Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

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.

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.

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).

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.

> 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.

I was telling a friend about a game I'm working on which has "hacking mechanics".

Him: 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!

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.

If the cartridge connection improves and mapper writes start to succeed, the graphics will return to normal as it continues to run the ending.

I love little facts like these. Thanks for sharing (and sounding convincing enough for me to trust it lol).

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).

I was telling a friend about a game I'm working on which has "hacking mechanics".

Him: 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!

I'm not clear on what that would even look like as a mechanic related to hacking?

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.

There's a belief in certain corners of the gaming community (and maybe other communities that deal with optical discs) that if the disc drive's laser has to "try hard" to read a disc it will eventually "burn out". Not sure if this is backed up by any actual data or facts - it sounds plausible to me that a laser might dynamically adjust its power level as needed, and that over time that might be bad for it; but it also sounds a bit like people might be anthropomorphizing the laser or something.

This article is hard to read, it seems to repeat itself constantly and expands on nothing. The main point is that smudging the disc can help with performing certain glitches while the console is trying to run error correction but you could potentially scratch your disc to an unusable state if you are too liberal with the smudging. I'm pretty sure I've seen this same topic on HN before so this article isn't exactly reporting on anything new.

Well - ketchup on your disc may drip on the the laser diode - don't you think it's hard to defend against? maybe they need lens wipers against ketchup on the disc issue.

there are a bunch of videos on youtube explaining it. The belief is the game streams data from the disc. Smudges cause read errors on some laser passes that don't fail to read entirely. The effective throughput goes down. This causes the games overall processing of each iteration to somehow be impacted, leading to the behavior the speedrunners use to save time.

The disc's spin pretty fast, I could see someone smudging the disc too heavily with a substance that might fling off

> this game has some of the most insane tech I’ve seen in any game and is definitely worth checking out

Given the context of this forum, I'd be interested to hear more about what's so interesting about the technology!

How close was it technically to Jak2? I consider that the defining technical mastery of that generation

I'm not clear on what that would even look like as a mechanic related to hacking?

Intentionally sloppy code, like leaving exploits in the game. Like if perform some action in a very specific way, you trigger an overflow that unlocks an item that's otherwise very difficult or impossible to obtain. So rather than these exploits breaking you out of the intended flow of the game, it's a real game mechanic. Like having that unobtainable item unlocks a story path that changes the ending. I guess it's more like an Easter egg but it relies on typical game glitching techniques rather than extensive exploration.

In Halo 2, there was a level where if you damaged a banshee in a specific way and made it follow you down a tunnel, you could hijack it at the exact moment when a new level loaded at the end of the tunnel (otherwise you couldn't use it). Then you could fly up to the top of the level and find a modified weapon that was incredibly powerful (scarab gun). There was another secret weapon (energy sword) you could obtain by performing typical boundary breaking moves and walking on invisible walls. Normally, you'd be doing this to skip combat but the game was also rewarding you for it.

How close was it technically to Jak2? I consider that the defining technical mastery of that generation

> this game has some of the most insane tech I’ve seen in any game and is definitely worth checking out

Given the context of this forum, I'd be interested to hear more about what's so interesting about the technology!

'tech' in speed running is a reference to "technique" rather than "technology". https://glossary.infil.net/?t=Tech

Well - ketchup on your disc may drip on the the laser diode - don't you think it's hard to defend against? maybe they need lens wipers against ketchup on the disc issue.

The disc's spin pretty fast, I could see someone smudging the disc too heavily with a substance that might fling off

On some systems/drives if it detects an error that is big enough it will reset the carriage. You can here it reading and rescrubbing over and over. That can cause the carriage motor to overwork and burn out. Not sure of this system does that or not. But that would be my guess.

There is one game called 'hack n slash' on steam. You manipulate the 'global vars' to win the game. There is even one point where the game has you open up its data files and change things. Interesting mechanic.

I was thinking more about how Hyrum's Law specifically would be an intentional mechanic in the hacking gameplay I guess rather than it being a way of labelling the glitchy behavior speed run categories run on I guess.

'tech' in speed running is a reference to "technique" rather than "technology". https://glossary.infil.net/?t=Tech

Gaming

It’s called the “gamer gunk theory.”

A person is seen wearing a SpongeBob costume with a pirate hat on.

El Perci / 500px/500px/Getty Images

March 11, 2021

Speedrunning communities will appreciate YouTuber SHiFT's wisdom on how to ace SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom in record time — but it might require your saliva, sweat, or some carefully placed ketchup, Kotaku reports. The SpongeBob speedrunner recently shared a YouTube video on how to tear through the 18-year-old video game. It involves carefully smudging the game disc’s readable surface. It’s a dirty tactic in the open for speedrunning, which literally means trying to finish a video game (like Super Mario Bros. 3) in as little time as possible.

Strategic smudging — According to the YouTuber, you need to put strategic smudges on the surface as shown in the diagram below. The red lines indicate the points at which you would have to smudge your disc.

SHiFT / YouTube

A correctly placed smudge on the SpongeBob disc will result in lag clipping, which means that repeated pausing of the game can help the player use glitches to beat the clock by advancing them through the game more speedily than would normally be possible.

Smudge if you want to go faster — Although almost 18 years have passed since the release of the SpongeBob video game, speedrunning communities' obsession with completing the title continues to thrive online. SHiFT's single video on the "bizarre" speedrun trick alone has more than 35,000 views in just five days.

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. That's because, he says, lagging like this depends on hardware issues, and this makes it too tricky and unreliable as a long-term winning strategy.

SHiFT also says that by smudging an Xbox disc you run the risk of destroying it noting that “something as fine as a scratch on the disc to make these things work” but if it’s done sloppily, you’re more likely to ruin the game.

If you still wanna try it… — But if you're a hardcore speedrunner and want to beat the SpongeBob title in record time, SHiFT adds that Microsoft obviously can't stop you from smudging or scuffing a disc. He also says that this tactic is unlike cartridge tilting, which changes the flow of data coming from the game cartridge to a console when you press the cartridge firmly between your fingers.

As SHiFT explains, smudging a disc will cause the laser beam in the disc reader to lose focus on the disc's data. So if you’re in the mood to smudge a bit of your hardware, SHiFT won’t stop ya, but he might point out that a core tenet of speedrunning is preserving old games, not destroying them.

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Smudging the game disc to make speedrunning 'SpongeBob' faster

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