70-Star Speed Run

In this speed run, you must complete the game and beat Bowser with the regular 70 stars. SDA timing runs from the first movement until the final star is reached, and N64HS counts from the beginning of the file until the cake at the end of the credits. On NTSC consoles there is approximately a 6 minute difference between the timing methods. The current record is 1:01:32 done by Jacob 'LeCoureur103' Cannon, and you can see his run here. You might also be interested in the star choices of LeCoureur103 and marshmallow.

On January 10, 2005 I finally attempted a 70-star speed run of SM64. (It was on my to-do list for almost two years.) Here is a list of the stars I chose (highlighted in green). Actually, I made a very stupid mistake and forgot to do "Blast to the Stone Pillar" in Jolly Roger Bay (even though I opened the cannon), and only realised I was missing a star when I got to Rainbow Ride. Since I didn't even know which one I missed, I had to quickly sub in "Cruiser crossing the Rainbow" in its place. Under the optimal route, this star is fairly fast, and although I used most of the shortcuts I know, I didn't pull them off perfectly. I'm guessing this stupid mistake cost me about a minute in total.

Another notable mistake: I threw Bowser perfectly every time until the very final shot, which was just a bit short. Then I completely missed another two times after this. (D'oh... Lost about a minute.) The final time from the start of the file to the cake at the end of the credits was 1 hour, 20 minutes, 24 seconds... by SDA timing, 1:14:24

UPDATE: Some people were wondering about the glitch that I used to cross the castle bridge without waiting for Lakitu's speech. This is a movie of the trick. Dom Dunc discovered that you could cross the bridge by back-flipping across the very edge, and instead I found out that it works with a long jump as well. Unfortunately it isn't easy to do every time, but it only saves a couple seconds anyway.

Bob-omb Battlefield Whomp's Fortress Jolly Roger Bay Cool, Cool Mountain Big Boo's Haunt Hazy Maze Cave Lethal Lava Land Shifting Sand Land Dire, Dire Docks Snowman's Land Wet-Dry World Tall, Tall Mountain Tiny-Huge Island Tick Tock Clock Rainbow Ride Castle Secret Stars