It’s taken almost three decades but a dedicated Super Mario 64 fan has beaten Super Mario 64 without jumping once. Twitch streamer Marbler accomplished the feat earlier this week, despite previous assertions from the Super Mario 64 community that the task was impossible.
Marbler utilised various techniques identified by players over the preceding twenty-eight years following the launch of Super Mario 64 back in 1996. What makes Marbler’s achievement even more impressive is how their Super Mario 64 no jumping run avoids any code manipulation or button remapping and instead makes use of various known glitches and exploits that the streamer used in conjunction with game’s mechanics to overcome each level.
In addition to a deep understanding of the game mechanics and its quirks, Marbler also demonstrated great patience, with their playthrough ultimately clocking in at a staggering eighty-six hours.
For context, the best Super Mario 64 speedrunners in the world are capable of clearing the entire game in around seven minutes.
The ‘no jumping’ Super Mario 64 run dubbed the ‘A Button Challenge’ or ‘ABC’ for short, sees players avoiding the jump button entirely, with jump on the original Nintendo 64 release mapped to the ‘A’ button on the controller. The A Button Challenge has previously stumped Super Mario 64 players who had settled for completing the landmark title with as few A button presses instead.
Marbler themselves had previously cleared the entire game using just two presses of the A button. The run, which took place almost a year ago, saw the streamer theorise about the potential for a complete run with no jumping but admitted at the time that it would take “some really absurd movement” to accomplish.
In other Super Mario 64 news, players can now design and build their own levels set within the game thanks to a new ROM hack known as Mario Builder 64.
