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Speedrunners Demonstrate First Arbitrary Code Execution in Super Mario Bros.

The newly shown exploit lets players reprogram the NES game through normal inputs to trigger the ending.

Overview

  • Super Mario Bros. speedrunners, led by Kosmic, published a detailed video showing an Arbitrary Code Execution that can load the game’s credits.
  • A crash clip from The Lost Levels on Nintendo Switch Online by X user @LuigiSidekick set off the community investigation that uncovered the method.
  • The trick uses a precise setup in the game’s glitched Minus World to push the program off its normal path and make it read graphics data as code.
  • That one-byte change lets power-ups call code in RAM, which runners can shape to issue instructions like jumping straight to the ending screen.
  • The method needs pixel-perfect inputs and takes longer than a standard clear, yet it opens research paths such as warping to any level without hacks.