The idea for TASBot began around 2009 when a user of the tool-assisted speedrun website TASVideos created a device which could send a predetermined list of inputs to a Nintendo Entertainment System directly via its controller ports.
[3] TASBot contains a "replay board", which takes a predetermined list of inputs from a Linux machine and uses them to send signals directly to a console's controller ports.
Controller inputs need to be timed extremely accurately; some live runs failed as a result of slight electromagnetic interference from crossed wires.
By leveraging an arbitrary code execution glitch, the run allowed players to play Pong and Snake inside the game.
[8] At AGDQ 2017, after demonstrating similar runs from previous years, TASBot appeared to play Super Mario 64 and Portal, and make a Skype call on a SNES.
The run demonstrated an ACE that enabled data to be transferred via the Nintendo 64's controller ports[15] to access beta content and add new content both based on pre-launch articles and urban legends and on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, ending with messages displayed from the Twitch chat.