On October 2, speedrunner Dowksy broke not just one but two Super Mario 64 world records in one session. Dowsky first broke the previous 1-Star world record with a time of 7:14.23, six seconds faster than the previous record, also set by Dowsky, of 7:20.44. After this, he continued playing until he beat the 0-Star world record (a 6:39.09 set by KANNO) by two seconds with a time of 6:36.99.
For those not familiar with Super Mario 64 speedrunning, the game features multiple categories based on how many Stars a player collects on the way to finishing the game. Aside from 0-Star and 1-Star, categories also exist for 16-Stars, 70-Stars, and 120-Stars. The 0-Star and 1-Star categories however are the fastest ones.
The differences between each succeeding record often boils down to mere seconds, as the Dowsky’s runs demonstrate. To be able to get these small but important gains, speedrunners often spend months replaying the game’s most optimal routes and, if the category allows them, practicing glitches that can shave help shave off a second or two from a run.
In Dowsky’s case, the speedrunner used a well-known glitch in his runs called the SBLJ glitch. This glitch requires players to input a specific sequence of button presses. Combined with some precise movement, SBLJ will glitch out the game’s terrain, launching Mario great distances, allowing the player to skip certain areas. Amazingly enough, Dowsky actually pulled off the glitch on his very first attempt.
With these new records, the question now is how long they’ll stand before another runner breaks them. It took five months for Dowsky to beat the previous 0-Star record, after all. That said, even if (or when) they’re broken, that Dowsky set them both on the same day is still quite the achievement.
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Source: https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/603567-super-mario-64-speedrunner-two-records-one-session
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