Small update: while typing up an explanation I found a way to shrink it to 1011 chars, so I threw in a _set_fps(60) call, bringing it up to 1023. Unfortunately that makes the web player slower even though PICO-8 thinks its running at 60fps. On my desktop it's a true 60fps though. So now the code above includes the _set_fps call, but the actual cart that's played does not so runs at a solid 30fps on the web. :)