too good to be true — Super Mario Makers final boss was a fraud all along “Team 0%” declares a bittersweet victory as Trimming the Herbs’ creator comes clean.
Kyle Orland – Mar 26, 2024 11:00 am UTC When good robots fall into the wrong hands, bad things can happen…Aurich Lawson | Nintendo reader comments 59
Further ReadingThe Super Mario Maker community faces its final bossThe Super Mario Maker community and “Team 0%” have declared victory in their years-long effort to clear every user-submitted level in the original Wii U game before the servers shut off for good on April 8. That victory declaration comes despite the fact that no human player has yet to clear “Trimming the Herbs” (TTH), the ultra-hard level that gained notoriety this month as what was thought to be the final “uncleared” level in the game.
This strange confluence of events is the result of an admission by Ahoyo, the creator of Trimming the Herbs, who came clean Friday evening regarding his use of automated, tool-assisted speedrun (TAS) methods in creating the level. That means he was able to use superhuman capabilities like slow-motion, rewinding, and frame advance to pre-record the precise set of perfectly timed inputs needed to craft the “creator clear” that was necessary to upload the level in the first place. Ahoyo’s video of a “creator clear” for Trimming the Herbs, which he now admits was created using TAS methods.
“Im sorry for the drama [my level] caused within the community, and I regret the ordeal,” Ahoyo wrote on the Team 0% Discord and social media. “But at least it was interesting. However in the end the truth matters most. Congratulations to Team 0% for their well-earned achievement!”
Further ReadingTwitch removes PogChamp emote it says was the face of further violenceWhile Team 0% members expressed relief at finally reaching the end of their quest, there was also a sense of deflation among the team over the way their final achievement played out. “We accomplished the goal we’ve had for over six years, but it almost doesn’t feel exciting to me,” Team 0% administrator Black60Dragon told Ars Technica. “Instead it’s just clouded with drama. So it’s bittersweet.” Years of hidden fraud
The TAS-based fraud behind Trimming the Herbs’ creation dates back to August 2017, when creator Ahoyo started a level design contest called PogChamp (named after the now-removed but then-popular Twitch emote). The contest was designed “to see who could make the coolest Mario Maker tricks,” Ahoyo said in the contest’s intro video. Ahoyo added that the contest was “anything goes” and that creators would need to “try to push the limits” of the game, two statements that seem a bit ironic now that the truth about TTH’s TAS-based creation has come to light. Advertisement Trimming the Herbs creator Ahoyo announces the contest where the level would make its debut.
Later that month, Ahoyo was also one of the judges during the PogChamp contest finals, where level submissions were evaluated on a Twitch livesteam in the categories of flow, uniqueness, and difficulty. Trimming the Herbs was the only level showcased in the “difficulty” category, with judges calling the level “stupid hard” and noting that it required “an insane level of precision” to complete so many frame-perfect bomb throws and catches in a row.
Only after a few minutes of this collective gawking among the judges did Ahoyo admit under questioning, “I did make this level. I apologize. I entered my own contest.” And after some slight discussion of whether or not the community would accept a judge entering his own contest, Ahoyo gladly accepted disqualification on a separate technicality: The level takes 12 seconds to complete despite the rules restricting submissions to a maximum of 10 seconds.
Nowhere during the livestreamed level viewing does Ahoyo admit that Trimming the Herbs was created with automated tools, even though it would have been the perfect opportunity to reveal that particular bit of trolling. Page: 1 2 3 Next → reader comments 59 Kyle Orland Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper. Advertisement Promoted Comments Eyeless Blond "Guys, the real level we beat was the friends we made along the way."This is, well, actually kind of true. One thing not mentioned by the article is that many of these SMM streamers have enjoyed the largest viewership they’ve ever had over the last few weeks, and largely because of the hype over beating the "last" level in SMM, with just a few weeks on the clock. The previous level, "The Last Dance", while an incredibly appropriate name for the "last" level in SMM, was beaten too "soon", for lack of a better word, to really build up that hype; this whole episode has brought a level of fame to these dedicated enthusiasts that many have never seen, and that’s worth something in itself.
And frankly it’s kind of appropriate for the "last" level of SMM to be a troll. Trolls, and the troll community in general, are a huge part of what’s kept SMM popular and relevant for years, to the point that what’s called a "troll" in SMM, and SMM2 for that matter, is somewhat different than in other gaming communities, and even many great "kaizo" levels are well-known for having an "ending troll", usually an invisible block lovingly placed to catch people who just performed amazing feats of dexterity, only to get caught by something incredibly low-brow and "cheap". So frankly I’m not terribly surprised or even all that upset for SMM itself to end in a troll.
That said, this level is "impossible", but not actually impossible-impossible. There are still 3-4 dedicated streamers who are still grinding away at this "fake" level, and I believe it will be beaten by a "human" (as much as we can truly call some of these people "human" given their insane dedication and skill) before the end, at which point Team 0% can legitimately call themselves Team 101%. So, let’s go, humans versus robots! 🙂 March 26, 2024 at 2:31 pm humbly Kyle Orland said:
And despite their collective annoyance over an anticlimactic ending, Team 0% asked in its Discord that its followers "not… harass Ahoyo or anyone else over this and not cause any unnecessary drama" and to "keep the discourse healthy and rational" around the events.Props to Team 0% for taking the high road. March 26, 2024 at 4:18 pm Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars
