In Super Mario 64, after you jump into a level’s painting, you have to spend at least 12 frames on the star select screen before you can select a star and enter the level. (Note: the article incorrectly says 12 seconds rather than 12 frames.) The game tracks the number of frames you’ve waited by starting a counter at 0, going up by 1 on every frame. If you press A and the number isn’t at least 12, it doesn’t work. The number is stored as a signed integer, so if you wait about 2.25 years, it overflows and turns negative, and will take another 2.25 years to reach positive 12 again. Basically, choose a star within 2.25 years or you’ll be softlocked for another 2.25 years. If they’d used an unsigned integer, you’d have a 4.5-year window to select a star and then be softlocked for 12 frames.
shawn0fthedead
I will never get the 2.25 years it took me to read this article back 😭
jjjakey
has anyone warned TJ “””Henry””” Yoshi yet or did he already get stuck in gay paint jail
mouse919
Losing the red cap and not getting it back was catastrophic as a child
Polyporous
Credit to [Kaze Emanuar](https://youtu.be/DdXLpoNLywg) on YouTube! Really really interesting channel where they try to optimize the hell out of SM64.
Boeuf1987
Alright, but first we need to talk about parallel universes.
Deliriousious
Information that is completely useless to everyone, yet is still rather interesting nevertheless.
AutocraticHilarity
This is delightfully random trivia. It’s a treasured game that keeps on giving.
Nick_BOI
People like Kaze Emanuar and Pannenkoek make life worth living with stuff like this.
Seriously, the degree of passion people like this have to find out this much about their favorite games to such a degree is something that never ceases to put a smile on my face.
supdog13
theres no such thing as a half A press
Pathkinder
Gonna need to see video proof.
mill3rtime_
bah bah bah bah bah bah
Let’s a go!
altaf770
Imagine booting up your save after 800 days and Mario’s just standing there like: ‘You finally returned… to be punished
13 Comments
In Super Mario 64, after you jump into a level’s painting, you have to spend at least 12 frames on the star select screen before you can select a star and enter the level. (Note: the article incorrectly says 12 seconds rather than 12 frames.) The game tracks the number of frames you’ve waited by starting a counter at 0, going up by 1 on every frame. If you press A and the number isn’t at least 12, it doesn’t work. The number is stored as a signed integer, so if you wait about 2.25 years, it overflows and turns negative, and will take another 2.25 years to reach positive 12 again. Basically, choose a star within 2.25 years or you’ll be softlocked for another 2.25 years. If they’d used an unsigned integer, you’d have a 4.5-year window to select a star and then be softlocked for 12 frames.
I will never get the 2.25 years it took me to read this article back 😭
has anyone warned TJ “””Henry””” Yoshi yet or did he already get stuck in gay paint jail
Losing the red cap and not getting it back was catastrophic as a child
Credit to [Kaze Emanuar](https://youtu.be/DdXLpoNLywg) on YouTube! Really really interesting channel where they try to optimize the hell out of SM64.
Alright, but first we need to talk about parallel universes.
Information that is completely useless to everyone, yet is still rather interesting nevertheless.
This is delightfully random trivia. It’s a treasured game that keeps on giving.
People like Kaze Emanuar and Pannenkoek make life worth living with stuff like this.
Seriously, the degree of passion people like this have to find out this much about their favorite games to such a degree is something that never ceases to put a smile on my face.
theres no such thing as a half A press
Gonna need to see video proof.
bah bah bah bah bah bah
Let’s a go!
Imagine booting up your save after 800 days and Mario’s just standing there like: ‘You finally returned… to be punished