To become a world record speedrunner, it takes a lot of dedication, time, and repetitious movements and strategies that shave off milliseconds of gameplay. With players already smashing speedrun records in Elden Ring, despite it only being out for a few weeks, those in the community seem to waste no time getting to grips with trying to get to the end credits as quickly as possible. However, when it comes to the likes of Super Mario 64, literal decades have passed, and as such, many have spent years perfecting the art of defeating the final Bowser in this N64 classic.
In a recent video uploaded to YouTube, streamer and speedrunner KANNO has managed to set yet another world record in Mario 64, this time by collecting 31 stars. The timer shows they accomplished a time of 24 minutes and 30 seconds. While very satisfied with the end result, they did say that there was "room to improve," suggesting that they are nowhere near ready to hang up their speedrunning gloves just yet.
There are numerous categories that can be run with this game, and it's not the first time KANNO has managed to get the quickest time. Back in December 2021, they were also able to speedrun Mario 64 with just one star, again setting a new record. While a time of just under 25 minutes with 31 stars is very impressive, the fact that they were able to get to the end in a time of seven minutes and seven seconds with just one is certainly worthy of praise. The strategies involved in speedrunning this near-quarter of a century-old game have been worked through by many, and almost perfected, with people like KANNO showing just how much skill is involved.
If that wasn't enough, there have been instances of people speedrunning Mario 64 while completely blindfolded. This takes the challenge up a few levels as it involves, as the name of the category implies, the player not being able to see at all. Such skill requires an enormous amount of replays in order to commit whole areas to memory, using finely-tuned reflexes, and becoming familiar with the in-game sounds to know what needs to be done next.
There are many games that players can learn to speedrun, either as a personal goal or to compete against others and maybe break a world record. It will be interesting to see what KANNO does next, whether they'll try to beat their 31-star run or go for a different category.
Super Mario 64 was released in 1996 for the Nintendo 64.