Cool, Cool Mountain
Cool, Cool Mountain is the fourth course of Super Mario 64. It can be accessed from the painting on the left side of the room near the door to Bob-omb Battlefield, on the first floor of Princess Peach's castle. The door leading to it requires at least 3 Power Stars to be opened.
| Cool, Cool Mountain | |
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| Course Info | |
| Abbreviation | CCM |
| Terrain | Snowy/Slide |
| Setting | Snowy |
| Water | Tiny |
| Course Items | |
| Coins | 136 (  ×105 •  ×8 •  ×3)
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| Enemy Coins | 18 ( ×18)
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| Stars |  ×7
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| Star Navigation | |
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| Overview | |
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Course Versions
There are three versions of the course that can appear by selecting different stars. Keep in mind that if there are any blue stars (uncollected) present in the star selection menu, then the last version that can be selected is the first blue star and not the stars after it:
- Version 1: Accessed by selecting Star 1. The penguin is not present to challenge Mario at sliding.
- Version 2: Accessed by selecting Star 2, 3, 4, and 6. The penguin is present, challenging Mario to the race.
- Version 3: Accessed by selecting Star 5. This version is identical to Version 2 except that the snowman's body is present to allow Mario to bring it down to meet its head.
Additionally, the penguin will become a fat penguin once 120 stars are collected.
Coins
The coin placement in this course is unique, with how half of the coins are in the main area, and half are in the slide. If all of the coins are collected, a maximum of 154 coins are collectible. There is a theoretical way to raise this maximum - with the use of penguin Time Stop, you could collect coins and then enter the chimney to get infinite coins. However, no method has been successful in getting Mario to the chimney, and the max height reached is only near the blue coin block.
| Location | Count |
|---|---|
| Coins on the Penguins Slide | 72 |
| Vertical line of coins into chimney | 5 |
| Line of coins near top of the mountain | 5 |
| Line of coins between fences, in the snowman's head route | 5 |
| Two lines of coins later in the snowman's head route | 10 |
| Arrow of coins near "Wall Kicks will Work" | 8 |
| 5 Spindrifts | 15 |
| Mr. Blizzard | 3 |
| 8 Red Coins | 16 |
| Blue Coin Block | 10 |
| Blue Coin at the start of the slide | 5 |
| Total | 154 |
TASes
Star 1: https://youtu.be/PLdo_h4vJI4[1]
Star 2: https://youtu.be/RYxZJmP9bag?t=29s[1]
Star 3: https://youtu.be/FSPS-JIBpIU[1]
Star 4: https://youtu.be/GY_FGhIE7vk
Star 5: https://youtu.be/ou_8b2l8OwM[1]
Star 6: https://youtu.be/ZKCXptOS4nU[1]
A Press Counts
In the A Button Challenge, no A Presses are required to collect all seven stars.
| Star | A Presses | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 100 | 0 | 3 |
Entering Cool, Cool Mountain (0x)
Performing a dive recover (press B at run speed) allows entering the painting without pressing A.
Slip Slidin' Away (0x)
- Video: https://youtu.be/vqbq-yeLWbI
Since Mario already starts out at higher grounds of the course, and there are teleporters available to teleport Mario back to the top, this star presents no issues. That being said, frame-walking or dive grinding is required to get up a slope to reach the chimney that leads to the slide. Once exiting out the slide, the star is reachable with a precise dive recover (the star is only 257 units above ground[2]).
Li'l Penguin Lost (0x)
- Video: https://youtu.be/oXAjWluPjho
Mario frame-walks or dive grinding up the slope to reach where the little penguin is. He then grabs it, sliding down the mountain to give the baby back to mother penguin. The rewarded star is above the maximum height that a dive recover can reach (288 units), and thus, Mario needs to use vertical wind or teleport all the way back to the top and drop down from above to collect the star.
Big Penguin Race (0x)
- Video: https://youtu.be/TQMbgDeAMRU
Enter the slide in the same fashion done in Star 1, and then beat the penguin in the race. Afterwards, collect the star.
Frosty Slide for 8 Red Coins (0x)
- Video: https://youtu.be/XH2exVpK6EI
Seven of the eight red coins require no tricky techniques, but the one at the top of the ski lift is a bit more difficult as the walls around the platform are too high to dive recover onto. There are a few different ways to collect it, with the original one being to activate the ski lift, quickly warp back to the top of the stage, collect the red coin, and land back on the ski lift as its moving down. It is also possible to collect it and survive using a precise ledge grab, a slide kick bounce, or a misalignment.
Snowman's Lost His Head (0x)
- Video: https://youtu.be/t_ETEIo3fvs
With the convenient slope located in the beginning, Mario can reach the Snowman's body and help it roll down the mountain to reach its head with Mario's guidance. While the star is too high to reach without jumping, there is a Spindrift nearby to provide the necessary height to reach it.
Wall Kicks Will Work (0x)
- Video: https://youtu.be/NnC5n70j1KE
The main trick is landing on a Spindrift to activate twirling, then use a specific trajectory with a high speed to reach the star from above to bypass the need to long jump or wall kick. While the maximum speed of twirling is 31, Pannenkoek found a way to twirl faster than that. It is done by not steering Mario most of the time to conserve the high speed achieved by sliding down from the tiptop of the mountain, where it is reached by frame-walking.
CCM 100 Coins (0x)
- Video: https://youtu.be/jWjQ0Bwbbxk
By collecting the coins in the big slide (where there are 72 coins) and sliding down the outer slide of the mountain, Mario would gather enough coins to spawn the 100 coin star.
Other challenges
In the CCC Challenge, excluding coin missions, all stars can be collected, with Slip Slidin' Away and Big Penguin Race requiring a clip with the baby penguin to enter the slide.
In the No Buttons Allowed Challenge, Slip Slidin' Away, Frosty Slide for 8 Red Coins, Wall Kicks Will Work, and 100 Coins can be collected.
In the No Joystick Allowed Challenge, Li'l Penguin Lost, Frosty Slide for 8 Red Coins, Snowman's Lost His Head, and 100 Coins can be collected.
Trivia
- Cool, Cool Mountain was the first main course to be completed entirely in 0 A presses, being completely solved in 2011.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 TAS Times: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12Sl41gqLUGzBU0p1nx7uNKOAP835NIoFXqda1j6oqag/
- ↑ Star Heights: https://youtu.be/xE7hrQ8sHhU?t=1m42s