Nineteen minutes and thirty-three seconds. If you’ve ever picked up a Nintendo 64 controller, that number probably sounds impossible. It’s the current peak of the 70-star category, held by the legendary runner Weegee. But let’s be real for a second: the world record Super Mario 64 isn't just a single number on a leaderboard. It’s a chaotic, glitch-filled, frame-perfect obsession that has consumed thousands of lives over the last two decades.
Speedrunning Mario 64 is basically the decathlon of gaming. You aren’t just playing a platformer; you’re wrestling with a physics engine that was built in 1996 and held together by digital duct tape.
When you watch a top-tier run, it looks like magic. Mario flies through walls, ignores gravity, and teleports across the basement of the castle. But every single one of those movements is the result of thousands of hours of practice. We're talking about muscle memory so precise that a mistake of one-sixtieth of a second can end a world record attempt instantly. It’s brutal. It’s exhausting. And for some reason, we can't stop watching it.
The Categories: Why 120 Stars is the "Golden Standard"
Most people think a world record is just "beat the game as fast as possible." In this community, that’s just the beginning. The most prestigious category is 120 Stars. You have to get every single star in the game. No shortcuts to Bowser. No skipping the 100-coin missions in Rainbow Ride. It’s a grueling marathon that takes the best players in the world about an hour and thirty-seven minutes.
For years, the 1:37 barrier was the "four-minute mile" of Mario. People thought it couldn't be done. Then, runners like Karin and Simply pushed the boundaries of what humans can actually execute. They started using "carpetless" in Rainbow Ride—a trick so difficult it was once considered tool-assisted only. Basically, you jump off a magic carpet, manipulate the camera, and wall-kick off a specific pixel to grab a star that should be out of reach. If you miss? The run is dead.
Then you have the 0-Star and 1-Star categories. These are the sprints. They’re over in less than seven minutes. Here, you aren’t even playing the game the way Miyamoto intended. You’re using Backward Long Jumps (BLJs) to build up infinite speed and clip through the "Endless Stairs." It’s pure glitch hunting. If you blink, you’ll miss the entire world record Super Mario 64 run in these categories. It’s a different beast entirely from the 120-star marathon.
The Secret Sauce: BLJs and Frame-Perfect Movement
Why is this game still the king of speedrunning? It's the movement. Mario’s momentum in this game is analog and fluid. Unlike modern games that snap you to a grid or have "sticky" edges, Mario 64 lets you go anywhere if you have the speed.
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The BLJ is the famous one. By jumping backwards and mashing the A button at a specific rhythm, you bypass the game's speed cap. Mario’s velocity value goes negative and just keeps climbing. Eventually, you’re moving so fast that the game’s collision detection can’t keep up. You pass through a door that’s supposed to be locked.
But it’s not just glitches. It’s "movement optimization."
Top runners use a technique called "diving." They don't just run; they dive and recover because it’s slightly faster than a standard sprint. They use "ABH" (Alternative Bunny Hopping) and precise "C-button" camera angles to make sure they are always moving in a straight line. In a world record Super Mario 64 run, every frame counts. If you take a wide turn around a corner in Whomp’s Fortress, you’ve lost the record. Seriously.
Current Top Runners to Watch
- Weegee: The current king of the 70-star category. His consistency is terrifying.
- Karin: A beast in 120-star who has pushed the technical ceiling higher than almost anyone.
- Simply: One of the most famous faces in the scene. He brought the 120-star record to a mainstream audience and held it for a long time.
- Supertramp: A rising force who keeps shaking up the leaderboards with aggressive strategies.
The "Human Limit" Myth
Every time a new record is set, the comments sections are full of people saying, "Okay, this is it. It can't get faster." And every time, they’re wrong.
A few years ago, the community discovered "pookey-skip." Then they found ways to optimize the "Lava Land" stars. Then came "BitS" (Bowser in the Sky) throw optimizations. The world record Super Mario 64 is a living document. It’s never finished because someone, somewhere, is always sitting in a bedroom at 3:00 AM figuring out how to save three frames in Jolly Roger Bay.
There’s also the mental aspect. Imagine being 90 minutes into a 120-star run. You are on pace for a world record. Your heart rate is 140 BPM. Your hands are sweaty. You have to perform a triple jump onto a narrow pole in Tick Tock Clock. If you slip, you fall into the void. All that work? Gone. The psychological pressure of the 120-star run is what separates the champions from the hobbyists.
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The Controversy of RNG
We have to talk about RNG—Random Number Generation. Mario 64 isn't 100% predictable.
- Bubbling: Sometimes a bubble spawns in your path underwater.
- The Bird: In Shifting Sand Land, the bird holding the star can move in patterns that cost you seconds.
- The Wind: In Tall, Tall Mountain, the wind speed can vary.
The worst one? The "mystery" of the Tick Tock Clock pendulum. Runners have spent years trying to figure out if there is a way to perfectly manipulate the cycle every single time. This randomness means that even a perfect player can lose a world record Super Mario 64 attempt because the game decided to be difficult. It adds a layer of gambling to the whole thing. It’s frustrating, but it makes the successful runs feel like a miracle.
How to Get Started (If You're Brave Enough)
Don't try to get a world record on your first day. You'll quit in twenty minutes. The barrier to entry is high, but the community is actually pretty welcoming.
First, get a real N64 or a high-quality emulator (though the community is very picky about which emulators are "legal" for the leaderboard). Most top runners prefer the Japanese version of the game. Why? Because the dialogue boxes are faster. In a 120-star run, reading Japanese text saves several seconds compared to English. That’s the level of sweat we’re talking about here.
Learn the "Slide Star" in the Princess's Secret Slide first. It’s the easiest way to feel the speed. Then, move on to the 16-star route. It’s the "beginner" category. You’ll learn the basics of the BLJ and the movement quirks without having to commit two hours to a single run.
Why We Still Care About a Game From 1996
It’s about the pursuit of perfection.
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There is something deeply human about taking a piece of software and pushing it to its absolute breaking point. The world record Super Mario 64 isn't just about a plumber in a hat. It’s about the community—the Discord servers where people analyze code, the Twitch streams where thousands watch a guy fail for the tenth time in a row, and the sheer joy when that "New Record" sound finally plays.
It’s the greatest speedrunning game ever made. Period. It has the perfect balance of skill, glitching, and unpredictability.
Next Steps for Aspiring Runners and Fans
To truly understand the depth of this record, your next move should be visiting Speedrun.com to look at the current 70-star and 120-star leaderboards. Watch the "Personal Best" (PB) videos for the top three runners. Don't just watch the gameplay—watch the input display on the screen to see how fast their fingers are moving.
If you want to play, download the Usamune ROM hack. It’s a specialized version of the game designed for practice. It lets you warp to any star, save states, and see your frame data in real-time. It is the single most important tool for anyone serious about shaving seconds off their time. Finally, join the Burrito Speedrunning Discord. It’s where the most active research happens. You’ll find guides there that break down every single star in the game with surgical precision.
The record will be broken again. Maybe by a second. Maybe by a frame. But it will happen.