RTABC
For the guide, please see RTABC Guide
Real Time A Button Challenge | |||
Abbreviation | RTABC | ||
Individual stars collectible | 87 | ||
Overall stars collectible | 53 | ||
Is beatable | Yes | ||
Presses required for Any% | 0 | ||
Presses required for 120-Star | 58 | ||
Star Details | |||
BoB | |||
WF | |||
JRB | |||
CCM | |||
BBH | |||
HMC | |||
LLL | |||
SSL | |||
DDD | |||
SL | |||
WDW | |||
TTM | |||
THI | |||
TTC | |||
RR | |||
Secret | |||
Castle | |||
Bowser |
The RTABC (Real Time A Button Challenge) is a variation on the popular A Button Challenge, where all gameplay must be done in real-time.
Completed Runs
The current RTABC 70 Star world record, achieved by Marbler, finishes with a total of 2 A Presses and with a time of approximately 28 hours, 18 minutes, and 22 seconds.[1] The current RTABC 120 Star world record, achieved by BillyWAR1, finishes with a total of 216 A presses and with a time of 8 hours, 36 minutes, and 6 seconds.[2] The current RTABC "Max Stars 0xA" world record, achieved by Zyon, finishes with a total of 37 stars and with a time of 4 hours, 41 minutes, and 36 seconds.[3]
The RTABC spreadsheet contains leaderboards for individual stars, stages and full game categories; optimal routes for 70 Star, 120 Star, and Max Stars 0xA; conjectured improvements, and many other useful references.
A Presses Left
A unique A press refers to a single circumstance under which the A button must be pressed during a run. This circumstance may occur multiple times, leading to multiple A presses; if a workaround is found for the unique A press, all of those individual A presses may be saved.
Currently, a theoretical 120 star run would take 64 A presses, a theoretical 70 star run would take 2 A presses on N64 (1 in BitFS and 1 in BitS), and 53 stars are possible without pressing A. Out of the 64 A presses left in the 120 star run, 45 of them (give or take) are unique. Below is a table listing all of them:
A Press # | Multiplicity | Stage | Purpose |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | 1 | BoB | To shoot from the cannon |
#2 | 1 | JRB | To collect the chest star |
#3 | 1 | JRB | To ground pound the blue coin switch |
#4 | 2 | BBH | To get to the third floor |
#5 | 1 | HMC | To jump from the pole for reds |
#6 | 1 | HMC | To get to the Toxic Maze star |
#7 | 2 | HMC | To jump dive from dorrie's back |
#8 | 1 | HMC | To ground pound the blue coin switch |
#9 | 1 | LLL | To collect the elevator star |
#10 | 2 | SSL | To get out of the pyramid elevator (Tied with TAS) |
#11 | 1 | DDD | To jump off one of the back pole for 2 red coins and to clone poles |
#12 | 1 | SL | To shoot from the cannon |
#13 | 1 | THI | To double jump to a higher platform and collect red coins (Tied with TAS) |
#14 | 1 | THI | To dive to the upper platform and grab the high red coin (Tied with TAS) |
#15 | 1 | TTC | To jump up the cogs for bob-omb glide |
#16 | 3 | TTC | To double jump off the lower hand |
#17 | 3 | TTC | To wall kick to a higher platform |
#18 | 3 | TTC | To get off the elevator by the pole |
#19 | 1 | TTC | To jump past the moving bars |
#20 | 1 | TTC | To wall kick to the moving bars star |
#21 | 1 | TTC | To get on to the first rotating block |
#22 | 1 | TTC | To double jump off the second rotating block |
#23 | 1 | TTC | To triple jump off the platform above the rotating blocks |
#24 | 1 | TTC | To wall kick up to a higher platform |
#25 | 1 | TTC | To get on the whomp |
#26 | 1 | RR | To get on the ship |
#27 | 1 | RR | To get past the second wide blue block |
#28 | 1 | RR | To collect the Swingin' in the Breeze star |
#29 | 1 | RR | To jump on a fly guy and fall slower |
#30 | 1 | RR | To hyperjump onto the chuckya platform |
#31 | 1 | PSS | To collect the box star (Tied with TAS) |
#32 | 1 | WMotR | To shoot from the first cannon (Tied with TAS) |
#33 | 1 | WMotR | To shoot from the second cannon (Tied with TAS) |
#34 | 1 | BitFS | To get past the pole (Tied with TAS) |
#35 | 1 | BitS | To jump up the first platform (reds only) |
#36 | 1 | BitS | To jump up the second platform |
#37 | 1 | BitS | To grab the red coin on the sloped platform |
#38 | 1 | BitS | To get past the pole (reds only) |
#39 | 1 | BitS | To get past the pole with the red coin (reds only) |
#40 | 1 | BitS | To jump from the last red coin's platform |
#41 | 6 | Castle | To enter THI |
#42 | 6 | Castle | To enter TTC (Tied with TAS) |
#43 | 1 | Castle | To go to RR (Tied with TAS) |
#44 | 1 | Castle | To enter SA |
#45 | 1 | Castle | To go to WMotR (Tied with TAS) |
Some A presses require A to be held, but not pressed. These A presses are called Half A Presses and can come from a previous A press instead of a new one, so saving one wouldn't actually lower the A press count.
The half a presses are listed below:
Half A Press # | Multiplicity | Stage | Purpose |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | 1 | DDD | To outswim the whirlpool |
#2 | 2 | DDD | To swim with a shell for cloning (Tied with TAS) |
Possible A Press Saves
Jolly Roger Bay
It may be possible to get speed from the pillar and reactivate it some other place to ground pound the blue coin switch 0x for 100 coins, and would save A press #3. Ivan178 has shown that it is possible to get speed from the pillar to get Blast to the Stone Pillar 0x.[4]
Dire Dire Docks
Theoretically, you could collect the chests star using Hyperspeed punching, or the shell, to get enough speed to outrun the whirlpool, then preform frame perfect B swimming using frame counting (a method where you pause buffer, then use the sound of the pauses to determine how many frames have passed) to open all the chests and collect the star.
Bowser in the Sky
Currently, the A press count for Bowser in the Sky and BitS reds is 1 and 6 respectively. All of the improvements made in the Bowser in the Sky 1x video can be replicated in 6x to get BitS reds down to 2.[5] The Chuckya Wrong Throw setup is also repeatable, meaning you can do it however many times you want. This leaves the final count for BitS to likely be 1 for both reds and no reds.