CCC Challenge

Coinless/Capless/Cannonless Challenge
Abbreviation			CCC
Individual stars collectible			82
Overall stars collectible			81
Is beatable			Yes
Star Details
BoB
WF
JRB
CCM
BBH
HMC
LLL
SSL
DDD
SL
WDW
TTM
THI
TTC
RR
Secret
Castle
Bowser

The Coinless/Capless/Cannonless Challenge, CCC for short, is a challenge in which the player must not use the cannon and caps and never collect a single coin, whether on a per-mission or a per-file basis. As many missions often seemingly force Mario to collect some of the coins along the way, there are many techniques required to work around them.

The last possible star, Mario Wings to the Sky, was collected on March 28, 2017, by Pannenkoek2012, uploaded on his second channel, and an improvement was found on April 2.

Ruleset

• No coins can be collected. Specifically, no yellow, red, or blue coins can be collected.
  • The exploit of leaving a saveable record of 0 coins by collecting multiples of 256 is not allowed.
  • Pause buffering to prevent the coin display from going up is not allowed, because the coin count still increases behind the scenes.
• No special caps can be used. Mario is allowed to wear his own normal cap.
  • Special cap effects obtained at the start of the course are allowed, such as Tower of the Wing Cap, Vanish Cap under the Moat, and Cavern of the Metal Cap.
• No cannons can be used. There are no workarounds for this.

Number of stars that can be collected

There are 77 stars that are considered possible in RTA (Real Time Attack), where TAS-only tricks are not included. In a single-star basis, one more star can be collected, namely, Snowman's Lost His Head. This is because the mission is not selectable unless the 8 red-coin mission is completed beforehand.

Stars that require non-trivial workarounds include:

• BoB - Shoot to the Island in the Sky: Going to the island can be done by long jumping from the top of the mountain.
• BoB - Behind Chain Chomp's Gate: Performing a Bob-omb clip allows Mario to go behind the gate without releasing the Chain Chomp, where a red coin would be inadvertently collected.
• WF - Shoot into the Wild Blue: A sideflip and wall jump can easily collect the star from below.
• WF - Blast Away the Wall: A precise ledge grab at the brick wall makes Mario clip into the wall slightly, allowing Mario to collect the star. This trick is known as "Cannonless" and is commonly used in RTA speedruns. However, it should be noted that the setup to make the trick easier cannot be used, since Mario would inadvertently collect the coins on the bridge.
• JRB - Blast to the Stone Pillar: The platform where the star is can be reached by precisely long jumping off the ship.
• JRB and DDD - Through the Jet Stream: Mario can overcome the jet stream(s) by swimming efficiently, negating the need for the metal cap.
• HMC - Metal-Head Mario Can Move!: Mario can press the purple ! switch by falling onto it with enough vertical speed downwards instead of using the metal cap to walk underwater.
• SSL - Pyramid Puzzle: Mario can collect the secrets without touching their coins by only touching the very top of the secret's hitbox.
• WDW - Quick Race Through Downtown!: The RTA viable method is to clone the star while holding a Chuckya. In a TAS run, Mario can perform a BLJ to build enough speed to clip into the cage.
• DDD - Collect the Caps...: Mario is able to simply clone the star through the loading zone by bringing a water shell out of the water. This cloning process is similar to the one used in Quick Race through Downtown. (Note: Unconfirmed RTA possible)
• CCM - Slip Slidin' Away and Big Penguin Race: Mario can use the baby penguin to clip through the mountain to reach the cabin from the side, avoiding the coins near the entrance. An alternative, RTA viable method is to have Mario dive between a rock and floor to clip through the mountain.
• RR - Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Mario can use the Pedro spot underneath the Tricky Triangles! platform to jump to the star platform without using the cannon.

In a TAS run, 4 more stars are possible to collect in a full run, leading to 81 stars possible (82 stars in a single-star basis). The stars that require TAS-only workarounds include:

• BoB - Mario Wings to the Sky: PU movement can be used to reach the first 4 secrets before the coins near them become tangible. Premature cloning can then be used to render one of the coins near the 5th secret inert so Mario can enter the secret's hitbox without entering the hitbox of a coin.
• BBH - Eye to Eye in the Secret Room: Mario can clip into the secret room with Hyper Speed Wall Kicking until Mario reaches 400 speed, the minimum speed required to clip through a wall straight on.
• SL - Into the Igloo: Mario can perform a Low Ceiling BLJ to build speed at the entrance and navigate into the wall of the room leading to the star compartment.