Super Mario 64 is the infamous Italian plumber's first true foray into the expansive realms of a 3D world. Released in 1996, it was the premiere launch title for the N64, Nintendo's then spangly new and overdue system - good job it was a killer app. It would prove hugely influential to the next 20-and-counting years of 3D platformers, almost nailing both camera and control schemes so well that people can play it blindfolded. Considered one of the greatest games of all time, by 2015 it had reportedly sold nearly 12 million copies.

What else is there to say? An incredible game that saw Mario triple jump directly over the awkward transition to 3D and straight into a classic of the genre; one that is an inspiration to this day! It’s also possibly the most popular speedrun game of all time - we’re going to be speedrunning too… in a sense. The speedrunners’s repertoire of game-breaking glitches are banned outright - we just want to see Super Mario 64 played fast, and played well.

In SM64, you are tasked with entering worlds contained within paintings, collecting stars along the way and facing off against Bowser to retrieve Princess Peach from captivity. Grabbing a star will return you to the hub world, and through collecting certain amounts of stars, you will unlock other areas in Peach’s Castle. 15 levels, with 5 unique stars each, 1 star for finding the 8 red coins, and 1 star for collecting 100 coins in one go. It’s worth noting that collecting that last one doesn’t spit you back out into the hub world! There are also 15 stars hidden across Peach’s Castle and the Bowser levels… can you find them all in 5 hours?

Scoring:

Completion > Stars > Time.

Seeing as we are not allowing major sequence-breaking glitches, the game can be optionally completed any time after gaining 70 stars and then facing off one last time against Bowser. However, we really want to reward you for putting a full five hours in, and struggling until the bitter end. If you get to the credits and have time left over, you can jump straight back into your game file and continue obtaining stars - chasing the game’s 120 total. The scoring reflects this - completion is important but then additional stars take precedence over time taken.

Speedrunning tricks are considered anything that breaks intended game sequence. Movement is okay, any movement that gets you in a place you shouldn't be yet, is bad. Lakitu Skip falls into a grey zone so we'll just say it's also outlawed. This is not about being an SM64 speedrunner, this is about playing fast and well.

If you do complete the game, you can reset/continue your game once seeing the cake and have heard Mario say "Thank you so much for to playing my game!".

Helpful Information:

If you are stuck or bored of a world, other parts of the Castle open up to you based on how many stars you have. Mix it up by hunting out a new level or even looking for the some of the hidden parts of the Castle itself…

1st) Lovenfloofen - Completed: Yes - Stars: 120 - Time: 4:41:08
2nd) Big Captain - Completed: Yes - Stars: 111 - Time: 4:55:41
3rd) Kylorian - Completed: Yes - Stars: 107 - Time: 4:55:14
4th) DMAC - Completed: Yes - Stars: 94 - Time: 4:53:48
5th) RaefGall - Completed: Yes - Stars: 82 - Time: 4:51:43
6th) shmumbler - Completed: Yes - Stars: 79 - Time: 4:54:51
7th) NerdyFiona - Completed: Yes - Stars: 79 - Time: 4:57:18
8th) Garlips - Completed: No - Stars: 67 - Time: 4:58:06
9th) enbyzee - Completed: No - Stars: 52 - Time: 4:21:48
10th) Krameht - Completed: No - Stars: 46 - Time: 4:54:28
11th) Quantum_P1 - Completed: No - Stars: 40 - Time: 4:36:36
12th) Kythias - Completed: No - Stars: 35 - Time: 1:40:59
13th) wugga - Completed: No - Stars: 35 - Time: 4:59:08
14th) HexTree - Completed: No - Stars: 33 - Time: 4:49:49
15th) geckish - Completed: No - Stars: 23 - Time: 4:56:53
16th) DPRoberts - Completed: No - Stars: 22 - Time: 5:00:00
17th) Do_Odles - Completed: No - Stars: 19 - Time: 3:24:51
18th) Mr Matt Internet - Completed: No - Stars: 18 - Time: 1:45:10
19th) Stephen's Rocket - Completed: No - Stars: 11 - Time: 4:17:40
20th) Stormfeather - Completed: No - Stars: 8 - Time: 2:54:44
21st) AshNacht - Completed: No - Stars: 6 - Time: 2:11:27