(Link to video)

After 5 years of work, it's finally here!

This is an improvement of 09:04.17 over the previous movie by Rikku.
For comparison, the fastest non-TAS run (by Siglemic) is 1:44:23 (as of 11/12).

Game Objectives

  • Emulator used: Mupen64 0.5 re-recording v8
  • Uses death to save time
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Manipulates luck
  • Uses game-breaking glitches
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Genre: Platform

Comments

MKDasher's Comments

Yay, done at last! I didn't start TASing this game that long ago, so I have the least experience, but I really want to thank the rest of the team for letting me join and participate in this great project. It's been a really nice experience for me and I'm hoping that everyone enjoys watching the run as much as we did making it!

Nahoc's Comments

Yo, yo, yo! I must say, like Jeremiah and David, I'm really happy to finally see this completed run in the workbench. I had a blast TASing this awesome game with such awesome people.
I'd like to point out that a big part of this project was done by the Japanese TASers. When they were working on the "120 Stars" TAS, they used to go back a lot to redo and improve earlier stars, since they were working on a "perfect" TAS. We (sonicpacker and myself) got tired of being left aside the project, seeing how slow the progress on it was and decided to go along and do our own TAS. MKDasher later joined us. Not gonna lie, we used a lot of their inputs during the making of this movie (but always with permissions) and "quickly" finished the masterpiece that you're about to watch. Of course, some improvements were found during the 3-month period we worked on the project, but it's nothing too big.
We would like to thank all the Japanese SM64 TASers for their hard work and hope they will be able to improve this movie with a more "perfect" v2. Good luck guys!

sonicpacker's Comments

Well it's about damn time. No, but really, working with the community towards finishing this run has given me the best time of my life and I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my teenage years. I've met so many awesome people and have had the best partners to work with. I'm thankful beyond words and I hope everyone that watches the TAS has a great time! I could go on and write a book about it, but I'll let the run speak for itself. And remember, SM64 isn't even near dead. Stay tuned, haha!

Tricks

See this page [dead link removed] for a brief description of all the tricks used in this run.

Star Times

Here's a comprehensive list of all the star times. It also includes a time comparison with Rikku's run.
[dead image link removed]
Star(s)Time(s)Rikku's Time(s)Difference
Cool, Cool Mountain Time Saved: 18"43
Wallkicks Will Work (with text)5"57 (6"10)10"904"80
Slip Slidin' Away25"0326"351"32
100 Coins & Big Penguin Race (with 3 stars text)1'00"12 & 1'16"751'20"533"78
Frosty Slide for 8 Red Coins36"0340"934"90
Li'l Penguin Lost16"2019"032"83
Snowman's Lost his Head35"3736"170"80
Whomp's Fortress Time Saved: 27"12
Blast Away the Wall (with text)7"17 (8"60)9"430"83
Fall onto the Caged Island9"2010"871"67
100 Coins & Red Coins on the Floating Isle47"33 & 53"7368"0714"34
Chip Off Whomp's Block27"6330"933"30
To the Top of the Fortress10"5714"954"38
Shoot Into the Wild Blue7"8710"472"60
Bob-omb Battlefield Time Saved: 1'47"95
Find the 8 Red Coins (with text)29"40 (30"53)51"6021"07
Mario Wings to the Sky21"8331"8710"04
Big Bob-omb on the Summit35"7345"9010"17
100 Coins & Footrace with Koopa the Quick1'19"40 & 1'35"472'27"7052"23
Shoot to the Island in the Sky14"4024"9010"50
Behind Chain Chomp's Gate9"1313"073"94
Dire, Dire Docks Time Saved: 39"53
100 Coins & Pole-Jumping for Red Coins1'31"58 & 1'38"952'04"6325"68
Chests in the Current26"7031"534"83
Collect the Caps...47"2247"450"23
Through the Jet Stream34"8839"935"05
Board Bowser's Sub31"9834"572"59
The Manta Ray's Reward14"0315"181"15
Hazy Maze Cave Time Saved: 1'17"47
Metal-Head Mario Can Move!17"5230"1312"61
A-Maze-ing Emergency Exit10"7011"030"33
Watch for Rolling Rocks14"1015"301"20
100 Coins & Elevate for 8 Red Coins1'36"40 & 1'41"3746"23 (-100 Coins)+55"14
Swimming Beast in the Cavern14"871'50"97 (+100 Coins)1'36"10
Navigating the Toxic Maze13"3335"7022"37
Shifting Sand Land Time Saved: 1'19"89
100 Coins & Pyramid Puzzle1'17"12 & 1'23"181'52"7029"52
Shining Atop the Pyramid6"137"070"94
Stand Tall on the Four Pillars47"3753"135"76
In the Talons of the Big Bird13"3316"403"07
Inside the Ancient Pyramid12"1827"2215"04
Free Flying for 8 Red Coins34"971'00"5325"56
Lethal Lava Land Time Saved: 26"36
Elevator Tour in the Volcano (with text)17"35 (17"88)20"672"79
Boil the Big Bully14"3719"375"00
Red-Hot Log Rolling7"4313"175"74
8-Coin Puzzle with 15 Pieces13"2714"701"43
Bully the Bullies18"2724"406"13
100 Coins & Hot-Foot-It into the Volcano56"97 & 1'03"201'08"435"23
Jolly Roger Bay Time Saved: 1'50"82
Treasure of the Ocean Cave18"431'45"65 (+100 Coins)1'27"22
Blast to the Stone Pillar11"7318"716"98
Plunder in the Sunken Ship31"3253"7822"46
100 Coins & Red Coins on the Ship Afloat1'15"73 & 1'20"5753"00 (-100 Coins)+27"57
Through the Jet Stream8"7020"1711"47
Can the Eel Come Out to Play?24"5734"8310"26
Big Boo's Haunt Time Saved: 1'02"66
Go on a Ghost Hunt (with text)39"26 (39"80)55"7715"97
Big Boo's Balcony22"3328"676"34
Eye to Eye in the Secret Room25"8328"332"50
Secret of the Haunted Books10"6011"731"13
100 Coins & Ride Big Boo's Merry-Go-Round1'15"87 & 1'20"501'32"7312"23
Seek the 8 Red Coins29"7754"2624"49
Tiny-Huge Island Time Saved: 45"00
100 Coins & Wiggler's Red Coins1'04"25 & 1'08"851'35"5526"70
The Tip Top of the Huge Island16"2021"435"23
Five Itty Bitty Secrets17"0019"102"10
Pluck the Piranha Flower23"3323"700"37
Rematch with Koopa the Quick42"2348"506"27
Make Wiggler Squirm40"9845"314"33
Snowman's Land Time Saved: 44"87
In the Deep Freeze5"335"930"60
Whirl from the Freezing Pond12"5714"702"13
Chill with the Bully11"8312"700"87
Snowman's Big Head7"9710"502"53
Into the Igloo13"451'31"08 (+100 Coins)1'17"63
100 Coins & Shell Shreddin' for Red Coins1'04"55 & 1'12"6533"76 (-100 Coins)+38"89
Tall, Tall Mountain Time Saved: 1'05"37
Breathtaking View from Bridge10"4318"578"14
Mysterious Mountainside6"9010"173"27
100 Coins & Scary 'Shrooms, Red Coins1'22"25 & 1'29"751'50"6820"93
Scale the Mountain11"5019"538"03
Mystery of the Monkey Cage31"8051"0319"23
Blast to the Lonely Mushroom5"4311"205"77
Wet-Dry World Time Saved: 58"59
Secrets in the Shallows & Sky27"771'17"61 (+100 Coins)49"84
Top O' the Town12"2016"574"37
100 Coins & Go to Town for Red Coins1'15"93 & 1'20"701'00"63 (-100 Coins)+20"07
Shocking Arrow Lifts!11"6314"182"55
Express Elevator--Hurry Up!7"1019"4312"33
Quick Race Through Downtown!31"8341"409"57
Tick Tock Clock Time Saved: 20"53
Stop Time for Red Coins12"2316"804"57
100 Coins & Stomp on the Thwomp42"80 & 49"501'04"1314"63
Get a Hand5"209"103"90
The Pit and the Pendulums7"8712"404"53
Timed Jumps on Moving Bars11"5318"376"84
Roll into the Cage6"579"432"86
Rainbow Ride Time Saved: 2'03"08
Cruiser Crossing The Rainbow15"1322"577"44
The Big House in the Sky39"431'57"371'07"94
100 Coins & Somewhere over the Rainbow1'05"78 & 1'09"951'36"2026"25
Tricky Triangles!9"0014"235"23
Swingin' in the Breeze11"1712"831"66
Coins Amassed in a Maze19"4724"034"56
Castle Secret Stars Time Saved: 56"33
Princess' Secret Slide under 21 Seconds20"4320"730"30
Bowser in the Dark World Red Coins (with text)33"1745"0311"86
Princess' Secret Slide24"4724"800"33
Tower of the Wing Cap (with text)20"4322"572"14
Bowser in the Fire Sea Red Coins45"7753"337"56
Cavern of the Metal Cap43"7851"057"27
Vanish Cap under the Moat26"1329"733"60
Secret Aquarium40"1242"522"40
Wing Mario over the Rainbow51"9358"606"67
Bowser in the Sky Red Coins49"771'03"9714"20

Known Improvements

Of course, in every long TAS, even with the highest standards and level of optimization, nothing is ever perfect. Here's a list of the known improvements. Most were discovered when we were already too far into the run to go back. They will be included in a new version made by a different team of TASers.
[dead image link removed]
  • CCM:
    • About 18 frames can be saved on "Frosty Slide for 8 Red Coins".
    • 3 frames lost on "Li'l Penguin Lost".
    • 1 VI/s is savable during the "100 Coins" star.
  • BoB:
    • About 1 second can be saved on the "100 Coins" star with better coins manipulation.
  • WF:
    • "Chip Off Whomp's Block" is improvable by 3 frames.
    • "To the Top of the Fortress" is improvable by 7 frames.
    • 2 frames lost on the "100 Coins" star due to luck manipulation.
  • DDD:
    • 0"30 seconds lost due to random lag.
    • Extra frame lost for better lag manipulation.
  • LLL:
    • 1 frame lost for better luck manipulation.
  • HMC:
  • BBH:
    • 1 frame lost for better luck manipulation.

YouTube Channels of the Authors (in alphabetical order)

Here are the YouTube channels of every authors having inputs in this TAS. Subscribe to them for more SM64 superplays!

Special Thanks (in alphabetical order)

We worked hard to add everyone that has contributed to this run is some way in this list. Hope we didn't forget anybody!
Thank you so much for all the good years.

Suggested Screenshot

Phew... too many highlights in this run for a single screenshot! Here is our favourite:
[dead image link removed]
Feel free to suggest more screenshots!

Final Thoughts

[dead image link removed]
Enjoy the run and share it with your friends!

Want more SM64 action? See these other submissions:

Nahoc: Added YouTube module.
Baxter: Great improvement over the currently published TAS with many creative timesavers. Accepting for publication.
Aktan: Processing... wait a bit...

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Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5769
Location: Away
Perhaps it's time to change the author to "SM64 TAS Team" and list actual authors in submission and publication texts. It's not just an aesthetics issue; at this point it's pretty obvious the run is a genuine collective effort, so why not elaborate on the contribution of each of the players? Surely not every star was tried by 15 different people?
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Soig
He/Him
Skilled player (1458)
Joined: 12/4/2010
Posts: 252
Big yes!!!
ALAKTORN
He/Him
Player (99)
Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 2527
Location: Italy
it’s not often you can say you’ve watched a 1 hour 20 minutes long TAS, and were never bored by it amazing job, and I can’t wait for the Japanese to finish v2 in 6 or so years :)
Warepire
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 3/2/2010
Posts: 2174
Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
Have another yes vote for the pile.
Joined: 11/3/2010
Posts: 16
Location: Canaduh
Voting no because I didn't like the camera angles. Seriously mind-blowing job guys, it's true that I watched the entire thing the whole way through and wasn't bored for a second (well, except the swimming parts ;P). I'll be watching this many more times I'm sure. It's amazing what you've accomplished, I hope you are proud!
nfq
Player (92)
Joined: 5/10/2005
Posts: 1204
Joined: 11/25/2012
Posts: 8
I would vote yes if I could, but I registered just to comment on this. One word : awesome I loved most of it, some stars were not as exciting as others, but overall it's like supergreat. My suggested screenshot, because I love the way you got to this star :
Editor, Experienced player (851)
Joined: 8/12/2008
Posts: 845
Location: Québec, Canada
Thanks for the kind comments so far, guys! Also, keep the screenshots coming!
Joined: 10/5/2008
Posts: 11
really love this "frame" (could have been better with an other angle, from the side like in rikku's run or from the front of Mario) edit: yay, I could finally vote :p
Player (12)
Joined: 11/23/2012
Posts: 94
Haven't finished watching yet, so still no vote, but holy dang, this run hasn't stopped making me say "what the hell!" yet. I loved how Mario seemed to be at a loss for what to do after beating Koopa the Quick in 2.4 seconds. JRB was an absolutely beautiful level to watch, too. :) WHAT THE HELL. Mystery of the Monkey Cage was done in the most absurd way possible. Finally finished watching. Holy crap, man. Yes vote.
Active player (406)
Joined: 2/29/2012
Posts: 192
I like this thumbnail a lot: Give or take a frame, but that is an awesome pic. Like this one a lot too:
Skazzy3
He/They
Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 45
Congrats to the 120 star team!!!! (P.S. Who are the noobs who said no?)
Joined: 7/13/2012
Posts: 25
is it possible to replace mario character vioces with something different and have video of tas run rendered then into AVI. he sounds kinda retarded and annoying... this is actually reason i dont play nintendo games, otherwise i know they have great gameplay values...
Skilled player (1669)
Joined: 6/11/2006
Posts: 818
Location: Arboga, Sweden
Luigi2011SM64 wrote:
(P.S. Who are the noobs who said no?)
Buddy, that's not really a good attitude. So this run contained more than 30 seconds of nothing happening, so I have to vote no. Actually just bullshitting. While I did not find the run itself the least entertaining, the technical feat alone warrants this a yes (yeah, technical achievements makes me entertained). Good Excellent job!
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
Joined: 4/6/2012
Posts: 44
Location: Lawn, PA
Q: How many TASers does it take to beat an existing 120-star Super Mario 64 run? A: 15. I don't know who the 3 people were who voted No on entertainment at the time of this post, but they obviously didn't watch this TAS; they must've mistaken another TAS for this one (or missed the Yes button), because this is one of the most awesome and enetertaining TASes I've ever seen. It's very clearly highly-optimized, and is full of extremely impressive high-speed tricks; far moreso than even the previous 120-star run. The fact that 5 years' worth of work went into this run is evident; many new routes and strategies are used, glitches are abused even more (and in more impressive ways), and stars are collected with far more exacting efficiency. This was a lot of fun to watch. I voted Yes on entertainment, naturally, and I highly recommend that this run be published to the Star tier for high optimization and entertainment value; I believe it thoroughly deserves it.
1/60 of a second is important; every frame matters.
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1360
Location: Minnesota
It has been a long time since I have been impressed by a Mario 64 TAS. Great job, guys. There were some really neat tricks in this video.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Editor, Player (44)
Joined: 7/11/2010
Posts: 1022
FWIW, I prefer the 70 star TAS, but there are some fun moments in this one too.
Player (116)
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 700
Location: suffern, ny
How could I vote No on this? I must vote yes! So i did!
[19:16] <scrimpy> silly portuguese [19:16] <scrimpy> it's like spanish, only less cool
Active player (266)
Joined: 9/14/2011
Posts: 349
Screenshot suggestion: (frame 218793)
Player (21)
Joined: 6/2/2011
Posts: 35
Location: Chicago, IL
No vote. If this gets published, then worldwide productivity and GDP's everywhere will plummet, as too much time is wasted watching and re-watching this video, and the economy is bad enough! j/k of course. A worsened economy is most DEFINITELY worth this being published.
If at first you don't succeed, load your savestate and try again
Editor, Player (44)
Joined: 7/11/2010
Posts: 1022
I like Odongdong's screenshot suggestion, actually, much more than any of the ones I've seen so far. It's from a fast-pasted star, it shows something that isn't actually possible in the game without glitches (that people who've played the game will know), and it's visually interesting.
Editor, Experienced player (607)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012
ais523 wrote:
I like Odongdong's screenshot suggestion, actually, much more than any of the ones I've seen so far. It's from a fast-pasted star, it shows something that isn't actually possible in the game without glitches (that people who've played the game will know), and it's visually interesting.
This is my favorite screenshot suggestion so far as well.
Post subject: New 120 Star Console Verification
Active player (333)
Joined: 1/19/2010
Posts: 383
Location: Texas
Hey guys, I just verified the run on console. I should have an upload to YouTube tomorrow evening of it running. I think I finally got a decent recording setup so the quality should be good. And if possible everyone, spread the word about the console verifications cause people need to know it is actually possible on the real hardware. And SonicPacker, when I upload the verification, could you add in the description of the video that it is console verified? Thanks.
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 1711
ais523 wrote:
FWIW, I prefer the 70 star TAS, but there are some fun moments in this one too.
Yeah I mean, if we're being real for a second, this is like 20% as fun to watch as the 70 run, at best. It's nice to have it, and it's cool to see how fast you can beat the game bla bla like with all games, but it mystifies me how people find the BLJ strats entertaining after the first 5 minutes. And those 5 minutes happened like 5 years ago. There are certainly some cool moments in this one too, of course.
Zoey Ridin' High <Fabian_> I prett much never drunk
Glitcher
He/Him
Joined: 3/24/2007
Posts: 216
Location: London, U.K.
My favourite star had to be The Big House in the Sky in Rainbow Ride. The inertia made no frickin' sense! BTW, how did you collect that star in Tall, Tall Mountain and fall to your death before saving? I thought Mario would stand on the sky in that case. Also, how were you able to attack on the shell in Tiny, Huge Island?
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