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PangaeaPanga

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This article is about the ROM hacker PangaeaPanga. For the Singaporean political dissident with the same birth name, seeAlex Tan.
PangaeaPanga
Born
Alex Tan

(1996-03-13)March 13, 1996(age 28)[1]
EducationUniversity of Connecticut
Occupation(s)Speedrunner,livestreamer,YouTuber

Alex Tan(born March 13, 1996), better known under thescreen namesPangaeaPanga,PePangaand formerlypenangbenny,is an AmericanROM hacker,speedrunner andtool-assisted speedrunner.[2]He is best known as the creator of difficultSuper Mario WorldROM hacks andSuper Mario Makerlevels. His notable work includesSuper Mario WorldROM hackSuper Dram WorldandSuper Mario Makerlevels "P-Break" and the "Pit of Panga" series. He has also played throughSuper Mario Worldblindfolded.

Personal life[edit]

Tan is fromRocky Hill,Connecticut,and is a graduate ofRocky Hill High School.His fastestmile runis 4:23.13.[3][4]In 2018, he graduated from theUniversity of Connecticut School of Businesswith a degree inmanagement information systems,and was anNCAA Division Icross country runner for theUConn Huskiesduring the 2014–2015 season.[4][5]He also plays thepianoandtrumpet.[6]

Speedrunning career[edit]

PangaeaPanga was the world record holder for speedrunningSuper Mario Worldin 2015, having beaten the game in 1 minute and 38 seconds usingarbitrary code execution,[7]though this record has since been beaten.

PangaeaPanga started playingSuper Mario Worldwhileblindfoldedon June 16, 2015, and completed a full run of the game this way eight days later.[2]He has stated that he got the idea from fellow player ofSuper Mario WorldDavisKongCountry, who played portions of the game blindfolded. To beat the game in this way, PangaeaPanga memorized a route that was "easy and consistent", using musical cues from the game to know when to carry out certain actions.[1]The run took 23 minutes, despite playing as the characterMario,dying a few times, and getting lost.[8]After having his world record beaten on July 20, 2016, in a time of 17:46, he reclaimed the title a few days later on August 8, 2016, with a time of 15:59 using the Japanese release, before once again having his world record beaten on May 24, 2017, with a time of 13:31.[9][10]

In September 2015,YouTuberemoved the majority of PangaeaPanga's tool-assisted speedrun videos from his channel after aDigital Millennium Copyright Actclaim was made byNintendo.PangaeaPanga described his YouTube channel as "wrecked" onTwitterand stated that he finds it a "shame" that content creators "are restricted to…Super Mario Makerinstead of the way we have always done. "[11][12]

Super Mariolevels[edit]

ROM hacks[edit]

A segment of PangaeaPanga'sItem Abuse 3,depicting the game's difficult platforming challenges. The game has been cited as the most challengingSuper Mario WorldROM hack.[13]

ThroughROM hacking,PangaeaPanga has made severaldifficult levelsforSuper Mario World,the most famous of which is "Item Abuse 3". This level, which took three years to create and beat, has been described as "the hardestSuper Mario Worldlevel ever ". The level is impossible to beat without making use oftool-assistanceto allow individual frame button input. PangaeaPanga has declared that "Anyone who can complete this is pretty much mentally insane."[13][14]

In addition to theItem Abuseseries, PangeaPanga has also created three additional hacks inspired by theKaizo Mario Worldseries titledSuper Dram World,Super Dram World 2,andSuper Foss World,of which the former two have been speedrun live at aGames Done Quickevent.[15]

Super Mario Maker[edit]

In September 2015, 10 days after the American release ofSuper Mario Maker,PangaeaPanga uploaded "Pit of Panga: P-Break". The level, which took five hours to create, had to be beaten beforehand to be uploaded toSuper Mario Maker'sservers, as the game prevents players from uploading levels prior to clearing them in order to minimize the number of impossible levels in the game. PangaeaPanga beat the level in nine hours, all of which he streamed onTwitch.[16][17]"P-Break" was a sequel to "Bomb Voyage", another difficult level PangaeaPanga created. It took theSuper Mario Makercommunity a collective total of 11,000 tries before speedrunnerBananasaurus Rexbeat this level.[18][19][20]

By the end of October 2015, "P-Break" was beaten 41 times. After stating that "in an ideal world, no more than ten clears would satisfy me", PangaeaPanga went on to create the even more difficult "Pit of Panga: U-Break", which was later awarded the world record for the "Most difficult level created inSuper Mario Maker"byGuinness World Records.[21]PangaeaPanga influenced several other people to create unusually difficultSuper Mario Makerlevels.[22]In an interview, PangaeaPanga has stated that he never really tried to build easy levels, as he enjoys to "force players to take a single specific route", in contrast to the autonomy video games usually offer players. Furthermore, PangaeaPanga has noted that he aims to make levels "both fair and fun, without being too aggravating or difficult", which he achieves byplaytestinghis levels extensively.[18]

One of hisSuper Mario Maker 2levels,"Cyber Security 101: Brute Force",required players to enter two random eight-digit numbers, giving a player a 1 in 10quadrillionchance of winning on a random attempt.[23]Another level of his creation,"#SkipThis - Are We There Yet?",is the longest level in Super Mario Maker 2 when considering the real elapsed time from start to completion. This level takes 19 hours and 36 minutes to complete by combining several in-game mechanics together to pass as much real time as possible while incrementing the in-game counter as little as possible.[24]

On June 1, 2021, Canadian speedrunner Warspyking became the first player to consecutively beat all 47 levels created by PangaeaPanga in Super Mario Maker 1, setting the world record at 8 hours, 55 minutes, and 7 seconds.[25]

He is also known for doing Endless Expert runs.

References[edit]

  1. ^abLandau, Joel (2015-06-29)."New England YouTuber explains how he beat Nintendo's Super Mario World video game while blindfolded".Daily News.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-11-22.Retrieved2015-10-23.
  2. ^abReilly, Luke (2015-06-24)."Blindfolded Gamer Beats Super Mario World in 23 Minutes".IGN.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-09-05.Retrieved2015-10-23.
  3. ^"PangaeaPanga".Speedrunning.Archivedfrom the original on November 22, 2015.RetrievedNovember 22,2015.
  4. ^ab"Men's Cross Country".UConn Huskies.Archived fromthe originalon November 22, 2015.RetrievedNovember 22,2015.
  5. ^"Twitch".Twitch.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-10-26.Retrieved2015-10-28.
  6. ^Conyers, Matthew (February 6, 2014)."Rocky Hill Runner Tan All Tuned Up For Big Meet".Hartford Courant.Archivedfrom the original on November 23, 2015.RetrievedNovember 22,2015.
  7. ^"0 Exit in 1m 38s 700ms".Speedrun.com. 2015-03-22.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-12-26.Retrieved2015-10-23.
  8. ^Henne, B.G. (2015-06-26)."A Super Mario World speedrunner beat the whole game while blindfolded".The A.V. Club.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-10-06.Retrieved2015-10-23.
  9. ^"Super Mario World Blindfold Speed Run【17:46】 mục ẩn しマリオワールドRTA cựu thế giới ký lục".YouTube.2016-07-20.Archivedfrom the original on 2016-08-23.Retrieved2016-08-10.
  10. ^"Super Mario World Blindfolded in 15:59 (World Record)".YouTube.2016-08-08.Archivedfrom the original on 2016-08-09.Retrieved2016-08-10.
  11. ^Hernandez, Patricia (2015-09-09)."Creator of 'Hardest Super Mario World Level Ever' Says Copyright Crackdown Gutted His YouTube Channel".Kotaku.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-11-01.Retrieved2015-11-01.
  12. ^Parlock, Joe (2015-09-10)."Nintendo's cracking down on speedrunning and ROM hacking videos".Destructoid.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-10-21.Retrieved2015-11-01.
  13. ^abHernandez, Patricia (2015-02-23)."It Took Three Years To Beat The 'HardestSuper Mario WorldLevel Ever'".Kotaku.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-10-29.Retrieved2015-10-23.
  14. ^Wenz, John (2015-02-24)."Watch 8 Anxiety-Inducing Minutes of the Hardest Super Mario World Level Ever".Popular Mechanics.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-11-17.Retrieved2015-10-23.
  15. ^"Speedrunners Race Their Own Hellish Creations With Super Dram World".Kotaku.14 January 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-03-27.Retrieved2018-11-06.
  16. ^Tassi, Paul (2015-09-23)."Witness The Hardest 'Super Mario Maker' Level Ever Made".Forbes.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-05-23.Retrieved2017-09-07.
  17. ^Grant, Stacey (2015-09-23)."Only One Person In The Whole World Has Beaten This 'Super Mario Maker' Level — Its Creator".MTV News.Archived fromthe originalon 2015-09-28.Retrieved2015-10-23.
  18. ^abHernandez, Patricia (2015-09-22)."The Creator Of The 'HardestSuper Mario WorldLevel Ever' Is At It Again ".Kotaku.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-10-22.Retrieved2015-10-23.
  19. ^Grubb, Jeff (2015-09-21)."The 'a-hole' version of Super Mario World that's inspiring Mario Maker's hardest stages".VentureBeat.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-05-12.Retrieved2017-09-07.
  20. ^Plante, Chris (2015-09-21)."You could play the most difficult Super Mario Maker level, or you could just watch this video".The Verge.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-10-04.Retrieved2017-09-07.
  21. ^"Most difficult level created in Super Mario Maker".Guinness World Records.February 22, 2018.Archivedfrom the original on November 7, 2018.RetrievedNovember 6,2018.
  22. ^Hernandez, Patricia (2015-10-29)."Mario MakerPlayers Are In An Arms Race To Make The Hardest Level Ever ".Kotaku.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-11-13.Retrieved2015-11-12.
  23. ^Good, Owen S. (August 16, 2019)."Beating this Super Mario Maker 2 level is harder than winning the lottery (Update)".Polygon.Archivedfrom the original on August 16, 2019.RetrievedAugust 17,2019.
  24. ^https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozliNRSs2pE
  25. ^"Super Mario Level Packs".Speedrunning.Archivedfrom the original on June 2, 2021.RetrievedJune 3,2021.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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