It’s also filled with glitches, which aren’t really game-breaking in any significant way but which make some unintended strategies for finding shortcuts through the adventure possible. These two facts combined have made the game one of the most heavily speedrun-ed titles ever, which means in order to get the fastest time beating the game, you have to put in some real work and have an amazing run. Yesterday, that happened, as a new record has been set in the competitive “0 star” category for Super Mario 64 (via Polygon).
For readers who may not be familiar with speedrunning jargon as it pertains to Super Mario 64: through a series of glitches, players can beat the game (which in this case means defeating the final Bowser) without collecting a single star, so beating the game in this way is referred to as the “0 star” category.
The previous record holder set the mark of 6 minutes, 44 seconds, and 230 milliseconds on August 7, 2015, and it took nearly three years for speedrunner and Twitch streamer Drozdowsky to best it, with a time of 6 minutes, 41 seconds, and 760 milliseconds. What’s impressive about the run (which you can watch in the video above) is that they made noticeable mistakes. Most obviously, Mario accidentally dives into a wall before facing the final Bowser, at about 5:55 into the video. This means a faster time is still possible, so all that remains to be seen is who will pull it off.
How fast can you beat Super Mario 64, in any capacity? Share your best times down in the comments!
Featured Image: Nintendo
