1 Key

1 Key is the current evolution of the any% category which involves skipping Bowser in the Dark World, the first Bowser level, by using a glitch that makes the key obtained from that fight unnecessary.

Moat Door Skip

The central glitch, known as Moat Door Skip or MDS was discovered in mid-2015, and was revealed to the public when sonicpacker uploaded a video showcasing it. The strat involves using PU movement to navigate in front of the door under the moat with 0 stars, exploiting the facts that PUs have no water and that the door-opening action takes precedence over entering the water within the course of a frame.

Reason for delay of full run

The first ever TAS of 1 Key was released on September 29th, 2016 with a time of 4’21”67. This came more than a year after the original reveal. This was due to the fact that getting QPU speed requires visiting Vanish Cap under the Moat to BLJ on an elevator. Visiting VCutM without draining the moat originally required 10 stars to get the Wing Cap for Hyperspeed Flying, which was slower than just getting 8 stars, visiting the basement, and draining the moat normally. Therefore, it would be useless to do this trick. Later, however, a BLJ on the castle grounds was found that sufficed to enter VCutM.

Current Record

The current record for the 1 Key TAS stands at 4’21”2, though 1 frame has since been saved in Bowser in the Fire Sea. Since this skip saves the time normally required for the first Bowser level, this TAS holds the world record for the fastest known completion of Super Mario 64.

Notability of being performed on J Version

Unlike all other categories such as 120 Star, 70 Star, 50 Star, 31 Star, 16 Star, 1 Star, and 0 Star, the 1 Key run is optimally performed on the Japanese version of the game instead of the US version. This is because Peach does not narrate her dialogue in the Japanese version, saving time, but in-game text takes longer. Because the 1 Key run skips the Bowser in the Dark World text, the lack of narration is more significant than the longer text. Therefore, this run is not performed on the Japanese version because of version-exclusive glitches. It is performed on the Japanese version because the introduction is faster.

Explanation/Commentary

Castle Grounds

First, Mario performs a slope BLJ to gain speed in the castle grounds. Once Mario's intended next position is in the ceiling under the bridge, he continues BLJing, but it acts like a low ceiling BLJ instead. Since the height of a jump is proportional to Mario's speed, Mario's negative speed allows him to jump downward, past the grate, and into VCutM.

VCutM

Mario quickly falls down to the elevators. He then sets the camera to Fixed Cam to avoid a crash on console. Mario BLJs in order to get QPU speed (enough speed to perform PU movement). Then, he jumps to instantly die. Because he spawns in water, he keeps his sliding speed. Then, by pressing Z to slide and C^ to conserve speed, Mario conserves his QPU speed into the castle grounds. He then navigates to the moat door. Because there is no water in PUs, it takes a frame for the game to realize that the door should be unopenable once Mario returns to the main map. By then it is too late, though, as Mario has already opened the door (from behind).

Castle Basement

Mario rapidly swims through the basement and slides down to the 30 Star door area. He performs a Side BLJ on the stairs, gaining enough speed to skip Board Bowser's Sub completely, and lands in Bowser in the Fire Sea, skipping the 1st key.

Bowser in the Fire Sea

Mario traverses the beginning of the level, using the hanging-ceiling upwarp glitch to pass the pole. He then performs an Elevator BLJ to gain QPU speed. Then, Mario travels through a PU and performs an Overflow Jump, making use of high negative vertical speed to snap to the next highest point in the main map, entering the Bowser fight.

Bowser Fight

Mario BLJs to grab Bowser's tail closer to the mine than would otherwise be possible.^[how?] After beating Bowser, Mario pause-exits out of Dire, Dire Docks to quickly return to the castle lobby.

Castle Upstairs

Mario uses a Glitchy Ledge Grab to quickly get up the first set of stairs. Although it is not visible on camera, Mario then performs a Side BLJ to gain speed. He then clips through the 50 Star door. Mario then performs Clock Punch, described here (scroll down). He then uses wall kicks to navigate past the Endless Stairs and into Bowser in the Sky.

Bowser in the Sky

Mario quickly beats the level, using skips to avoid large parts of it. When he gets to the last elevator, he uses a BLJ to reach the pipe quickly.

Final Bowser Fight

Mario fights Bowser as normal. At the end, Mario uses speed conserved from a BLJ to grab the Grand Star faster.