3 weeks after a game-changing Super Mario 64 speedrunning hack was discovered, streamer sets new world record for beating the game with just one star on a drum kit

Super Mario 64
(Image credit: Nintendo)

About three weeks ago, blindfolded speedrunning prodigy Bubzia shared a newly discovered Super Mario 64 hack he predicted would change the game "forever," and a ridiculous new world record bears that out.

As GR's resident speedrunning sicko Dustin Bailey pointed out then, the new trick is called the crackslide, and it renders a notoriously difficult maneuver that had previously been integral to the 1-star speedrunning category – that is, Mario 64 runs completed with only one star collected – completely trivial.

1 Star Drum% Speedrun WR (10:27) | World First - YouTube 1 Star Drum% Speedrun WR (10:27) | World First - YouTube
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According to a comment corroborated by CZR, controls are mapped to the drum kit so that the different drum heads manipulate what would be the analog stick on a normal controller to decide which direction Mario moves in, and the outer rim of the heads is what controls the C buttons. How hard CZR hits the drum heads also matters, which just makes this whole feat even more impressive.

Anyway, you can watch CZR's whole journey from Peach's Castle all the way to final boss Bowser in the video above, and at just 12 minutes long, I'd say it's worth a watch if only for the novelty and CZR's internet mandated "let's fucking go" at the end.

Super Mario 64 runs on PS1 now, because nothing is sacred to modders: "The best reason to do something is simply because you can."

Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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