5-3 Lakitu RNG manipulation
6 years ago
United States

Hello everyone, I want to talk about a ground-breaking 5-3 strat that we knew was around for a while, but I finally got around to routing it.

What you're seeing is RNG manipulation of the Lakitu so that he drops all 5 melons in a row, without any spiked balls. Normally, the chance of dropping a melon is around 10-15%, so getting unlucky can be a run killer, especially in All Melons 1-Lap.

This is possible because we reset the console before each level in the US version, which also resets the RNG seed. The seed only increments every time a random event is triggered, meaning we can manipulate it for a short period of time.

There are a few Yoshi actions that trigger the RNG, the most important being his footsteps. Every time he takes a step, the RNG determines which footstep sfx to play. This means we can roll the RNG a specific number of times by taking a certain amount of steps. So, if Yoshi's footstep sequence is the exact same every reset, then the Lakitu will always drop the same pattern.

I start by taking a specific number of steps at the beginning of the level, jumping at the right side of the green bush. I then trigger the Lakitu and flutter back to the left side of the screen. Once there, I ground pound, which prevents the RNG from rolling as Yoshi hits the ground.

I continue holding down on the control stick and do Yoshi's crouch turnaround. By staying in crouch, Yoshi doesn't hum along with the music, which would again throw off the RNG.

With this specific seed, the Lakitu will drop two melons in a row. After that, we roll the RNG a specific number of times in between each Lakitu drop to make sure it's on a seed that will drop a melon.

Once you see the second melon come out of the cloud, take a small step forward and eat the melon in front of you. While Yoshi is in his swallow animation, he isn't using the RNG. That one step we took prepares the RNG for the Lakitu's third melon drop, so we let Yoshi's swallow animation finish completely while the Lakitu drops the third melon.

You now run toward melon #2. Your footsteps are again preparing the RNG so that Lakitu's fourth drop will also be a melon. To take the exact number of steps, run directly on top of melon #2 and tongue to stop your footsteps and eat the melon. While you're swallowing, you'll see Lakitu drop melon #4.

Yoshi's swallow animation takes too long this time, so we need to cancel it by tapping the B button. Then, run past melon #3 and as soon as you're barely past it, press B again. You'll eat melon #4, and Lakitu will drop the final melon while you're in your swallow lag. From there, you're done and can eat the rest of the melons.

This might all sound crazy, but trust me that you can get it consistently with practice. It's based entirely on visual cues, and it's not frame-perfect - you just need to put in the correct number of steps in between each melon drop. However, it's almost impossible to practice without save states, because you need to reset the console in between attempts. So take this one to the emulator.

I hope to publish a video tutorial in the near future, which will help make things a little more clear.

ROMaster2 and 3Pills like this
United States

The above method saves only ~2 seconds compared to getting good luck on 5-3. So while it greatly improves consistency, it'll be worth finding an RNG pattern that doesn't require Yoshi to flutter back to the left. That would also mean less time is wasted if manipulation fails.

Here's my progress on a faster route, but I'm having some trouble getting the fifth melon to reliably spawn. Everything in the gif is reliable. This would save ~8 seconds over a lucky Lakitu. https://gfycat.com/RealScalyAlbertosaurus

United States

Still working on some routing stuff, but I confirmed that if you successfully manip four melons 5 times in a row (with deaths in between, and a different RNG pattern each time), then you save about 30 seconds on the level compared to the normal all melons route. I'm thinking about tackling a doable route for this. It would make sub 20 possible for melon% 1-lap.

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