A group of Japanese runners discovered that the key to getting faster times in the classic RPG Dragon Quest III It is literally controlling the temperature of their Famicom systems with hot sheets and ice packs.

Dragon Quest III, Like many role-playing games, is long. Playing through the game regularly can take dozens of hours, and even the fastest sprints usually take over an hour before that August 2020 major bug found. By following a series of steps that includes game saving and swapping Famicom’s power switch while pressing the reset button, the game will restart in a glitch which, if properly utilized, will increase party stats.

Since the bug was discovered, Dragon Quest III Speed ​​racers have used her to complete the long game faster than ever. Japanese player Hitshee clocked at 22:48 in November before lowering his time to 22:22 earlier this month. navel? Raise his Famicom’s temperature, usually in the 50 ° C (or 122 ° F) range but sometimes as high as 80 ° C (or 176 ° F), to improve his chances of making the bugs work properly.

According to a recent report Denva Meniko Gamer, The players found that starting Dragon Quest III The defect can be addressed by several external factors, including the Famicom they are using, the controller temperature, This may make the internal memory more volatile. He loves fast runners Hits And the Pirohiko He used heat generating devices like hot plates, for example another player called baku_zero used ice packs to cool his Famicom.

Over the weekend Hitshee, Pirohiko, baku_zero and a fourth player named Lime did Participated in prof Dragon Quest III a race During a Sprint event. They all used the on / off error, and as far as I can tell, Hitschi and Pirohiko at least used hot dishes, the latter setting a new world record of 22:07. It’s unclear if the Famicom temperature was critical to achieving this feat, But I’m not about to To argue with Extensive experiences Put some of these players into strategy.

„do not worry ,“ Hitshee wrote on Twitter in response to the concerned commentators. „I’m playing with the security check. I’ve never broken a NES controller, and it’s not as dangerous as you think. If the unit breaks down, I’ll fix it quickly. Even if you don’t think it’s worth it, it’s important for the research and presentation to us.“