![Someone Has Just Beaten Super Mario 64 Without Pressing The A Button 1](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/73e98e080c020/someone-has-just-beaten-super-mario-64-without-pressing-the-a-button-1.900x.jpg)
One of Super Mario 64's most insane challenges has finally been beaten – for the first time ever, someone has completed the N64 classic without pressing the A button (thanks, GamesRadar).
Just in case you needed reminding, the A button makes Mario jump in this 3D adventure – a pretty essential input in a game which revolves around platforming and leaping on enemies to defeat them.
Known as the Super Mario 64 A Button Challenge, this particular pursuit started in the 2000s, with one of the earliest recorded attempts being in 2006. The fact that it has taken this long for someone to actually pull it off is a testament to how difficult it is to beat the game without jumping.
But it has happened, finally. Twitch streamer Marbler pulled it off this week and was forced to get seriously creative with known exploits and tactics in the game, discovered by such speedrunner luminaries as Mr_Robert_Z, Bottles704, Thiago Trujillo, Mp16z, and bobmario511, who have all put in hours of valuable research into the A Button Challenge. This particular run involves collecting 70 stars to complete the game.
The catch is that it took an agonising 86 hours to pull off this particular run, not to mention all of the practice runs that Marbler had taken part in prior to achieving this successful one. For example, eight months ago, the same streamer managed to complete the game in a run where A was only pressed once.
It's worth noting that this feat took place on the Wii Virtual Console version of the game, which is the only confirmed version where it's possible to pull it off.
[source gamesradar.com]
Comments 12
No mention of Zero-A-press-Deity pannenkoek2012? I‘m a little disappointed I must say.
Impressive. Most impressive. I'm just trying to figure out how this would be possible, without glitches there's no way, but I'm definitely gonna check this out. I love seeing just how people use exploits to do things like this.
@Pillowpants Two words: Parallel universes.
Kudos to Marbler for finally doing it!
This... is why we game.
Why didn’t they just remap the A button to B? 😊
@Duffman92 Really surprised he wasn't mentioned here.
@Pillowpants It's utterly fascinating. I've been keeping up with the A Button Challenge for years, and the exploits are nuts. This run has been known to be possible for a long time now, but apparently this is the first time someone has done it without tool assist.
@Duffman92 TJ "Henry" Yoshi must have written the article.
Some of the stats are crazy.
112 stars collected without jumping!
120 stars collected with 11 jumps!
Ah yes... with exploits...
IIRC, it's only possible on the Wii virtual console because of a small math error that means that one rising and sinking platform in Bowser in the Fire Sea ends up very, very, very slightly higher every time. So after a long while, Mario can just stand on it without it going back into the lava; then you just have to let the game run for hours until it's moved high enough you can skip a bunch of the level.
It's a beautiful and ridiculous challenge, and I love all the understanding of how Mario 64 works deep down (sometimes it barely does! but then again, I feel like it's incredibly impressive Nintendo managed to get it to work as well as it does on their first try in 3D!) we've gotten out of it.
@CoastersPaul Kotaku's article on this says that 78 of the 86 hours in this run are spent waiting for that platform!
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