played in the most optimal way to complete the game intended, or cause the game to do things unintended by its original developers.  Some example include: playing a game perfectly from start to finish, playing a game that is technically cheating but still winning, or manipulating the game to create new code and create new elements of a game.

TAS are usually showcases for cool things in video games, IE, unintended cheats or exploits in games, to weird mechanics and programming that resulted from it.




Twitch / Streaming
In the digital age we currently live in: ‘Streaming’ is the act of broadcasting things people do not actively own, over the web, in real time.  Streaming example include: Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Twitch.  Typically, streaming is the act of watching or listening to something that is currently available only for a set period of time in it is available or in which the service is paid for. 

If you watch a video on Netflix, you’re streaming because you do not own the material and you must pay for the service.  If you’re watching via Youtube, this isn’t considered watching a stream, as the content is intended to be free of charge and always available.  

Twitch
Is a Video Streaming service that primarily focuses on user-created Video Game Streaming, but also includes more general topics as well, ranging from Cooking, arts/crafts, beauty, talk shows/podcast, politics, music, and even just chatting.  These streams only include original content as generated by the channel’s users, IE: you can’t watch movies on Twitch as the channel’s user did not generate the content.  There must always be some kind of user generated input in showing the content.

Originally starting as ‘Justin.tv’ in 2007, the website allowed people to broadcast user-created content for free to unlimited number of people.  The platform was intended for people who wanted to stream their lives as they interacted and lived through it, allowing people to live in someone else’s shoes, al ‘Truman Show’.  The website’s Video Game related content quickly became the dominate content and was thus spun off in to ‘Twitch’ in 2011.  Justin.tv was eventually shut down and a majority of its content moved to Twitch.  In 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch and has since merged it with other Video game related communities, including Curse.

Today, Twitch is the #1 streaming platform for Video Game, which allows anyone to stream their own user-created content.  For many games, it is also the home for eSport broadcasts, but also including Speed Runs.  Other game content includes people with unique narrations on their game-play, or multi-player games being played together my multiple people, which is usually the bulk of the channel’s content.

Many Streamers are small time celebrities due to their views; due to the number of views, some streamers make a living off of streaming, with player Ninja making upwards of $100,000 a month while on Twitch.

Twitch is the 26^th most popular website in the world, 13^th in United States.  It is worth roughly $3.8 billion.  Twitch’s competitor include youtube.com and Mixer, which is quickly joining the ranks of Twitch as it plucks off some of Twitch’s top streamers away.

eSports

eSports is a form of Sport for video games.  It usually is an organized competition between professional players, in either individual or teams, in order to win a tournament or competition.  Most of these competitions are over Multiplayer games, which require a one-on-one or team based game play. 

Some of the most common games include:

• MOBA – Multiplayer Online Battle Arena
• FPS – First Person Shooter
• Fighting
• Card Games
• Battle Royales
• RTS – Real Time Strategy

 Some of the most popular eSports, as sponsored by their developers include:

• League of Legends
• Dota
• Counter Strike
• Overwatch
• Super Smash Bros
• StarCraft
• Hearthstone
• Call of Duty

In recent few years, eSports have been recognized by the Olympics, along with Colleges and Schools, which offer professional and amateur eSport programs.  As of 2019, 130 colleges have some kind of eSports based program.