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 originated when sonicpacker saved 2 frames on the Bowser in the Sky BLJ after being inspired by Mickey's amazingly optimized beginning. Following that, ToT found a trick for Bowser in the Dark World where Mario falls off the ledge after the diving section with high speed which saved 1 frame. ToT managed to improve the BLJ speed which allowed Snark to barely squeeze out a second frame by using the falling trick a second time on the same ledge. The first frame of improvement in Bowser in the Fire Sea came from Mickey and Snark using a slightly different method of getting to the pole. Mickey then asked sonicpacker to redo the wall kicking section because he's spent more time with it in the past. In the process of trying to tie the previous run, sonicpacker saved one more frame due to better speed/angle/position. After playing around with a new wall kicking strategy, (combined with a diving method after the pole glitch found by sonicpacker) Snark completely obliterated the old BitFS, beating it by a total of 29 frames. Shortly afterwards, Kyman found another improvement at the end of BitFS that uses a glitchy wall kick on the pipe. It saves 15 frames up to the pipe grab, but loses 1 on the butt-slide due to Mario's position. Overall, we saved 47 frames and are very happy with the resulting run.

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.
Glitchy Wall Kick (GWK)
If you combine certain Mario angles with certain wall angles, sometimes you can make Mario kick off of a wall in the opposite direction that he's supposed to.

Improvement Table

SectionFrames SavedFrames Saved Overall
Lakitu Skip00
BLJ to BitDW00
BitDW22
B102
BLJ to Basement02
DDD Skip02
BitFS4345
B2045
To 2nd Key Door045
Spiral Stairs to BitS045
BitS247
B3047

Special Thanks

Nahoc, for helping out with the submission text.
Both Aktan and Nahoc for helping out A LOT with the YouTube encode. <3

Suggested Screenshot

Enjoy the run!

Baxter: Updated the submission file at the author's request.
Baxter: Judging when the new improvement is done.
Baxter: Submission file replaced at the author's request.
Baxter: Accepting as an improvement to the published run.
natt: Processing...
natt: Releasing mutex. Sorry about that
Nahoc: Processing instead of natt.


YoungJ1997lol
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http://youtu.be/Fm6PgzEzFeE my comparison video EDIT: Give it some time to process.
So yea, how's it going? Currently TASing: Nothing
Editor, Experienced player (860)
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YoungJ1997lol wrote:
http://youtu.be/Fm6PgzEzFeE my comparison video EDIT: Give it some time to process.
1. Why did you use the console-verified encode? 2. Both runs don't start at the same time. Overall, this "comparison" video is pretty useless. =/ I encourage you to re-do it, though!
YoungJ1997lol
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Nahoc wrote:
YoungJ1997lol wrote:
http://youtu.be/Fm6PgzEzFeE my comparison video EDIT: Give it some time to process.
1. Why did you use the console-verified encode? 2. Both runs don't start at the same time. Overall, this "comparison" video is pretty useless. =/ I encourage you to re-do it, though!
thanks. i got vegas like, a month ago and i still havent got the hang of it.
So yea, how's it going? Currently TASing: Nothing
Active player (426)
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Nahoc wrote:
YoungJ1997lol wrote:
http://youtu.be/Fm6PgzEzFeE my comparison video EDIT: Give it some time to process.
1. Why did you use the console-verified encode? 2. Both runs don't start at the same time. Overall, this "comparison" video is pretty useless. =/ I encourage you to re-do it, though!
^ all this, plus the final .m64 hasn't been submitted yet...
ALAKTORN
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Nahoc wrote:
1. Why did you use the console-verified encode? 2. Both runs don't start at the same time. Overall, this "comparison" video is pretty useless. =/
I wouldn’t consider it useless, probably useless for what it’s supposed to be, but the idea to compare emulated video with real video is pretty interesting to me
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sonicpacker wrote:
^ all this, plus the final .m64 hasn't been submitted yet...
Could you post any news/progress reports regarding the frame(s) your team is trying to save? :)
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Here's the supposedly final .m64 (time of 5'02"25) that hopefully someone can update: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/405468940/snark%2Ckyman%2Csonicpacker%2Cmickeyvis%2Ctot-sm640stars.m64 I'll make the YouTube encode tomorrow after school. I edited the submission text to include Kyman as an author as well as his improvements in the improvement table and our comments on the run. I also went ahead and added glitchy wall kicking, along with a brief explanation of what it is, as one of the tricks that we used.
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sonicpacker wrote:
Here's the supposedly final .m64 (time of 5'02"25) that hopefully someone can update: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/405468940/snark%2Ckyman%2Csonicpacker%2Cmickeyvis%2Ctot-sm640stars.m64 I'll make the YouTube encode tomorrow after school. I edited the submission text to include Kyman as an author as well as his improvements in the improvement table and our comments on the run. I also went ahead and added glitchy wall kicking, along with a brief explanation of what it is, as one of the tricks that we used.
You guys improved the run by 15 frames? Wow!
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jlun2 wrote:
You guys improved the run by 15 frames? Wow!
It turned out to be 14 actually. It was 15 up to the grab, but 1 was lost on the butt slide because of Mario's position.
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Haha, what was it originally, 6 frames of improvement that turned into 47?
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
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moozooh wrote:
Haha, what was it originally, 6 frames of improvement that turned into 47?
Yeah, pretty much. That sort of invalidates some people's opinions about it being an "unnoticeable improvement" and their choice to vote "meh" or "no." But oh well, guess that can't be changed. ;P
Noxxa
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sonicpacker wrote:
Yeah, pretty much. That sort of invalidates some people's opinions about it being an "unnoticeable improvement" and their choice to vote "meh" or "no." But oh well, guess that can't be changed. ;P
Well, considering the last time there was a notable argument about "unnoticable improvements", it was a 25-second improvement of SM64 0-star, I'm not so sure about that.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Joined: 7/26/2006
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sonicpacker wrote:
moozooh wrote:
Haha, what was it originally, 6 frames of improvement that turned into 47?
Yeah, pretty much. That sort of invalidates some people's opinions about it being an "unnoticeable improvement" and their choice to vote "meh" or "no." But oh well, guess that can't be changed. ;P
I'd suggest making a new submission, but that will mean even more frames will be shaved off afterwards and it still won't be published. :P
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Oops, I did it again. Link to video EDIT: Off topic, but Banjo-Kazooie can never be console verified. There is no way to purge the memory. The game recognizes which cutscenes you have and haven't watched, even if save files are deleted.
Joined: 5/29/2004
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bkDJ wrote:
sonicpacker wrote:
moozooh wrote:
Haha, what was it originally, 6 frames of improvement that turned into 47?
Yeah, pretty much. That sort of invalidates some people's opinions about it being an "unnoticeable improvement" and their choice to vote "meh" or "no." But oh well, guess that can't be changed. ;P
I'd suggest making a new submission, but that will mean even more frames will be shaved off afterwards and it still won't be published. :P
Drrr.. that is the point! ;) I mean seriously.. I called it the last time an M64 run popped up. Whenever someone submits an improvement, never even attempt to publish for a month as someone will ALWAYS find an improvement soon after. Yet to fail ^^ Mr. Kelly R. Flewin
Mr. Kelly R. Flewin Just another random gamer ---- <OmnipotentEntity> How do you people get bored in the span of 10 seconds? Worst ADD ever.
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SoulCal wrote:
EDIT: Off topic, but Banjo-Kazooie can never be console verified. There is no way to purge the memory. The game recognizes which cutscenes you have and haven't watched, even if save files are deleted.
Is it possible to use a blank cartridge that could hold roms like R4 for the NDS so that you can simply delete the memory if needed?
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I forgot to mention that in the newest .m64, I was able to hex the old spiral stairs, which were done for this run specifically, instead of having to use the input from the last run. I don't know what was making it desync in the previous .m64 (5'02"72), but I suppose that's irrelevant now. Anyway, I finished the encode and I'll upload it to YouTube in the morning. Once again, big thanks to Aktan and Nahoc for their help with teaching me how to encode for submissions.
ALAKTORN
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sonicpacker wrote:
I forgot to mention that in the newest .m64, I was able to hex the old spiral stairs, which were done for this run specifically, instead of having to use the input from the last run. I don't know what was making it desync in the previous .m64 (5'02"72), but I suppose that's irrelevant now. Anyway, I finished the encode and I'll upload it to YouTube in the morning. Once again, big thanks to Aktan and Nahoc for their help with teaching me how to encode for submissions.
wait, wasn’t that your only part of input? why are you still an author then? and was that 1 frame Snark was trying to improve in the butt-slide entering BitFS, and he failed to save it?
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ALAKTORN wrote:
wait, wasn’t that your only part of input? why are you still an author then? and was that 1 frame Snark was trying to improve in the butt-slide entering BitFS, and he failed to save it?
If that were true, why would I have been the one that submitted the .m64 in the first place since my old spiral stairs weren't even on it until I had to hex improvements? In other words, no, that wasn't my only input. Regardless of that, we don't do things by input. Otherwise Kyman wouldn't even be an author. We do things by credit. It has always been like that for the 0 Star teams. Even in the first one I was involved with, Johannes had literally no input whatsoever on the .m64, but he was a big part of it in the beginning before I even knew about it. As for the second part, yes, that's correct. Both Snark and I couldn't get that 1 frame to come off. But I think you meant B2 and not BitFS.
ALAKTORN
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yeah, I meant B2, and thanks for the clarifications
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Congratulations to the authors! I'm glad to see the 0 star run being improved even more. For those of you who are wondering what is happening with the 70 star BLJless / 120 star runs, progress is being made. 70 star BLJless: we are currently 46 stars in (that's up to WDW 100 coins). Many latter stars are already done and will be hexed once WDW100 is done. Mickey and Eru are motivated and want to finish the project. Expect it to be done this year. 120 star: was 33 stars in last time I checked, but the Japanese players wantedto hex in the new BitDW red coins route in it. They will have to re-do some stars afterwards (very painful ones like BoB100). The project isn't very active. We don't know if it will be done.
WST
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Nice improvement, yes vote
S3&A [Amy amy%] improvement (with Evil_3D & kaan55) — currently in SPZ2 my TAS channel · If I ever come into your dream, I’ll be riding an eggship :)
Skazzy3
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sonicpacker wrote:
Here we gooooooooo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDkxRA7yxLY
lol. great find for the gwk
nfq
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A couple of things I'm wondering: This is quite a small improvement of the previous TAS; it's only 1.55 seconds faster, so I'm wondering how do you keep track of the time so that you don't lose time compared to the previous TAS? Do you have another mupen64 in the background, running the previous TAS, and constantly comparing how you're doing? I'm also surprised by the patience you have in all the parts of the run where there are no known improvements to be made, so they have to be done almost exactly the same. Do you maybe use a bot or hex edit for those parts?