Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Classic Nintendo Games Are (Computationally) Hard

  • Conference paper
Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 8496))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

We prove NP-hardness results for five of Nintendo’s largest video game franchises: Mario, Donkey Kong, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Pokémon. Our results apply to generalized versions of Super Mario Bros. 1, 3, Lost Levels, and Super Mario World; Donkey Kong Country 1–3; all Legend of Zelda games; all Metroid games; and all Pokémon role-playing games. In addition, we prove PSPACE-completeness of the Donkey Kong Country games and several Legend of Zelda games.

Full paper available as arXiv:1203.1895, http://arXiv.org/abs/1203.1895

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Cormode, G.: The hardness of the Lemmings game, or Oh no, more NP-completeness proofs. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Fun with Algorithms, pp. 65–76 (May 2004)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Demaine, E.D., Demaine, M.L., O’Rourke, J.: PushPush and Push-1 are NP-hard in 2D. In: Proceedings of the 12th Annual Canadian Conference on Computational Geometry, pp. 211–219 (August 2000)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Demaine, E.D., Hoffmann, M., Holzer, M.: PushPush-k is PSPACE-Complete. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Fun with Algorithms, pp. 159–170 (May 2004)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Forišek, M.: Computational complexity of two-dimensional platform games. In: Boldi, P. (ed.) FUN 2010. LNCS, vol. 6099, pp. 214–227. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Viglietta, G.: Gaming is a hard job, but someone has to do it! In: Kranakis, E., Krizanc, D., Luccio, F. (eds.) FUN 2012. LNCS, vol. 7288, pp. 357–367. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  6. Viglietta, G.: Lemmings is PSPACE-complete. In: Ferro, A., Luccio, F., Widmayer, P. (eds.) FUN 2014. LNCS, vol. 8496, pp. 345–356. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  7. http://www.mariowiki.com/Super_Mario_Bros

  8. http://donkeykong.wikia.com/wiki/Donkey_Kong_Country

  9. http://www.zeldawiki.org/The_Legend_of_Zelda_(Game)

    Google Scholar 

  10. http://www.zeldawiki.org/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_A_Link_to_the_Past

  11. http://www.metroidwiki.org/wiki/Metroid_(game)

    Google Scholar 

  12. http://spriters-resource.com/

  13. http://www.videogamesprites.net/

  14. http://www.nesmaps.com/

  15. http://www.snesmaps.com/

  16. http://tasvideos.org/GameResources/NES/SuperMarioBros.html

  17. Masterjun. SNES Super Mario World (USA) “glitched” in 02:36.4 (2012), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syo5sI-iOgY (retrieved April 14, 2012)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département d’Informatique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

    Greg Aloupis

  2. MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, 32 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Erik D. Demaine & Alan Guo

  3. School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, Canada

    Giovanni Viglietta

Authors
  1. Greg Aloupis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Erik D. Demaine
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alan Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Giovanni Viglietta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica, Città Universitaria, Università degli Studi di Catania, Viale A. Doria, 6, 95125, Catania, Italy

    Alfredo Ferro

  2. Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127, Pisa, Italy

    Fabrizio Luccio

  3. Institute of Theoretical Computer Science, ETH Zürich, Universitätsstrasse 6, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    Peter Widmayer

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Aloupis, G., Demaine, E.D., Guo, A., Viglietta, G. (2014). Classic Nintendo Games Are (Computationally) Hard. In: Ferro, A., Luccio, F., Widmayer, P. (eds) Fun with Algorithms. FUN 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8496. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07890-8_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07890-8_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-07889-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-07890-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation