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.


Post subject: Re: video of improvement
ALAKTORN
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Kyman wrote:
Here is a temporary video of the improvement that I found... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu_Oe4SF7xU This uses a GWK to save a wallkick and ends up saving 15 frames (so far) and as of right now, the final time would be 5:02.22.
HAVE MY BABIES @jlun: in case you were thinking GWKs were a new thing he just found… they’re not, they’re just sort of hard to do and non-obvious in their possible placement, I think
Joined: 6/26/2011
Posts: 167
It's really hard to see small frame improvements, even in comparison to the original run. But it's easy to respect the level of the work done in it, and it's clear the run is well done. Here's a yes vote and hope for a bright future of SM64 TASing~.
First a movie gets submitted, and ends up accepted despite breaking rules other runs have been rejected for. And when I vote less than spectacularly on this movie, I become the victim of harassment and threats. Yay, favoritism.
Joined: 7/22/2009
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Location: Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
You guys should work more on skipping the first bowser and subbing 5 this game. Yes vote on this submission for the encouragement.
Taming Dolphin, one frame at a time
sack_bot
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i think BlJing up to the lock or a text jump is faster than whating for you to hit the water. MEH!
Message me here for my discord. Current Project: Psycho Waluigi Project on wait list: None?
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<mugg> 60 + 0.75*30 more frames till sm64 5:00:00 (assuming the current time is 5:02.75) <Nahoc> mugg: 83 frames is a lot. :P <mugg> nahoc, how about using the japanese version? <mugg> I think it saves 2.7 sec <Nahoc> mugg: LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL <Nahoc> YES <Nahoc> YES <mugg> then we need 0.05 more sec <Nahoc> BEST IDEA EVER <Nahoc> Let's SUBMIT SM64 IN JAPANESE!! W00TTT Right now the time is 5:02.22 or so, so a TAS on the Japanese version may be below the 5 minute mark. I wouldn't mind a TAS on the japanese version, even though there are no English voices. The world record console runners (nero and siglemic) use the japanese version as well. I would favor a version switch just for the sole sake of seeing a sub 5 minute run.
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I think Mickey told me once that the J version isn't faster for a 0 Star run due to text or something. I've never personally verified this though. Edit: Confirmed my sketchy memory: [9:36:05 PM] Jeremiah (SP): Hi Mickey. Is the Japanese ROM faster than the U ROM for a 0 Star run? [9:37:24 PM] Vis⇔SONY/MICKEY: No [9:37:37 PM] Vis⇔SONY/MICKEY: USA version is faster than J ROM [9:37:45 PM] Jeremiah (SP): Because of text speed? [9:38:42 PM] Vis⇔SONY/MICKEY: Loading time is slower than U ROM. Of course, text speed is slower
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MUGG wrote:
The world record console runners (nero and siglemic) use the japanese version as well.
Why do they use the J ROM if the U ROM is faster (according to Mickey/VIS)?
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sonicpacker wrote:
needz moar height Edit: It's slower than the normal method ;(
How much slower is it? Does it have potential to become (slightly) faster?
ALAKTORN
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to me, it looks very obvious that that method has no chance of being faster…
Patryk1023
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This. Breaks. Last. SM64. Record. AGAIN! Yes.
<Nach> scrimpy is fretty with her sunglasses on I'm here. never visible.
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jlun2 wrote:
sonicpacker wrote:
needz moar height Edit: It's slower than the normal method ;(
How much slower is it? Does it have potential to become (slightly) faster?
Like 3 seconds. So no, not even close.
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At the start of BiFS, any chance you can BLJ off the moving platform when it rises out of the lava? Or perhaps off the nearby tilting platforms?
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Flip wrote:
At the start of BiFS, any chance you can BLJ off the moving platform when it rises out of the lava? Or perhaps off the nearby tilting platforms?
Not really. There's a BLJ right here: but it's never proved useful. And yes, we have hit the pole directly behind it.
ALAKTORN
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sonicpacker wrote:
Flip wrote:
At the start of BiFS, any chance you can BLJ off the moving platform when it rises out of the lava? Or perhaps off the nearby tilting platforms?
Not really. There's a BLJ right here: but it's never proved useful. And yes, we have hit the pole directly behind it.
can you go to the pillars at the beginning of the stage and WK really high from those with enough speed to get to Bowser’s pipe? edit: can you WK off of the stage’s invisible borders?
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ALAKTORN wrote:
sonicpacker wrote:
Flip wrote:
At the start of BiFS, any chance you can BLJ off the moving platform when it rises out of the lava? Or perhaps off the nearby tilting platforms?
Not really. There's a BLJ right here: but it's never proved useful. And yes, we have hit the pole directly behind it.
can you go to the pillars at the beginning of the stage and WK really high from those with enough speed to get to Bowser’s pipe? edit: can you WK off of the stage’s invisible borders?
Wall kicking on those pillars would take far too long, and no you can't. Otherwise it would've been done forever ago. =P
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sonicpacker wrote:
Wall kicking on those pillars would take far too long, and no you can't. Otherwise it would've been done forever ago. =P
I think he meant using the BLJ and pole as in the youtube videos, but hit the 45-degree-angle of the pillars to start WKing up them. but if the level borders can't be kicked, that doesn't help.
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One question on this pole BLJ in general. I've tried to TAS this once myself (and horribly failed) and this question occured to me: Can you grab the pole only with a limited amount of speed and did you use the max. number in your test video? Oh and someone keen on telling me how to keep the speed after grabbing the pole? I used MHS while TASing and it always seemed like Mario instantly lost all his speed after grabbing it.
ALAKTORN
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bkDJ wrote:
sonicpacker wrote:
Wall kicking on those pillars would take far too long, and no you can't. Otherwise it would've been done forever ago. =P
I think he meant using the BLJ and pole as in the youtube videos, but hit the 45-degree-angle of the pillars to start WKing up them. but if the level borders can't be kicked, that doesn't help.
yes, that’s what I meant… why would you need the level’s borders for it to work?
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MrGrunz wrote:
One question on this pole BLJ in general. I've tried to TAS this once myself (and horribly failed) and this question occured to me: Can you grab the pole only with a limited amount of speed and did you use the max. number in your test video?
There is no max speed for grabbing things like poles. It all has to do with Mario's position. My BLJ was the max speed that let me stay inside the boxed area (and not fly out the back), so I guess yes, I had "max" speed.
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sonicpacker wrote:
MrGrunz wrote:
One question on this pole BLJ in general. I've tried to TAS this once myself (and horribly failed) and this question occured to me: Can you grab the pole only with a limited amount of speed and did you use the max. number in your test video?
There is no max speed for grabbing things like poles. It all has to do with Mario's position. My BLJ was the max speed that let me stay inside the boxed area (and not fly out the back), so I guess yes, I had "max" speed.
hmm, you couldn't you then grab that other pole with a huge amount of speed, get forward speed and then do a jump up into the elevator boxed area? Just throwing out ideas, I know how annoying it can be if people that are unfimiliar with TASing some game keep suggesting things you've tested several times already.
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MrGrunz wrote:
sonicpacker wrote:
MrGrunz wrote:
One question on this pole BLJ in general. I've tried to TAS this once myself (and horribly failed) and this question occured to me: Can you grab the pole only with a limited amount of speed and did you use the max. number in your test video?
There is no max speed for grabbing things like poles. It all has to do with Mario's position. My BLJ was the max speed that let me stay inside the boxed area (and not fly out the back), so I guess yes, I had "max" speed.
hmm, you couldn't you then grab that other pole with a huge amount of speed, get forward speed and then do a jump up into the elevator boxed area?
No. You go through the wall of the platform below the "!" box.
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Does anybody know if these m64 files will sync with the "Player's Choice" version of the game? I found a copy on eBay for $10 but if it won't sync I won't buy it.
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ALAKTORN wrote:
yes, that’s what I meant… why would you need the level’s borders for it to work?
Maybe there's something I'm missing, but since the tops of the pillars are beneath cement and lava... ... wouldn't you need to go beyond the sides of that container and use the level borders to gain any more height? That's what I thought was the point of asking about the WK-ability of the invisible walls.
ALAKTORN
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^I didn’t look what was at the top of those pillars, mine was just a random idea WKing the level’s borders would open so many opportunities that using the 2 pillars in the beginning wouldn’t make sense with it, I was just checking whether the TASers tried it (it doesn’t work in SM64DS either)