Tag: Platform game

Nine years ago, Super Mario 64 player toyuru2 wall-jumped his way up the slide in Cool, Cool Mountain, sending the plumber into the void–but not before grabbing a 1-up mushroom. At the time, it was a feat, as nobody had ever gotten the mushroom. But then, a new challenge emerged: was it possible to grab the mushroom without dying at all? Now, years later, a speedrunner has answered that question through the use of special tools.

First released back in 1996 on the Nintendo 64, Super Mario 64 is one of the most famous video games ever released. It was Mario’s big leap into 3D and helped create the blueprint for what a 3D platformer would be. Like any other game, it features a number of oddities, like items and enemies that exist outside the bounds of where the player can go. These seemingly “impossible” items became a fixation for the community, like this one coin that took 18 years for anyone to collect.

27 years later, players are still speedrunning the game, creating mods for it, porting it to the PC, and trying for those hidden coins and other secrets in this beloved 3D platformer. In this case, the impossible item clips out of the tunnel before players can normally reach it, though as you can see in this video, it actually spawns in the tunnel at first. Technically, unlike other “impossible” items, this 1-up has been grabbed before–what’s different now is that it’s been grabbed by someone without dying. And all they had to do was just jump between two walls for over an hour.

As reported by GamesRadar, YouTuber, and Mario 64 speedrunner PaLiX recently uploaded a video showcasing a new strategy to collect the so-called impossible 1-Up on Cool, Cool Mountain.

PaLiX’s tool-assisted method has Mario immediately leap out of the level and fall to the finish line below. Then they jump between two walls for an hour and a half. Slowly Mario climbs up the wall and eventually reaches a point where he seems to lock up. Then, using an exploit involving how the game calculates where Mario is in relation to the floor, PaLiX is able to break free and butt stomp onto the 1-Up.

Even though this video does involve some emulation tools that help perfectly pull off the tricky moves and jumps, it’s still interesting to see a player grab this power-up without kicking the bucket. Will it be possible for someone to one day actually pull off this trick on an N64 or other platform without tools? Maybe. People continue to do wild shit in this game. For years, the hardest glitch in Super Mario 64 speedrunning was considered impossible to do by a human without the use of tools, until of course someone did exactly that. So at this point, I’d say anything is possible.