Super Mario 64 players have been racing to save the princess since 1996. And on Oct. 25, one speedrunner broke an enormous time barrier, beating the game faster than anybody in the game’s 27-year history.
The runner in question goes by GreenSuigi, or Suigi for short. An 18-year-old runner of a game nearly a decade older than he is, this speedrunning prodigy has become a cornerstone of the Mario 64 community.
Suigi’s most recent world record of 6:16 came in the zero-star category, which is the fastest way to beat the game since you don’t need to collect any stars. With four backward long jumps, you can clip through the star doors that require you to collect a certain number of stars, as well as the endless staircase that’s only supposed to lead to the final level once you collect 70 stars.
Suigi’s dominance in the zero-star category is nothing new—after all, the run he beat was his own mark of 6:20. But what makes this new world record (WR) significant is that it’s the first time the sub-6:20 barrier has been broken in Super Mario 64. His 6:16 time is not only the world record of the category but also the fastest time that a human has beaten the game ever without cheats. This is because there is no route to reach the end faster than the zero-star category.
What’s more, this run is only the newest trophy on Suigi’s shelf. On top of holding the WR for four of the game’s five main categories—zero-star, one-star, 16-star, and 70-star—Suigi tweeted a milestone that’s even more impressive. This marks the fifth category barrier that Suigi has broken, meaning he’s pushing the game further than most of the community has been able to.
It is inevitable that Suigi will likely continue to flex his speedrunning expertise and show off some amazing new runs in the coming years. The Mario 64 speedrunning community has been receiving a big morale boost recently after the carpetless strat was developed in 120-star, the most iconic and “complete” category for the game.
Regardless of whether Suigi continues to push the shorter-star category barriers even more or pursue the 120-star WR so he can hold the record for every category, he’s shown time and time again that he’s a force to be reckoned with in Mario 64 speedrunning.
