SethBling

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SethBling (born April 3, 1987) is an American software engineer, speedrunner, and online video game commentator known for his Minecraft projects and YouTube videos focused on Super Mario World. He studied computer science at the California Institute of Technology and worked at Microsoft for several years before becoming independent in 2012 to focus on Minecraft and other game work.

In Minecraft, SethBling builds and creates games, gadgets, and experiments that run without mods. He has recreated classic games inside the game, such as Duck Hunt, Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots, Donkey Kong, and SkyGrid, and made complex minigames like Missile Wars and a Mario-inspired World. He also teamed with others on larger projects, such as making a Team Fortress 2-like experience in Minecraft and designing a Splatoon-like Turf Wars minigame. He even helped bring real-world tech into Minecraft, like a Web browser and video chat with Verizon in 2015, and a Minecraft portal that shows another dimension in 2014. In addition, he released a Minecraft Pocket Edition add-on called Castle Siege Battle that sparked some glitches, and he did a Minecraft version of Goat Simulator and Bejeweled.

SethBling is also known for his technical innovations. In 2016 he built an interpreter for the BASIC programming language inside Minecraft and, late that year, an Atari 2600 emulator inside Minecraft with a full 64 KB RAM and a 6502-style CPU. The emulator can run old Atari games, though it’s very slow compared to the real hardware. He also created artificial intelligence programs that learn to play games like Super Mario World (MarI/O, released in 2016), Super Mario Bros., and Super Mario Kart. MarI/O famously learned to clear entire levels of Super Mario World after a long training run.

On the speedrunning side, SethBling held the world record for Super Mario World’s Credits Warp Any% (41.35 seconds) until 2020, a technique that uses glitches to skip to the game’s credits. He first demonstrated a console-based version of this glitch in 2015, using multiple controllers and precise memory manipulation. He’s also known for early demonstrations of hand-written cheats and hacks on original hardware, such as placing a hex editor on a cartridge to edit RAM and affect game state.

Beyond gaming, SethBling has a personal background that informs his work. He was raised Jewish but later became an atheist, a path he mentions with a pragmatic interest in understanding games deeply. He describes himself as a lifelong learner who enjoys figuring out how games work, not just playing them.

Today, SethBling runs as a self-employed creator, with a popular channel and presence on streaming and video platforms. He continues to share Minecraft builds, experiments, and game ideas, drawing a large audience of fans who enjoy clever, accessible explanations and creativity inside the sandbox world.