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Blindfolded speedrunning legend Bubzia is back with yet another Super Mario 64 world record, and this one has an extra special history. The new 1-star record is the first blindfolded run to break the 11-minute barrier, and represents the fastest blindfolded completion of the game ever recorded, but it sits in the shadow of a tragic run killed by RNG that might have ended the category forever.
Bubzia largely competes against himself for blindfolded Super Mario 64 speedruns these days, and one of his big goals for 2025 was achieving a 1-star record under 11 minutes. "My original goal was to get a sub-11 minute time and then kind of quit 1-star for good," Bubzia explained in a video earlier this year.
This week, Bubzia absolutely smashed the 11-minute barrier, setting a 1-star world record of 10 minutes and 32 seconds, nearly a minute faster than his previous record, which was set in February. "FINALLY after months and months of chokes," Bubzia says in a Bluesky post, "we pulled through and the journey is over! The 11 minute barrier is officially broken!"
But while this milestone is a massive one, both Bubzia and his community know that more is possible. Back in May, Bubzia had an even better run going, with nearly perfect execution through the entire game. He called it his "very best blindfolded SM64 performance ever" up through the game's final moments, just ahead of the final encounter with Bowser.
"I had to just hit the last throw and the category would be done forever," Bubzia recalled in the video breaking down that May run. "I would be free from one star for my entire life. It would be over." If it stayed on pace, this run would end well under 10 minutes, which is the sort of record that could genuinely end any thought of lowering the time further.
As with the other Bowser fights throughout Super Mario 64, the final battle sees you grabbing the koopa king by the tail and tossing him into one of the bombs that lines the arena. For the blindfolded run, Bubzia needed to wait for Bowser to charge in order to be in the correct position to do the throw. There's a 50/50 chance for Bowser to either charge or do a jump attack, so you simply have to sit and wait for the charge while hoping he doesn't somehow jump five times in a row, which takes him entirely out of position for the throw, effectively killing the run.
Yes, folks. Bowser jumped five times in a row. "Do you understand how frustrating this is?" Bubzia asked. "I literally played perfect for the entire game. I nailed everything. I tried my very, very best only for the game to win five coin flips in a row: a 1-in-32 chance. I know that this could happen, as it happened a few select times in the past, but the fact that it happened in this run is just absolutely crushing."
Of course, that tragic run is in the past, and Bubzia seems extremely relieved to have achieved the new 10:32 record. "I am very happy to finally, finally have pulled through and got the sub 11 minutes," he says. "I'm really satisfied with this time. Even if I never PB again in this category. If I take a break from it, I'm happy. A speedrunner that's happy with his time? It's like never happened before, dude. But yeah, I really, really am happy."
You may also recall the great tragedy of Bubzia's broken webcam earlier this year.
