Random: This 'Bullet Time' Super Mario Maker Level Uses an Awesome Slow Motion Glitch

Perfect for fans of The Matrix or Max Payne

by Thomas Whitehead Tue 26th Jan 2016

The Matrix is old-hat now - they use big flip-phones! - and had sequels that tarnished its name (in this writer's opinion) but it set a standard for neat slow-motion action. It's a common feature now and was memorably recreated in Max Payne, but at the time it was totally rad, cool and other assorted phrases that aren't as trendy as they used to be.

That random introduction brings us to the rather cool 'Bullet Time' stage in Super Mario Maker. The work of Reddit user InsaneMonte (known as Conchita in SMM) it takes advantage of an issue in the game where an excess of items causes slow down. The video below isn't applying any effects (we've tried the level ourselves to double check); the game is actually running at that speed.

Its level ID is D185-0000-01A9-54CA and you need to use the POW block to progress, which is rather tricky. You can also bookmark it on this page.

This definitely looks like a fun idea to play around with, which you can be sure we will be doing in the coming days.

[source reddit.com]

Tom has been involved in the games industry for over a decade, mostly writing about it or struggling to sell Indie games. Loves reading, writing, hunting Capcom’s fiercest monsters and watching baseball.

1
veeflames
Tue 26th Jan 2016

Brilliant. Just brilliant. I need to use that idea in one of my own stages (with proper citations, of course). That is really awesome... wish I could play it right now!

2
Maxz
Tue 26th Jan 2016

If the video hasn't been slowed down, that means the 500 seconds timer also gets slowed down (it's clearly moving very slowly in the video), which must mean that WR times don't necessarily line up with an actual stopwatch. Which I guess is for the best really, otherwise players might have to consider the 'least laggy' path through the level, rather than the one which took the fewest frames.

I've noticed this lag before, although thankfully it's not too common. It's most pronounced - and relatively frequent - on music levels, where the tempo takes a hit and the whole song can sound sloppy for a few beats. I think it also causes things to load slightly irregularly, as you occasionally get notes that are meant to play simultaneously coming in at slightly different points.

Anyway, it's neat for someone to base a level on it.

3
bro2dragons
Tue 26th Jan 2016

This is really great. I also find the time at the ending to be interesting. That's definitely not 39 seconds, so it seems the clock functions as normal for records. Neat. Gonna have to play this soon.

4
shani
Tue 26th Jan 2016

Wow, that's really neat! I didn't know such a slowdown existed, I never experienced it and I'm surprised how it can be even possible on such a low-level-graphics game like MM.

@Vee_Flames: You can play it right now! Just use the bookmark function.

5
SetupDisk
Tue 26th Jan 2016

Well now I want to play Conkers Bad Fur Day.

6
veeflames
Tue 26th Jan 2016

@shani I know that, it's just that I'm not at home right now. I'd play it immediately if I was at home!

7
shani
Tue 26th Jan 2016

@Vee_Flames: Ah, now I get it, that makes sense.
On a sidenote: How cool would it be if we could play Mario Maker levels on smartphones!

@SetupDisk: Why, was there also a bullet-time scene in CBFD (haven't played the whole game)?

8
shani
Tue 26th Jan 2016

@Maxz Since time is relative anyway, does it even make a difference? I mean, the game still detects who was faster and who was slower. So at least the order of the leaderboard should be correct.

9
Chandlero
Tue 26th Jan 2016

@Maxz: The time is just calculated by the needed frames, i.e. the unit is 1/60 second (without lag ; )

10
Slaz
Tue 26th Jan 2016

@shani Yes, Conker's Bad Fur Day parodied The Matrix including it's 'bullet time' at some point where you had to break into the bank wearing those typical black coats.

11
Maxz
Tue 26th Jan 2016

@shani @chandlero Yeah, I was saying that if the game measured using REAL time, rather than locking time to the number of frames, then there would be an issue, because the lag would count against you.

At AGDQ, where they were using a timing system independent of the game for SM64, it was mentioned a few times that the players were deliberately looking in strange directions so as not to load too many objects on screen and slow the game down.

As you've said, that's not an issue here, and the WR system measures everyone in the same way, and is linked to the number of frames, so people don't need to worry about lag effecting their times. That wouldn't be the case if the timer was independent of the lag, like in the Mario 64 run at AGDQ.