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Game objectives

This run was built in less than a week and mainly made from hex editing. I asked some SM64 TASers if they would let me use their optimized single star runs and they gladly accepted, which led to this masterpiece. I really hope you enjoy this run!
This run is an improvement of 2 minutes and 58 seconds to the first "16 stars" TAS by Spezzafer and an improvement of 30.6 seconds to the last "16 stars" TAS made by DennisBalow and ReneBalow.

New tricks in this run (pasted from the "0 stars" submission text)

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. This saves time in a few places.
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.

Star times (excluding text messages)

StarTime
Bowser in the Dark World Red Coins34"87
Blast Away the Wall7"17
Fall onto the Caged Island9"20
Shoot into the Wild Blue9"23
Inside the Ancient Pyramid16"95
Shining Atop the Pyramid6"13
In the Talons of the Big Bird13"67
Hot-Foot-It into the Volcano16"07
8-Coin Puzzle with 15 Pieces13"90
Red-Hot Log Rolling7"50
Boil the Big Bully14"37
Swimming Beast in the Cavern14"90
Watch for Rolling Rocks14"13
A-Maze-ing Emergency Exit10"77
Board Bowser's Sub33"48
Bowser in the Fire Sea22"27
Bowser in the Sky29"30

Authors

Eru

He did Boil the Big Bully (which was a pain to hex, along with Watch for Rolling Rocks).

Mickey/VIS

He did Bowser in the Dark World Red Coins, 8-Coin Puzzle with 15 Pieces, Watch for Rolling Rocks and Bowser in the Sky entry. Huge thanks to him, since I was struggling with that last part.

snark

He did Hot-Foot-It into the Volcano, Shining Atop the Pyramid and Inside the Ancient Pyramid.

The "0 stars" team

They let me use their Lakitu skip, Bowser in the Dark World entry, Bowser in the Fire Sea and Bowser in the Sky.

The Japanese SM64 community

They did Fall onto the Caged Island and Shoot into the Wild Blue.

Special thanks

sonicpacker

He supported me and helped hexing the rerecords.

Efrain and Jesus

They let me take a look at their "16 stars" WIP which helped me saving 1 frame from the second key door to Shifting Sand Land.

DennisBalow and ReneBalow

Their "16 stars" TAS helped me for comparison.

The SM64.org community

For keeping SM64 speedrunning, hacking and TASing alive!

Suggested Screenshots

[dead links removed]

DarkKobold: Claimed for judging
DarkKobold: I'd like to first start by saying that this run was extremely well done, and no one is questioning that.
However, in reality, the original 16 star, followed by the 1 star, and finally 0 star are technically mislabeled, and should all be labeled as "any%," for purposes of site standardization. (Why Super Mario 64 got special treatment is beyond me). Originally, that wasn't a problem, as no one was clamoring for a 1 star run over a 0 star run. Now, it has to be dealt with as a separate category.
That said, a precedent for this has been set, in #2136: Saturn's SNES Super Metroid "glitchless low%" in 42:37.13. I'll quote mmbossman:
"Quoting the Judge Guidelines: ‘’Keep the number of different branches per a game minimal.’’ This run is an attempt to resurrect a movie branch that is now obsolete, ..., and I see no need to resurrect a dead category."
The majority of the audience has stated things in agreement with that last sentiment. As there is no major reason to revive this category, I am rejecting for goal choice.


Patashu
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IMO it's useful in that it can be compared to real time speedruns, which have yet to finish with 1 or 0 stars.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Experienced player (520)
Joined: 4/14/2009
Posts: 116
@16-star is best for console: There are many people who have done 1 star runs and a few which have done 0 star runs. The recent SDA marathon actually had a 1-star run done live, so the BLJs aren't some impossible luck-based trick that require a day of attempts. From the few minutes I saw of the encode before it went down, it was obviously as optimized as the 0 star run. However, as said before, the 16-star category seems to be arbitrary and skipping certain tricks for no real reason. On the other hand, the japanese record sites track it as a seperate category, and there are already TASes of it on the site, so there is definitely an argument for the legitimacy of the category. Furthermore, TASVideos cares a lot about entertainment, which this run definitely has (the same entertainment can probably be extracted from a 70 star run, but none exist yet). I voted meh originally, but the more I think about it, this deserves a yes. Yeah the category is awkward, but it is a common category among speedrunners and has runs published on the site already.
Mitjitsu
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I'm sure you all had great fun working on the run, but I don't know why you submitted it here. Unless your intention was for it to be featured in gruefood delight.
Editor, Experienced player (569)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4034
Nahoc wrote:
And for all of you who are saying that SM64 is "hex-friendly" and that a new "120 stars" run could easily be made... hexing stuff in this run wasn't fun at all (just thinking about Watch for Rolling Rocks manipulation gives me nightmares) and many many things needed to be re-done many many times (you can judge from the rerecord count). Collecting the Japanese .m64s + .sts wasn't a piece of cake either. I personally think that this run provides its load of entertainment and his different enough from the "120 stars" and "0 stars" run to be accepted.
Seeing how much work went into this, I give it a yes vote! The run was very entertaining and obviously more optimized than the older 16 star runs. I agree that it deserves its own category. And if this gets published, I second this screenshot:
Joined: 5/2/2009
Posts: 656
this
mmbossman wrote:
*Still patiently waiting for a 70 star run with a well defined list of disallowed glitches...*
this
miseiler wrote:
Someone encode this so I can watch this "pointless" run which is the best we're going to get since the 120-star TAS will never be made, ever.
aaaand this
Sonikkustar wrote:
Voting no for inconsistent and pointless goals. I dont understand how banning one glitch and collecting 16 stars instead of 0 really warrants it a new category. However, It is nicely done I gotta admit.
But I'll probably vote yes to this submission geting a spot at gruefood delight. Please, do at least the 70-star run. The only restriction I'd needed is "not passing trough castle doors". please.
My first language is not English, so please excuse myself if I write something wrong. I'll do my best do write as cleary as I can, so cope with me here =) (ノಥ益ಥ)ノ
Editor, Experienced player (859)
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Please, do at least the 70-star run. The only restriction I'd needed is "not passing trough castle doors". please.
Then, 99% of the gameplay would exactly be the same as the "120 stars" TAS.
adelikat
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jlun2 wrote:
Since this run will most likely be rejected, can it be at least mentioned in the current "0 star" run submission text?
Given that Swordless' 16-star run was mentioned in one of the 0-star movie descriptions, this is a high probability!
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
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Joined: 6/18/2010
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If there were an encode to watch, I'd probably vote yes for this. I don't have any issues with pointless appeals to tradition/nostalgia, as long as everyone involved knows that's what they are. For a long time 16-star was the state of the art, and this is one of the most popular games of all time. Yadda yadda. I don't think the internet is running out of space. (Since I suspect I am in the minority here, I am pleased at adelikat's intimation that this run will at least be linked to in the 0-star summary text.)
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miseiler wrote:
the 120-star TAS will never be made, ever.
Hey, the LoZ:OoT run was made even after a really, really long time, so don't lose hope.
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arkiandruski wrote:
But I really do believe 70 star will be the greatest category.
In a way a 70-star run would make more sense than a 16-star run because the latter is an arbitrary number which is only dictated by the cronology of discovered glitches, while the former is the "official" minimum number of stars one has to collect to complete the game in the normal way. In other words, the 70-star run would comply to the often-suggested category "uses the route intended by the game developers". OTOH, if you are going to collect the required 70 stars, why don't go the extra mile and collect all 120 stars while you are at it?
Player (210)
Joined: 7/7/2006
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Location: US
Thanks for making this movie available to everyone. It appears well played. The concept of a side-BLJ seems pretty arbitrary. I don't think it is appropriate to define a category based on the past. Like RingRush said, 0 star runs have been completed non-TAS now, and 1 star runs could be done by anyone with enough practice. I would vote yes on a 120 star run including optimal strategies from before a reasonable date, and I would vote yes to a well played 70 star run banning BLJs and perhaps other things needing discussed. (Banning HSWKs also seems strange, because two optimal wall kicks would sort of constitute a HSWK.) Perhaps the criteria is "no BLJs, must open all star doors." I digress. 16 star is an arbitrary restriction based in the past. Voting no. Also, 120 stars is the best category.
Warepire
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I really enjoyed the run but just as everyone else I feel this goal is no longer a valid goal for this site... I'll have to vote No.
Joined: 10/20/2006
Posts: 1248
70 star run should be BLJ-less, so it differs more from the 120 star run. I'm still waiting for an encode, but most likely going to vote no. I am suggesting to include a link to this run in the description of the currently published 120 star run though. Reason being, that if a 120 was to be compiled now, these 16 stars would be included almost 1:1, so one could view it as some kind of pseudo-120-stars-wip. It would serve as a good indicator of how an updated version of the currently published run, that really isn't up to date anymore, would look like. Then again, that would probably make the description of the 120 star run, which is really clear and precise now, unnecasserily confusing.
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Kirkq wrote:
The concept of a side-BLJ seems pretty arbitrary. I don't think it is appropriate to define a category based on the past.
Actually that's a quite good additional point. If the glitch which allowed completing the game with only 1 star had been discovered before any 16-star runs had been created (and hence it would have gone directly from 70 stars to 1 star), there would be no concept of "16-star run" and the number 16 would be completely arbitrary. (Because it is, really.) I don't know for certain, but I wouldn't be surprised that if you arbitrarily forbade a carefully-selected list of glitches, you would come up with an equally arbitrary number of minimum amount of stars that have to be collected (other than 70, 16 or 1).
Patashu
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Patashu wrote:
IMO it's useful in that it can be compared to real time speedruns, which have yet to finish with 1 or 0 stars.
I have been corrected by Kles. There is indeed a real time 0 star completion of SM64: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm12887548
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
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My problem with this run is that it skips the 8-star door. If you want to do a run in the classic 16-star way, thats okay, but this skip isn't part of the classic route. Without that glitch, it would be very interesting to see the limit of the classic route! It's not the fact that it collects 16 stars, it's the route that makes this category look arbitrary...
Current project: Gex 3 any% Paused: Gex 64 any% There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
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Post subject: Re: #2976: Eru & Kyman & Mickey/VIS & Moltov & Nahoc & SilentSlayers & snark & sonicpacker's N64 Super Mario 64 "16 stars" in 13:28.4
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Brushy wrote:
Nahoc wrote:
Side-BLJing allows to bypass the 30-stars door and DDD which would be pointless since you could beat the game with 0 star.
You said it yourself, this run is pointless.
Good job quoting Nahoc out of context there :/ I'm voting yes. Why? Firstly there are several strategies in place that wouldn't be seen in either the 0 or 120 star runs (i.e. the mips glitch, different bljing around the castle etc. etc.). Secondly there are some games in the TAS community that are a LOT more popular than others, and are probably more deserving of having multiple categories. SM64 is in my opinion one of those games that is popular enough to warrant having 3 or 4 categories. Besides which, a 120-star run isn't coming up in the near future and it seems a little silly to only have one up-to-date category when there are so many people who are contributing towards TASing this game. And as SL has pointed out, this is arguably the most fun to watch category of them all, and should be considered on that merit. Good to see some lively debate around here ;)
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Voted yes. The run is entertaining. The argument for being arbitrary is just silly when you have movies like "SMB1 Walkathon." Just like that movie disables holding "B" to run, this movie disables side-bljs which allowed for 1 or even 0 star completions. Disabling running to watch something extremely slow < Disabling a trick that allowed for the current runs (0 Star), to make something just as entertaining Bottom line, this movie is entertaining and far from arbitrary (especially by this sites standards, let alone the SM64 community).
ALAKTORN
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^that comparison makes no sense "SMB1 Walkathon" doesn't re-use an obsoleted strategy with better optimization to see how fast it could've been, it's a completely different category which was considered entertaining enough (apparently, I haven't watched it)
Joined: 1/10/2010
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I voted yes because this run is quite entertaining. In my opinion, "no Side-BLJs" is a less arbitrary goal than "no sword except against Ganon" or "kills no enemies except bosses". While the 16-Star goal might have never existed if the 1 Star route had been found first, it's still historically relevant and popular as a route.
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spweasel wrote:
I voted yes because this run is quite entertaining. In my opinion, "no Side-BLJs" is a less arbitrary goal than "no sword except against Ganon" or "kills no enemies except bosses". While the 16-Star goal might have never existed if the 1 Star route had been found first, it's still historically relevant and popular as a route.
According to your logic, then these runs should've been published. =l .......... Or did I misunderstood you? =O
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Somebody humor me here. What is a side BLJ and how does it differ from a BLJ?
ALAKTORN
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Inzult wrote:
Somebody humor me here. What is a side BLJ and how does it differ from a BLJ?
think of it like allowing up+down but not left+right
Tompa
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Here's Nahoc's explanations on it. [17:08:19] <Nahoc> Side-BLJs are mostly fesible on stairs [17:08:36] <Nahoc> When landing a longjump, you have 4 frames to press "A" and long jump again [17:08:53] <Nahoc> The maximum backwards speed when longjumping is -15.99 [17:09:40] <Nahoc> But, at a certain angle, you can't do a BLJ on one stair and catch the other stair on those 4 frames, to re-BLJ. [17:09:51] <Nahoc> Even with initial -15.99 speed [17:10:13] <Nahoc> So you have to change your angle to do multiple BLJs on the exact same stair [17:10:20] <Nahoc> Called side-BLJing