If you didn’t spend your childhood crouch-sliding into walls in the Peach’s Castle lobby, did you even play the N64? Honestly, learning how to long jump Mario 64 style is basically a rite of passage for anyone who calls themselves a gamer. It is the single most iconic movement in 3D platforming history. It’s also the reason your palm probably had a permanent blister from that aggressive analog stick.
But here is the thing.
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Most people think it’s just a button combo. They think you just hit two things and Mario flies. While that’s technically true, there is a massive difference between a casual hop and the kind of movement precision you see in speedruns at GDQ. Whether you're trying to clear the "Mists Across the Lake" gap in Hazy Maze Cave or you're just tired of Mario's slow-as-molasses walking speed, mastering the long jump is non-negotiable.
The Muscle Memory: How to Long Jump Mario 64 Every Single Time
Let’s get the raw mechanics out of the way first. You need momentum. If you try to do this from a standstill, Mario is just going to perform a "ground pound" and look like an idiot. You have to be in a full run. Once you’ve got a bit of speed, you press the Z button (the trigger on the back of the N64 controller) and almost immediately follow it up by pressing the A button (the jump button).
The timing is tight.
If you hit Z too early and wait, you’ll just crouch. If you hit A too early, you’ll just do a normal leap. You want that sweet spot where Mario’s "Yahoo!" sounds a bit more urgent than usual. On a modern Switch controller, like when playing Super Mario 3D All-Stars, that Z button is replaced by ZL, but the soul of the move remains identical.
Interestingly, the long jump isn't just about distance. It's about horizontal velocity. In the original 1996 code, the game calculates your forward speed and adds a significant multiplier when the long jump is triggered. This is why it feels so much faster than running. It’s basically a legal cheat code built into the physics engine.
Why the Long Jump is Actually Kind of Broken (In a Good Way)
Speedrunners like Puncayshun or Cheese don’t just use the long jump because it looks cool. They use it because of how it interacts with the game's gravity and friction variables. In Super Mario 64, Mario has a "forward speed" cap when he is running on the ground. However, the long jump allows you to bypass certain speed checks.
The Infamous BLJ
You’ve probably heard of the Backward Long Jump (BLJ). This is the "glitchy" cousin of the standard move. By performing a long jump while holding the analog stick backwards and rapidly mashing the A button, you can effectively trick the game into giving you negative speed. Since the game doesn't have a "speed cap" for moving backwards, you can accelerate to infinity. This is how players clip through the 50-star door or the Infinite Stairs.
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It’s a bit technical.
Essentially, the game checks if you are moving forward to decide when to stop your momentum. When you move backward, that check fails. You become a blurring mess of red and blue pixels, screaming "Ya-ya-ya-ya-yahoo!" until you phase through solid matter. It’s glorious.
Terrain Matters More Than You Think
Don't try long jumping on steep slopes. You’ll just slide. If you try to long jump Mario 64 style on a slippery surface like the ice in Cool, Cool Mountain, your traction drops to nearly zero. This can be a death sentence if you aren’t careful with your landing.
The best place to practice is the bridge leading to the castle. It’s flat. It’s long. It has zero consequences if you fall off (well, except for a quick swim).
Modern Platforms vs. Original Hardware
Playing on an actual Nintendo 64 feels different than playing on a Switch or an emulator. There is a specific "snap" to the N64 analog stick—before it gets all loose and wobbly, anyway—that makes the Z-to-A transition feel tactile.
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On the Switch, the ZL button has more travel time than the old N64 Z trigger. This can actually throw off your timing if you're a veteran. You might find yourself "crouching" more often because the digital signal for the ZL button takes a millisecond longer to register in your brain's rhythm.
Common Mistakes Beginners Make
One of the biggest blunders is holding the Z button for too long. You don't need to stay crouched. It’s a tap. Think of it as a "slide-jump" rather than a "crouch-jump."
- Mistake 1: Jumping from a walk. You need a run.
- Mistake 2: Panicking and hitting the buttons at the same time. It’s a sequence: Z, then A.
- Mistake 3: Forgetting about the camera. If Lakitu is wobbling the camera around, your directional input (the analog stick) might change mid-jump, leading you right into a bottomless pit.
Actually, the camera is probably your biggest enemy in this game. Always make sure you’re facing a straight path before committing to the jump.
Getting Advanced: The Dive Recover
Once you’ve mastered the basic how to long jump Mario 64 workflow, you should start mixing in the dive. If you press the B button at the peak of your long jump, Mario will lunge forward even further. This is the "Dive."
But wait.
If you just dive, Mario lands on his belly and takes a second to get up. To keep your momentum, you need to press B again right as he hits the ground to do a "Dive Recover." It keeps you moving fast. It’s the difference between a clumsy landing and a fluid, professional-looking movement chain.
The Physics of the Jump
The long jump isn't just a fixed animation. It's a projectile path. According to the decompiled source code of Mario 64, the long jump gives Mario a vertical velocity boost of about 20 units and a horizontal boost relative to his current speed.
What’s wild is that the long jump can be used to survive falls. If you long jump off a high ledge, you can sometimes mitigate the "fall damage" animation if you land on a slope or transition into a dive. It’s all about manipulating the state machine that governs Mario's behavior.
Actionable Next Steps for Mastery
Don't just read about it. Go do it.
Start by heading to the castle grounds. Run in a circle and try to chain three long jumps in a row without stopping. Once you can do that, try to long jump over the small pillars near the water.
Next, head into the first level, Bob-omb Battlefield. Try to long jump up the path where the water balls roll down. It’s a great way to test your timing under pressure.
Finally, try the "Long Jump to Dive" combo. Jump, press B to dive, and then immediately press A as you land to pop back up into a run. If you can master that loop, you are officially faster than 90% of the people who played this game in the 90s.
Keep your thumb ready. The rhythm is everything. Once it clicks, you won't even think about it anymore; you'll just be flying across the Mushroom Kingdom like a pro.