Cloning

Mario holding a Coin Clone

Cloning refers to glitches wherein an object can be duplicated. For instance, grabbing an exploding Bob-omb just as it despawns will allow the held object's memory slot to be overridden, thereby letting Mario hold a copy of a nearby item. In courses with loading areas, cloned objects can be unloaded and respawned to copy them potentially infinitely. In other levels, clones can fill the stage's memory limit, causing lag and graphical glitches, and eventually freezing Super Mario 64.

Clones cannot send or receive signals.

How it works

In simple terms, Mario needs to hold an unloaded object to initiate cloning. There are two ways to do so.

When Mario holds an object, a signal is sent to the game managing object slot to keep track of what object Mario is holding. The signal takes 2 frames to reach for a ground grab and a dive grab. During the 2-frame window, if an object despawns, then Mario would end up holding a vacant slot, allowing Mario to turn that object into a different one.

When Mario passes by a loading point, all objects are unloaded when the transition occurs. Therefore, whatever object Mario is holding will also be unloaded and be replaced by a different object.

Objects that can be cloned

Right when the object is unloaded

• Bob-omb, right as it explodes from the fuse, by throwing it or waiting for it to blow-up
• Cork box, right as it explodes due to impact, or before it despawns due to 30-second inactivity after it leaves its original location
• Chuckya, right as it explodes when thrown
• Crazy Box, by using some hands-free maneuvering, and going into water. See this for the exact route.

When passing through a loading zone

• Shiny Shell in Dire, Dire Docks through the loading zone (midpoint of the tunnel)
• Chuckya in Wet Dry World through the loading zone (midpoint of the tunnel)

See also

• Premature Clone
• Interference Clone
• Transport Clone