Stomp on the Thwomp

Stomp on the Thwomp, or SotT for short, is the fourth mission of Tick Tock Clock. The star requires navigation through the entirety of the mainly vertical clock to reach the thwomp at the top. Due to the length of the star and the distance it covers, it is usually combined with the 100 coin star in speedrunner's routes.

Stomp on the Thwomp
Star Info
Course	Tick Tock Clock
Height Above Ground	249
Course Records
TAS World Record	17.90
RTA World Record	21.58
ABC Minimum	2
ABZ Minimum	15

This star is particularly difficult in certain challenges, such as the A Button Challenge and ABZ Button Challenge. The massive vertical climb takes many seemingly unavoidable presses to scale, and often involves maximizing the value out of every press used.

TAS WR History

In terms of TAS records for SotT, most optimization has gone into SotT + 100 coin star (all four 120 TASes combine the two stars). Some TASers still took the time to claim the IL record, however, and it has resulted in a fairly decent point for a non-full game star. Sadly, both the current WR and previous WR have been lost due to copyright claims on nicovideos by Nintendo and the user deleting their account on YouTube.

Stomp on the Thwomp History

Date	Time	Improvement (Frames)	Improvement Author(s)	Save Description/Notes
Dec 15, 2007	25.03		SilentSlayers
Dec 16, 2007	23.37	50	SilentSlayers
Dec 30, 2007	23.23	4	SilentSlayers
Sep 14, 2008	21.27	59	Johannes
Jun 12, 2009	20.43	25	JumpDiveSlope
Jun 17, 2010	19.73	21	snark, MrRobertZ
May 1, 2011	19.40	10	snark, 緑, Nahoc
Sep 20, 2011	18.87	16	Nahoc
Jun 6, 2012	18.10	23		Detail optimization & better RNG (Run has been lost)
	17.90	6	Mickey/VIS	(Run has been lost)

TAS Strategy

This is mainly describing Nahoc's 18.87 TAS since the two improvements since have been lost.

The current route begins by heading the normal direction most players would, but triple jumps into the corner below and to the right of Roll into the Cage. This is followed by two normal wall kicks, and then a glitchy wall kick to keep the same direction to dive towards the Get a Hand star cubby. After landing in the cubby, a long jump into a wall kick is done immediately to reach the cog for another wall kick. Worth noting, this cog position is where it is due to the random setting cog of the clock, which therefore requires RNG. This forces precise work to have it in the needed range.

Wall kicking off the cog, there is a precise wall kick off the cage around the Roll into the Cage star to get on top. Upon landing, another long jump into a wall kick is executed, which leads into another glitchy wall kick. The glitchy wall kick provides a better angle to be able to jump off the pendulum (which is also where it is due to RNG). This jump off the pendulum is led into by a speed kick-double jump combo that allows the jump off the pendulum to be a triple jump. This triple leads into yet another wall kick that lands on the cage beneath Timed Jumps on Moving Bars.

Upon landing, a sideflip into a wall kick allows Mario to land above the Timed Jumps on Moving Bars star. A creative long jump into the exclamation block here allows two wall kicks that give enough height to land on the walkway that leads to the higher hand. After following the path to the area below the Stomp on the Thwomp star, an unorthodox triple jump into a well placed wall kick allows Mario to land on the treadmill. This is enough height to sideflip onto the thwomp, and single jump into the star.

The improvements to this route supposedly came in the form of small improvements (which happens in the case of most time saves) and better RNG. RNG is logical as this route has mario interacting with two treadmills, a pendulum, the thwomp, and a very specific wall kick of a cog.

ABC WR History

Stomp on the Thwomp has been known as a difficult star for the A button challenge for a long time, and for this reason it is often excluded from early lists. bobmario511 was the first known person to route and perform a TAS for the star, producing 4 over a period of one month. Having gotten the count to 15 presses, bobmario511 was fairly certain the route was maxed, and felt comfortable with the TAS.

Since this point, pannenkoek2012 and the rest of the ABC team have worked to improve this star, and have saved 13 A Presses. Stomp on the Thwomp in particular takes a lot of creative routing and problem solving, and combining these in a creative way to save A presses. In general, the routing usually focuses on efficient usage the two available bob-ombs, their two coins, the one-time pre-set HOLP, and the 100 coin star for a Star Dance Clip (SDC).

Stomp on the Thwomp ABC History

Date	Count	Saved	Improvement Author(s)	Setting	Save Description/Notes
Dec 23, 2007	28		bobmario511		Original. No Video.
Dec 24, 2007	22	6	bobmario511	Non-Still
Jan 18, 2008	18	4	bobmario511	Non-Still	Sideflips over yellow blocks (-1), jumps and wall kicks off hand to Roll into the Cage (-1), slide kicks from lower yellow block near Timed Jumps on Moving Bars to the other (-1), clips onto lower rotating triangle (-1)
Jan 24, 2008	16	2	bobmario511	Non-Still	Slidekicks to higher rotating triangle (-1), dive recovers to reach star (-1)
Jan 26, 2008	15	1	bobmario511	Non-Still	Uses ledge grabs/grinding to reach first treadmill
Sep 17, 2013	9	6	pannenkoek2012	Non-Still	Navigates up spinners (-3), double jump/wall kicks onto yellow block before the pole (-1), heave-ho's to the higher level (-1), double jump/wall kicks to the upper walkway from the yellow block (-1)
Jul 10, 2014	8	1	pannenkoek2012	Non-Still	Uses a bloated bob-omb to clip from the Roll into the Cage area to the walkway.
Mar 9, 2015	7	1	pannenkoek2012	Fast	Uses a Star Dance Clip and VSC to get past the yellow elevator block before the pole.
Dec 31, 2015	6	1	pannenkoek2012, Tyler Kehne	Still	Pedro spot in still cogs used to double jump straight to the thwomp.
Nov 6, 2016	6		pannenkoek2012	Random	Uses pendulum manipulation to get onto yellow box near Timed Jumps on Moving Bars. Also applies fire clone SDC to the cog area.
Oct 15, 2017	6		pannenkoek2012	Random	Uses a PBH thrown bomb-omb to get off the pole, saves time from cloning.
Oct 28, 2017	5	1	Iwer Sonsch, pannenkoek2012	Still	Better angle in cog pedro spot that allows straight jump onto the thwomp.
Jun 24, 2018	5		bad_boot, Sidney, Tyler Kehne, pannenkoek2012	Random	Usage of HSG in the Sidney Spot to jump straight from Roll into the Cage to the area above.
Oct 11, 2018	3	2	ds273, pannenkoek2012, [jongyon, sidney (cog misa)]	Random	Managed to access the pendulum box pedro spot by using a bob-omb push through the ceiling above. Also utilized the highest Cog Misalignment which allowed free HOLP usage.
Oct 18, 2018	2	1	pannenkoek2012	Random	Utilized VSC from the pedro box spot onto the clock hand to reach the thwomp.

Current ABC Route

Because of the nature of TTC and how it's nearly a completely different course depending on the clock setting, the route has continually changed different settings. The current route is on the random setting.

Prior to even entering TTC, a HOLP is set in BitS that will later be utilized near the pendulum box pedro spot.

Getting to the second level of the clock (by the first clock hand) cannot be done going through the main pathway without pressing A. This is avoided by using the spinners, instead. So with this in mind, the current route goes up these spinners every time it needs to go up to the second level.

At the second level, getting onto the area with the cogs is a more difficult task and requires using a SDC via a 100 coin star to get past. This is an issue here, though, as Mario only has access to 36 coins from the second level down. Luckily, this can be overcome using cloning and the line of coins along the higher pole. Not so luckily, this means having to navigate the spinners on the random setting while carrying a bob-omb 64 times. This is an incredibly time consuming and monotonous task, and takes roughly 20 minutes per coin. For this reason, work is usually done to avoid redoing the cloning, typically by just setting a different HOLP and reusing the old first section of the TAS. Since this cloning will update the HOLP, a bob-omb is insta-released first to the HOLP, for later usage.

Once all 64 coins have been cloned, another clone must be used to place a fire clone before the ledge leading to the cogs. A single SDC is not enough height to reach the ledge, but a fire burn into a SDC is. To avoid immediately burning on the fire clone, it is placed carefully using the hand to push Mario out of the way. With the fire clone set, the ! block containing three coins above the second is broken, and one of the coins is cloned. This allows the 100 coin star to be placed in a spot that allows the SDC without needing a bob-omb to still have its coin. At this point, the set-up is complete and Mario can now burn and clip up to the area near the cogs.

The pendulum box pedro spot.

Now with access to the cogs, Mario can simply dive recover until he reaches the top. At this point, a special maneuver termed "cog misa" is utilized. Mario conserve vertical speed onto the highest cog using one of the cog's misalignments, allowing him to reach the walkway to Roll into the Cage (which normally is too high to reach without an A press). This maneuver allows Mario to get past the cogs without any presses, something that required a bob-omb and the HOLP prior to this maneuver.

Near Roll into the Cage, Mario now uses hyperspeed grinding to build up speed in the "Sidney Spot". This essentially works by repeatably falling and landing, which can gain speed over time via air movement. Once Mario has enough speed, he can jump out of the spot, converting his horizontal speed to vertical speed, allowing him to land in the area near the The Pit and the Pendulums star. This is the first A press.

From here, Mario makes his way to the Pit and the Pendulums area where the back pendulum is manipulated via RNG. This eventually increases the magnitude of the arm movement enough to allow Mario be able to ride up the arm to get close to a pedro spot that is located above the pendulum box in the corners. Having ridden the arm into a relatively close position, Mario is pushed into the ceiling by the pendulum arm. A bob-omb is dropped onto Mario from above, knocking him near the pedro spot. From this spot, Mario manipulates the RNG to be in good condition for a later part of the TAS. Finally, the pendulum arm pushes him into position in the pedro spot.

Mario now is able to build up large amounts of speed in this position (roughly 650), despite having to occasionally sacrifice speed to avoid the pendulum arm. Once he has enough speed, Mario jumps out of the spot by landing on the pendulum arm. Jumping converts the horizontal speed to vertical speed, giving Mario massive amounts of upwards mobility. (This is the second press). This speed is immediately conserved by landing on the floor directly about the spot. From here, Mario punches to the edge of the cage. At this point, all Mario needs to do is wait for the upper hand to get into position to land on. Once it is Mario falls off, using the upwards speed to navigate onto the upper clock hand and landing with C^ to conserve his vertical speed (VSC).

Once on the hand, the hand ticks counter clockwise to the right side of the treadmill. This is a fairly uncommon occurrence- the hand ticks clockwise three times as often as counter clockwise, and has ticks three times as large. This rare situation is why the RNG manipulation on the pendulum box was important. Once the hand is near the treadmill, Mario punches off the hand and lands on the thwomp. From here, grabbing the star only requires a dive recover.

Obsoleted Still Setting Route

The pedro spot and angle used for the x5 still method.

Prior to even entering TTC, a HOLP is set in TTM. After entering the course, the first thing done is to instant release a bob-omb at the HOLP which will later be utilized in the cog area of the clock.

Gaining height on the still setting is harder than on the moving settings, primarily due to being unable to go up the spinner side and instead having to go up the rotating block main pathway. Getting past the first rotating cube requires a jump dive, this is the first A press. Clearing the next set of rotating blocks requires a well placed double jump into triple jump dive combo. The dive lands on the moving bar so Mario can dive recover onto the second level. These are the second and third A presses.

From here, Mario reactivates the bob-omb placed at the HOLP, which snaps to Mario since it is out of bounds. Now with the bob-omb present, jump dive transports both it and Mario to the pathway before the cogs. This is the fourth A press.

Finally at the cogs, Mario can use the bob-omb to push himself into the cog pedro spot with a precise location and angle. After building up enough speed, Mario jump dives straight to the top of the thwomp, from where he can dive recover into the star. The jump to the thwomp is the fifth A press.

Potential ABC Improvements

Random Cog Pedro Spot

There is a known pedro spot that is used in the still-setting world record in between the first two cogs while they are still. This pedro spot also exists on the moving clock settings, and has potential usage on the random setting. A route with the pedro spot on random would combine most of the positives of both current world records- it would be able to go up the spinners and SDC onto the cog area while also jumping up to the higher area with the thwomp. Depending on how ideal of an angle is used, it could either allow Stomp on the Thwomp to drop to either one or two A presses.

Initially, pannenkoek did calculations for the viability of this strategy, and came up with astronomically small likelihoods of success. This was due to needing roughly 1200 consecutive frames with calls, all with a one in seven chance. The strat was essentially declared dead at this point, and ruled as infeasible. About a year later, Iwer Sonsch brought up the point that through small angle oscillations, Mario can stay in the pedro spot with less RNG calls. These small angles gradually grow over time (since Mario's speed is growing as well) and allow largely and larger angle oscillations until the spot becomes stable. This managed to drop the total from around 1200 RNG calls to about 80 or so. The analysis also showed that there was more than just one route (completely still) to work with, which opened other opportunities to aim for to increase the likelihood of there being a configuration that works. Additionally since the release of pannenkoek's video, pendulum manipulation was discovered. This technique opens an incredibly large number of possible TTC states, magnitudes greater than what earlier calculations used giving the strategy even greater potential odds.