[TheAmazingRace]

MattKC has some interesting content from time to time, like this project he worked on. But I find a decent number of his videos to be weirdly click-bait hell, like the video about installing Windows 98 on a modernish ThinkPad (using CSM - which isn't all that interesting or exotic and seemed to exist to game the Youtube algorithm for clicks) or about a video he put out a few years ago about Super Mario 64 not being optimized, with the implication that Nintendo willfully neglected to disable debug symbols in the final build of the game.

However, the reality is far more nuanced than he was letting on. The likes of Kaze Emanuar set the record straight, and actually did a proper deep dive into optimization for the game (and not just by passing a -O2 compiler flag I might add). I'd say take MattKC's channel and content with a grain of salt.

[ranger_danger]

Youtube basically forces you to use clickbait titles to get views at all.

[Apofis]

If you found the video on Super Mario 64 being published with debug symbols interesting, check this out: After finding out about the debug symbols, a developer took a deeper dive through the codebase and optimized the ever living hell out of to get 60fps+.

FIXING the ENTIRE SM64 Source Code (INSANE N64 performance)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_rzYnXEQlE

[TheAmazingRace]

I mentioned Kaze in my original post… but yes this video is fantastic and I think Kaze is an absolute legend.

[Apofis]

Ope! Missed that. He definitely is.

[tredre3]

I think you're being uncharitable. What Kaze does is very different type of optimization and I don't see how it negates (or even relates to) MattKC's analysis of the -O situation? Nintendo did indeed deliberately NOT pass the higher -O flag, MattKC was right. Kaze himself did analysis and came to the conclusion that it was likely because Nintendo wasn't confident it wouldn't introduce bugs, and the game ran fast enough as is. Of course with the power of 30 years better hindsight and tooling, we now know that compiling with the highest -O flag would have been fine.

[TheAmazingRace]

I think to me it was the premise of MattKC's video that made me question whether or not this was some massive smoking gun. Like you said, the game ran fast enough, and Nintendo wouldn't willfully ship crap out, especially considering this was a flagship title. I still maintain that the compiler flag thing felt more like a MacGuffin for the sake of getting another clickbait video out. Even Nintendo themselves did end up using the compiler flag on the PAL region variant of SM64, which did help performance a bit, but wasn't some major gamechanger (no pun intended) in the end.

I even say this as someone who generally isn't a fan of Nintendo from the perspective of their corporate policies. I don't think Nintendo did anything wrong here, especially given how new this system and the brave new world that was 3D gaming in the home was at the time for them.