This page is out of date and should not be interpreted as fully accurate. For more up-to-date information, use this Google Docs sheet

Super Mario 64 History

Contents

• History
• 120 star
• Trivia
• 70 star
• Trivia
• 16 star
• 1 star
• 0 star

History

---

Origins - 2004

Speedrunning Super Mario 64 dates back to at least 2003 when individual levels and stars were the preferred method instead of beating the entire game. The early website sm64.com contributed much to the early infrastructure of keeping records of speedruns with video proof and star leaderboards. Early video game forums and Internet message boards provided a convenient means of sharing strategies towards the game, some not necessarily towards speedrunning but performing glitches and tricks, etc. This early means of communication, combined with the new technology of sharing videos on the Internet allowed ideas to spread rapidly.

2004 was an important year for the game. In one year it provided the first documented 120 star run, the first 70 star run and the development of a 16 star route which months later was turned into a speedrun. All these early runs set the first standards which would be used for years to come.

2005-2009/10

With the rise of the Internet and easy access to emulators, TAS runs started to exist. These TAS runs would push the known limits of speed in the game, and end results would be often hold new strats that RTA runners could theoretically do. In 2007 the 1 star category and then the 0 star category were both discovered. The any% (0 star) could not go any lower, and thus no more categories could be discovered in the same way. Many TAS runs would go viral on YouTube at this time.

An early authority at the time to collect full game speedruns was SpeedRuns.net, but was discontinued in 2008. Another early authority was Speed Demos Archive, which hosted its own Super Mario 64 page back in 2005. Speed Demos Archive (SDA) continues to exist today, and is related to the semi-annual Games Done Quick events. SDA should be noted that it is strictly related to RTA speedruns, not TAS.

In 2010 a 16 star leaderboard emerged via the RTA Japanese Wiki, setting a trend still used for the modern Speedrun.com leaderboards today.

2009/10 - present

With the RTA Japanese Wiki listing individual speedrunners and not just WRs, many Japanese speedrunners during this time began push the game in every category, some being previously TAS-only (1 star & 0 star). In 2009 the 70 star WR was beaten within three and a half months, and in 2010 the 120 star was beaten less than two months later. This rapid turnover of WRs was unprecedented, and set a competitive trend that has not stopped since.

Livestreaming also started during this time with websites like NicoNico, JustinTV, and Ustream. Early streamers like Siglemic, Honey, Nero and Batora would speedrun the game live, and this would expose more people to the field, allowing rapid learning of the game. SpeedRunsLive would host races between live streamers speedrunning the game in the same category in real-time. Twitch would appear in 2011, and would be the home of a large number of WRs done live.

A Google Docs document provided an English-based leaderboard for each of the categories, and MarioRuns.com would also same the same purpose, allowing speedrunners to submit their times. A Speedrun.com leaderboard for Super Mario 64 also was created and as of the time of this writing this is the de-facto English-based leaderboard.

120 star

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The first documented 120 star speed run of this game was done by spiderman88mil on December 18, 2004 with a time of 2 hours, 57 minutes, 47 seconds. This does not mean it was necessarily the first 120 star run, just the first recorded one and shared on the Internet.

Here it is, via the Internet Archive:


The following is a 120 star history table from ts03002215's Google Doc Spreadsheet, which was verified by /r/speedrun in this thread. It only counts the N64 version of the game, and excludes the Virtual Console (VC), Wii U eShop, and emulator versions.

Date	Time	Runner	Video							Note
			Twitch	Youtube	Nico				Other
2016.11.29	1:40:10	Cheese05	Link
2016.08.06	1:40:12	Cheese05	Link
2016.06.09	1:40:29	Cheese05	Link
2016.06.08	1:40:34	Cheese05	Link
2016.04.30	1:40:39	Cheese05	Link
2015.12.19	1:40:44	Puncayshun	Link	Link						1:40:44.43
2015.09.09	1:40:51	Cheese05	Link
2015.09.06	1:40:52	Cheese05	Link	Link
2015.08.10	1:40:59	Puncayshun	Link							1:40:59.24
2015.04.22	1:41:12	Cheese05	Link	Link
2015.04.05	1:41:16	Cheese05	Link	Link						1:41:16.87
2015.03.07	1:42:09	ねろねろ(Nero)	Link*							.
2015.02.27	1:42:15	ねろねろ(Nero)		Link						1:42:15.92
2014.12.18	1:42:32	Puncayshun	Link*	Link						1:42:32.24
2014.09.24	1:42:41	Puncayshun		Link						1:42:41.32
2014.09.14	1:42:55	Puncayshun	Link*
2014.08.16	1:42:57	Puncayshun	Link*
2014.08.04	1:42:59	Puncayshun	Link*							1:42:59.67
2014.07.28	1:43:01	Puncayshun	Link*
2014.07.25	1:43:02	Puncayshun	Link*
2014.07.20	1:43:15	Puncayshun	Link*
2014.07.15	1:43:35	Puncayshun	Link*
2014.07.09	1:43:38	Puncayshun	Link*
2014.05.22	1:43:42	Puncayshun	Link*	Link
2014.04.22	1:43:53	Siglemic	Link*	Link
2013.01.31	1:44:01	Siglemic		Link
2012.10.15	1:44:23	Siglemic
2012.09.02	1:44:52	Siglemic		Link
2012.08.09	1:45:35	Siglemic	Link*							Hours later after Honey's record.
2012.08.10	1:45:41	はちみつ (Honey)		Link
2012.08.07	1:46:21	Siglemic								Image
2012.08.05	1:46:23	Siglemic	Link*
2012.03.15	1:46:35	ねろねろ(Nero)								Video had been deleted.
2012.03.02	1:47:05	はちみつ (Honey)		Link
2011.12.28	1:47:10	Siglemic		Link
2011.10.01	1:48:50	はちみつ (Honey)		Link
2011.05.19	1:49:49	えるも (Erumo)		Link	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4
2011.02.19	1:51:36	えるも (Erumo)		Link						1:50:40 in SDA
2010.12.24	1:52:02	バトラ (Batora)		Link	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4
...
2006.09.14	2:09:40	Dragorn							Link	TA
...
2004.12.18	2:57:47	spiderman88mil							Link	TA

* = video no longer exists

Trivia

• Taking into account the first known 120 speedrun with the current WR, there has been a total of 1 hour 17 minutes and 18 seconds saved.
• The longest reigning leader overall is Dragorn, with 4 years, 3 months, and 10 days.
• A competitive era for this category seems to have started on December 24, 2010 with バトラ (Batora)'s 1:52:02, which was broken a little less than two months after it was set.
• The longest streak of the "competitive era" (starting 2010.12.24) is Siglemic's 1 year 9 months, and 13 days.
• Puncayshun has had the most WR times, with 13.
• There has only been two recorded times when another version of the game (VC/WiiU eShop/EMU) has surpassed the existing N64 120 star WR: one was Hyassin27's VC 1:43:47 on August 18, 2013, the other was basedurngod333221's VC 1:43:22 on August 19, 2013.

70 star

---

70 star is the game's originally intended any% by its creators so it is a natural category for speedrunning.
The first known recorded 70 star speedrun for this game appears to be David 'marshmallow' Gibbons's run on June 24, 2004 with a time of 1 hour, 12 minutes, and 43 seconds:

The following table is from ts03002215's Google Doc Spreadsheet, with a difference being David 'marshmallow' Gibbons speedrun inclusion (which was verified via SpeedDemosArchive). Like the 120 run table, it only counts the N64 version of the game.

Date	Time	Runner	Video						Note
			Twitch	Youtube	Nico			Other
2016.10.10	47:56	Cheese	Link
2016.06.03	48:15	Cheese	Link
2016.05.18	48:16.89	しありお (Xiah)		Link	Link
2016.02.04	48:20	Puncayshun		Link
2015.04.21	48:35.57	Puncayshun	Link*	Link
2014.11.04	48:45.95	Puncayshun	Link*	Link
2014.07.02	48:57.66	Puncayshun	Link*	Link
2014.07.01	49:00.00	Puncayshun	Link*
2014.06.26	49:04.80	Puncayshun	Link*
2014.05.26	49:05.04	Puncayshun	Link*	Link
2012.11.20	49:09	Siglemic		Link
2012.11.18	49:26	Siglemic	Link	Link
2012.06.13	49:34	Siglemic		Link
2012.03.02	49:42	はちみつ (Honey)		Link	Part 1	Part 2
2011.10.25	50:14	ねろねろ(Nero)			Link*
2011.08.31	50:36	はちみつ (Honey)		Link
2011.08.22	51:08	はちみつ (Honey)		Link
2011.07.22	51:30	はちみつ (Honey)		Link
2011.06.21	51:38	タピオカ			Link*				From nicolive
2011.03.10	51:53	バトラ (Batora)			Part 1*	Part 2
2011.01.30	52:06	タピオカ			Part 1	Part 2
2010.12.13	52:30	バトラ (Batora)			Part 1*	Part 2
2010.10.04	53:09	タピオカ			Part 1	Part 2
2010.04.29	54:23	はちみつ (Honey)			Part 1	Part 2
2009.12.26	55:32	コブレっティ			Part 1	Part 2	Part 3
2009.09.15	56:47	コブレっティ			Part 1	Part 2	Part 3
......
2005.05.29	1:01:32	LeCoureur103							sm64.com
2004.06.24	1:12:43	David 'marshmallow' Gibbons						Link

* = video no longer exists

Trivia

• From the first known 70 speedrun with the current WR, there has been a total of 24 minutes and 28 seconds saved.
• The longest reigning leader overall is LeCoureur103, with 4 years, 3 months, and 17 days.
• A competitive era for this category seems to have started on September 15, 2009 with コブレっティ's 56:47, which was broken around 3 and a half months afterwards.
• The longest streak of the "competitive era" (starting 2009.09.15) is Siglemic's 1 year 11 months, and 13 days.
• Puncayshun has had the most WR times, with 7.

16 star

---

Unlike the 120 and 70 star categories, the 16 star category has a definite origin. It was first discovered by Dom Dunc and hinted at on May 9, 2004. Although not necessarily intended for speedrunning purposes, it regardless was implemented from then on out by future speedrunners to be used. This is his posting via GameFAQs:

From: Dom Dunc | Posted: 5/9/2004 1:36:16 PM | Message Detail
REVOLUTIONARY NEW GLITCH ALERT!

Well, here's something to brighten up your days:

Beat the game with 16 stars!

No, you didn't misread it. No, it's not a mistake. You CAN defeat the final Bowser with only 16 stars. That's less than a quarter of the original amount.

OK, here's the deal, I'm going to reveal how to do this glitch on the 15th of May of this year (along with a video of course), to celebrate the first anniversary of the ==Secrets of Mario 64== topic. (you might say I'm doing a Neo Ninja) This will give you time to try and figure it out for yourself.

There are two clues I will give you on how to find this glitch:

1) MIPS is involved. (all my messing about with that damn rabbit finally paid off)

2) It's so simple you'll kick yourself for not thinking of it first. (So simple in fact that it was about 15 minutes between first thinking of the glitch and completing the game)

Also, if you don't believe me, here's a teaser pic for you, it's a pic of me in the Bowser in the Sky level with 18 stars! You heard it here first, this is a world exclusive.

http://www.angelfire.com/pro2/zelda/18starslarge.jpg

Now, I know this pic could easily be doctored, so if you don't trust me, you'll just have to wait for the 15th... (I suggest you make sure you have a new game ready)

Feel free to ask me about theories you have, I'll be glad to tell you if you're hot of cold.


A few days later, he revealed the specifics:

Glitch 1) Beat the game with 16 stars.

To perform this glitch start a new game and play through it until you have 15 stars (so that MIPS appears in the basement), now head to Bowser in the Dark World and defeat him so you obtain the key to the basement of the castle. Now head down there and grab MIPS. Now take him to the door you came in through, that leads back to the room containing the 30 star door. Now you need to perform the 'take MIPS through doors glitch'. For those unfamiliar with this glitch here's a brief description;

Drop MIPS as close to the door as possible, then walk through the door. As soon as Mario has finished the door opening animation turn and jump back at the door. If you get the distance just right you should land merged with the door, if this happens don't move or you'll open the door, instead, press B to grab MIPS. Now turn and drop MIPS on the other side of the door.

Now grab MIPS again and take him to the 30 star door and drop him a short distance from the door. Now turn around and face away from the door and jump between MIPS and the door, if you get the distance right you should be bumped straight through the door and into the room behind.

Now you need to enter Dire, Dire Docks and complete the first star to uncover the entrance to the Bowser in the Lava Sea course. Beat this bowser to obtain the key to the first floor of the castle.

Now you'll notice that you're trapped in the the room with the entrance to Dire, Dire Docks, to get out simply enter DDD and pause the game and select Exit Course to appear back in the castle lobby. Now walk up the stairs and through the locked door to the first floor of the castle.

Now you need to use the backwards longjump glitch to get through the the 50 star door. To perform this glitch stand at the bottom of the stairs facing away from the door and longjump towards the camera, now hold down Z and tap A when you touch the ground to keep longjumping. While doing this push the analogue stick towards the door, you should start doing backwards longjumps on the stairs. When you land on the stairs, continue to hold Z and the analogue stick and begin rapidly pressing A. With luck you should start moving at a high speed and fly through the 50 star door.

Now make your way to the endless stairs and do the same thing. You should easily make it to the top where you can enter the Bowser in the Sky course. Now simply beat Bowser and you're done! You've completed the game with only 16 stars, less than one quarter of the original amount.
...
Here's a video (11 megs, 5 mins 40secs) of me performing all the glitches. Along with a nice sound track to keep you entertained. As always, all this info will be available on my site when I update it this weekend.

http://www.otaku-universe.com/~domdunc/16stars.wmv (mirror link)


The way of clipping through with MIPs is a little different than more modern speedruns but the effect is still the same: it opened up a new category for potential speedruns. Six months passed and Ilari 'Illu' Pekkala applied this technique, beating the game in 20 minutes and 56 seconds:


Here is the small list of 2004-2008 era speedruns of the category with their respective times and speedrunners:

Date	Time	Runner	Video	Note
2008.05.11	0:17:31	Myles 'ShadowOfMyles' Bukrim	Link	Spliced
2005.05.28	0:19:47	Eddie 'kirbykarter' Taylor	Link
2005.02.06	0:24:33	Stefan van Dijke	Link	PAL version
2004.11.06	0:20:56	Ilari 'Illu' Pekkala	Link	Cited Dom Dunc as inspiration

Some early TAS runs via emulator:

Date	Time	Runner	Video	Note
2006.12.04	0:15:35	Rikku	Link	PAL version
2005.11.23	0:16:27	spezzafer	Link	PAL version

1 star

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1 star has its origins in the TAS community. On August 10, 2007, Swordless Link & AKA (Mitjitsu) from TASVideos released a TAS speedrun of the game showcasing the side BLJ strategy before entering the second Bowser door. It has a time of 6 minutes and 47 seconds:


This run alone beat the previous 16 star WR as the fastest known any% for the game by over eight minutes, freeing up the runner from getting MIPs and the 15 other stars.

For RTA (non-TAS) speedrunning purposes, it is difficult to pinpoint when the first RTA 1 star speedrun was done. A 10:59 speedrun using the 1 star category was done by sojiro on April 16, 2009, and a few other speedruns also took place in 2009.

0 star

---

0 star is similar to 1 star in its origins, being discovered by Swordless Link & AKA (Mitjitsu) again and also in 2007. The first speedrun using 0 stars to beat the game was released December 7, 2007, was posted on TASVideos, and has a time of 5 minutes and 47 seconds:


The earliest documented RTA speedrun with 0 star appears to be by taka12352 of niconico according to the RTA Japanese Wiki, which had a time of 15:05 and was done on March 30, 2010.