First, I give credit to those in charge of SDA who have built this place and maintained it as greatly as they have. I thank Mike, Nate, and everyone else who assisted me during the submission process of this speedrun. I am honored to be able to submit a run to SDA.

I also thank SwordlessLink, MrRobertZ, AKA, and Rikku for their TAS runs. These runs taught me a lot about the maximums of Super Mario 64 and which strategies and star routes are fastest.

Lastly, I thank Curtis Bright (the webmaster for sm64.com). His website keeps track of world record times for every star in the game. This gave me an opportunity to test several stars and decide which 16 to use for my run.

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On behalf of everyone who views this speedrun, I will now describe my thoughts about the run in detail:

The Lakitu Skip wasn't perfect, but I am satisfied with it. It's possible to do 6 long jumps from the pipe to the front door instead of 5. I have a lot more success with 5 because I can take a few steps to Mario's right after the 3rd long jump to have a more parallel angle for the last two long jumps across the bridge. Also, I made contact with the left wall for a few frames before entering the door, but that only costed me a few tenths of a second so I can live with it.

Everything from the front door of the castle to the Bob-omb Battlefield painting was ideal. I usually perform this part of the run without error.

The star Behind Chain Chomp's Gate was basically ideal. There was some hesitation after Mario went through the gate, but that's normal because the bob-omb explosion tends to give Mario backwards momentum for about one second.

After exiting the Bob-omb Battlefield painting, my long jump attempt failed. All of the text messages after Bob-omb Battlefield tend to disrupt my timing for this long jump, but I recovered nicely with a double jump dive flip to the door, so not much time was lost. Then everything else to the Whomp's Fortress painting was ideal.

The stars Chip Off Whomp's Block, Shoot Into the Wild Blue, and To the Top of the Fortress were ideal. These stars aren't as easy as they look. I'm glad I was able to do them so well on this occasion.

The only error for the star Fall Onto the Caged Island was my missed jump for the star. The triple jump wall kick onto the island is difficult for me. After this move, I relaxed a little bit during my star jump which caused my error. Fortunately, I recovered by jumping immediately a second time to get the star.

With the method I used, the star Blast Away the Wall was ideal. My cannon entry was rather clumsy, but no time was lost because I would have to wait for the rotating bridge to move into position either way.

There were two minor errors from the Whomp's Fortress painting to the Cool, Cool Mountain painting. In the Whomp's Fortress room, the dive flip after the double jump was mistimed. In the Cool, Cool Mountain room, I failed to perform a second long jump into the painting after my first long jump from the door. I recovered with a jump dive flip into the painting. I don't practice this part of the run that often because I tend to take it for granted. I would've benefited from extra practice in this instance.

In my opinion, both Cool, Cool Mountain stars were awesome and thrilling to watch.

My transition from the Cool, Cool Mountain painting to Bowser in the Dark World was flawless for the most part. This is another area of the run I don't practice as much and just attempt on the fly, so I'm grateful that it was executed this well when it needed to be.

Bowser in the Dark World, as well as the first Bowser Battle, were excellent. My strategy is risky with several death-defying leaps, all of which were successful. My masterful execution of this stage gave me a lot of confidence going into the basement.

The transition from Bowser in the Dark World to Shifting Sand Land is more difficult than it appears. The flames in the basement tend to get in the way, and overall this is a long distance to cover. I accidently touched the right wall before entering the lobby door beneath the two coins. Also, my angle approaching the Shifting Sand Land "painting" was sckewed to the right, but my jump kick recovery prevented a major loss of time. I can live with these two minor errors.

The two stars I chose for Shifting Sand Land were spectacular. These were the first of 8 excellent stars in the basement.

The two long jumps from Shifting Sand Land to Lethal Lava Land are easily done and I performed them well.

Lethal Lava Land was virtually ideal. My long jump onto the bully platform for the star Boil the Big Bully is very difficult and was well executed. 8-Coin Puzzle With 15 Pieces is fairly easy and was done to perfection. These two stars were performed up to my standards.

After exiting the Lethal Lava Land painting, I ran to the edge and did a dive flip intentionally to avoid jumping into the flame on the nearby wall. Everything to Toad's star and my Hazy Maze Cave entry were ideal. This part went very well.

The Hazy Maze Cave stars were two of the best in the run. A-maze-ing Emergency Exit was just awesome. Watch For Rolling Rocks was flawless, but admittedly I was fortunate that none of the rocks got in my way.

With my selected method, the Mips section of the run was well executed. There are other ways to glitch through both doors using Mips, some of which may be a second or two faster, but this is the method I have the most success with for this difficult part of the run.

The star Board Bowser's Sub was ideal. I almost fell off the sub just before getting the star, which was definitely the most frightening part of the run for me. I took a deep breath after getting the star and entered Bowser in the Fire Sea nicely.

Bowser in the Fire Sea and the second Bowser Battle were wonderful. It's a shame I had to wait on the elevating platforms so long. The long jumps on the edge at the end were masterful, thrilling, breathtaking, etc.

My reentry of Bowser in the Fire Sea and use of the exit course option were done to perfection.

Everything from the lobby to my entry of Bowser in the Sky was great. More specifically, the quick initiation of my 50-star door and endless stairs BLJs was clutch. This area has ruined a lot of good runs in the past. These BLJs used to be my greatest frustration of the 16-star run... now they are my greatest triumph.

Bowser in the Sky was absolutely beautiful. Given the pressure I was under, I could not have done it any better.

With my hands sweating and my heart pounding, I reached deep inside of myself and found a way to heave Bowser into a bomb on all three attempts. Undoubtedly, the pinnacle of my gaming career.

I've beaten the game countless times before, and I've collected Bowser's final star as many times in the process, but never has collecting this star meant as much to me as it did on this one special moment.

Once again, I thank everyone involved with making SDA the great entity it is today, I thank the TAS players mentioned above, and I thank Curtis Bright for giving me this distinguished opportunity.

*Myles praises God & Jesus*

I think everything that follows here can be aptly summarized in one sentence: This was a helluva lot harder than it looks.

Credits

• Radix: For hosting the run
• Nate: For performing various feats of technological wizardry
• Jacob "LeCoureur103" Cannon: His 70-star run was the standard that I strove to meet for this project. His strategies strike the ideal balance between speed and consistency, and I adopted most of them for my run.
• Curtis Bright: The coin lists on his website were invaluable for planning my 100-coin routes, and many of his videos also had helpful strategies.
• Jeremy "spiderman88mil" Taylor: As the author of the previous 120-star run, his work was naturally another reference for my run.
• FODA (and anyone else involved with the 120-star-TAS): I cannot deny that the TAS test run and FODA's periodic WIPs were an invaluable resource; I gleaned quite a lot of useful strategies and information them.
• And finally, everyone who provided feedback and moral support in the Discussion Topic.

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General Comments

After I finished my Banjo Tooie 100% Run back in December, I was contemplating a 120-shine Super Mario Sunshine Run for my next project. But, I decided that I wanted to try something I'd never done before: a single segment run. Since SMS 100% didn't seem like the best choice for this, I decided to go with its predecessor; for my inaugural SS run, I picked a game that I hadn't played in over 9 years. (When I started out, I didn't even know how to long jump!)

This run was a radically different experience for me; unlike my previous works, the focus here was much more on frequent practicing rather than planning. (I planned out most of my 100 coin routes myself, but most of the other strategies were taken from various sources cited above.) And having never done anything quite like this before, I can honestly say that I had no idea what I was getting into. This run, which I had originally planned to finish back in April, wound up taking more than twice as long as I'd anticipated. (My humblest apologies to anyone who was misled by my various monthly forum posts, promising that I was "almost done, really!") It also basically destroyed the analog sticks on all three of my remaining N64 controllers.

Still, I think the final product is worth it. As you'll see, this run, while certainly not perfect, nonetheless completes the game without any deaths or serious errors. It's quite solid overall.

That should cover the basics. I was originally shooting for sub-2:15 here, so sub-2:10 is even better. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with this run, and I hope you are too. Enjoy!

If you have any questions or comments about this run, you may contact me on AIM at XDragornX.

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Detailed Comments

Before I get to the individual star comments, I'll discuss the overall route I took through the castle. In the beginning, I take care of some of Bomb-omb Battlefield (obviously that level has to be first), then Cool Cool Mountain (this level is loaded with run killers, so it's best to get it out of the way early), and then Bowser in the Dark World (another run killer that I want to finish early for the same reason). After that, I tackle the other half of the ground floor: Jolly Roger's Bay, the Princess's Secret Slide, and the Wing Cap. At this point, Whomp's Fortress and the Secret Slide Part II could be completed, but since they're pretty easy, I prefer to complete them much later in the run (right before heading upstairs). So I just finish off Bomb-omb Battlefield and move on.

Here, the route gets a little more interesting. One possible route (and the most obvious) is to get the vanishing cap, then backtrack to the basement, complete the 3 levels there, then Dire Dire Docks + Bowser, then Big Boo's Haunt, and finally return to the ground floor normally. The alternate method (which I picked from the TAS) is to warp back to the lobby after getting the vanishing cap, complete Big Boo's Haunt, then Dire Dire Docks + Bowser, then the basement, and finally warp back up to the ground floor. In addition to eliminating lots of tedious backtracking, this also lets me tackle Dire Dire Docks + Bowser much earlier. (Those areas are also notorious run killers that I want to complete ASAP.)

There's not really anything to say about the route for the upstairs area; that's pretty standard.

You'll notice early on that I seldom collect stars in the order in which the level presents them; this might seem random, but there's usually a method to the madness. Sometimes, it's necessary for strategic purposes; for example, in Snowman's Land, it's necessary to complete "Inside the Igloo" before "Snowman's Big Head" because I activate the cannon in the former star. Barring those restrictions, I also usually like to mix up easy stars and more difficult ones; that is, I like to use the easy stars as recovery periods between more difficult ones. And sometimes I just do weird things like collecting the Big Boo's Haunt stars in "Memento" order (last, first, second-to-last, and so on).

Finally, you'll notice in these comments that I usually have more to say about stars where things go wrong as opposed to one's that go perfectly. I guess that's just the nature of the beast.

Well, here we go.

1. Oh dear God, how I grew to loathe this opening cutscene... 45 seconds of agony for every restart. (And there were many of them!) Anyway, like LeCoureur103, I employ the lakitu skip here. It took a ton of practice, but I was eventually able to achieve decent consistency with it. And since it's the beginning of the run, messing up isn't a very big deal. (Like he says, it's just too cool to pass up.) After that comes the first star in Bomb-omb Battlefield. This glitch here, along with the lakitu skip, killed the majority of my runs. It's pretty difficult, which is why I tackle it first among the Bomb-omb Battlefield stars. A dead run at this point is about 2 minutes lost altogether.
2. This follows the strategy in LeCoureur103's run almost exactly (which I believe was a WR Strat for the Koopa the Quick Race). No problems here.
3. This is a pretty tricky cannon shot: too low, you bounce off; too high, you sail over the island. Still, "sliding" over the top of the island just looks so damn cool that I can't resist.
4. Cool Cool Mountain is pretty tricky. For this first star here, I'm not sure if this crazy wall kick is any faster than going around the normal way; but again, it looks cooler.
5. This is another standard strategy. It's best to ground pound right before impact. Of course, if you hit the button too late, you crash. Kinda like this.
6. Pretty nifty. I found changing the camera perspective when entering the slide to be quite beneficial.
7. The first 100-coin star. Getting it along with penguin race is quite difficult, which is why this is another infamous run killer. As you can see, it got off to a rocky start. First I mistakenly dove onto the slope, and then I missed 3 coins on the way down. I had to grab the extra red coin on the bridge to make up for this. And while I normally have a 1-coin margin-of-error on the slide, I obviously couldn't afford that this time. I still managed to salvage it though.
8. One of the nice things about getting the 100 coins on the penguin race is that, since you have to wait for him to get into position afterward, you don't lose any time collecting the star.
9. This is a modified version of a strategy from one of Curtis Bright's videos. It went well. Sliding down the slope, over the chasm, and then jumping the tree to grab the coin is pretty damn cool.
10. You know, this star gave me trouble way too many times for something so easy. Nothing went wrong this time though.
11. The first Bowser World... yet another run killer! There are so many of them... anyway, this is a little rough at a couple of spots, but pretty good overall. I followed LeCoureur103's strategy for most of it. Bowser went down without a hitch.
12. I hate swimming. (Not as much as flying, but we'll get to that later.) Nothing to see here, move along...
13. I guess it's possible to swim lower and still activate the eel, but it's really not worth the risk.
14. One of many stars where the metal cap is proved unnecessary. This jet stream is easier to penetrate than the one in Dire Dire Docks.
15. The second 100-coin star. There are only 104 coins in the whole level, so your options of what coins to collect are quite limited. A couple rough spots here (damn swimming!), but not bad.
16. Not much to do after grabbing the 100-coin star, just open the chest and get out...
17. This is pretty standard. No mistakes here.
18. I don't see much room for improvement of this red coin route.
19. This is another awesome cannon shot. Sliding along the wall before grabbing the star is sweet.
20. The Secret Slide Part I... this is basically LeCoureur103's strategy exactly. Short and simple.
21. For the longest time, I wondered if the towers here were solid or not. Eventually I learned the answer the hard way. (They are.) Oh yeah, flying. Oh how I despise the flying in this game. It's so difficult to control... nothing went wrong here though.
22. Pretty clean execution on this one. Another nifty cannon shot too.
23. Another red coin route from a Curtis Bright Video. Sometimes, an invisible wall is present over the bridge and screws up the wall-kick after collecting the sixth red coin. Thankfully that didn't happen here.
24. Collecting the 100 coins in this level is fastest with the Koopa Race, because of the empty time you'd otherwise spend just waiting for him to finish. This was definitely one of my better executions of the star. Sometimes, a coin gets lost near the beginning, usually due to the crazy directions that the coins from the throwing blocks can take. In that case, I substitute a coin from a bomb-omb somewhere along the line. Also, my race time was exactly one minute, which is kinda cool. The last part of this level is a nightmare. There's so much that can go wrong when you're flying around (did I mention I hate flying?) and collecting all these coins. You could potentially gather many more of them from the air, but the flying is just too damn difficult/random. Finally, the obsessive-compulsive in me wanted to collect exactly 100 coins on all 15 courses, but I guess it wasn't meant to be...
25. After all that crap is finished, it's just one short cannon's shot to victory.
26. The vanishing cap course it home to the second-most-difficult trick of this run. In theory, you triple jump off the cap switch, then wall kick, and finally dive just over the top of the nearby fence, smoothly grabbing the star and escaping the level without viewing the annoying dialogue box. Yep, it's a lot harder than it sounds. It doesn't work very often, and this time was no exception. Worth a try though.
27. Ugh, I can't believe I actually messed up the entrance to this level twice in one run (it very rarely happens). This star went well though. Cool wall kick near the beginning.
28. No mistakes here. Cool wall kick near the end this time.
29. The direction that you face affects what direction Big Boo will fly off in. You can manipulate this in the battle to good effect, as seen here. Not bad.
30. Getting 100 coins in this level without stepping outside is pretty nice. Had some bad luck with the eye monster though.
31. Even MORE bad luck against Big Boo :(
32. This is a nice red coin route, from the TAS Test Run I believe. I especially like the double wall kick off the stairs.
33. Same wall kick here as on the first star, expect in the opposite direction. Pity I screwed it up the first time :/. Otherwise this is good.
34. Oh hell. The last 30 or so minutes have just been a warmup for the dreaded Star 34. I tackle this godforsaken thing first in Dire Dire Docks, because I just want to get it over with. The beginning of this star is a little rough, with some coins missed the first time. (Did I mention I hate swimming?) However, the real test is the sub. The various jumps and wall kicks involved here ruined many a good run. I pulled them all off quite nicely though, including sliding down the side of the sub and wall kicking to grab the blue coin platform. (That's the single most difficult trick of the run.)
35. Nothing much to see here, the hard parts are over. Although it's still quite possible to screw up the long jump back to the sub and slide off.
36. Not much to see here either. This star and the next are really just breathers to collect my nerve before Bowser in the Fire Sea.
37. This star isn't that hard, but once I got careless and allowed myself to get sucked into the whirlpool by the final chest. This came AFTER good execution of the red/100 coins stars. Most infuriating. Nothing went wrong this time.
38. This jet stream here is much more finicky than the one in Jolly Roger Bay. I had a lot of trouble swimming through the rings until I tried switching the camera angle. That also made it easier to swim to the star as well. Nothing went wrong here.
39. I... fell off the sub. WTF!? This just goes to show you that anything, no matter mind-numbingly simple, can be royally screwed up in an instant.
40. Welcome to Bowser Part II, where anything can go wrong, and usually does. I accidentally fell in the lava near the beginning, which, all things considered, isn't that bad. (I was still able to avoid waiting for the stairs to the final area.) And another smooth Bowser battle, w00t!
41. I'd just like to say that this is really harder than it looks. Usually, I just miss the first ring and swim through the next 5 normally. In this case, I missed the second one, which resulted in a much more substantial delay. Bah.
42. NOOOOOOOO, I MISSED THE RABBIT!! This star went all right though. Riding the green shell over the sand pillars is always nerve wracking. Basically, I used the M.O. that LeCoureur103 describes in this comments; if the shell breaks on the first pillar, go get a different star; the third or fourth, finish on foot; the second... you're dead. A ruined run after 40-something minutes of playing due to random chance like that is quite irritating.
43. I must say, I'm quite proud of this. Triple jumping up the pyramid to hit the bird right as he flies over, and then sliding down the other side to collect the star... damn that's cool. Of course, the tricky part is getting the timing down. That's what the 1-up is for; I found that doing the triple jump after releasing the 1-up and allowing it to bounce a couple times set the bird up perfectly.
44. The quickest way to get on top of that big red thing in the middle of the pyramid is to do some crazy triple jump + wall kick thing off the side... definitely not feasible here. My way is nice and consistent, and I still think it looks pretty cool. The fight went fine.
45. Well this started out well. The long jump off the fly guy to land on top of the stone structure is nifty. But it's all downhill from there. Missing that coin in the air was pretty stupid, and then getting hit by the fire... ugh. I salvaged it as well as I could.
46. This 100 coin route here is by no means the fastest possible... I made a lot of tradeoffs to get something consistent. (In particular, I pass over the 2 fly guys by the pyramid and the coin block in the stone structure, because their coins have a tendency to go everywhere and wind up in quicksand.) Still, I think it's well balanced. Also, this star is the SECOND instant of riding the green shell over the pillars. Usually, if it's going to break and kill me, it happens here, because that's just so much more insulting.
47. Have to be careful here not to miss the star and fall to a horrible quicksand death below.
48. Two reasons why I saved this for last: first, it prevents a tornado from appearing in the quicksand pool by the stone structure (the one I pass by on the green shell during the 100-coin route); second, it's a nice, easy "backup" star that can be quickly substituted if something goes wrong with big bird, the green shell, etc.
49. I had to skip Lava Land briefly here to make up for my earlier MIPS butchery. Thankfully I got him without wasting too much time.
50. Nothing went wrong here.
51. Pretty close call by the spinning platform. Owned the bully though.
52. This is such a nice star. Quick, easy, painless.
53. Well... I'm usually pretty good with the bullies. Not this time though. Bastards nearly killed me.
54. This went well. I'm not sure whether flying to the stone arch is faster or slower than getting there on foot, but this looks nice regardless.
55. This is a good 100-coin route... assuming that you don't lose the shell. Which of course I did. Messed up again right outside the Volcano too :/. At least the inside went well though. I nailed the triple-jump over the lego smasher that seems to give so many other runners trouble :P.
56. Just a quick couple of pole jumps here...
57. Toad...
58. This is from Spezzafer's 16-star-TAS... it's actually not the fastest way available. After you enter the pit area, you can do a wall kick off the wall to your right to grab an upper platform and then long jump to the star; of course, if you screw up the wall kick, you sail right into the pit and die, which is why I opted for this instead.
59. Road to the Metal Cap went off without a hitch. I particularly like sliding off the platform with the star. Metal Cap also went well.
60. Another 100 coins here. I accidentally skipped over one of the spider creatures near the beginning, and thus had to kill all 4 bats in the maze to make up for it. (Normally I only need one coin from them.) Other than that, this went well. 60 Stars, halfway there!
61. Finishing a 100 coin route with both stars right next to each like this is neato.
62. A small part of me dies every time I see this. It's just hard to believe that I could've made such a monumentally stupid mistake. Most cringe-worthy moment of the run, right here.
63. Nailed the long jump off the moving platform to the very narrow arch with the fourth red coin. Got sloppy near the end, but this is still pretty good.
64. Quick and easy.
65. I'm aware that this star can be completed without using the metal cap. However, I could never get decent consistency with that ground pound over the switch, so I just opted for the easy method.
66. Whoa, close call on the way out. Falling back into HMC would've sucked hard. Caught MIPS perfectly on the second time though.
67. That little mess-up on the way to Whomp's Fortress is aggravating. This star here went fine though.
68. Pretty nice.
69. There's a lot of neat things in this 100 coin route. The triple jump up the slope by the cannon is particularly nice. Collecting the final red coin with 98 in hand (so that both stars appear simultaneously) is also a cool effect.
70. Yep.
71. Total ownage here.
72. You can get this star without the cannon, but that's WAAAAY too random for a speedrun. This strategy is the best bet. Unfortunately I messed up this time, but oh well.
73. Another great cannon shot.
74. The Princess's Secret Slide Revisited. I bet you'd forgotten about this by now. No? Well, anyway, this is basically the same deal as last time.
75. Ugh, I missed the cool little glitch for the stairs to the upper levels. As for this star, well, my execution definitely could've been better.
76. This, on the other hand, is awesome. Perfect triple jump at the beginning, perfect ascension of those yellow block stairs, and perfect wall kicking inside the cage. (And that last part is HARD!)
77. This is another LeCoureur103 strat. I haven't been pointing them out for a while, but if you've seen the 70-star run you probably recognize most of them anyway.
78. Quick and easy, a nice little breather to break up the more difficult stars of this level.
79. Screwed up the jump after collecting the Vanishing Cap. Otherwise this is good.
80. More 100-coin fun! My strategy here borrows liberally from Curtis Bright's "Secrets in the Shallows and Sky" video, as well as the TAS Test Run. Also, that triple jump up to the area with the Chuckya is very tricky, probably the second most difficult trick in this level (behind the elevator wall kicks).
81. Just a quick long jump from the last star to this one. Watching the water rise up around Mario as the end cinema plays is cool.
82. I despise this level. That chuckya is a bastard. He got me this time, but I at least managed to avoid him later. Otherwise, this star is short and sweet.
83. Basically LeCoureur103's strat, except for the triple jump + wall kick at the beginning. The long jump to the star at the end is probably some unnecessary daredevilism.
84. Another quick and simple star.
85. Draining the water without actually going to the top of the level is a cool trick. I managed to avoid that damn Chuckya on my way to Wiggler this time. His battle also went quite well. (The direction that he moves at the beginning is random, so it can be difficult to nail him as you drop down. I got him though.)
86. As the level with the most coins, this was the hardest to map out a 100-coin route for. My strategy for this level must've gone through 3 or 4 distinct iterations. Anyway, you have to be very careful with the big goombas here; it's quite easy to accidentally jump on one and lose 4 coins. Collecting the red coins inside the mountain, however, is the real challenge. It's just so easy to fall down. Nothing went wrong this time though.
87. Mwahahaha.
88. I use an unorthodox Koopa the Quick strategy here, from the TAS Test Run. He's going to get to the flag in the same amount of time either way, so you might as well have something interesting to watch.
89. Toad!
90. This level is a much needed breather after the hellish Wet Dry World and Tiny Huge Island. All of these stars start out the same way (with the long jump onto the wind gust), and three of the four that involve going to the top of the mountain are practically identical. Anyway, this star went well. I've heard horror stories about invisible walls appearing in front of this mushroom, but I've actually never had a problem with them here. They've screwed me over everywhere else in the game, but not here. Strange.
91. Complete LeCoureurage. Oh yes, I should also mention here that you can longjump INSIDE the mountain at the beginning of this level, and warp up to the area with the log and fly guy. This isn't that difficult, but I couldn't use it since it violates SDA "Mysterious Warping" rules. Anyway, moving on...
92. Some people probably find it strange to take the slide here, but not collect the slide's star. Oh well, speedruns sometimes require seemingly odd strategies. Anyway, this is... awesome. I didn't even miss a single coin on the slide, which is fairly unusual. (The 3 goombas by the start point are used to make up for any lost coins as necessary.) Grabbing the last 4 red coins off the mushrooms is naturally terrifying, but I pulled it off well.
93. Indeed.
94. No problems here. Nothing much else to say...
95. I occasionally have problems with this star, but nothing went wrong this time.
96. The monkey eluded me for a second there, but otherwise no problems.
97. This star is a nice easy intro for Snowman's Land. Nothing you haven't seen before, I'm sure...
98. 100 coins on this level is a real pain. You have to kill a ton of different enemies without losing the shell, and those moneybag bastards spray their coins everywhere when you kill them. Randomness this late in a run is BAD news. Anyway, this went pretty well. I managed to keep the shell the whole time, and didn't get too much bad luck with the different enemies. As far as the inside of the igloo goes, it went well, except for one point. It's possible to activate the cannon, grab all the remaining coins you need, and then grab both stars, without ever needing to "recharge" your vanishing cap. However, the timing on this is very tight, and if you stupidly smash into a wall like I did, you have to waste time grabbing a second cap. Not the end of the world though.
99. I think I forgot to complain about the utterly atrocious camera angles inside this igloo. You can't tell what's going on half the time. Anyway, moving on...
100. This isn't a particularly difficult cannon shot, but I screw it up quite frequently. Nerves, maybe? Anyway, it's the only missed shot of the run, and not a very big deal, as you can see.
101. Pretty slick.
102. Even slicker.
103. The slickest!
104. Oh no, the homestretch. This is where my nerves typically go to pieces. As you can see, I missed the initial entrance to Tick Tock Clock and had to waste time waiting for it to cycle back up to 12. The star itself is pretty sloppy as well. Don't worry, the rest of this level is better.
105. This is decent.
106. Messed up a jump on the red coin platforms, and opted to collect the red coin star instead. Not that bad either.
107. Doing a long jump across the clock to this star (like in LeCoureur103's run) is faster and cooler, but I've just had way too much bad luck with invisible walls in this level to risk it.
108. Pretty solid.
109. As you can see, I missed several coins near the beginning there, and had to collect 2 extra red coins (7 instead of my normal 5) to make up for it. Otherwise, this is nice. You do have to take into account that I've been playing for about two hours at this point and am a nervous wreck.
110. Awesome triple jump up to the thwomp here.
111. TOAD!!!
112. The sickest level of them all. I opt not to perform the insane triple jump + wall kick at the beginning of these stars, because screwing it up is instant death. The pole method is an acceptable alternative. Otherwise, the various crazy things that LeCoureur103 used in his 70-star run are reproduced here. Unfortunately I screwed up a trick in this star, but fear not; like the last level, this will get much better.
113. Sweetness.
114. Oh yes, nailed the long jump to the donut blocks. Kick ass.
115. Nothing to complain about here. Total ownage.
116. The last 100-coin star! And I have to say, it's just freakin beautiful.
117. The end is near.
118. I'm sorry about leaving this star for last. I know it makes for a rather anticlimactic conclusion to the level. However, it's my backup star just in case (Heaven forbid) I screw up the wall kick in the 100-coin route and miss any blue coins. Thankfully that didn't happen. So, yeah... this is pretty damn boring. Can't be helped though, really.
119. More flying. (Did I mention I hate flying?) Anyway, no mistakes here. I even managed to snag that last red coin without grabbing the pole above it. (It's not a big deal if that happens, but it costs a little time.)
120. Well, this is it. The last star, and the last chance to SCREW EVERYTHING UP. For the first part of the level, there were a couple rough patches, but all things considered, it's not bad. Not bad at all. And the Bowser fight is just spectacular. Three perfect throws like that is damn rare. I couldn't have asked for a better ending.

Well, kudos if you actually read all that. I hope you enjoy(ed) the run!

The PAL version of SM64 is obviously slower than the NTSC version, therefor it's good to have separate records for these different systems. Some things is easier to perform on PAL though, like bowser throwing and pretty much everything else too, seems almost like slow-motion after playing with NTSC. Anyway this run was nice, even thought I made some misstakes that clearly show when you watch the run, in the end those doesn't matter that much though since 90% of the run was just the way I wanted.

First of all I would like to say thanks to:

• The Admins of Speed Demos Archive to put up an amazing website for skilled and talented gamers.
• DSG3002 who was the only gamer to have a completed DS run on SDA (which got me into making a test run on Zelda: Phantom Hourglass).
• Flothaboss who had some nice Individual level WRs from another Hi-Score website which helped me on some of the stars; he had some videos on Youtube which were reliable sources.
• ToiletPro who had posted a link of Matt E's 80 star route which were done by themselves (Matt.E had made the first revision from scratch and then both Matt and ToiletPro made better revisions until December 2007), I came in Mid-2008 and made some adjustments for an Segmented route which seems to be a bit faster overall.
• Nate, for taking the time to encode the run and work with each frame in the entire run. Because it was recorded from digital camera, each little movement makes a difference, and Nate fixed that all up so the final result looks perfect, he even had to rotate and crop my video as the filming method I used allowed me to use the action buttons easier (such as Long jumping and Slide Kicks).

Tip for the viewers: For the best viewings on this run it's recommended to download the High quality MP4 files and play it on QuickTime.

The N64 version is more popular than the DS by nearly 2:1 so the text in Italics will be trivial facts to the N64 only players. WARNING HUGE AMOUNT OF TEXT AND I DO MEAN HUGE.

The playable characters:

• Yoshi

  Pros :
  *Can swallow small enemies and produce eggs
  *Hitting loads of enemies with 1 egg can produce loads of coins. So an egg that contained a koopa (5 coins) that hits 3 Goombas, it will produce 5 coins for each hit, so it's 18 coins overall (15 from the Koopa egg and 3 from the Goombas) making it useful for 100 coins stars.
  *Has the flutter kicks for both 1st and 2nd jumps to gain more height and distance.
  *Swallowing camp fires allow Yoshi to breathe out a single flame, useful for both Cool Cool Mountain Red Coins, and SnowMan's Land Ice Sculpture.

  Cons:
  *The weakest character of the lot that it can't destroy a block without a Bob-omb and needs a character hat (and play as Mario, Luigi or Wario) to defeat Bowser.
  *3rd highest triple jumper.
  *Power Flower isn't really special; it allows Yoshi to breathe out more flames in a certain period of time.

• Mario:

  Pros:
  *Better triple jumps than Yoshi
  *Fastest runner of the 4
  *The only character to wall jump
  *The only character to have 2 powerups (the only one to use the Wing Cap in single player).
  *The only character to unlock Big Star Doors (Bowser 1, 2 and the 50 star door)
  *Gives out the biggest distance on Long Jumping.

  Cons:
  *Doesn't have any way to reach massive distances as effective as Luigi.
  *His ? power ups are not really useful in the 80 star speed run.

• Luigi:

  Pros:
  *Most effective flower power skill, it allows to skip some obstacles.
  *A back flip that covers enormous distances and medium-high heights quickly.
  *Can run across water for a few seconds.
  *Fastest swimmer.

  Cons:
  *Cannot Wall jump.
  *Power up doesn't reach godly heights like Balloon Mario.

• Wario:

  Pros:
  *The only character to destroy black blocks
  *Long Jump speed is equal to the other 3 (so seriously stick with Long Jump to keep the time difference minimal).

  Cons:
  *Slowest runner
  *Slowest swimmer
  *Poorest triple jumper
  * His ability is really a gimmick (a slow guy just to destroy huge objects).

Why an 80 Star run and not either a Glitched 50 star or 150 stars run?
*The 50 star run requires an out of bounds glitch in the 50 Star room (Tick Tock Clock and Rainbow Ride), you go on the stairs and perform a slide kick to the acute angle wall and you'll go out of bounds, it's actually quite difficult because you need to be precise with the angle and even when you get out of bounds there is a high chance of the game thinking you fell off the stage, counting as death. I first saw this on a video from Youtube, I managed to do this a few times but not constantly and many Youtubers (people who watch videos from Youtube) are having the same problem.

* The 150 star run however requires a complex route and also insane luck with one of the stars which is the 8 Silver Rabbits star. The 150 star run will also complete the tougher stars of the course and each segment could last for nearly 30 minutes long. The whole 150 star run would nearly be over 3 hours long thanks to extra stars and limitations on certain characters.

Here are my comments for each individual segment and star.

• Segment 1: (Yoshi getting the front door key).
  This one was quite an easy segment. I save after getting the key because I don't have to go through the 2 minute introduction and the different starting position after save warping is minimal.
  For the N64 only players: The start of the game has the biggest changes:
  *A longer introduction, Luigi and Wario are invited to Peach's Party
  * You don't start off as Mario
  *The front door is locked and you can't skip Lakitu as when he talks to you, it triggers the Rabbit Key Event near by the small set of bushes.

  Segment 2: (Stars 1 to 9, Mario Unlocked, Goodbye Yoshi)
  I was quite strict on this segment as this one had a linear route. I accept minor mistakes but some (tougher) tricks were not used or else I would lose more time on a failed attempt against a skipped attempt like Goomboss Battle's 3rd hit.
  Star 1: Bob-omb Battle Field (BBB): Chain Chomp star: This star is a no brainer and is one of the quickest stars to get on this course.
  *Due to a bug fix that was found on the original N64 (by using Bob-omb clipping) I had to get the star the normal way.

  Star 2: Whomp's Fortress (WF) : Chip off Whomp's Block
  Quite good performance, it's possible to save a few seconds by the performing the backflip sooner on the lifts but it's not really easy to do. I was near the star after defeating the boss so that kind of made up for it.
  *The DS version has different physics so the slopes work differently and therefore you can't reach King Whomp without using the lifts. Also the Ground Pound is less buggy so King Whomp can crush a character in a Mid-air Ground Pound pose
  *The DS version also has a different starting point making some stars 1 second quicker than the original to reach the destination.

  Star 3: WF :To the top of the Fortress:
  Very similar to the other one but the time saver on the lift isn't as effective as last time and I don't think you can do the shortcut from tower block 1 to the highest tower block (like Myles' 16 star N64 run) because Yoshi can't perform a dive.

  Star 4: WF: Blast Away the Wall
  This one was quite good; I think there was a small mistake when entering the cannon. I tested on the emulator to see if Yoshi's bumping recoil is high enough to land on the turntable platform and founded out its not possible.

  *You can't glitch the star as for this version it only appears (the Star appear animation sequence) after destroying the wall so the cannon has to be used.
  Star 5 WF: Falling into the caged island.
  A really easy star, nothing to say here.
  *Because Yoshi cannot Walljump it's not possible to skip the owl to reach the star. The caged island has a different level design too making it easier to land safely.

  Star 6 Jolly Roger Bay (JRB): Plunder in the Sunken Ship
  I find that Yoshi is faster to reach its destination by going around the water and then jump in to go straight down. Yoshi is the 3rd fastest swimmer, beaten by Mario and Luigi.
  *The eel seems to exit the ship quicker than the N64 version and there is only 1 chest required to rise the ship up and getting the star.

  Star 7 JRB: Blast to the Stone Pillar
  Before you people say, lol Greenalink didn't talk to the pink Bob-omb and opening the cannon. The Bob-omb only appears in stars 2-7 NOT Star 1. I activate the cannon as a time saver for the future stars on Segment 9 and for this one. When reaching to the cannon I think this is the fastest way as Long Jumping is way faster than swimming.
  *Nothing much different here, a faithful star.

  Star 8 Sunshine Isles: 5 Silver Stars
  This one was a good performance, Klepto the Condor is bit an ass sometimes and can usually ruin my segment. There was one small error with my backwards 2nd jump to flutter as I was trying to avoid getting hit. After the 5th Silver Star I don't long jump across where Klepto is flying around as he could come down and knock me off losing a silver star and losing loads of time.
  *This is a new level exclusive on the DS. Silver Star tasks require you collect 5 Silver Stars, some are in enemies like Goombas and you can find the stars easily by looking on the touch screen map. If you get hit while having a Silver Star, you will lose one, so it's very important not to get hit at all for speed runs.
  (Mario Key) Goomboss Battle
  A good pre-boss level performance and an acceptable Goomboss Battle. I didn't do the "tongue underneath Goomboss to swallow small Goombas" trick on the last hit because it's difficult to do against Goomboss massive size and it's 10 minutes into the segment.
  *Another new level on the DS version. It has a new boss too. Defeating these bosses gives you a key to unlock your capped heroes (Mario, Luigi and Wario). Goomboss gives you the Mario Key so you can unlock Mario in the Character changing room.
  Next I unlock the Mario door (and now playing as Mario).

  Star 9 Goomboss Battle Switch Star
  Mario is the only character to perform Wall Jumps. So I can get this switch star. Very short and easy, nothing much to say other than it's the last star on that segment.

• Segment 3: (Stars 10 to 15)
  I have to use save warping wisely since you start off outside the castle. I normally save the game before a tough star (only around the first area and Bowser 3) or I need to change characters.

  Star 10: Cool Cool Mountain (CCM) Mario's Super Wall Kicks.
  I also saved the game after the Goomboss Switch star before this one mainly because the Long Jump Shortcut doesn't always goes to plan. This one was quite good and its one the few times I used the side flip (mainly because D-Pad input sucks).

  Star 11: CCM: Li'l Penguin Lost
  The length is quite short but tough to master. I wasn't sure if the Big Penguin is going to give me the star if the Baby Penguin is around its parent, so I picked it up just to make sure I get my reward!
  *A small level design change to the pound, it's frozen solid. However underneath it contains a new star and you need Wario's Ground Pound to break it (it's a switch star too so you'll need to find the switch first to activate it).

  Star 12: CCM: Slip Slidin' Away
  An easy star to get, the shortcuts are quite risky but they're easier than you think.

  Star 13: CCM: Big Penguin Race
  Another easy star, remember performing shortcuts won't give you the star.
  *Completing Levels on the DS has a different procedure and can lose time when you collect too many coins. For this slide I avoided as much coins as possible and still beat the penguin, this reduces the delay after coming out from the portrait.

  Star 14: WF: Shoot into the Wild Blue.
  Too easy, it was a piece of cake.
  *Mario's triple jump is much higher than the N64 version and the Dive works differently and can give Mario extra distance.

  Star 15: WF: Fortress Switch Star.
  A quick star that involves destroying the orange block (Yoshi is too weak so he can't do it) and then going around the course to collect the star.
  *The DS version has added a new area around the fortress so Mario can't die so easily this time and this is one of the new DS only stars.

• Segment 4 (Stars 16 to 18, ? Switch and Basement Key)

  Star 16: ? Switch Palace
  D-Pad with Winged Mario light makes this one quite tough to get it right all of the time :(. This is why I saved after obtaining my 15th Star.
  *The ? Switch is less buggy and there is only 1 actual switch in the DS version. The other 2 are replaced with new stars but have tough restrictions (character wise) and these Red ? Boxes no longer reveal caps but power flowers, more on that later.

  Star 17: BBB: Red Coins
  Flothaboss's WR strat became useful for this star and it was pretty good. I wanted to do a dive after the second coin but it turned out to be a mid-air kick :(.

  Star 18: Bowser In the Dark World Switch Star.
  With the ? Blocks activated I can get the Power Flower and become Balloon Mario. This power up allows me to reach to high places without needing the cannon by rapidly pressing the jump button. There is also a new DS only star which is the switch star task. This one, is easier and quicker than the Red coin stars but this one requires a backtrack which is slightly longer than the Red Coin star by at least 2 seconds.
  Basement Key:
  This one went ok. The dive mechanics works differently on the DS version so it's difficult to grab Bowser's tail early and that using the D-Pad lacks true circular movement. The key always goes to the centre and you can't control your character when the key first appears.

• Segment 5 (Stars 19 to 20 and Luigi Key)
  This is the only segment where all the tasks I do only exist on the DS version.

  Star 19: Boo Fountain Red Coin Star
  This star alone nearly had 50 retries to get this one right. Fortunately they all have limited AI so I know where they go before I ground pound them. Sometimes it's usually the first 4 boos that messes up this segment due to bad timing with Mario's Ground pound that sometimes the Boo appears and knocks Mario down, losing loads of seconds.

  Star 20: The Secret of Battle Fort (5 Silver stars)
  This star went pretty well, the only mistake was after the last silver star that I didn't jump high enough, so Mario had to climb up the block slowly.
  Luigi Key: Big Boo Battle:
  I have to enter the new area by going into Boo's Mansion first. Then work my way through to enter the Luigi Portrait. The next part is easy and the order is:
  Right, left, right and left. This should take Mario to the pre-boss room and that part went well too. Next I got move next to the mirror and then wait, this is not a mistake.
  Mario's reflection then suddenly changes to Luigi and Big (King) Boo appears, this battle went pretty well and I look from one side of the room to track down Boo's positions.

• Segment 6: (Luigi Unlocked, Stars 21 to 27)
  The first segment I play as Luigi. He is required for some of the stars in Boos Mansion and Big Boo Secret Star.

  Star 21: Princess Secret Slide:
  I didn't know the huge shortcut during the recording but it only saves 2 seconds or more So this one is not too bad.

  Star 22: Boo's Mansion (BM) Big Boo Balcony
  I chose this star first because I want to get the back flip timesaver done right for the first time. It went pretty well.

  Star 23: BM: On a ghost hunt.
  I lose around 6 seconds due to poor camera angle near by the ? Box and bad guess work on where the 2 Boos were. Fortunately with invisibility, the Big Boo fight was easy to deal with.

  Star 24: BM: Ride Big Boo's Merry-Go-Round
  This star wasn't too bad, I could have tried and hit Big Boo sooner on the first hit but I wanted to make sure that he's no longer out of bounds before I hit him or else I would have to wait even longer.

  Star 25: BM: Secret of the Haunted Books
  This star was good, nothing much to say.
  *There was a notable level design change that the star is guarded by a special glass wall that not even invisibility powers can get through it. So you can't skip the book puzzle on the DS version.

  Star 26: BM: Eye to Eye in the secret room.
  Another easy star, I don't need to rush to the Mr, Big I room when I get the flower because the Mr. Big I only follows visible players.

  Star 27: Big Boo Battle Secret Star:
  The last star of the 6th Segment. This one went pretty good, there was a mistake I think at the red ? box but it wasn't too bad. I also did a 2nd Jump->Scuttle->Mid-air kick combo for the shortcut on the 2nd room mainly because his Long Jump seems to has less distance than Mario and that it's the last star so major mistakes are quite bad.

• Segment 7 (Stars 28 to 45)
  One of the two mega segments that collects over 15 stars!

  Star 28: Shifting Sand Land (SSL) In the Talons of the Big Bird.
  This star had a bit of luck that sometimes the bird may move to its next destination sooner or later. It's better to let the bird move later so that you can grab it sooner and get the star.

  Star 29: SSL: Stand Tall on the Four Pillars:
  This star went pretty well, the pre-boss room went well as I planned. It's possible to go near the wall and jump and (fingers cross) Luigi would jump high enough to grab the ledge. This method doesn't always work, so the back flip method I did was reliable. The boss was being nice so I got the star easy.
  *The change on the slope mechanics makes triple jumping impossible, therefore the DS version requires using the bouncy crate same goes for the next 2 stars.

  Star 30: SSL: Inside the Ancient Pyramid.
  Inside the pyramid, instead of going around the interior level design, why not go to the middle and abuse Luigi's Back Flips, I can get to the top of the pyramid in no time.

  Star 31: SSL: Shining atop the pyramid.
  A short, easy star with 1 simple mistake that cost around 3-5 seconds >:( I would have retried the entire segment but I carried on until finding out I was satisfied overall.

  Star 32: Leval Lava Land (LLL): Boil the Bully
  I played a bit safe on this one by using the 2nd jump>scuttle>mid-air kick combo to get across the lava from the flame turret to Big Bully. The boss was defeated quickly so I got the star very quickly.

  Star 33: LLL: Bully the Bullies:
  This star is quite tough if the small bullies do not co-ordinate with you. Fortunately they did co-ordinate with me and Big Bully was defeated by the 2nd fastest way (timing your jump kicks) so its counts as a minor mistake.

  Star 34: LLL: 8-Coin puzzle with 15 pieces.
  With D-Pad controls it's not easy dominating this star. Which is why I didn't performed any dives and flips.

  Star 35: LLL: Red-Hot Log Rolling
  Luigi & Flower Power = Invisibility = Go through fence.. One of the few times that made this star really easy to obtain.

  Star 36: LLL: Hot-Foot-It into the Volcano
  Luigi's back flip abuse inside the volcano can be really effective. I did the centre route and then pole Jump to get the "Hot-Foot-It" star.
  * The centre platforms seems to be higher than the N64 counterpart that it's possible to get the 5th star this way by a pole jump or a Luigi Flip.
  * The Lava Fall is just a slight angled wall so you can't damage boost up to the star.
  *The flame turret on the centre route is now removed.

  Star 37: LLL: Inside the Volcano:
  I had a small mistake when trying to jump onto the rotating platform. It was the last notable mistake of this segment too. The strat is very similar to the Hot Foot It Star but this time I pole jump to the other star.

  Star 38: Toad Star 1 of 3
  Talk to Toad, gets Star!!

  Star 39: Hazy Maze Cave (HMC) A-MAZ-ING Emergency Exit
  2 ways to get this star quickly, a triple jump as Luigi from the Black Block or a wall jump as Mario, As Luigi, I did the triple jump method and no screw ups were made.

  Star 40: HMC: Navigating the Toxic Maze
  With the Flower nearby I can use Luigi invisible powers to skip the toxic maze by first getting the flower then going to the left half of the course I can go through the fence.

  Star 41: HMC: Swimming Beast In The Cavern
  This star went pretty well. I lost a few seconds as Capped Wario trying to prepare for a long jump because Wario is the slowest swimmer of the 4 and his Long Jump is a good time saver.
  *The Out of Bounds shortcut is removed on the DS version.
  * The star is now hidden inside the idle rock, you need Wario's physical power to break it and obtain the star that way.

  Star 42: HMC: Watch for rolling rocks.
  Very good and the star appears after a few seconds destroying the rolling rocks.
  * This star is now hidden in one of the rolling rocks.
  * To destroy these ones you need the Super Mushroom by becoming Wario and destroy the Black block in that area.

  Star 43: HMC: Metal-Head Wario Can move.
  I think it's faster to get the Wario cap near the starting area mainly because the back track is minimal, and Wario's Long Jumps are not too slow. If I got it from the Beast I would lose loads of time on the swimming and going up the slope to get the Red ? Box.
  Invisible Luigi can't go through these fence doors.
  *The Ground Pound trick to hit the switch cannot be done on the DS version.

  Star 44: HMC: Secret Switch Star.
  This is another good star performance. The only improvement is to hit the switch then go back to Luigi (not the other way round) but I did the slower method mainly because if I screw up the triple jump, I got a bit more time to do it again on this late part of the segment.

  Star 45: Behind the Waterfalls New star.
  Quite a lengthy one and didn't do mainly Long Jumps in this area mainly because of the Flying Snifits shooting bullets and the rapid water currents that can push Luigi back.
  *This new star replaces the Metal Cap Switch on the N64 version.
  * Sadly the DS version requires entering the level twice to get everything the player needs (Red Coin star and the new/hidden star).

• Segment 8 (Star 46, Bowser 2 Door opens)
  Switch to Mario to open the 2nd Big Star Door but I'll do a star that warps Mario closer to the Big Star door after getting it.

  Star 46 Princess Secret Slide "!" Box Star
  This time I perform the bigger shortcut and it saves 2 or more seconds. The ground pound is less buggy so I can't destroy the box by ground pounding the side of it.
  I lost around a second on the way to the big star door mainly because the D-pad input was an absolute pain.
  Mario is the only character to unlock the Big Star doors.
  I save warp here because, it involves swimming and a Bowser stage also changing to Luigi can complete the water levels quicker.

• Segment 9 (Stars 47 to 54)
  *Mario changes back to Luigi

  Star 47: Dire Dire Docks (DDD): Board Bowser's Sub
  This star was done quickly thanks to Luigi's Back Flip I managed to skip the Block switch.
  ^Different slope physics means that it's not possible to get on to the front of the submarine by jumping out of the water nearby.

  Star 48: Bowser Fire Sea Switch Star
  I find this Bowser level the toughest of all 3 thanks to the lava and a tough backtrack star. Although I landed on the lava once before the star it became easier with the backtracking to the actual star thanks to the platforms rising to cover the lava. I played a bit safe after the star and back flip to the third floor's edge.
  * The slope of the edge works different on the DS version so I actually have less room to land with my Long Jumps.
  Bowser 2 battle: UNBELIVEABLE, THE DEFINITE HIGHLIGHT OF THE ENTIRE RUN. I GRAB BOWSER'S TAIL BEFORE HE ACTUALLY LANDS TO MAKE THE ARENA OFF BALANCE. This is the smallest but coolest sequence break any SM64 fan would see.

  Star 49: DDD: Chests in the Current
  An easy star, the only improvement is to be closer and get into a more precise position before the star appears.
  *The DS version has 1 less chest to open to acquire this star.

  Star 50: DDD: Inside the Cage
  Very good, nothing much to say.

  Star 51: DDD: The Manta Ray's Reward
  I lost a couple of seconds because I swam down a bit too much, missing the ring combo.

  Star 52: JRB: Switch Star of the Bay.
  With the cannon activated from Star 7. I can use it for the next 3 stars including this one. With Luigi as the fastest swimmer, this is the fastest possible way to go underwater and get these stars.

  Star 53: JRB: Treasure in the Ocean Cave
  A small mistake with the falling pillar, fortunately he recovered very quickly.

  Star 54: JRB: Can the Eel come out to play?
  I chose this star last because sometimes if I did the other 2 stars from the actual star select menu, the Eel swims around the area and sometimes I might accidently touch it, losing a bit of time. The star itself went as good as I planned.

• Segment 10 (Stars 55 to 60)
  *Luigi switches back to Mario
  *Mario opens the 50 Star doors (Tick Tock, Rainbow Ride and Bowser 3 set).
  Since Mario opens the 50 Star doors, I thought it was a good idea to collect some stars from Mario to make the next segment a reasonable length.
  The stars I collected in this segment involves some tough shortcuts making the toughest short segment in the game, next to segment 12.

  Star 55: Tick Tock Clock (TTC) The Pendulum Switch Star
  Mario wall jumps made good some shortcuts for this course. This star is chosen first because of the tough wall jump shortcut. The setup work pretty well, I lost a couple of seconds from Amp and that Mario did not perform a back flip.
  *This star is very similar to "The pit and the pendulums" but this time it's altered slightly by adding a switch star element to the stage. Mario's Wall jump mechanics work differently too that he can perform wall jumps from a back flip.

  Star 56: TTC: Timed Jumps on Moving Bars
  There were 2 small mistakes with this one, the triple jump to the gears and Gaomba wearing Luigi's hat. None disastrous though :)
  * Another altered star on this course, this time it's blocked by a Black Block which can only be destroyed as Wario. The cage itself can be abused by Capped Luigi's Invisibility by back flipping onto the bars then back flip to the star.

  Star 57: TTC: Luigi in the cage.
  This one is a more optimised version from my previous star but this time I aim for a different star as Invisible Capped Luigi.
  *This star is also altered; it used to have an opening and a treadmill on the N64 version now it's completely blocked.

  Star 58: TTC: Get a Hand.
  An easy star, the centre camera function didn't go to plan and my triple jump + dive combo didn't touch the star immediately losing 1 second at least.

  Star 59: TTC: Stop time for Red Coins.
  This star is improvable if it was an Individual level run but this is too risky to duplicate in the late part of the segment. I would say 1-2 seconds can be improved for this star.

  Star 60: Rainbow Ride (RR) Cruiser Crossing the Rainbow
  If I did this star first I would lose more time to enter the TTC course because I would have to wait for the 2nd hand clock to reach 55 minutes past area. Therefore this star is obviously the toughest one because the triple jump shortcut is quite difficult. For an individual level run it's possible to skip all of the camera rotation delays like I did not do on this star attempt but I seriously don't like blind jumps. The ship section can be improved slightly if only the camera and my direction went to plan.
  *Mario's extra height on Triple jumping make this shortcut only doable on the DS version.
  *The platforms nearby the Airship are altered slightly making the DS version easier but Mario skips most of those with his Triple Jump + Dive combo.
  *The Wind blow mechanics are altered slightly and it's possible to surpass it by long jumping.
  *The Star is near to the tip of the ship plank; the original was not near to the tip of the ship's plank.
  *The rotating platform that leads to the set of platforms near by the Airship no longer has a blue flame underneath the platform.

• Segment 11 (Stars 61 to 80)
  The second mega segment of the run and this one nearly collects 1/4 of the minimum stars required to face Bowser 3.
  Mario switches to Luigi and collect 20 more stars.

  Star 61: Behind the mirror door secret.
  No need to comment this.

  Star 62: Snowman's Land (SML): Chill with the Bully.
  This boss does require some luck and a quick 180 turn to defeat this enemy easily. This is mainly why I did this star as soon as possible.

  Star 63: SML: Into the Igloo.
  I lost a couple of seconds on my way into the igloo but the shortcut themselves were quite tough. I didn't want to fall into the freezing water when I'm inside the igloo or else I would lose a couple of seconds getting out. I talk to the pink Bob-omb to open the cannon outside for an easy Snowman's Big Head star.
  *A very notable level design change on this version. It also contains the red coins in this igloo now and the maze element is gone making it less confusing.

  Star 64: SML: Whirl from the freezing pond.
  A good performance, the only notable improvement is to risk myself and jump on top of Spindrift to skip the back flip set up.

  Star 65: SML: Snowman's Big Head.
  With the cannon ready after talking to the Pink Bob-omb on star 63 I can get this star very quickly. I saved a second after getting the star too :D.

  Star 66: Tall, Tall Mountain (TTM) Scale the mountain.
  This star only appears on the star it's selected and the owl DOESN'T appear on this level. The platforms sticking out on the walls near by the Monty Moles is one of my least favourite areas on the entire game. The route however is my reliable speed route, it could be improved but it might end up being more complex.

  Star 67: TTM: Mysterious Mountainside
  This star can be obtained quickly by hold onto the owl, get invisibility and go through the star gate. Chuckya slowed me down and I could have performed an extra long jump before the risky star shortcut.
  *The DS version has added a gate to prevent getting the star in less than 10 seconds. However invisible powers do let you get the star, skipping the mysterious slide.

  Star 68: TTM: Scary 'Shrooms, Red Coins.
  I was quite pleased with this performance, no major mistakes.

  Star 69: TTM: Blast to the Lonely Mushroom.
  Another easy star, thanks to Luigi's Back flip.

  Star 70: Toad's Star (2 of 3)

  Star 71: Tiny Huge Island (THI): Switch Star on the Island.
  There was 1 small mistake with Luigi's Back flip but it was acceptable overall. There is a good timesaver with the Koopa shell but it's incredibly risky if I mess it up. So I did the safer way of getting into Wiggler's Cave.

  Star 72: THI: Pluck the Piranha Flower:
  I'm aware that you can defeat these without the mushroom but the main thing is that if I get hit too many times it's obviously going to be slower than getting the mushroom. The main advantage with the Mushroom is that there is no recovery lag after killing a giant Piranha Flower and the game only allows 2 Piranhas on the area at the same time.
  *The DS version has 3 poles added; one of them contains a Super Mushroom.
  * The jumps around the piranha plants are normal like everywhere else in the game.

  Star 73: THI: The Tip Top of the Huge Island:
  I did pretty good on this star. There was a Back flip after the Triple Jump + Dive combo to proceed to the star and avoid Chuckya at the same time.

  Star 74: Wet-Dry World (WDW) Top O' The Town
  Set the tide to high, which made this star easy to get. The long jumps were slightly messed up so I lost a second at least, if I fell into the water its instant reset.
  *The star is no longer in a Yellow ! Box and the spinning platforms spins way slower on the DS version.

  Star 75: WDW: Shocking Arrow Lifts:
  Low tide and warp shortcut made this star really easy to get.

  Star 76: WDW: Quick Race Through Downtown!
  I set the tides to low to reduce swimming time when going Downtown. There is nothing much else to say.

  Star 77: WDW: Express Elevator --- Hurry Up!
  I set my tide to medium to get a quicker start. I tried the actual elevator when testing this star and it goes down way too slow, wait and then go up slowly, so the invisibility shortcut is faster.

  Star 78 Toad Star (3 of 3)
  The last Castle Secret star I get for the 80 star run.

  Star 79: RR Swingin' The Breeze:
  This star could be quicker for the back flip set up but it was still good. I think that it's faster to go through the flames because waiting for the turret to stop takes a while and back flip over it takes a while for Luigi to land because he'll be in Roflcopter mode.
  SOI SOI SOI (in other words when Luigi is spinning you can't cancel it to a ground pound for quicker landing).

  Star 80: RR: Tricky Triangles!
  Another star obtained quickly with the Luigi Flip. I set the camera in a 2D way to make my jumps easier on the Triangle platform section.

  The only notable improvements are the 2 Tiny Huge stars but it requires a lot of risk to get it done right. A 15 minute segment on 20 stars is pretty good.

• Segment 12 (Bowser 3) Last Segment. Nothing much to say but Mario is the only one to enter Bowser 3 in a legit way. The platform section could be improved by a second or 2 but Bowser itself was good enough, as it had a perfect 3 hit each one with 8 full spins!. *Each time Bowser gets hit he always lands around the centre of the arena, it does make some of the latter tosses tougher because of the extra distance required.

The run does have possible improvements mainly some slight star route changes and performing tougher time savers, but the recording setup made the run quite difficult to perform.

If Nintendo or anyone else releases any kind of Capture device equipment (official or Homemade), there is more of a chance that I'll improve the entire run.

Come on Nintendo release a In-Game Recording Application on the DSi that you can store it onto an SD card. Stop making Balance Boards, Pedometers and Wii Wheels just make something that we HARDCORE gamers will enjoy.

The PSP is easier to record thanks to the A/V outputs >:( come on Ninty don't break the play on big screen traditions now,

No one has the right to upload this speed run onto Youtube or any other video hosting site (other than Greenalink and SpeedDemosArchiveSDA). If you want to see it, watch it here or those 2 Youtube Channels. Anyone uploading my run will get flagged instantly.