Could this player be the greatest speedrunner of all time? Over the last year, a Canadian speedrunner has emerged and quickly set multiple impressive records. On a journey of constant improvement, they are now in reaching distance of one of the greatest speedrunning achievements of all time.
When Super Mario 64 originally released in 1996, Nintendo probably did not expect the impact their newest game would have on the video gaming scene. Almost three decades later, the game is considered one of the most prestigious titles in all of speedrunning.
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27 years after its release, Super Mario 64 is now potentially seeing the greatest speedrunner of all time – and he is aiming for records that nobody has even dared to speak out loud before.
Super Mario 64 Speedrunning: How Does The Competition Work?
Super Mario 64 speedrunning consists of five major categories. In these, players are required to collect either no stars, one star, 16 stars, 70 stars or 120 stars as quickly as possible. Once they have collected the required amount of stars, they face Bowser in the final fight. Collecting the Great Star dropped by Bowser will end the game, and the timer will be stopped at the exact moment Mario touches the star.
The shorter categories of zero, one and 16 stars have historically seen the highest participation, as they are quick to beat and do not require a high number of individual, difficult strategies. This, however, also makes the categories of 70 stars and 120 stars much more prestigious.
While the 16-star category is usually beat by adept speedrunners within 15 minutes, the 70-star category takes more than three times longer. The 120-star category, on the other hand, has not seen a single run below an hour and 40 minutes until May 2017.
Why Suigi Might Go Down As The Greatest Speedrunner Ever
When he first joined the speedrunning scene in early 2020, GreenSuigi – or short: Suigi –did not even play on original hardware. While emulated software is not prohibited in the competition, it had its own leaderboards established due to clear differences to the original Nintendo 64 version. Due to this, Suigi switched to a Nintendo 64 in early 2021.
After two years of practicing, Suigi first made it to the top of the leaderboards on the shorter categories of zero and one stars. As the first player ever, he recorded a run that took less than seven minutes in the one-star category, putting an astonishing ten seconds between himself and then-second-placed KANNO.
This does not sound like a big advantage, but in a heavily optimized category like this, it definitely is a huge margin! He repeated a similar feat later in the zero-star category, claiming a seven-second advantage over second-placed speedrunner KANNO.
His greatest achievement to this day is his incredible world record in the 16-star category, scored on March 22, 2023. His record of 14 minutes and 35.5 seconds was not only 15 seconds clear of second-placed runner Slipperynip, it was also the first ever 16-star world record without an obvious mistake. This has still not been replicated!
He followed this up by claiming the 70-star world record on June 17, 2023, once again beating an existing world record of a long-standing runner by 13 seconds. Due to his other world records still remaining unbeaten, this leaves him at the top of four out of five categories.
The Greatest Speedrunning Achievement Ever
With four world records at once, Suigi replicated what nobody managed to do since Japanese speedrunner Shigeru claimed four world records in the major categories on September 23, 2010. Shigeru never managed to get all five world records, although that was mostly because the zero-star category did not exist back then. Technically, this makes Shigeru the only speedrunner to claim all world records at the same time – so far.
While Suigi is tired of people asking him for the "five out of five", he has recently made his 120-star practice plan public. This plan includes multiple, important moves and glitches that will save a runner precious seconds in every run.
Additionally, Suigi has set a target time for every section of the run. If he manages to beat every section in his target time in the same run, he would set a world record of one hour, 36 minutes and 15 seconds – which is over a minute faster than Weegee's current world record of one hour, 37 minutes and 35 seconds! An advantage this big is completely unheard of!
Suigi has not yet set a time when he attempts to set a new world record. His document only says that he will start his attempts once he is ready. However, if the previous records of the barely 18-year-old Canadian are an indicator for what is to come, the other runners will have to step up greatly to prevent him from taking the 120-star world record...