Performing a time over warp on Expert 1.
The time over warp (also known as wrong warp and any% glitch) is a glitch present in Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. The glitch is caused by completing a floor at the same time as failing by time over. This will result in the player respawning on the floor they just completed, however it will behave as though it were the final floor of the selected difficulty.
Performing the Glitch[]
Reaching Expert Extra in the Jungle world.
The glitch is performed by completing a floor at the same time as failing by time over. This is very difficult to do, as a time over will cause the monkey to instantly freeze in place, so the player must time over in a very specific position where independent movement from the floor can push them through the goal tape.
After performing the glitch, the player will respawn on the same floor, however it will behave the same way as the final floor of a difficulty. For example, if a player were to perform this glitch on Expert 1 in Super Monkey Ball, they would be taken to Expert Extra upon completing the floor for the second time, given they did not use a continue.
Discovery[]
The glitch was discovered on September 1st, 2016, and posted to r/speedrun on Reddit by the user MrTsquared88 and his friend. The post stated they discovered the glitch by mistake while playing Jump Machine in Super Monkey Ball 2.
After the post was made, user CyclopsDragon began experimenting in Dolphin emulator to see if he could reproduce the glitch using save states and frame advance tools. He was successful in doing so on Brandished in Super Monkey Ball 2. He also discovered that the glitch was possible due to floors with moving parts continuing to move for one frame of gameplay after a time over was triggered. If the player was in a position that the movement of the floor could push them through the goal on this single frame, then it was possible to simultaneously time over and complete the floor.
It was later discovered by user RespectAPA that the party ball on the goal continued to move indefinitely following a time over, and could be used to perform the glitch on floors without moving parts.
Technical Explanation[]
When the glitch is activated, the level ID for the next floor begins to increment on every frame of gameplay after the goal tape is broken until the floor resets. If the glitch is performed on a green goal or red goal, the level ID will increment two floors at a time or three floors at a time respectively. After the level ID increases to the ID for the final floor, the value will be set to 0xffff (or -1), which marks the end of the difficulty. This means that when the player respawns on the floor, they are playing a version where the level ID for the next floor is the end of the difficulty, so they will be taken either to the ending cutscene or next set of floors upon completion.
In Super Monkey Ball Deluxe, the monkeys’ celebration animation after breaking the tape is not long enough for the level ID to increment past Asterisk if the glitch is performed on Ruin. In this case, they would be taken to the floor which the level ID counter reached upon second completion of the floor. The glitch can be performed multiple times on Ruin to have the counter increment past Asterisk and take the player to Expert Extra.
Trivia[]
- It was first thought the glitch was impossible to do in the PAL version of Super Monkey Ball 2, as floors with moving parts do not continue to move for an extra frame following a time over.
- It is possible to use the glitch to exceed the maximum play points score in Super Monkey Ball and Super Monkey Ball 2, however the play points value will still display as 9,999 and 17,080 in each game respectively.
- The Expert speedrun world record in Super Monkey Ball using this glitch is 42 seconds, and is currently tied between 9 players. There are no submissions with a time slower than 42 seconds.
- The glitch behaves very similarly to the fictional Purple Goal often joked about in competitive Super Monkey Ball communities.