This page serves as a knowledge base for speedrun-related glitches, tricks and information for Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga.
It is recommended to use Bizhawk with the mGBA core for TASing, if possible, as it emulates the Action Command Glitch accurately whereas VBA-Next and VBA v24 svn480 do not.
Table of contents

About Versions

There are 3 versions of the game: Japanese, US and European.
There are no known differences between US and European, so they will be referred to as "English". Furthermore however, there are a multitude of differences between Japanese and English, relating to stats, item costs, gear stats, object placement in rooms, enemy behavior in battle, glitches, graphics, and more.
To see lists of all the known changes, please go to the "Links" section below. Important differences are briefly listed here:


Tricks

Ledge Boost

You can use ledges that end in a corner in order to boost Mario or Luigi forward. Walk off the ledge diagonally and then move towards the corner.
You can also boost off of ledges that do not end in a corner. Using the same inputs as with a corner, you can get a weaker boost (up to an extra 256 X & Y Positions). You can get a boost of either "384", 512 or 640, seemingly running on a 3-frame cycle. Moving along the ledge will increase the X boost, but this will only increase Y Positon (see this video demonstrating this (slow down/use frame advance on YouTube) ). This only works horizontally(?).

Body Boost

Jump into people to gain distance. It is recommended you manipulate the RNG to make people move in your favor. This can be used in Hoohoo Village, for example.

Switching the brothers faster

If the path between the brothers is blocked by the corner of a wall or the bros are on the same pixel, the switching will be finished immediately which saves a few frames per application.

Faster dialogue

There are many speech bubbles throughout the game which can't be removed right away. You can halve the time you need to wait for those boxes to go away if you autofire the "A"-button on the correct frames.
When you start escorting Peach in Teehee Valley, in a normal playthrough Toadsworth would talk to you while Peach gets captured in the background. Under TAS conditions, you can remove Toadsworth's speech bubble fast enough to save Peach from being captured.

Climb staircases faster

Walking up staircases will slow you down. Face perpendicularly to the stairs and then jump across it to keep your normal speed.

Camera scrolling

You can save time by taking camera movement into consideration during cutscenes. See the image on the right.
On the right screen, camera scrolling wasn't taken into consideration. On the left screen, the brothers move closer to the platform and Mario jumps to minimize the distance the camera has to cover.

Using Mushbadges

Mushbadges give you a direct attack bonus (which is rounded down to the next integer) based on how many Mushrooms, Supermushrooms, Ultramushrooms and Maxmushrooms you have on hand. It will affect the wearer's normal attacks and Bros attacks.
On English:
>(Normal * 0x33 + Super * 0x33 + Ultra * 0x40 + Max * 0x4C) / 0x100
On Japanese:
>(Normal * 0x14 + Super * 0x19 + Ultra * 0x1E + Max * 0x33) / 0x100
This can be exploited by using Mario's Chopper Bros, which deals a maximum of 26 hits in one attack when autofired. Each hit will deal at least 1 damage in English, 2 damage in Japanese + the attack bonus, thus dealing high amounts of damage.
Mushbadges can be bought only in Little Fungitown. In a glitched run, the detour there takes ~3 minutes but it is still worth taking it because you can kill bosses much faster with the Mushbadges, seeing as how you are severely underleveled and weak otherwise.

Death-warping

When you die in battle, you go to the game-over screen. On this screen you can select if you want to continue from the last saved game or if you want to continue from Beanbean Castle. In the former case, all progress is lost. In the latter case, no progress is lost and you also do not suffer any disadvantages (such as losing money).
Choosing to continue from Beanbean Castle is only possible after you have been there once.
After beating Popple & Birdo, death-warping will take you to Teehee Valley instead of Beanbean Castle.
Death-warping was used in the old TAS: Oho Oasis was visited to acquire Mario's Hand Power and then an Oho Jee battle was triggered in which the brothers die in order to go back to the Castle faster.

Glitches

Acute Angle Thundergrab Clip (Wall Clipping)

Use Luigi's Hand on Mario and walk against an acute-angled wall. This will cause Mario to enter the wall. There are few places where this can be done in the game, but it is useless for speedrunning.


Acute Angle Clip (Wall Clipping)

If you are properly positioned and walk into an acute angled wall such as the one in the image, then you can clip into a wall. There is almost no place like this in the game so it is useless.

Firedash Glitch (Wall Clipping) (Japanese only)

In the Japanese version, have Mario use Fire on Luigi when close to a ledge. If done correctly, Luigi will fall off the ledge and be able to walk before Mario left the ledge. This causes the brothers to become glitched: They can clip into walls and reach places that were previously unreachable.
This does not work on the US and EU versions because Luigi cannot walk until Mario reached the floor behind him as well.
This glitch is obsoleted by the Action Command Glitch and the Sign Glitch since those glitches can be done much earlier in the game and grant wall clipping power as well. And more precise wall clipping at that (for example, Barrel Clipping, with which you can determine what walls you want to cross).


NPC Clip (Wall Clipping)

With very precise positioning, you can get ejected into a wall by an NPC. Details:
If you want to investigate NPC clipping, ask MUGG on the forums for help.



Luigi Mole Glitch (Wall Clipping)

On "right ledges", it is possible to pound Luigi into the ground at a precise location where he then is considered to be inside the ledge. Moving "up" or "down" will make him zip, possibly clipping into an adjacent wall.
This glitch does not work on "left ledges".
Some walls will allow underground Luigi to zip through the wall freely with Mario (who is still in bounds) following behind.



Tunnel Clip (Wall Clipping)

With proper positioning, you can clip through the left or top side of a wall. In some places, this can cause you to clip up to the top of the wall.
This trick saves ~1 minute in Hoohoo Mountain by clipping up on the ledge to reach the red switch earlier (found by SolidifiedGaming).


|

Trigger Zone Skipping

Jump Course Skip (English Only)
In Stardust Fields, you can skip having to climb up to the flag. A trigger zone near the exit normally stops the brothers, but it can be bypassed by positioning the brothers next to it and using Spin Jump. If done correctly, the back brother will stand past the trigger zone. When switching the brothers around the corner, it will cause the front brother to stand past the trigger zone and be able to enter the loading zone to go to the next room.
This does not work in the Japanese version due to a difference in the brothers interaction with walls when switching places.
This trick was found by RTA runner Murmilio and saves about 15~20 seconds.

Badge Tutorial Skip (English Only)
Using a similar approach like the jump course skip, you can skip the badge tutorial that follows outside the castle after defeating Queen Bean. This would save time if not for these drawbacks:
If you obtain some badges and then do the tutorial, it might select a different badge than the Bean Badge but otherwise plays out the tutorial normally.

Fountain Glitch (English Only)

After acquiring hammers, make Mario ingest water. Let Luigi hammer Mario until he runs out of water. If you hammer Mario again, he will make a little hop and become angry at Luigi. When Mario lands on the ground from the hop, the brothers will start gliding into different directions, possibly entering walls. The glitch also works when using Thunder Hand to make Mario mad at Luigi.
This glitch can cause the brothers to enter a "glitchy state" (see 0:11 in the video). However, it is not possibly to exploit it since Mario ingests water again so the brothers cannot switch places. Draining Mario of water will get rid of the glitchy state.
Therefore, this glitch is useless for speedruns.
After watching the respective tutorials in which the brother learn Hammer moves and Hand moves, the Fountain glitch will no longer work.


Left Corner Clipping (Wall Clipping)

Corners that transit leftwards into tight passages can eject Mario or Luigi into the wall. This requires precise positioning.
This glitch is useless at the moment.


Mini Mario Glitch

Luigi can use Hammer on Mario to flatten him. Small Mario walking through a tunnel will cause the brothers to get separated. When Luigi then approaches Mario, Mario will walk behind Luigi and Luigi will turn Mario back to big.
However, if Luigi approaches Mario in a way that Mario does not need to walk behind Luigi at all, Luigi will forget to turn Mario back to big. This can be done by having Luigi aim a jump at Mario, then aiming away and landing precisely in front of Mario. In other words, small Mario is exactly behind Luigi at the time they are united again. Further glitching can be done from here.
While Mario was still big, he could cycle through the following action commands:
ID Name
00Jump
01Spinjump
02Hammer
Now that he is small, the game will only let you cycle through these:
ID Name
00Jump
01Hammer
If Mario (behind) had Hammer selected before doing Mini Mario Glitch, he will have 02 now which will translate to Hand. However, small Mario using Hand on Luigi will softlock the game.
Hammering Luigi will allow you to subsequently switch brothers. It will also turn Mario big. If you hammer again, Mario will become small again. At this point, small Mario will have access to the following action commands:
ID Name
00Jump
01Spinjump
02Hammer
Starting a spinjump while Mario is small will crash the game. Highjumping while Mario is small can be done as long as not facing left or right, otherwise the game crashes as well.
When small Mario uses Hammer on Luigi and the brothers then leave the room, the glitch will lose its effect. That means, small Mario will become big permanently.
Mini Mario Glitch is part of the Action Command Glitch. Also notable is that small Mario will be able to pound Luigi into the ground everywhere, even if Luigi is on top of a ledge or unsuitable ground.


Barrel Storage

When Luigi is inside a barrel and Mario breaks it with his hammer, there is one frame of opportunity where Mario can use his "hop on barrel" command even though the barrel was broken. This will cause the barrel to be restored and is called Barrel Storage.
There is a variable at $2440 and $2430 in IWRAM that keeps track of the action commands for Luigi and Mario respectively. Normally, when you break out of a barrel, without doing Barrel Storage, the game simply sets the third byte in $2440 to FF. But how it does that is pretty interesting; it copies the third byte to the first byte, and then it sets the third byte to FF. The first byte is the action command of Luigi when he is in front. When you're inside of the barrel, the third byte is usually 00, and when you're not inside the barrel the byte is FF instead. With barrel storage however, you are inside the barrel, but the third byte is set to FF. Now, if you break out of the barrel, like I said, the third byte gets copied to the first byte, meaning the first byte is now also FF, which means Luigi will have the blank action command on his A button.
For a better understanding please check out this video by RETIRE.

Side explanations:

The old TAS used to do the Barrel Glitch and then Barrel Clip through a few rooms, heading towards the beach, in order to access Oho Oasis to acquire Mario's Hand command. Because when Mario behind Luigi has Hand selected, you can do the Action Command Glitch.

Hand commands are no longer gotten in Oho Oasis, however, since you can now do the Sign Glitch to skip them.

The earliest location in the game to find a barrel in is in Chuckola Woods. It is fastest to use the barrel there in order to do a number of glitches and then finish the game, by fighting Popple & Birdo in Teehee Valley and then entering Bowser's Castle.

The glitches required to skip the rest of the game are:
Barrel Glitch, Sign Glitch, Action Command Glitch. Then you can do Barrel Clipping, Floating Luigi Skipping and Luigi Hat Teleportation. Please see each glitch's own entry for specific information.
Here is a list of commands that can be cycled through before the brothers do the Barrel Glitch:
Mario behind Luigi Luigi behind Mario
Mario LuigiLuigiMario
00 "Jump"00 "Jump"00 "Jump"00 "Jump"
01 "Spinjump"01 "Hammer"01 "Highjump"01 "Hammer"
02 "Hammer" 02 "Hammer
Here is a list of commands accessible after the Barrel Glitch:
Mario behind Luigi Luigi behind Mario
Mario LuigiLuigiMario
255 "Blank" (after breaking out)
00 "Jump" 00 "Barrel break"00 "Barrel break"00 "Jump"
01 "Hop on barrel"01 "Hammer"01 "Glitched"01 "Hammer"
02 "Hammer" 02 "Hop off barrel"
03 "Hammer"
03 "Hand" (after using hammer)
If Luigi behind Mario had "00 Jump" selected before doing the Barrel Glitch, he will now be stuck at "00 Barrel break". In order to access "Glitched", "Hop off Barrel", "Hammer"/"Hand", he will need to have "Highjump" or "Hammer" selected beforehand.
Note: The only command that allows Luigi behind Mario to jump up ledges is "02 Hop off barrel". Therefore it is very important to select Luigi (behind)'s Hammer beforehand.

Barrel Clipping (Wall Clipping) (Japanese Only)

In order to do this glitch you must use either the "Barrel Glitch" or the "Action Command Glitch" in order to acquire a glitched barrel for Luigi. The brothers should be able to switch places and Luigi should be barreled.
Note that you can clip through walls only horizontally. If you want to clip through a wall vertically, you must use "Luigi Hat Teleportation" (see below).
Have Mario be next to the wall that you want to clip through and switch places. Since Luigi is barreled, he uses up more horizontal space and is thus considered to be inside the wall. Mario can clip alongside with Luigi by switching places. Positioning might need to be optimized in order for Mario to clip. When inside the wall with both brothers, walk at the next "wall unit" and repeat the process.
When attempting to Barrel Clip in the English version, only Luigi will be able to enter a wall (Mario has to "barrel hop" on Luigi in order to create his barrel). That's because there is a wall collision check while switching the brothers' places. This wall collision check is missing in the Japanese version.


Sign Glitch

Talking to the sign after doing Barrel Storage has interesting results. If we talk to the sign, the first byte is set to 00. But again, the game handles this a bit differently; what is actually happening is the first byte is copied to the fourth byte, and then it sets the first byte to 00. A very important note to make is that the first byte is copied to the fourth byte 1 frame before the first byte is set to 00, which means even though the first byte is 00, the fourth byte is still FF. Because the fourth byte is FF, it will keep the action command of talking to the sign even if you get away from it. Now let's go back to the variable at $2430: the first byte there is set to 02, which means Mario should be talking to a sign, but he is in the back so you still have the normal Jump. However, after you switch, this byte is responsible for being able to change Luigi's action commands past the intended limit.
The glitch works differently between versions and/or systems. This is taken into consideration in this step-by-step explanation. Please also note that action commands can get skipped when pressing a button for a given amount of times. This is due to how the glitch works and can cause the glitch to fail.
How to perform the glitch: 1. Have Mario behind Luigi select "Hammer". Luigi in front of Mario should have "Blank". All other commands should be set to "Jump".
2. Have Luigi walk at a sign and then switch places.
JPUS EU
console 3.
Press L 10 times		3.
Press L 10 times		3.
Press L 10 times
VBA v24 svn480 3.
Press L 4 times 		3.
Press L 4 times 		3.
Press L 4 times
Bizhawk 1.8.2(VBA-Next) 3.
Press L 4 times 		3.
Press L 4 times 		3.
Press L 4 times
4. Switch places.
5. Walk away from the sign, start Spinjumping on Luigi and hop off.
6. Luigi behind Mario should have "Spinjump" now. If not, try pressing L two times to get it. Otherwise, the glitch failed and you have to redo from the beginning.
7. Have Luigi spinjump on Mario.
JPUS EU
console 8.
Press R 15 times,
jump off,
press R 1 time

If you hear a loud distinctive sound while pressing R,
jump off,
press R 2 times
OR
press R 1 time,
jump off,
press R 1 time 		8.
Press R 15 times,
jump off,
press R 1 time

If you hear a loud distinctive sound while pressing R,
jump off,
press R 2 times
OR
press R 1 time,
jump off,
press R 1 time 		8.
Press R 15 times,
jump off,
press R 1 time

If you hear a loud distinctive sound while pressing R,
jump off,
press R 2 times
OR
press R 1 time,
jump off,
press R 1 time
VBA v24 svn480 8.
Press R 15 times,
jump off 		8.
Press R 1 time,
jump off,
press R 2 times
OR
Press R 2 times,
jump off,
press R 1 time 		8.
Press R 1 time,
jump off,
press R 2 times
OR
Press R 2 times,
jump off,
press R 1 time
Bizhawk 1.8.2(VBA-Next) 8.
Press R 15 times,
jump off 		8.
Press R 1 time,
jump off,
press R 2 times
OR
Press R 2 times,
jump off,
press R 1 time 		8.
Press R 1 time,
jump off,
press R 2 times
OR
Press R 2 times,
jump off,
press R 1 time
9. Mario should have "Emerge" now. If not, the glitch failed and you have to redo from the beginning. Now emerge from the ground. Mario should have a blank command.
10. Have Mario behind Luigi select "Hammer".
11. Have Mario walk at a sign. Switch. Press L 1 time. Mario behind Luigi should have an "X command" now.
12. Switch places. Have Luigi pound Mario twice or spinjump on him and hop off. Mario behind Luigi should have "Hand" now.
At this point, since Mario behind Luigi has "Hand" now, you can go and do the Action Command Glitch.


Action Command Glitch

> TODO: This section is in need of an update.
VBA and VBA-Next are deprecated (they do not emulate the Action Command Glitch correctly) and should be replaced by mGBA wherever this section lists a comparison of instructions.
In order to do this glitch, Mario behind Luigi must have Hand selected. The goal of this glitch is to acquire Mario (behind)'s "Hop on Barrel" command. This "Hop on Barrel" command is different from the one that you have access to when doing the "Barrel Glitch": Even if Luigi breaks out, you can create him a new barrel and do more...
For more uses, see "Floating Luigi Skip" and "Luigi Hat Teleportation" below.
The glitch works differently between versions and/or systems. This is taken into consideration in this step-by-step explanation. Please also note that action commands can get skipped when pressing a button for a given amount of times. This is due to how the glitch works and can cause the glitch to fail.
To do the Action Command Glitch now, you must use the "Mini Mario Glitch":
1. Have small Mario walk through a tunnel in order to separate the brothers.
2. Have Luigi jump at small Mario in such a way that Mario will be exactly behind Luigi when reuniting.
3. The screen should be graphically glitching. Press L 3 times to select "06 Hammer". Use this hammer to pound Luigi. (It will not work if you press L too many times and use "01 Hammer".)
4. Have Luigi emerge from the ground. Mario behind Luigi should have "06 Highjump".
5. Highjump on Luigi. While Highjumping, you can press L and R as many times as you want in order to advance the brothers' action commands to your desire.
JPUS EU
console 6.
Press L 17 times,
jump off,
press L 2 times
OR
Press L 18 times,
jump off,
press L 1 time		6.
Press L 12 times,
jump off,
press L 2 times 		6.
Press L 12 times,
jump off,
press L 2 times
VBA v24 svn480 6.
Press L 12 times,
jump off,
press L 1 time
OR
Press L 13 times,
jump off		6.
Press L 12 times,
jump off,
press L 1 time
OR
Press L 13 times,
jump off		6.
Press L 12 times,
jump off,
press L 1 time
OR
Press L 13 times,
jump off
Bizhawk 1.8.2(VBA-Next) 6.
Press L 12 times,
jump off,
press L 1 time
OR
Press L 13 times,
jump off 		6.
Press L 12 times,
jump off,
press L 1 time
OR
Press L 13 times,
jump off 		6.
Press L 12 times,
jump off,
press L 1 time
OR
Press L 13 times,
jump off
7. Mario should have "31(dec)/1F(hex) Hop on Barrel" now.
When creating a barrel for Luigi, make sure to position the brothers around a corner as to interrupt the barrel hop. Otherwise, Mario will jump on top of Luigi to make him a barrel and you have to cycle through all action commands before being able to jump off. When this happens, you will only have access to regular "01 Hop on Barrel". That means, when Luigi breaks out you cannot make him a new barrel and you cannot use further action command glitching.
TODO: List of all action commands that you can get, for console/vba and jp/english


Floating Luigi Skipping (aka. Rock Skip) (Wall Clipping) (For English)

> TODO: This section is in need of an update.
VBA and VBA-Next are deprecated (they do not emulate the Action Command Glitch correctly) and should be replaced by mGBA wherever this section lists a comparison of instructions.
Since "Barrel Clipping" does not work on the English version, you would normally be unable to bypass a few places such as the rocks in Teehee Valley when heading towards Popple & Birdo. So "Floating Luigi Skip" was invented in order to skip through rocks on the English version.
The glitch works differently between versions and/or systems. This is taken into consideration in this step-by-step explanation. Please also note that action commands can get skipped when pressing a button for a given amount of times. This is due to how the glitch works and can cause the glitch to fail.
This glitch is part of the "Action Command Glitch" described above. Make sure Mario behind Luigi has "06 Highjump".
1. Highjump on Luigi.
JPUSEU
console2.
? untested ? 		2.
Press L 13 times 		2.
? untested ?
VBA24 svn4802.
? untested ? 		2.
Press L 7 times,
jump off,
press L 2 times
(This will give "21(dec)/15(hex) Hammer")

OR

Press L 10 times,
jump off,
press L 1 time
(This will give "27(dec)/1B(hex) Hammer")

OR

Press L 11 times,
jump off
(This will give "27(dec)/1B(hex) Hammer")		2.
? untested ?
Bizhawk 1.8.2(VBA-Next)2.
? untested ? 		2.
? untested ?		2.
? untested ?
3. Mario behind Luigi should have a glitched hammer, either ID 21(dec)/15(hex) or 27(dec)/1B(hex). Hammer Luigi with it.
4. Press L until a "Highjump" command appears. Start "Highjumping" on Luigi.
5. Hop off, press L until a "Highjump" command appears again. Start "Highjumping" on Luigi.
JPUSEU
console6.
? untested ?		6.
Press R 21 times,
jump off 		6.
? untested ?
VBA24 svn4806.
? untested ? 		6.
Press R 14 times,
jump off,
press R 1 time 		6.
? untested ?
Bizhawk 1.8.2(VBA-Next)6.
? untested ? 		6.
? untested ? 		6.
? untested ?
7. Luigi in front of Mario should have "28(dec)/1C(hex) Barrel break". Use this command to break out.
8. Switch places.
9. Make Luigi do a Highjump on Mario. Luigi should be floating in the air after he did it. If not, the glitch failed somewhere.
10. Switch places again. Use Mario's Highjump to cross the rock that you want to bypass.
11. Since Luigi has an "underground" status right now, he will not be able to cross ledges. Have Luigi behind Mario use hammer twice in order to fix this.
This glitch can be used while Luigi behind Mario has "Spinjump" so that you can use "Sign Glitch" after doing it.
TODO: Explain why you would want to do this and add step by step explanations.


Luigi Hat Teleportation (Wall Clipping)

Since "Barrel Clipping" can only be done horizontally, "Luigi Hat Teleportation" was invented in order to clip through walls vertically. More precisely, you do not clip but you teleport!
This glitch is part of the "Action Command Glitch" described above. Make sure Mario behind Luigi has "06 Highjump".
1. Highjump on Luigi.
JPUSEU
console2.
? untested ? 		2.
Press L 13 times 		2.
? untested ?
VBA24 svn4802.
? untested ? 		2.
Press L 7 times,
jump off,
press L 2 times
(This will give "21(dec)/15(hex) Hammer")

OR

Press L 10 times,
jump off,
press L 1 time
(This will give "27(dec)/1B(hex) Hammer")

OR

Press L 11 times,
jump off
(This will give "27(dec)/1B(hex) Hammer")		2.
? untested ?
Bizhawk 1.8.2(VBA-Next)2.
? untested ? 		2.
? untested ?		2.
? untested ?
3. Mario behind Luigi should have a glitched hammer, either ID 21(dec)/15(hex) or 27(dec)/1B(hex). Hammer Luigi with it.
4. Press L until a "Highjump" command appears. Start "Highjumping" on Luigi and hop off.
5. You should now have "glitched movement". If you walk then Mario and Luigi will start to get closer and they will teleport once they reach the same position.
6. If you enter a loading zone, you will lose glitched movement, but you can easily get it again. Press L until you get High Jump on Mario again, then High Jump on Luigi and hop off.
7. To cancel glitched movement, you may use Luigi's Emerge or Barrel Break. Generally Emerge is preferred as some of Luigi's physics will still be messed up if you use Barrel Break, but Emerge will completely restore normality. There are multiple Emerge commands with different IDs, including 21, 49, and 69, that can be used depending on the situation.

How the teleporting works

While walking with glitched movement, Luigi advances 4 positions on the follow path per frame, while Mario advances 8 positions. Luigi starts at position 64 and Mario at position 0, since the follow path is reset by high jumping. After 16 frames of walking, they will coincide on the same follow path position. The next frame, Mario will teleport to the position 8 frames ahead in the follow path.
If Luigi moves in the air with glitched movement, he will advance 8 positions on the follow path. This means that each frame of air movement pushes forward the position they will coincide on by 8 indices. If you don't jump, Mario will teleport to position 136. If you do jump, which takes 24 frames, Mario can teleport to any multiple of 8 between 144 and 256, by moving for a certain number of frames in the air.
Mario doesn't teleport to the exact position on the follow path. He only teleports to the nearest position to him that matches the lower two bytes of the follow path position. If he is equally close to two such positions, he will teleport to the lower one. Then if there are any walls between Mario and this adjusted position, he will sometimes get blocked by them (end up touching the wall instead of going through it). Also Luigi will teleport to a certain position: consider the 0x2000 by 0x2000 square centered at Mario's new position. Luigi teleports to the nearest position to him that is inside this square (including the borders). These rules are not fully understood and you may occasionally come across a teleport that behaves differently.

Joke's End Early

TODO

Peach Speech Glitch

At a certain point in the game, you have to escort Peach through Teehee Valley while protecting her from enemies. After each room, she will wait for you. If you go close to her (by walking into a trigger zone), she will walk to the next room and you follow her automatically.
Regardless of whether Peach is being escorted or not, if you touch any of the Peach trigger zones while being inside a glitched barrel, the Peach Speech Glitch is triggered. You will be stuck and you can only move on after you switch places. If you break your barrel, then a glitched event will occur. What will happen is dependent on the frame, but usually the game will crash.
In VBA24 svn480, there is a very slim chance that the game runs an actual event that exists in the game, including the End Credits. On console, the glitch does work, but due to there being no savestates or rewinds usable on console, glitch-testing is difficult and time-consuming. Therefore, the glitch has not been verified very well yet and the Peach Speech Glitch triggering actual events (including the End Credits) might have been an emulation issue.
Here is more detailed information about the glitch in VBA24 svn480:
There are other trigger zones in the game which you could use Peach Speech Glitch on, but touching them while barreled will not allow you to run a glitched event. This has not been tested thoroughly yet, however. It has not been understood why the Peach trigger zones in Teehee Valley cause the glitch to happen but other trigger zones don't.



Zero DEF Glitch

Use Thunder Bros on an enemy. Strangely, the fewer commands you get right, the lower the enemies' defence becomes. If you miss all but the first "B", the enemies' defence will drop to zero.
It was thought that this glitch could aid in weakening bosses but in order to learn Thunder Bros, you must visit Gwarhar Lagoon and go through the Hand tutorial there which takes too much time. Therefore this glitch is useless in any%, but may be useful for other categories.


Pepper Glitch (English Only)

Red Pepper and Green Pepper boost Pow and Def by 1.25 in J, 1.5 in English, respectively. In the English version, if a brother dies while his pepper is active, the effect will stay for the rest of the battle. This has already been used by console speedrunners.

Information Store Dialogue Glitch (English Only)

If you repeatedly talk to the hint guy in Bean-Bean Castle Town, eventually his dialogue box will glitch up, causing the game to freeze. At the moment, this glitch is not well investigated and is not a timesaver in speedruns.
The finder reported that instead of freezing, the game has a chance of crashing or surviving the glitch. This seems to be the case for VBA-M. These occurences have not been spotted on VBA-24m nor Bizhawk (mgba core).
TODO: Test on Bizhawk VBA-Next. Test on regular VBA-M. Test at different points in the game (which causes the dialogue box to have different text and amount of bubbles).


(Go to 5:55 in the video)

Money Trick Glitch

When doing the money trick where Luigi highjumps on small Mario, sometimes it counts as two hits, effectively converting Luigi's HP into money twice as fast as was intended.
Note that 1 Luigi HP equals 1 coin on the English version and 2 Luigi HP equals 1 coin on the Japanese version.

Firehand Battle Encounter Glitch

Mario has to be behind Luigi and Luigi has to be underground. When Mario behind Luigi charges firehand, and an enemy approaches to start a battle, if you let go of charging firehand at the same moment Luigi is forced out of the ground, the game may graphically glitch or crash depending on Mario's facing direction.


Wide Bros. Coin Block Glitch

If you hit a wide coin block, it will eventually solidify. If you hit a saveblock or stand in front of a sign, a glitch occurs: Instead of the wide block becoming solid, the saveblock or sign will move towards the wide block.
When you hit the wide block, event layer 2 is occupied. It holds an event pointer related to the wide block and there is a timer running down. When it has run down, the game attempts to run the event that is stored in layer 2. But if you do something that occupies layer 2 as well, such as hitting a saveblock or standing in front of an NPC or sign, the movement bug happens.
Why exactly it happens is a mystery for now.
Details:


Bowser's Castle Skip

When you defeat the final boss, you are to use an escape route to leave Bowser's Castle before it explodes.
You can use the same escape route the other way around to reach Cackletta while skipping all Koopalings and Fawful. All you have to do is use one of the wall clipping glitches to get up the ledge and then walk into the next room.
Important: If all the timer addresses equal zero, the game will think that your time has run out and you will game-over. In order to prevent this from happening, you will need to trigger an event beforehand that uses a timer. Examples for good timer events are Hohooros' soul collecting minigame and the surf minigame on the islands.
There are also bad timer events because those will not prevent the game-over from happening. That's because the timer runs down to zero during those events. An example is the jumping minigame in Guffawha Ruins.
You want to trigger at least one "good timer event" before doing Bowser's Castle Skip. Also note that the timer address values are reset to zero when you reset the game. Therefore, if you load a savegame and then attempt the skip right after, it will game-over.
For the timer addresses, refer to the memory address list below.


Stat progression

After each level-up, Mario and Luigi will get their stats boosted. These stat increases are hardcoded (they are always the same depending on their level).
Please refer to this guide.
TODO: I don't know if there are version differences. The guide above probably used English version. Maybe transfer the list here. If this page becomes much bigger we could add subpages.

Attack algorithm

>TODO: This section is in need of an update:
Update with more accurate algorithm and values Forum/Posts/420185
The attack formula for the brothers is always:
Z * (Brother's POW - Enemy DEF / 2)
Z is a constant that depends on the attack (and on the version of the game).
The POW of the brother that makes contact with the enemy is used. With Knockback Bros, Mario's POW is used instead of Luigi's. And if the 2nd command is failed when doing Bounce Bros Advanced, then Mario's POW is used as well.
This look-up table uses the constants for the English version.
AttackZ
Mario
Jump0.4778
Hammer0.3175 or 0.4171 or 0.5167 (depends on RNG)
Hand0.4575
Splash Bros1.4318
Splash Bros Advanced1.2596
Swing Bros1.4318 (?)
Swing Bros Advanced0.2282 extra hit?
Chopper Bros0.7167, 0.1903, 0.1903, 0.0951, 0.0951, 0.0466, 0.0466, then 0.0223 until attack ends
Chopper Bros Advanced0.9556, 0.2855, 0.2855, 0.1418, 0.1418, 0.0951, 0.0951, 0.0466, 0.0466, 0.0466(, 0.0466?), then 0.0223 until attack ends
Fire Bros0.0996 per, 0.1992 for failed Luigi hit
Fire Bros Advanced1.789 per
Luigi
Jump0.3984
Hammer0.3175 or 0.4373 or 0.5571 (depends on RNG)
Hand 0.4575
Bounce Bros1.1945
Bounce Bros Advanced0.4778
Knockback Bros1.1455
Knockback Bros Advamced1.2596, 0.2282, 0.2282, 0.1141, 0.1141, 0.0559, 0.0559, then 0.0268 until attack ends
Cyclone Bros0.1700 per
Cyclone Bros Advanced0.1431 extra hit
Thunder Bros0.2389
Thunder Bros Advanced0.8361
Both
Jump Fail0.2381
Hammer Fail0.1587
Hand Fail0.1182
First Strike0.1992
Counter Attack0.1992

RNG

What are the RNG addresses?

The two known RNG addresses are listed at the bottom of the page. It is believed that there are more RNG addresses in the game (see "When does RNG change" below), but the two known ones are the most important ones.

Which things are controlled by RNG?

RNG influences overworld NPC and enemy movement, lucky hits, levelup bonus roulettes (although you can close and re-open roulettes to get a different pattern), in-battle enemy attacks, if the brothers are affected by attacks that deal status ailments, minigames and more.

When does RNG change?

RNG changes when in the pause menu's item screen (changes once every few frames), when overworld NPCs or enemies move around on the screen, when closing and re-opening a level-up roulette, and after a turn in-battle (different attacks advance the RNG differently).
Note, that luck can be manipulated by waiting on speech bubbles. Every single frame you wait longer on a speech bubble will cause RNG to change, even if the two known RNG addresses haven't changed. Therefore it is believed that there are more, yet undiscovered RNG addresses in the game.
Note, that item drops can be manipulated by entering battles at different frames, independently from the two known RNG addresses. Once a battle is entered, the random item drop is determined. (In Popple battles, defeating Popple will reward you with an item drop that's guaranteed)

Where can RNG be manipulated?

In a TAS, NPCs in Hoohoo Mountain Village can be manipulated so they walk conveniently and you "body boost" off of them.
In Stardust Fields in the Tolstar boss fight, each time Tolstar decides to do his other attack, there is a chance that a "Nyeeeck!" text box will appear which loses time. RNG can be manipulated so that fewer text boxes appear, to the point of having no "Nyeeeck!" text boxes appear in the boss fight (see the video here). 

In Stardust fields, fighting enemies is mandatory to acquire the 100 coins for Tolstar. When you enter into an encounter, whilst in a battle, each enemy has a small chance of dropping a mushroom after the battle ends. Depending on the number of enemies in the battle, the chances of getting mushrooms greatly increase. RNG can be manipulated so that as many enemies drop mushrooms at the end of the battle, thus making it one of the fastest ways to obtain mushrooms as those fights are required for coins and for increasing the Splash Bros uses counter. This can be done by entering battles at different frames and seeing if mushrooms are dropped at the end.

In most battles, when it's the enemy's turn to attack, they have to choose which bro they will target, which is determined by RNG. For most enemies and bosses it's fastest to target Mario since he is closer to them than Luigi is, so we have to manipulate that to occur as much as possible. 

Before "Sign Glitch" was discovered, glitched speedruns used to have to go to Oho Oasis and then death warp back to Beanbean Castle, using an Oho Jee battle. Since Oho Jee often does not cooperate it used to be important to luck-manipulate him to kill you quickly.

Manipulating luck in the overworld can be done by walking through previous rooms differently, so NPCs and enemies are on screen different amounts of time or sooner/later so their movement influences the RNG differently.




 Route

 Normal route

Here is a rough overview of the order in which you have to visit places in a normal playthrough.

  1.  in Yoshi theatre. You have to collect 7 beanfruits in the Beanbean outskirts. Visiting the theatre triggers Piranha Bean to appear in north-eastern outskirts which gives you 1 of the beanfruits.

  2.  in Chucklehuck Woods. You have to pay 500 coins to play a minigame in order to gain access to a place in which you fight Popple for the starbean piece.

  3.  in the southern outskirts. You have to color clothes.




 TAS route (1:12:29 in 2012)

Here is an overview of the places that the TAS visited:




 New Any% TAS route (59:19 in 2021)




 All Bosses route (Japanese Version) (2021)




 Game progression

The game is very sequence break-friendly and thus will seldom softlock when you access places out of order. Of importance is the state of Beanbean Castle Town:




 Memory addresses

Memory addresses listed on this page work for any version of the game (US, JP, EU). You can also use savegames between different versions. Note that editing stats while in battle will not have an effect.

 Mario

0x020048662-byteHP
0x0200486A2-byteHP max
0x0200486C2-byteBP
0x020048702-byteBP max
0x020048742-bytePow
0x0200487C2-byteDefense
0x020048782-byteSpeed
0x020048802-byteStache (Hige)
0x020048881-byteLevel
0x0200485c2-byteExperience
 Luigi

0x020048A22-byteHP
0x020048A62-byteHP max
0x020048A82-byteBP
0x020048AC2-byteBP max
0x020048B02-bytePow
0x020048B82-byteDefense
0x020048B42-byteSpeed
0x020048BC2-byteStache (Hige)
0x020048C41-byteLevel
0x020048982-byteExperience
 Items

0x020048E21-byteMushrooms
0x020048E31-byteSupermushrooms
0x020048E41-byteUltramushrooms
0x020048E51-byteMAX Mushrooms
0x020048E61-byteNuts
0x020048E71-byteSupernuts
0x020048E81-byteUltranuts
0x020048E91-byteMAX Nuts
0x020048EA1-byteSyrups
0x020048EB1-byteSupersyrups
0x020048EC1-byteUltrasyrups
0x020048ED1-byteMAX Syrups
0x020048EE1-byte1-Ups
0x020048EF1-byte1-Up Deluxes
0x020048F01-byteGold Mushrooms
0x020048F11-byteRefresh Herbs
0x020048F21-byteRed Peppers
0x020048F31-byteGreen Peppers
0x020048F41-byteWoohoo Blends
0x020048F51-byteHoohoo Blends
0x020048F61-byteChuckle Blends
0x020048F71-byteTeehee Blends
0x020048F81-byteHoolumbians
0x020048F91-byteChuckoccinos
0x020048FA1-byteTeeheespressos
 Beans

0x020049021-byteWoo Beans
0x020049031-byteHoo Beans
0x020049041-byteChuckle Beans
0x020049051-byteHee Beans
 Badges

0x020049121-byteBean Badges
0x020049131-byteCastle Badges
0x020049141-bytePea Badges
0x020049151-byteBean B. Badges
0x020049161-byteCounter Badges
0x020049171-byteCharity Badges
0x020049181-byteBros. Badges
0x020049191-byteMiracle Badges
0x0200491A1-byteOhoracle Badges
0x0200491B1-byteMush Badges
0x0200491C1-byteMari-Lui Badges
0x0200491D1-byteMuscle Badges
0x0200491E1-byteSpiny Badges AA
0x0200491F1-byteMush Badges A
0x020049201-byteGrab Badges
0x020049211-byteMush Badges AA
0x020049221-bytePower Badges
0x020049231-byteWonder Badges
0x020049241-byteBeauty Badges
0x020049251-byteSalvage Badges
0x020049261-byteOh-Pah Badges
0x020049271-byteBrilliant Badges
0x020049281-byteSarge Badges
0x020049291-byteGeneral Badges
0x0200492A1-byteTank Badges
0x0200492B1-byteSchool Emblems
0x0200492C1-byteSteady Badges
0x0200492D1-byteOho Jee Symbols
0x0200492E1-byteSpiny Badges A
0x0200492F1-byteBros. Lives
0x020049301-bytePiranha Swings
0x020049311-byteBros. Rocks
0x020049321-byteLucky Ribbons
0x020049331-byteMush Badges A
0x020049341-byteSoulful Bros.
0x020049351-byteHigh-End Badges
0x020049361-byteHand Auras
0x020049371-byteSledge Hearts
0x020049381-byteLucky Bros.
0x020049391-byteBros. Respects
0x0200493A1-byteBowser Fists
0x0200493B1-byteBowser Fangs
0x0200493C1-byteSpike Badges
0x0200493D1-byteChuckola Badges
 Pants

0x0200494A1-byteWork Pants
0x0200494B1-byteWork Jeans
0x0200494C1-byteBean Pants
0x0200494D1-byteBlue Jeans
0x0200494E1-byteParasol Pants
0x0200494F1-byteHard Pants
0x020049501-byteHeart Jeans
0x020049511-bytePlaid Trousers
0x020049521-byte#1 Trousers
0x020049531-byteSafety Slacks
0x020049541-byteShroom Pants
0x020049551-byteShroom Bells
0x020049561-byteShroom Slacks
0x020049571-bytePeachy Jeans
0x020049581-byteMushwin Pants
0x020049591-byteMushluck Pants
0x0200495A1-byteScandal Jeans
0x0200495B1-byteStreet Jeans
0x0200495C1-byteTropic Jeans
0x0200495D1-byteHermetic Jeans
0x0200495E1-byteBeanstar Pants
0x0200495F1-bytePeasley Slacks
0x020049601-byteQueen Bean Slacks
0x020049611-byteB. Brand Jeans
0x020049621-byteHeart Slacks
0x020049631-byteCasual Slacks
0x020049641-byteBubble's Gears
0x020049651-byteChuckola Pants
0x020049661-byteSmart Pants
0x020049671-byteSchool Slacks
0x020049681-byteOho Jee Wears
0x020049691-byteOho Gears
0x0200496A1-byteCasual Corals
0x0200496B1-bytePiranha Suits
0x0200496C1-byteAnuboo Jeans
0x0200496D1-byteAncient Pants
0x0200496E1-byteHeavy Slacks
0x0200496F1-byteLight Slacks
0x020049701-byteHarhall's Pants
0x020049711-byteJeanie Jeans
0x020049721-byteWool Trousers
0x020049731-byteRandom Slacks
0x020049741-byteJeaniest Jeans
0x020049751-byteSafe Guards
0x020049761-byteIron Pants
 Position (Mario)

0x02006C144-byteX position
0x02006C184-byteY position
0x02006C1C4-byteAltitude
0x02006C204-byteZ position
 Position (Luigi)

0x02006FB04-byteX position
0x02006FB44-byteY position
0x02006FB84-byteAltitude
0x02006FBC4-byteZ position
 Misc.

0x02001E601-byteRNG 1
0x02001E641-byteRNG 2
0x020043598th bitGreen Pipe 1 Flag
0x0200435A1st bitGreen Pipe 2 Flag
 2nd bitGreen Pipe 3 Flag
 3rd bitGreen Pipe 4 Flag
 4th bitGreen Pipe 5 Flag
 5th bitGreen Pipe 6 Flag
 6th bitGreen Pipe 7 Flag
 7th bitGreen Pipe 8 Flag
 8th bitGreen Pipe 9 Flag
0x020046841-byte# of uses of SplashBros
0x0200468C1-byte# of uses of BounceBros
0x020046861-byte# of uses of ChopperBros
0x0200468E1-byte# of uses of KnockbackBros
0x020048E02-bytecoins
0x0300216E1-byteTimer (minutes)
0x0300216F1-byteTimer (seconds)
0x030021711-byteTimer (milliseconds)
The advanced attack will be learned after SplashBros has been used 20 times, BounceBros 8 times, ChopperBros 32 times and KnockbackBros 43 times.







	

	




	GameResources/GBA/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga last edited by adelikat 11 days ago







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