[TAS] Super Mario 64: '1 Key' in

This tool-assisted speedrun was created by Tyler Kehne, MKDasher, sonicpacker, Snark, SilentSlayers, Gaehne D, Eru, ToT, Plush, sm64expert, Superdavo0001, dar gos & IsaacA.

When played back on an N64 console it completes the game in a time of 4:20.77, 0.17 seconds (5 frames or 10 VIs) faster than the previous record of 4:20.93. This improvement was achieved by changing the camera in both Bowser fights to prevent the game from lagging by keeping particularly complex & CPU-intensive visuals off-screen or far away from the camera. Such complex visuals include:

• Exploding mines
• Bowser bouncing after being hit by a mine
• Bowser exploding & the key spawning in Bowser In The Fire Sea
• The Bowser In The Fire Sea key & associated particles (lags when too close to the camera)
• Falling platforms in Bowser In The Sky
• Bowser (lags when too close to the camera)

While this run is optimised for console playback, it is in fact 5 frames slower when played back on an emulator than the current best time of 4:21.13. These 5 frames are used to change the camera mode back to Mario-cam during the first Bowser fight. This change is required to achieve many of the console-lag saves in this run, but as the emulator does not lag in those areas, changing the camera results in a net time-loss. The current emulator record can be found here:
   • Super Mario 64 "1 key TAS" in 4'21"04*  

The channels of all the authors who created this run can be found here:
•    / tylerkehne  
•    / mkdasher  
•    / sonicpacker  
•    / snark122  
•    / silentsla.  .
•    / gaehned  
•    / aruaerueru  
•    / superdavo0001  
•    / dargos  
•    / @isaaca   (IsaacA)
(ToT's channel unfortunately no longer exists)

This is a tool-assisted speedrun, created using slowdown, savestates, memory-watch and various other tools in order to make a sequence of inputs which completes the game as fast as possible with all known techniques. It is not a real-time speedrun performed by a human in one shot, and so for obvious reasons will not be counted on any speedrunning leaderboards. For more information on tool-assisted speedruns, what they are & why they exist, check out Bismuth's video on the subject:    • How to create the perfect speedrun - Tool-...  

The "1 Key" category requires only that the game be completed as fast as possible, with no restrictions. This is optimally achieved by accessing Bowser In The Fire Sea immediately & defeating Bowser there to collect the key to the upstairs area of the castle, before heading to Bowser In The Sky & defeating Bowser once more.

This strategy does not collect any power stars, and abuses multiple glitches to skip through massive chunks of the game. The current best TAS which collects every power star (the 120-star or 100% category) can be found here:    • [TAS] N64 Super Mario 64 "120 Stars" in 1:...  

This run is much more intricate & complex than it may look to the untrained eye, and is a product of many years of glitch discoveries & optimisations. If you want to learn more about what is actually going on & how any of this is possible, here are a few places to look:
• Bismuth's explanation video about the 1key TAS:    • Super Mario 64 Tool-assisted speedrun worl...  
• The original TASVideos submission text: http://tasvideos.org/5237S.html
• Tyler Kehne's initial explanation of moat-door skip: https://pastebin.com/uH5GhHbp

Additionally, I'm planning to make an alternate version of this TAS with visual-aids to make it easier to see what's going on, so stay tuned for that!

The timesaves in this run were found by Isaac and executed by me. Finding good camera angles & downtime movements to keep the run smooth & entertaining while also avoiding every possible source of console-lag proved to be an interesting challenge, but I hope the result was worth the effort.

Although not a direct author of the run, rcombs deserves a large amount of credit for the latest saves. By using her TASbot to play back the run on an actual console, she was not only able to time the run, but could also determine where exactly in the run any lag occurred, allowing us to fix it more precisely. Her Twitch channel (where she often streams console-verifications) can be found at:   / rcombs  

If you're interested in seeing the real-time speedrun world records in Super Mario 64, they can be found here: https://www.speedrun.com/sm64

Finally, if you want to learn more about tool-assisted speedrunning in Mario 64 overall & the many glitches that go into it, I'd recommend checking out Ukikipedia - the community's wiki, at https://ukikipedia.net/wiki/Main_Page.