Wet-Dry World

For a tutorial on speedrunning this star, see the RTA Guide

For a tutorial on RTABC for this star, see the RTABC Guide

Wet-Dry World
Course Info
Abbreviation	WDW
Terrain	Default/Water
Setting	Sunny
Water	Mostly
Course Items
Coins	135 (  ×89  •   ×8  •   ×6)
Enemy Coins	17 (  ×17)
Stars	×7
Caps	×1  •   ×2
Star Navigation
Overview

Wet-Dry World is the eleventh course of Super Mario 64, featuring a "town" with an adjustable water level. By touching any of the crystal taps in the course, the water level is raised or lowered to the height of the tap used. Additionally, Mario's height as he enters the painting determines the water level immediately after entering the course (low, medium, or high). The course has a tunnel with a loading zone to take Mario back and forth between the main area and "downtown".

Coins

There are a total of 152 coins in the course, with 107 coins in the main area and 45 coins inside the town. The coin limit in this course can be raised via cloning.

Location	Count
12 coins in the 4 breakable boxes near start	12
10 coins in ! block against wall near the map corner (under cannon)	10
3 coins in ! block on a wooden platform with purple switch	3
Line of coins by the 4th highest water-level changer	5
Ring of coins around the pillar with the amp circling it	8
10 coins from the ! block on the pillar	10
10 coins in ! block above the the "Express Elevators" star	10
3 coins in ! block underneath Chuckya platform (push block to get)	3
Line of coins at highest level, by the highest water-level changer	5
(Inside the Town) Ring of coins around triangle statue in middle of town	8
(Inside the Town) Line of coins on high plank leading to metal cap	5
(Inside the Town) Line of coins on building between the entrance and trees	5
(Inside the Town) Line of coins on the other building beside the trees	5
4 Skeeters	12
1 Chuckya	5
8 Red Coins	16
6 blue coins from block (on very first level up, by fire-shooters)	30
Total	152

Downtown

The downtown area features multiple empty houses. On the sides of some of the houses is what appear to be doors, but are actually just textures and do not do anything.

A Press Counts

In the A Button Challenge, it takes no A Presses to collect all seven stars.

Star	A Presses	Minutes
1	0	0
2	0	0
3	0	1
4	0	0
5	0	5
6	0	1
100	0	2

Entering Wet Dry World (0x)

Video: https://youtu.be/mlHzqJn2SMs

This part is easily done without pressing A by using a dive recover into the painting. Although this means only the lowest water level can be accessed from the start of the level.

Shocking Arrow Lifts! (0x)

Video: https://youtu.be/GpLDcOdhchY

There is a warp nearby that takes you directly above the star.

Top o' The Town (0x)

Video 1 (Chuckya): https://youtu.be/vc_xUKnw7Z8

Video 2 (VSC): https://youtu.be/Z25qV3sGIn0

This star is particularly difficult because while you can break the box without pressing A, the star itself was 1 unit too high for a dive recover to work. It was originally solved when Plush figured out you could hold Chuckya as a light object on the bridge. Now, there are 6 different strategies, using Chuckya, VSC, a skeeter clone, a fire clone, a teleporter clone, and a heave-ho. Among these, the VSC strategy is the fastest one.

Secrets in the Shallows & Sky (0x)

Video: https://youtu.be/9Zc7wORb1FE

The strategy to get this star was to use a heave-ho to get one secret and chuckya to get on the bridge to get to another secret. the other secrets are fairly easy to get by falling from above.

Express Elevator - Hurry Up! (0x)

Video: https://youtu.be/gxkGeNAdsWg

The problem with this star is that it was originally not possible to get onto the elevator without pressing A. Eventually, Pannen realized that by raising the water level, he could get on the elevator with half an A press with barely enough time to get on. After that, it was found to be possible without pressing A by using negative VSC which gave some time to get on to the elevator without pressing the A button.

Go to Town for Red Coins (0x)

Video 1 (Water Level Raising): https://youtu.be/cdM-h1Ge9xk

Video 2 (Faster Strategy): https://youtu.be/25G6qXpXwHw

Originally, this star was saved because the water in the town bobs up and down by 20 units. If you go through the loading zone in the middle of the tunnel, the water level from the town will be saved and when you come back, the water level will be at the last position it was at. However, when you come back, the water level saved is now used as the median. So, by waiting for the water level to bob up or down by 20 units, unloading and then reloading the town, and repeating this process, you can raise or lower the water level.

Later, it was figured out by Iwer Sonsch that one of the red coins could be collected without breaking its box, putting a skeeter on the grey building, and using chuckya to give him some speed where he could use frame perfect B swimming to conserve that speed underwater to swim faster. Iwer then figured out you could clone one of the boxes to save some time, and put a skeeter on the brown building which saved a trip to the town. Pannen also found out that you could conserve more speed after throwing the box clone which helped him swim a lot faster and saved another trip to the town.

Quick Race through Downtown! (0x)

Video 1 (Water Level Overflow): https://youtu.be/2NtxoAgNY80

Video 2 (Cloning): https://youtu.be/7jqrAohBTxg

Originally, Pannenenkoek2012 was able to do this in a single A press by bringing Chuckya to the loading zone and then cloning the star. The strategy used one A press to start swimming after grabbing chuckya.

In May of 2014, he figured out that by using the water level raising glitch that had been used before, he was able to raise the water level so much that he could overflow the water level, making the water level alternate from being completely full to completely dry. The water level is stored as a 16-bit signed integer which means the only possible values it can be are between -32,768 to 32,767. If the water level goes over 32,767, it will wrap back around to -32,768 and vice versa.

In October of 2021, it was figured out that you could actually clone the star without having to press A again to swim with chuckya. By having chuckya come over to the loading zone, it was possible for Mario to grab chuckya and rapidly go through the loading zone to clone the star.

WDW 100 Coins (0x)

https://youtu.be/WU_6RKfsHE4

This star isn't very problematic as there are enough coins in the main room to get the 100 coin star. However, chuckya was required to get Mario onto the bridge which lets him get a box with 10 coins in it.

Other Challenges

In the Coinless Challenge, excluding coin missions, all stars can be collected. The same stars can be collected in the CCC Challenge, where Quick Race Through Downtown! can either be cloned, or Mario can clip into the cage with a BLJ.

In the Capless/Cannonless Challenge, all seven stars can be collected.

In the No Buttons Allowed Challenge, only Shocking Arrow Lifts! can be collected.

In the No Joystick Allowed Challenge, only Top o' the Town can be collected.

In the Pacifist Challenge, all seven stars can be collected.

In the B Button Challenge, the entire course is possible in 0 B presses. The JP 1.0 version requires triple jumping into the pipe to avoid opening the cannon.

In the Z Button Challenge, the entire course is possible in 0 Z presses.

In the UBER Challenge, Shocking Arrow Lifts!, Top o' the Town, Express Elevator--Hurry Up!, and Quick Race Through Downtown! can be collected. The latter two require Hyperspeed Wall Kicking and BLJs to clip through walls.

In the Floor is Lava Challenge, Shocking Arrow Lifts!, Top o' the Town, Express Elevator--Hurry Up!, and Quick Race Through Downtown! can be collected, as Mario starts the course on a wooden board object. and can swim around the course.

There is an unsolved challenge in this course, to perform transport cloning with a Skeeter.