289: Digital Serendipity

[Ziadaine_v1legacy]

Spoiler

Shame they didn't mention the spy's glitch was the famous "Spycrab Walk" which they then made a taunt out of it.

 

[Luke5515]

Wow, I never knew the actual origins of missingno.
If I opened up my old Blue, I think I might still have a few of them.
And I love spycrabs.
Love them.

 

[Kurt Horsting]

No mention of special move canceling? One of the biggest thing to happen to fighting games ever! There wouldn't be combos without sf2. Period.

 

[The Youth Counselor]

I still remember the days when you could get kicked for rocket jumping and bunny hopping for "exploiting bugs."

Many things in VALVe titles started off as bugs and ended up beloved features.

 

[Teaguy]

Oh boy, it's just like I'm reading that one TVTropes article.

 

[William Bloodworth]

Oh boy, it's just like I'm reading that one TVTropes article.

In a good way or a bad way? I tried to avoid a laundry list but on the same note I guess it's a compliment if you get trapped in my article for the next three hours.

 

[Teaguy]

Actually, in a neutral way I guess.
This is a nice article if you're not okay with TVTropes claiming your life, sanity and soul.

 

[Dooly95]

I thought rocket jumping was a reference to the days of Quake where it wasn't a bug/exploit, but a skill.

 

[daltonlaffs]

I also learned why the missingno glitch worked, which is also interesting. I still don't know how it duplicated items, though. I guess I can look that up.

Still want to know?

In the save files for those old games, the flags that determined what Pokémon you've encountered or captured (151 entries, plus 000, apparently) are directly followed by the contents of your bag. However, Missingno. (and his other forms, 'M, Aerodactyl fossil, etc.) has an encounter bit higher than 250. This is far outside the range of encounter bits that the save file actually has, but it doesn't verify that -- it just writes it where it's told to. Where it's told to just happens to be part of the counter that says how many of your sixth item you have -- specifically, it's one of the frontmost bits, and due to how base-2 works, this gives you more than a hundred of that item. You get even more of them if you capture it, since that will set the next bit over, too.

 

[ntw3001]

I also learned why the missingno glitch worked, which is also interesting. I still don't know how it duplicated items, though. I guess I can look that up.

Still want to know?

In the save files for those old games, the flags that determined what Pokémon you've encountered or captured (151 entries, plus 000, apparently) are directly followed by the contents of your bag. However, Missingno. (and his other forms, 'M, Aerodactyl fossil, etc.) has an encounter bit higher than 250. This is far outside the range of encounter bits that the save file actually has, but it doesn't verify that -- it just writes it where it's told to. Where it's told to just happens to be part of the counter that says how many of your sixth item you have -- specifically, it's one of the frontmost bits, and due to how base-2 works, this gives you more than a hundred of that item. You get even more of them if you capture it, since that will set the next bit over, too.

Excellent. I hadn't looked it up after all. Thanks!

 

[Christemo]

i miss the minigun glitch in L4D (

 

[fenrizz]

Missing No. made me 99 Master Balls and 99 Rare Candy.

Comes in handy.
But it's very noticeable in your save file after you do it, so I've avoided it since.
Cheating took too much fun out of the game for me.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Being too young to play it at the time, I never realized that's what Ermacs was. I knew him of later years, from Mortal Kombat III, but hadn't realized he had started as a glitch. I knew the Reptile occurence with The Pit, but never saw the palette swap.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I hate spys! The sneaky, backstabing, jerks. They and snipers keep the heavys from killing everyone.

"I murdered your toys as well." [http://tf2wiki.net/w/images/6/64/Spy_specialcompleted05.wav]

I've always had a fondness for the Spy, (And Reptile, surprisingly) because of the beauty of team-disruption. While the other classes are purely action-counteraction, the Spy (played properly) can sow the seeds of doubt in the other team. And knowing how to do that effectively - while sending back information on what's coming - allows you to play a very strategic game inside a combat oriented game. The geek view, if you will.

Also I'm a total jerk at times.

I thought rocket jumping was a reference to the days of Quake where it wasn't a bug/exploit, but a skill.

I think, but am not 100%, that RJ'ing was first used in LAN Doom.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I don't know if anyone here knows of this glitch but my favourite thing to do in Goldeneye was in the Bunker Level (outside, night time) was to go to the door and keep pressing it so the alarm would sound and guys would come. If you looked at the different soldiers, there'd be one with four faces!

 

[tarislan]

I was disappointed that the article didn't mention skiing in Startsiege: Tribes.

"In addition to running and jumping, players are equipped with a jetpack which allows them to accelerate into the air until the armor's energy is used up. In addition to straight-line movement, the jetpack has other versatile uses. It can be used to make short hops whilst zig-zagging to make a player harder to target in open areas. An upward thrust can help the player evade oncoming enemies armed with short-range weapons.

Another method of movement is known as "skiing", and relies on an exploitation of the game's physics engine. If a player taps the jump button with the correct timing whilst descending a hill, their momentum will accumulate. High speeds can be achieved this way, and if this momentum takes the player to the crest of another hill, the jetpack can be used to rapidly propel them across the map. This technique was later developed into a game feature by Dynamix for Tribes 2."

It added to the game and was so easy to do that I had no idea it was an exploit at the time. I thought it was just a skill I needed to learn.

Ah, Tribes. So much fun was had playing that series.

God I miss Tribes. To this day, any time I'm walking down a slope in an FPS, I constantly jump in an unconscious attempt to ski. It never works

 

[Denizen]

Wow i learned alot about franchises i already like. Thanks for the info.

 

[Bajinga]

Brilliant!
Really interesting to find out how the Spy came about in Team Fortress: Classic(Even if it was a bad class in the game).

 

[Debatra]

Actually, you can catch Mew in the original R/B by completing a very specific set of circumstances. Unfortunately, if you battle a certain trainer too early, it's Lost Forever.