Month: March 2024

The Super Mario Maker community faces its final boss

“Team 0%” is struggling to clear “Trimming the Herbs” before an April 8 server shutdown.

"Trimming the Herbs," mapped above, is all that stands between "Team 0%" and its ultimate goal of clearing every <em>Super Mario Maker</em> level.

Enlarge / "Trimming the Herbs," mapped above, is all that stands between "Team 0%" and its ultimate goal of clearing every Super Mario Maker level. (credit: Is SMM Beaten Yet?)

As of late 2017, there were almost 85,000 "uncleared" levels in the original Wii U Super Mario Maker (SMM)—levels that had never been beaten by anyone except for their original uploaders. As of this writing, a group of persistent players gathered under the banner of "Team 0%" has spent years narrowing the list of uncleared levels to a single entry—a devious, Super Mario World-styled Bob-omb bounce-and-throw gauntlet named "Trimming the Herbs" (the second-to-last uncleared level went down on Thursday, March 14, as noted on the excellent "Is SMM Beaten Yet?" tracker).

Given enough time, Team 0% would undoubtedly be able to bring down SMM's "final boss," as it were. But the collective effort to finally and completely "beat" SMM has an external deadline: April 8, the day Nintendo has announced that it plans to finally shut down the aging Wii U's gameplay servers.

The next three weeks will determine whether Team 0% can live up to its moniker or if this one final level will leave the team just short of its ultimate achievement. "I’d never think we would be this close to actually achieving this goal," Team 0% founder Jeffie told Ars Technica recently. "How often does a community of gamers do something like this?"

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TLS unter Windows: RSA-Schlüssel müssen bald mindestens 2.048 Bit lang sein

TLS-Zertifikate auf Basis von 1.024-Bit-RSA-Schlüsseln gelten schon seit Jahren als unsicher. Microsoft will 2.048 Bit unter Windows nun zur Pflicht machen – mit Ausnahmen. (Verschlüsselung, Microsoft)

TLS-Zertifikate auf Basis von 1.024-Bit-RSA-Schlüsseln gelten schon seit Jahren als unsicher. Microsoft will 2.048 Bit unter Windows nun zur Pflicht machen - mit Ausnahmen. (Verschlüsselung, Microsoft)

Fiio CP13 im Test: Kassetten-Retrofeeling mit starkem Sound und Einschnitten

Nach Platten sind jetzt Kassetten wieder im Kommen – entsprechend gibt es auch neue Player. Fiios CP13 ist nicht perfekt, weckt aber durchaus Nostalgiegefühle. Ein Test von Tobias Költzsch (Audio, Test)

Nach Platten sind jetzt Kassetten wieder im Kommen - entsprechend gibt es auch neue Player. Fiios CP13 ist nicht perfekt, weckt aber durchaus Nostalgiegefühle. Ein Test von Tobias Költzsch (Audio, Test)

Konkurrenz für Porsche und Tesla: Mercedes-AMG zeigt Bilder seines Elektro-Supersportlers

Mercedes-AMG hat einen Blick auf seinen Elektro-Supersportler gewährt, der mit dem Porsche Taycan Turbo GT und dem Tesla Model S Plaid konkurrieren soll. (Supersportwagen, Elektroauto)

Mercedes-AMG hat einen Blick auf seinen Elektro-Supersportler gewährt, der mit dem Porsche Taycan Turbo GT und dem Tesla Model S Plaid konkurrieren soll. (Supersportwagen, Elektroauto)