Summary
Super Mario 64speedrunners are going beyond what was thought humanly possible with an interesting trick that saves a significant amount of time on a run.Super Mario 64is a respected titlethat holds up not only as a pioneer of the 3D platforming genre, but is considered to rank among the games that laid the foundations for open-world game design.
Speedrunners are still makingnew discoveries inSuper Mario 64every so often. Earlier this year, someone found a way of grabbing what was known as the “Impossible 1-Up” after considerable effort. The latest feat being achieved by these dedicatedSuper Mario 64players is not technically new, but speedrunners have long considered it impossible by even their superhuman standards.
RELATED:Minecraft Player Builds Super Mario 64’s Castle in the Game
Ina late-gameSuper Mario 64levelknown for its difficulty, there is a slow and apparently unskippable magic carpet ride that speedrunners aiming for 120 stars are forced to endure. There is a trick to bypass this section, but it has been regarded as impossible by the speedrunning community for some time. The trick known as “carpetless” requires such precise placement and inputs that it is considered a waste of time that will more than likely ruin a run, especially since the level where it is required takes place toward the end of the game. A speedrunner by the name of Krithalith has now posted a video showing him setting up and achieving the “carpetless” shortcut with some consistency.
The time saved by successfully executing “carpetless” is in the realm of 40 seconds or more, which would take a chunk out of the current world recordSuper Mario 64120-star speedrun of 1 hour, 37 minutes, and 35 seconds that is held by Weegee. The current world record was set recently on June 06, 2025. If someone can successfully incorporate Krithalith’s technique into their 120-star run, the record may be broken again soon, perhaps even before the end of 2023.
While Nintendo fans collectively gear up forSuper Mario Wonder,Mario’s next adventure, it is interesting to see theSuper Mario 64speedrunning community doing such incredible thingswith the game over 20 years after it released. One player has beaten the game with a single star in under 7 minutes. For reference, the average player enjoyingSuper Mario64for the first time is expected to finish the game in around 12 hours.
