[Sharing] Information on classic the SMB engines, Stuff like movement values, states, etc.

Does anyone here have any in-depth knowledge about how things actually work in the classical mario games (such as SMB1, SMB2j, SMB3, All Stars 1, All Stars Lost Levels, All Stars 3 etc.). I would like some light shed on certain features of the engine, as I'm confused about how they work in the official games. For example, Ducking/Crouching* (holding down while Big* in games before SMW). How exactly does it work? Is it a state? Is there a single flag to determine if one is Ducking/Crouching*? I'm guessing that it is the latter, as you can use Variable Jump Height*(holding the jump button to jump higher) when jumping while Ducking/Crouching*. But since I have no knowledge about how it really works, since I'm not a programmer (or l33t hacker) for that matter, I can't be sure.

Although I can't get that kind of info myself, i can monitor ram addresses to find values like Speed, Acceleration, Gravity, Skid Deceleration*, etc. So if anyone wants those, I can share what I've found in this thread.


*Note: the terms with asterisks next to them may or may not be the official terms that are used in the game engine, so bear with me.

Though you didn't post a "welcome me" topic, you look like an awesome new member, very well thought out post, good grammer, the whole shishkabob. As for how those games work, what does wikipedia have to say. All I know is... alot different from how games work today. They would have to program where each and every pixel was on the screen, didn't take an object based approach like most of today's home-gamemaking programs (GM, MMF) do. Thats all I know, ask someone more smarter with them wordses yous use

This post has been edited by Your name here on May 8 2007, 10:46 AM

some of the stuff like walking acceleration and the path of jumps could be measured simply by busting out photoshop and going frame-by-frame in an emulator then printscreening and measuring by hand every frame

Ah, so the NES games basically used dirty 'hacks' to get things done. What about the SNES games/remake games (All Stars1/2j/3, SMW, etc.). Did they remake the whole engine and use a more object oriented approach?