RTA Guide/120 Star

The goal of 120 star is collect every star and beat the game.

Category Rules

• Collect all 120 stars.
• Beat the game.
• No gameplay restrictions. In particular, all forms of BLJ and sequence breaks such as skipping door requirements is allowed.

Notes

It is generally recommended to learn 70 star before 120 since almost everything you learn will carry over to 120 star and with the shorter stars out of the way you can focus solely on the longer 120 star specific stars.

There are many routes for 120 star involving different stage order and castle movement. The route used in this guide is the most commonly used non-lblj route which gets to basement as early as possible as it is one of the hardest parts of the run. Once you have learned all the stars separately, you will be able to adapt to other routes fairly easily.

These star routes are just a few examples of RTA strategies, they are not single star records. For a demonstration of optimized RTA strats, check out the 120 star ideal run.

Route

Lobby

1. Bob-Omb Battlefield
   • Bomb Clip
2. Whomp's Fortress
   • All WF stars
3. The Secret Aquarium
   • Aquarium
4. Jolly Roger Bay
   • Guide for all JRB stars
5. Castle Secret Stars
   • First slide star (<21s)
   • Wing Cap Stage
   • Second Slide Star
6. Bowser in the Dark World
   • Bowser in the Dark World
   • Bowser Battle 1
7. Bob-omb Battlefield
   • King Bob-Omb
   • Koopa Race
   • 100c & Red Coins
   • Sky Jump
   • Secrets

Basement

1. Castle Secret Star
   • 1st Mips
2. Shifting Sand Land
   • All SSL stars
3. Hazy Maze Cave
   • All HMC stars
   • Cavern of the Metal Cap
4. Castle Secret Star
   • HMC Toad
5. Lethal Lava Land
   • All LLL stars
6. Castle Secret Stars
   • 2nd Mips
   • Vanish Cap Stage

Middle Segment

1. Cool Cool Mountain
   • All CCM stars
2. Big Boo's Haunt
   • All BBH stars
3. Dire, Dire Docks (Part 1)
   • DDD100
   • Chests
   • Sub Star
   • The remaining stars are saved until after Fire Sea so that the sub (which is laggy on N64) is removed. If you play on EMU or VC or you do the proper lag reduction on N64, you can opt to do DDD in one segment.
4. Bowser in the Fire Sea
   • Bowser in the Fire Sea Reds
   • Bowser Battle 2
5. Dire, Dire Docks (Part 2)
   • Manta
   • Jet Stream / Rings
   • Collect the Caps
   • Enter Fire Sea, pause and exit stage, head upstairs.

Upstairs

1. Wet Dry World
   • All WDW stars
2. Tiny Huge Island
   • All THI stars
3. Castle Secret Star
   • Upstairs Toad
4. Tall, Tall Mountain
   • All TTM stars
5. Snowman's Land
   • All SL stars

Tippy

1. Castle Secret Star
   • Wing Mario Over the Rainbow/Cloud Stage
2. Tick Tock Clock
   • All TTC stars
3. Castle Secret Star
   • Tippy Toad
4. Rainbow Ride
   • All RR stars
5. Bowser in the Sky
   • Bowser in the Sky Red Coins
   • Bowser Battle 3