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by 7ewis 1101 days ago
Reminds me how cosmic rays were noted to have caused computer glitches. [0]

Impressive that they managed to discover this bug.

[0] - https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221011-how-space-weathe...

1 comments

In the speed running community there is a pretty famous clip [0], where a glitch caused a Super Mario speed runner to suddenly teleport to the platform above him, saving him some valuable time.

Of course people tried to find ways to reproduce the bug reliably, as saving even milliseconds can mean everything in a speed run. They went as far as replicating the state of the game from the original occurrence 1:1, but AFAIK no one has been able to reproduce the glitch without messing with the games memory.

For that reason it is speculated that a cosmic ray caused a bit-flip in the byte that stores the players y coordinate, shooting him up into the air and onto the next platform.

[0] - https://youtu.be/o3Cx2wmFyQQ?t=16

Just wait till speed running adds a category for keeping a block of uranium inside your computer case.