(Link to video)
We're back... Did you miss us?
Super Mario 64, the classic platformer from 1996, stars that Italian red plumber dude, named Mario. So he gets an invitation to have a one night stand eat a cake that Princess Peach has baked for him. So, like any fat Italian man would, he jumps in a green tube and heads to the castle - and so the journey begins. Once Mario arrives, he realizes that there is no cake and there will be no cake. The princess wants him to lose some weight, and she has hired Bowser to be a fitness trainer for Mario. The plan is to motivate him with cake and make him to run around the castle for "power stars", but Mario, just as any fat Italian would, skips all of that, loses no weight and demands cake.

Game Objectives

  • Emulator used: Mupen64 0.5 Re-Recording v8
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Uses game-breaking glitches

Comments

This TAS began when Kyman found a 1 frame improvement in the spiral stairs room. After that was found, Nahoc managed to save 2 frames on the final Bowser battle. We then started to work on the run and Kyman found a completely new BLJless route for Bowser in the Fire Sea, which ended up saving 7 frames (and also removed 2 BLJs from the run). While redoing the spiral/endless stairs section, Kyman found a way to get 20~ more speed while still being able to C^ off of the wall. sonicpacker applied this and in the end saved another 3 frames. Instead of simply hex editing parts of our old run, we redid them for entertainment purposes. After submitting, snark found a 1 frame improvement in the DDD skip, and Nothing/Mickey found 3 frames of improvement in BitFS. Kyman had an idea for the DDD skip which saved 1 frame. Jesus found a new strategy for the beginning of BitFS which ended up another frame. Then Kyman redid the pillar wallkicks which saved the final frame.

Tricks Used in this Run

0-Input BLJ
When you have no input on the analog in between the "A" button presses for a BLJ, your speed will not decrease, thus exponentially increasing the speed at the end result of the BLJs.
Pause BLJ
Normally, you can only press the "A" button fifteen times per second because the game runs at thirty frames per second. If you had thirty continuous "A" frames, you'd just be holding "A" down, not tapping it. However, if you pause while pressing the "A" button, you are given an opportunity on the next frame to release the "A" button. You can follow that by repressing it when it's not paused (therefore letting you BLJ the equivalent of thirty times "per second"). This is useful when you need more speed to travel a long distance. It isn't as helpful as it seems as it takes three extra frames to do a Pause BLJ. In order to save time you need the extra speed to save at least 3 frames.
Forward Jump Kick Trick
While Mario is recovering after a forward movement (dive, long jump, etc.), you can hold the "A" button prior to landing, and on the frame you land, press the "B" button with the analog stick at ^54 or less (on the TAS Input Plugin), you will do a jump kick. The trick is that it maintains all of the same speed from before the landing. You can also apply this when moving backwards (such as after a BLJ), by holding "A" before you are in the running animation, and then pressing "B." This causes Mario to do a jump kick and retain the same speed. This is useful for crossing long gaps and covering large distances.
Slide Kicking
This has been found to be the best method of forward movement over a long distance, because unlike the jump kick, you can do it repeatedly without losing speed.
Punch Trick
Instead of running for one frame when accelerating from a stop, you press the "B" button with no analog input, which gives you a starting speed of 10 instead of roughly 8.
Forward Speed Conversion
After triggering text, Mario is in a frozen state with his speed stuck at what it was while activating the text. When the text is read, you have the ability to do many things. One trick we can do with this is to press "C^" (upper C button) and "Z" at the same frame and hold a specific direction to get forward speed (as opposed to backwards speed which we originally used to activate the text). This is useful because forward speed can be used for things like getting to high places, such as the endless stair case. If you don‘t use Z with C^, your options are limited, because you only move forwards or backwards in a state that will not let Mario jump.
Instant Jump Kick Trick
This trick allows you to jump kick on the very first frame that Mario has input. This also is enables you to choose an angle for Mario to travel. You do this by holding A for at least one frame before Mario can move, then push B and the direction you want to go on the first frame of input.
Hyper-Speed Wall Kicking (HSWK)
Mario's speed increases infinitely while airborne with the analog held forward. If he wallkicks on the first possible frame, he doesn't lose any speed.

Improvement Table

SectionFrames SavedFrames Saved Overall
Lakitu Skip00
BLJ to BitDW00
BitDW00
B100
BLJ to Basement00
DDD Skip22
BitFS1214
B2014
To 2nd Key Door014
Spiral Stairs to BitS418
BitS018
B3220

Special Thanks

We would like to thank snark, Mickey, Nothing and Jesus for their improvements and work to make this run ever more perfect than before. :)

Suggested Screenshot

Enjoy the run! Thanks! :)

sgrunt: Replaced the submission file with this five-frame improvement.
Baxter: Mario 64 completed even faster, with (generally considered) better camera angles. Accepting as an improvement to the published movie.
Nahoc: Processing!
Baxter: Delayed, awaiting improved version.
Baxter: Submission file replaced with a faster version. Setting the submission back to 'accepted' again.
Aktan: Processing in place of Nahoc.

Joined: 4/3/2006
Posts: 269
It's hard to believe that more improvements can still be made. Excellent work! You got my yes vote on this. Is it likely that we can get the completion time down to below 5 minutes ?
Active player, Editor (428)
Joined: 9/29/2008
Posts: 706
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Inzult wrote:
Will I be able to notice the improvements? I just want to know if I have to watch another Mario run or if I can just vote yes on it.
Being honest, there's no way you're going to notice them.
Joined: 10/24/2005
Posts: 1080
Location: San Jose
I think Kyman misspelled his nickname when he signed up. It should be "Hymen" because he totally raped this game. I also realized that Kyman wasn't even born when this game came out.
<agill> banana banana banana terracotta pie! <Shinryuu> ho-la terracotta barba-ra anal-o~
Active player, Editor (428)
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DK64_MASTER wrote:
I think Kyman misspelled his nickname when he signed up. It should be "Hymen" because he totally raped this game. I also realized that Kyman wasn't even born when this game came out.
It was a team effort, I shouldn't be getting full credit for anything at all. :P But thank you I guess heh. Anyways, 5:03.87 .m64 coming later tonight.
Joined: 3/24/2010
Posts: 26
DK64_MASTER wrote:
I also realized that Kyman wasn't even born when this game came out.
This makes me feel old.
TRT
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 132
Yes vote. Seriously, this game has been improved upon a bunch of times and I eventually assume that I've seen it all and then a new run comes an surprises me. Great job.
Player (36)
Joined: 9/11/2004
Posts: 2623
Hmm... it's quite possible that we might see SM64 completed faster than SMB. Which I never thought would be possible.
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day, Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
Joined: 4/3/2005
Posts: 575
Location: Spain
OmnipotentEntity wrote:
Hmm... it's quite possible that we might see SM64 completed faster than SMB. Which I never thought would be possible.
Given that SM64 has a 1-minute intro cutscene, it's already faster than SMB.
No.
Post subject: 5:03.87 .m64 (submission needs updating)
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skychase
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Location: Quebec, Canada
So awesome its almost indecent ;P
Joined: 11/11/2007
Posts: 242
Location: the 1950s
You accidentally the whole Bowser in the Fire Sea Yes
Currently working on: -Possibly the Wily Tower (Mega Man the Wily Wars)
Post subject: another improvement...
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Another frame has been found at the DDD skip, so we are just waiting on hexing it in. I apologize for all of this updating and stuff, hopefully this will be the last time. T_T
Post subject: Re: another improvement...
ALAKTORN
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Joined: 10/19/2009
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Location: Italy
Kyman wrote:
Another frame has been found at the DDD skip, so we are just waiting on hexing it in. I apologize for all of this updating and stuff, hopefully this will be the last time. T_T
lol what who found it? how?
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ALAKTORN wrote:
Kyman wrote:
Another frame has been found at the DDD skip, so we are just waiting on hexing it in. I apologize for all of this updating and stuff, hopefully this will be the last time. T_T
lol what who found it? how?
Snark apparently, I don't know I haven't even recieved the .m64 yet.
Active player, Editor (428)
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So after a few hours of trying to get this 1 frame .m64, it turns out it doesn't exist, and it was just a communication error.
Joined: 12/1/2007
Posts: 425
I think the suggested screenshot spoils the surprise.
Joined: 1/9/2011
Posts: 31
I think you should state what BLJ stands for in the description. While most Mario 64 enthusiasts know it means, anyone else who reads the video description will be confused.
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Joined: 9/21/2009
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And now for the question on everyone's mind; is the SM64 0 Star getting its star back? ;P
nfq
Player (92)
Joined: 5/10/2005
Posts: 1204
mario 64 is starting to get as maxed as mario bros for NES. only 6.5 seconds left to improve and it will be equally maxed.
Joined: 9/12/2009
Posts: 42
Forgive me if this is incorrect, but wouldn't it be better to gain more speed in the narrow shaft where the elevator is? For instance, once you start jumping up the pillars you keep gaining speed from jumping back and forth, but since it is wider than the shaft it takes a bit longer to gain the speed to make it all the way to the top. If you gained speed faster by jumping back in forth in the narrow shaft before jumping to the pillars you can probably ascend the pillars much faster. Basically, slow down to gain more speed where the walls are more narrow so that the ascent goes much faster. Or is this not even feasible because mario ascends out of the shaft too quickly anyway?
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braindx wrote:
Forgive me if this is incorrect, but wouldn't it be better to gain more speed in the narrow shaft where the elevator is? For instance, once you start jumping up the pillars you keep gaining speed from jumping back and forth, but since it is wider than the shaft it takes a bit longer to gain the speed to make it all the way to the top. If you gained speed faster by jumping back in forth in the narrow shaft before jumping to the pillars you can probably ascend the pillars much faster. Basically, slow down to gain more speed where the walls are more narrow so that the ascent goes much faster. Or is this not even feasible because mario ascends out of the shaft too quickly anyway?
The route actually has nothing to do with ascending as fast as possible. The route just requires getting around 82~ or so speed at a height of 2605 or so. The way we do it is the fastest way.
sonicpacker wrote:
And now for the question on everyone's mind; is the SM64 0 Star getting its star back? ;P
From what I have been told, yes it will.
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Kyman wrote:
braindx wrote:
Forgive me if this is incorrect, but wouldn't it be better to gain more speed in the narrow shaft where the elevator is? For instance, once you start jumping up the pillars you keep gaining speed from jumping back and forth, but since it is wider than the shaft it takes a bit longer to gain the speed to make it all the way to the top. If you gained speed faster by jumping back in forth in the narrow shaft before jumping to the pillars you can probably ascend the pillars much faster. Basically, slow down to gain more speed where the walls are more narrow so that the ascent goes much faster. Or is this not even feasible because mario ascends out of the shaft too quickly anyway?
The route actually has nothing to do with ascending as fast as possible. The route just requires getting around 82~ or so speed at a height of 2605 or so. The way we do it is the fastest way.
I think that what he's saying is we should stay in the shaft and wall kick more because it would give us more speed before we leave. Sadly, that is wrong. The amount of speed Mario gets has to do with how many frames he is in the air. The wall kicks simply maintain it. They do not increase it.
Joined: 9/12/2009
Posts: 42
sonicpacker wrote:
Kyman wrote:
braindx wrote:
Forgive me if this is incorrect, but wouldn't it be better to gain more speed in the narrow shaft where the elevator is? For instance, once you start jumping up the pillars you keep gaining speed from jumping back and forth, but since it is wider than the shaft it takes a bit longer to gain the speed to make it all the way to the top. If you gained speed faster by jumping back in forth in the narrow shaft before jumping to the pillars you can probably ascend the pillars much faster. Basically, slow down to gain more speed where the walls are more narrow so that the ascent goes much faster. Or is this not even feasible because mario ascends out of the shaft too quickly anyway?
The route actually has nothing to do with ascending as fast as possible. The route just requires getting around 82~ or so speed at a height of 2605 or so. The way we do it is the fastest way.
I think that what he's saying is we should stay in the shaft and wall kick more because it would give us more speed before we leave. Sadly, that is wrong. The amount of speed Mario gets has to do with how many frames he is in the air. The wall kicks simply maintain it. They do not increase it.
Yeah. Ah, that sucks. Oh well.
Post subject: Hi! I am a TASer
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Here are some alternate screenshot ideas, instead of the one that is in the submission text: (Just some cool looking ones in my opinion.)
Editor, Experienced player (607)
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Kyman wrote:
Here are some alternate screenshot ideas, instead of the one that is in the submission text
I like the first one, the one in the Bowser 2 battle, and the one of the BLJ to the pipe. I agree, the new screenshot spoils the new route for those who want to be surprised.
Kingfisher wrote:
I think you should state what BLJ stands for in the description. While most Mario 64 enthusiasts know it means, anyone else who reads the video description will be confused.
I agree. Since the run will be starred (recommended for new visitors), maybe the publication text should say something like: "For those who don't know, the game-breaking glitch used in this video is called the Backwards Long Jump (BLJ), and it allows Mario to build up enough backwards speed to pass through walls and star doors, and skip most of the game." I'm not the best at wording publication texts, but you get the idea.