1200 Star
The famous community challenge: collect every star ten times over across ten save files. It isn't a tracked speedrun.com board, but completions are legendary marathon feats.
The History of Super Mario 64
How a 1996 launch title became one of the most studied speedgames ever made.
The game
- 1996
Super Mario 64 launches with the Nintendo 64 in Japan, then worldwide — the first 3D Mario and the blueprint for 3D platforming.
- 1997
Shindou Edition arrives in Japan, adding rumble support and removing the infamous backwards long jump on staircases.
- 2003
The Nintendo DS remake adds Yoshi, Luigi and Wario, plus its own separate speedrun scene.
- 2006–2015
Virtual Console re-releases put the game on Wii, Wii U and beyond, expanding the pool of legal run platforms.
- 2019–today
The decompilation project produces a full source recreation, powering PC ports, practice hacks and deep research into the game's engine.
The speedrunning era
- Early 2000s
The first serious 120 Star runs circulate on forums and video sites; routes are shared as text documents.
- Mid 2000s
The backwards long jump is discovered, letting runners rocket up staircases and skip the star doors — 16 Star is born.
- 2007–2010
Parallel universes and hyperspeed walking turn the game's collision system into a playground; 1 Star and 0 Star emerge.
- 2012
The first 0 Star runs finish the game without a single star, using BLJs to break through every door requirement.
- 2014–2019
The 16 Star record wars: sub-16, sub-15 and eventually sub-14:40 fall as frame-perfect execution becomes standard.
- 2020s
Category extensions explode — Blindfolded, All Trees, All Bosses, A-Button Challenge — and practice ROMs make elite tech learnable.
Legendary challenges
A-Button Challenge
Beat as much of the game as possible while pressing A as few times as possible — the research behind it produced some of the deepest engine knowledge in the community.
Blindfolded runs
Full categories completed without sight, navigating entirely by audio cues and counted inputs.