Stomp on the Thwomp: Difference between revisions

:''<small>For a tutorial on RTABC for this star, see the [[RTABC Guide/{{PAGENAME}}|RTABC Guide]]</small>''

{{star_infobox

|rta=21.58

|rta_link=[https://youtu.be/5FwUIOhQvO0 "Super Mario 64 - Stomp On The Thwomp 21"58" by Xiah]

|abz= 15

|abz_link=[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lAf4RDjKIbpApFQUrjZe7K2tVtAu0FDY_SgaJkYAvhQ/ "SM64 ABZ Button Challenge PAL" Document]

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.

{{TAS_History}}

==TAS Strategy==

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

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 [[treadmill|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).

{{ABC_History}}

==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.''

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 [[spinner]]s, instead. So with this in mind, the current route goes up these spinners every time it needs to go up to the second level.

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 ==

[[File:Still Cog Pedro Spot.png|300px|thumb|right|The pedro spot and angle used for the x5 still method.]]

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.

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 ===

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.<ref>[https://youtu.be/X4k5NGUjTWs "TTC Pedro Spot on Cogs Update" by pannenkoek2012]</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/SM64ABC/comments/6pnkwt/ttc_pedro_spot_on_random_setting_via_oscillations/ "TTC Pedro Spot on Random Setting via Oscillations (Blueprint)" by Iwer Sonsch]</ref> 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.

==References==

<references />

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