You remember the first time you walked into the third floor of Peach’s Castle. That haunting, mechanical ticking starts to swell as you approach the giant grandfather clock. Most kids in 1996 just jumped in, oblivious to the fact that the level they were about to play was actually four different levels in one. Tick Tock Clock is easily one of the most mechanically dense stages in Super Mario 64, yet a lot of players still think it’s just a "hard platformer" without realizing they can literally control the flow of time before they even touch a platform.
Honestly, the level is a bit of a nightmare if you don't know the trick. It’s vertical, it’s cramped, and the camera—true to the N64 era—seems to have a personal vendetta against you. But it’s the gimmick that makes it legendary.
Why the minute hand is the only thing that matters
Most levels in Mario 64 have a static entry point. You jump in the painting, you play the level. Tick Tock Clock doesn't work like that. The speed of every moving part—cogs, pendulums, rotating bars, even those annoying treadmills—is determined by where the minute hand is on the clock face when you jump into it.
If you jump in at 12 o'clock, everything stops. Dead.
This is basically "Easy Mode," and it's the only way most sane people ever get the Red Coin star. But if you jump in at 3 o'clock, things move slowly. At 9 o'clock, everything goes into overdrive, moving at a frantic, fast pace that makes the platforming feel like a speedrun whether you want it to or not. Then there’s 6 o'clock. That’s the "Random" setting. It’s chaos. Parts will speed up, slow down, and reverse direction whenever they feel like it.
It’s a brilliant bit of game design. You’re essentially choosing your own difficulty level.
The strategy no one talks about
Most guides tell you to freeze time for everything. While that’s great for the Red Coins, it actually makes some stars—like Get a Hand—literally impossible. You need the clock hands to move so you can ride them across the gap. If you freeze the clock, you’re just standing on a static piece of metal staring at a Star you can’t reach.
You’ve gotta be tactical. I’ve seen so many people get frustrated because they froze the level and then realized they couldn't finish the mission they were on. Sorta makes you feel like the clock is mocking you, doesn't it?
The 100-coin struggle is real
Tick Tock Clock is often cited as the hardest stage to get 100 coins in, second maybe only to Rainbow Ride. There are 128 coins total in the level, which sounds like a lot, but they are scattered across the most precarious ledges imaginable.
One of the biggest pitfalls is the Blue Coin Switch. It’s located near the top, by the "Pit and the Pendulums" area. It gives you 35 coins, which is a massive chunk of what you need. But here’s the kicker: if you mess up the jump or the camera clips through a wall while you're hunting them down, those coins are gone.
- Pro tip: Always go for the Red Coins first. If you enter at 12:00, they are sitting ducks on the rotating platforms.
- Get the Blue Coins next. They are the "make or break" part of the run.
- Don’t sleep on the ! Blocks. There’s a yellow block near the Thwomp that has 10 coins in it.
The draw distance in Tick Tock Clock is actually shorter than the rest of the game—only about 2,000 units compared to the usual 4,000. This was likely a technical limitation to keep the N64 from exploding while rendering all those moving cogs, but for the player, it means things can "pop in" out of nowhere. It adds a layer of anxiety to the 100-coin hunt that's hard to describe.
The cosmic ray glitch: A weird bit of history
We can't talk about Tick Tock Clock without mentioning the D_Human glitch, better known as the "Bit Flip." Back in 2013, a speedrunner named D_Human was playing the level when Mario suddenly teleported vertically upward, skipping a huge chunk of the climb.
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For years, nobody could replicate it. People offered thousands of dollars to anyone who could find a way to do it on command.
The most widely accepted theory now? A muon from outer space—literally a subatomic particle—hit the N64 console and flipped a single bit of data in the RAM, changing Mario’s height coordinate. It’s one of the few times in gaming history where "an alien did it" is actually a plausible scientific explanation. It just goes to show how much this level lives in the cultural zeitgeist of the speedrunning community.
How to actually beat the Thwomp
The star "Stomp on the Thwomp" is at the very peak of the level. To get there, you have to navigate the entire vertical shaft. Most people try to do this with the clock moving, but honestly? It’s a lot easier on the "Slow" setting (entering at 3 o'clock).
When you get to the top, there’s a Thwomp riding a treadmill. You have to jump on his head to reach the Star. If the clock is set to "Fast," the treadmill moves so quickly that timing the jump feels like a frame-perfect trick. If it's stopped at 12:00, the Thwomp still moves (he’s an enemy, not a clock part), but the treadmill doesn't, making it a cakewalk.
Actionable steps for your next 120-star run
If you're planning on diving back into the N64 original or the 3D All-Stars version on Switch, here is the most efficient way to handle Tick Tock Clock without losing your mind:
- Enter at 12:00 for the Red Coins. It’s the least stressful way to start. Since the platforms aren't moving, you can focus entirely on not falling off.
- Combine the 100-coin run with the Thwomp star. Since you’re already climbing to the top, grab every ! Block on the way. By the time you reach the Thwomp, you should be close to 100.
- Use the "Slow" setting (3:00) for "Get a Hand." You need the hand to move, but you don't need it to be a blur.
- Master the wall kick. Because the level is so vertical, a well-placed wall kick can save you from a fall that would otherwise send you back to the castle lobby.
Tick Tock Clock is a masterpiece of 90s frustration and ingenuity. It demands respect, a little bit of patience, and a very specific understanding of how a grandfather clock works. Next time you see that painting, don't just jump. Wait for the hand to hit 12. Your blood pressure will thank you.