SM64 TAS FAQ
Created so hopefully the same old questions won't need to be replied to so often.
Contents
Useful Acronyms
Q&A
Q1. 1 star? How is that possible?
Q2. Backwards Long Jump? Whats that?
Q3. Staircases you say? Why not just glitch through the key door that leads upstairs?
Q4. Why is 1 star needed at all if you can just BLJ through most things?
Q5. Just out of interest, why did the previous runs collect 16 stars?
Q6. Is a 0 star run possible? (Can't you just BLJ past the DDD enterance?)
Credits & Sources
BLJ - Backwards Long Jump
BoB - Bob-omb Battlefield
WF - Whomp's Fortress
JRB - Jolly Roger Bay
CCM - Cool Cool Mountain
BBH - Big Boo's Haunt
HMC - Hazy Maze Cave
LLL - Lethal Lava Land
SSL - Shifting Sand Land
DDD - Dire Dire Docks
WDW - Wet Dry World
TTM - Tall Tall Mountain
THI - Tiny Huge Island
TTC - Tick Tock Clock
RR - Rainbow Ride
PSS - Princesses Secret Slide
VCUtM - Vanish Cap Under the Moat
MIPS - Mips the Rabbit (Yellow rabbit in the basement)
Q1. 1 star? How is that possible?
As you may or may not know, usual completion of Super Mario 64 requires you to collect 70 stars to open all the star doors and get to Bowser 3. By abusing the Backwards Long Jump glitch, it is possible to skip almost all of the game and complete it with just 1 star. Areas where this is done (among other places) is inside the pillars next to the main lobby staircase, The small stair area in the basement near the star door, the staircase up to the top area of the castle, and the looping staircase up to Bowser 3. Read Question 2 for more information.
Q2. Backwards Long Jump? Whats that?
The Backwards Long Jump (BLJ) is an odd bug where there is no limit to the negative acceleration of Mario. There are some areas in the game where you can do a long jump immediately after previously doing one. Places where this is possible are some staircases, slopes with the right angle, moving platforms that rise at the right speed, places where you can get stuck near the floor and places with low ceilings. In all of these, if you reverse your long jump so Mario is jumping backwards, and you are next to the ground, you can perform more BLJs in rapid succession, resulting in a huge speed boost that allows you to clip through things such as Animated actors such as doors, a few walls that aren't classed as boundries, the looping staircase etc.
Q3. Staircases you say? Why not just glitch through the Key Door that leads upstairs?
All key doors are loading triggers. This means they cause the game to load the next area when opened (in this case, the upstairs area). Of course, clipping through the door doesn't count as opening the door, so the result is being stuck in a darkened area behind the door. This is the same for other loading triggers in the game (such as the door entering the castle, the moat door and the door that leads to where the Boos are).
Q4. Why is 1 star needed at all if you can just BLJ through most things?
In order to get into Bowser 2, you must first get the first star from Dire Dire Docks. Aquiring this star moves the DDD painting/puddle back to reveal the enterance to Bowser 2. As of writing this Q&A, there is no known BLJ location that can gain enough speed to get past the painting loading area and down into the Bowser 2 loading area.
Q5. Just out of interest, why did the previous runs collect 16 stars?
At the time, the BLJ to get past the basement star door wasn't known. There is, however, another way to get past the door which was known at the time. When 15 stars are collected, MIPS the rabbit appears in the basement, which can be used to clip through doors. This was used to get past the star door, then the 16th star was collected to push the DDD painting back to reveal Bowser 2.
Q6. Is a 0 star run possible? (Can't you just BLJ past the DDD enterance?)
Theoretically, yes. In order to complete the game with 0 stars, you would have to get past the DDD loading area and get into Bowser 2. This would require a BLJ spot which can provide more jumps than the current area. With enough speed, it should be possible to clip past the entire loading area of DDD. Currently though, no such BLJ location is known to provide enough speed.
Primary source: Mario 64 Topic @ TASvideos.org
Credit to everyone whos posted something useful on the topic and IRC channel. You know who you are.