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I always wonder if the original devs ever find these videos and are like oh shit we should've done that.

MBCook 5y ago
It would certainly be interesting to see their reaction. Mario 64 is a bit of a worst case as the game was being developed at the same time as the hardware and had to get out on day one no matter what. Between the Japanese and US releases I believe they even fixed some bugs. Some of the things he did seem quite obvious, like cutting down the repeated calculations for every single coin on the screen. You have to think they would’ve thought of that if they have the time. It would be interesting to see a series like this on a number of games over the console’s lifetime. Especially if it highlighted the tips and tricks the developers started to learn to get more out of the hardware over time.
- munk-a 5y ago
  Speedrunners famously need to hunt down first press cartridges on the US release because the Shindou release fixed the bug that allows BLJs (backwards long jumps).
  - SLWW 5y ago
    This explains a lot for me; since I kept trying to achieve a BLJ but for whatever reason I couldn't. Now, years later, you comment explains a lot O_O
    - satsuma 5y ago
      it's worth noting that the virtual console (wii, wii u) releases are built off of the original nstc edition, meaning backwards long jumping is in play. but the most recent 3d all stars edition is based off of shindou, meaning blj's are not possible.
- orblivion 5y ago
  > You have to think they would’ve thought of that if they have the time. Stuck forever in the issue tracker as "priority: low"
- ehsankia 5y ago
  Can't even imagine being a dev back when you only had one shot at your game going gold and couldn't update it after the fact to patch bugs.
  - joshspankit 5y ago
    Tbh it made things much riskier for the game companies, but a lot better for the players. For example: It was almost impossible to profit on the “make a killer trailer, presell, then deliver junk and ‘patch it later’” model that’s unfortunately popular these days.
    - omegaham 5y ago
      These days, I see this as a subsidy for us older folks who wait a few years to buy a game. The clueless pre-order folks are funding my gaming experience!
      - cercatrova 5y ago
        The subreddit /r/patientgamers [0] is exactly about this philosophy. Games get simultaneously better and cheaper over time and all I need to do is wait? Sign me up. [0] https://old.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/ https://old.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/
        ComradePhil 5y ago
        PawBer 5y ago
        There's always /r/stopgaming
        unclekev 5y ago
        > playing video games is for children Geez, thats a pretty narrow minded opinion
giantrobot 5y ago
One thing mentioned in the video is his memory tricks require the RAM expansion module. Mario 64 being a launch title couldn't have used the RAM expansion. The RAM module came out two years after the console launched if I remember right.
vmception 5y ago
there are often dev reaction videos on youtube as well! in response to mods, as well as speedruns (that may/may not use mods). sometimes the commentary from them is interesting.
- ripley12 5y ago
  Do you have any favourite dev reaction videos?
  - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    The Cuphead devs commenting on speedrun tricks they didn't anticipate being possible.
  - 8K832d7tNmiQ 5y ago
    Psychonaut's dev reaction is my favorite one because they had one-to-one with a speedrunner talking about every game exploits used to get the fastest time possible.[1] [1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsDc1YVxHA0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsDc1YVxHA0
gentleman11 5y ago
Or do they just sigh in exhaustion that, even so many years later, people are still demanding more out of them, despite them being underpaid and overworked already? Then take some heart medication and go back to work?
mbrodersen 5y ago
I didn’t work on Mario 64 but I did work on other N64 games years ago. And yes I did have that reaction :)
- markus_zhang 5y ago
  Oh good sir can you please share your story?
a1371 5y ago
Not the same game, but there is this for half-life https://youtu.be/sK_PdwL5Y8g https://youtu.be/sK_PdwL5Y8g
Salgat 5y ago
The vast majority of what he does is a combination of benefitting from hindsight with 30 years of industry learned best practices, a vastly superior development environment (including compiler), and just having the time, with minimal pressure or demands, to dedicate to these problems. What he did was impressive, but something someone experienced with developing on these platforms could achieve reasonably well.
- mrandish 5y ago
  Just to be clear for anyone that doesn't watch it, he explicitly acknowledges most (if not all) that in his commentary. His overall tone is quite deferential to the original devs and the time, tool and technique constraints they were operating under.

It would certainly be interesting to see their reaction. Mario 64 is a bit of a worst case as the game was being developed at the same time as the hardware and had to get out on day one no matter what. Between the Japanese and US releases I believe they even fixed some bugs. Some of the things he did seem quite obvious, like cutting down the repeated calculations for every single coin on the screen. You have to think they would’ve thought of that if they have the time. It would be interesting to see a series like this on a number of games over the console’s lifetime. Especially if it highlighted the tips and tricks the developers started to learn to get more out of the hardware over time.

munk-a 5y ago
Speedrunners famously need to hunt down first press cartridges on the US release because the Shindou release fixed the bug that allows BLJs (backwards long jumps).
- SLWW 5y ago
  This explains a lot for me; since I kept trying to achieve a BLJ but for whatever reason I couldn't. Now, years later, you comment explains a lot O_O
  - satsuma 5y ago
    it's worth noting that the virtual console (wii, wii u) releases are built off of the original nstc edition, meaning backwards long jumping is in play. but the most recent 3d all stars edition is based off of shindou, meaning blj's are not possible.
orblivion 5y ago
> You have to think they would’ve thought of that if they have the time. Stuck forever in the issue tracker as "priority: low"
ehsankia 5y ago
Can't even imagine being a dev back when you only had one shot at your game going gold and couldn't update it after the fact to patch bugs.
- joshspankit 5y ago
  Tbh it made things much riskier for the game companies, but a lot better for the players. For example: It was almost impossible to profit on the “make a killer trailer, presell, then deliver junk and ‘patch it later’” model that’s unfortunately popular these days.
  - omegaham 5y ago
    These days, I see this as a subsidy for us older folks who wait a few years to buy a game. The clueless pre-order folks are funding my gaming experience!
    - cercatrova 5y ago
      The subreddit /r/patientgamers [0] is exactly about this philosophy. Games get simultaneously better and cheaper over time and all I need to do is wait? Sign me up. [0] https://old.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/ https://old.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/
      - ComradePhil 5y ago
        PawBer 5y ago
        There's always /r/stopgaming
        unclekev 5y ago
        > playing video games is for children Geez, thats a pretty narrow minded opinion

giantrobot 5y ago

One thing mentioned in the video is his memory tricks require the RAM expansion module. Mario 64 being a launch title couldn't have used the RAM expansion. The RAM module came out two years after the console launched if I remember right.

vmception 5y ago

there are often dev reaction videos on youtube as well! in response to mods, as well as speedruns (that may/may not use mods). sometimes the commentary from them is interesting.

ripley12 5y ago
Do you have any favourite dev reaction videos?
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  The Cuphead devs commenting on speedrun tricks they didn't anticipate being possible.
- 8K832d7tNmiQ 5y ago
  Psychonaut's dev reaction is my favorite one because they had one-to-one with a speedrunner talking about every game exploits used to get the fastest time possible.[1] [1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsDc1YVxHA0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsDc1YVxHA0

gentleman11 5y ago

Or do they just sigh in exhaustion that, even so many years later, people are still demanding more out of them, despite them being underpaid and overworked already? Then take some heart medication and go back to work?

mbrodersen 5y ago

I didn’t work on Mario 64 but I did work on other N64 games years ago. And yes I did have that reaction :)

markus_zhang 5y ago
Oh good sir can you please share your story?

a1371 5y ago

Not the same game, but there is this for half-life https://youtu.be/sK_PdwL5Y8g https://youtu.be/sK_PdwL5Y8g

Salgat 5y ago

The vast majority of what he does is a combination of benefitting from hindsight with 30 years of industry learned best practices, a vastly superior development environment (including compiler), and just having the time, with minimal pressure or demands, to dedicate to these problems. What he did was impressive, but something someone experienced with developing on these platforms could achieve reasonably well.

mrandish 5y ago
Just to be clear for anyone that doesn't watch it, he explicitly acknowledges most (if not all) that in his commentary. His overall tone is quite deferential to the original devs and the time, tool and technique constraints they were operating under.