1 Key

1 Key is the current evolution of the any% TAS category which involves skipping Bowser in the Dark World, the first Bowser level, by entering the castle using a glitch termed moat door skip.

Moat Door Skip

The central glitch, known as Moat Door Skip or MDS was theorized by Tyler Kehne in mid-2015 when it was discovered the source of PU's crashing on console was the camera, and simply locking the camera was enough to access PU's on console. MDS was revealed to the public when sonicpacker uploaded a video showcasing it. The technique 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. Most of the original TASing for the first MDS was done by sonicpacker, although Tyler Kehne TASed the actual PU movement.

Reason for Delay of the Full Run

The first ever TAS of 1 Key was released on September 29th, 2016 with a time of 4’21”67, which 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 perform an elevator-BLJ. 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 (which made it slower 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, despite in-game text taking 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. At this point, Mario has enough negative speed to negative jump past the grate 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). Since the elevator begins to turn, this allows Mario to use it get massive vertical platform displacement, which triggers the death barrier. Normally level death resets speed, but because Mario spawns in using a water exit, he is able to conserve his sliding speed. Then, by pressing Z to slide and C^ to conserve speed on the first frame on Mario is on ground (as water does not update sliding speed), he conserves his QPU speed into the castle grounds. Mario then navigates to the moat door's relative locating in PU's, which works because PU's lack water. The game checks whether Mario should enter a door before it checks if he should swim, which allows Mario to open the door (from behind) when he navigates back to the main map.

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. On he elevator, Mario 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 area with the bob-ombs (in a PU), before navigating into the warp for the Bowser fight.

Bowser Fight

When the stage is tilted, Mario BLJ's to gain large amounts of speed. With this speed, Mario is able to move farther after grabbing Bowser's tail than normal, which place them closer to the mine than would otherwise be possible. After beating Bowser, Mario enters and 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.