ABZ Button Challenge: Difference between revisions

The '''ABZ Button Challenge''', also known as '''the ABZ challenge''', '''ABZBC''', or '''ABZ''' for short, is a [[challenge]] in which the total sum of A, B, and Z [[button press]]es is minimized. For example, pressing the A button once is better than pressing B once and Z once or the B button twice, while pressing the Z button once is better than pressing the A button twice.

The ABZ Button Challenge is unique in that it aims to minimize the sum of three values, rather than any of those values individually. For example, although it may be possible to obtain a [[Star|star]] [[A Button Challenge|without pressing A]], it is often the case that doing so requires many B presses; the converse holds as well. Thus, the way one approaches the ABZ Button Challenge is frequently very different from related challenges.

[[Textbox|Textboxes]] constitute a majority of the ABZ presses in current routes. Advancing through text requires pressing either the A or the B button, meaning that minimizing A, B, and Z presses also leads to minimizing the amount of text presented in-game. In the [[Super_Mario_64#PAL|European/PAL]] version, the game's language can be selected after each [[Save and Quit]]. Thus, in this version, one can change the game's language between English, German, and French without incurring any ABZ presses. Players use this mechanic in order to choose the language with the fewest textboxes at any given time.

The best version of the game in the current route is the [[Super_Mario_64#PAL_2|PAL Wii VC]] version because of [[Wii_VC_Round-to-Zero|BitFS Platform Raising]], which saves an A press in the any% run.