Super Mario 64: Difference between revisions

Super Mario 64 started development sometime before 1995. The first time Super Mario 64 was shown was at the Shoshinkai show in November of 1995, with the introduction of the Nintendo 64 (Ultra 64 at the time). Early footage of the show revealed the 50% complete beta version of Super Mario 64, in which it looked completely different than what the final product looked like.<ref>https://tcrf.net/Prerelease:Super_Mario_64_(Nintendo_64)#Shoshinkai_.2795_Demo</ref> The final product was supposed to come out in December, but it was delayed further, and the entire game was rebuilt. On May 16th, 1996 (E3 1996) the game was shown off and is almost like the final game.<ref>https://tcrf.net/Prerelease:Super_Mario_64_(Nintendo_64)#E3_1996_Build</ref> The entire game was almost accessible, some details got changed before the release, such as the different star icon in the hud, a rock spike at the top of the mountain in [[Bob-omb_Battlefield|Bob-omb Battlefield]], and other small details that were changed. The game was rushed at the end of development as told by one of the programmers of Super Mario 64, and a couple of the team members never wanted to make games anymore due to being burnt out after working on Super Mario 64.<ref>http://pixelatron.com/blog/the-making-of-super-mario-64-full-giles-goddard-interview-ngc/</ref> The game was released in Japan on June 23rd 1996, then on September 29th, 1996 in North America, and finally on March 1st, 1997 in Europe.

There are many different versions of the game, differing by where, when, how, and in what way they were released.

The Nintendo 64 console is less robust than modern consoles, so its CPU is more likely to crash when confronted by unforeseen occurrences.

The very first version of the game, the Japanese N64 version was succeeded by the [[#Shindou|Shindou]] version a year after release. The most noticable change between the Japanese version and the English version is the extra dialogue added in the English version and all successive versions. For example, Mario does not say "Haha", and Peach does not narrate her "Dear Mario" letter. She also does not talk during the ending. The Japanese version also has many glitches that were later fixed in all other versions, such as [[spawning displacement]], [[Coin Limit#Unbounded Coin Limit Glitch|the lack of a coin limit]], and others. It is also notable for being the fastest version of the game for the [[1 Key]] category, but no others. This is because the text takes longer, but the lack of narration makes the game shorter. The text in the first Bowser fight is avoided during the 1 Key run, so the Japanese version becomes faster.

The English version of the game introduces voice clips like "Haha" and Peach's voice clips. It fixes some errors from the previous version, like the lack of a coin limit. It has, in general, less text than the Japanese version, but takes longer during the intro and ending due to Peach's narration.

The European release of Super Mario 64 supports language changing in the settings menu between English, French, and German. This is optimal for the [[ABZ Button Challenge]] because the Start button can be used to change language and the language with the least text can be selected. Due to [[Wii VC Round-To-Zero]], however, the true optimal PAL version is not on N64. Outside of ABZ, PAL is little-used because changing languages wastes time and English is effectively identical if you do not change languages. Because of the PAL video format using 50hz instead of NTSC's 60hz, PAL runs at 25 [[Frame|frames]] per second rather than 30, another reason why it is suboptimal for speedruns/TASes.

The final release of Super Mario 64 was once again in Japanese. It enabled a compiler flag to allow optimizations, so the game lags less. It also fixed the [[Backwards Long Jump]] glitch, which is why it is rarely used in speedruns, except in the [[BLJless]] category. Strangely, when grabbing a [[pole]] on this version, horizontal speed affects Mario's angle. The game introduced new voice clips like "Bye, bye!" when throwing Bowser. Some of Mario's voice clips are high-pitched in this version.

''Main article: [[Virtual Console]]''

Japanese Wii VC is actually the Shindou edition, not the original Japanese version. This is why it does not have spawning displacement or other Japanese N64-exclusive glitches, nor does it have BLJs. It is almost never used for speedrunning for that reason.

English Wii VC is the optimal Wii VC for speedruns. It avoids the lack of BLJs in the Japanese version and the slower framerate of the PAL version. It is used for the [[A Button Challenge]] any% run because [[Bowser in the Fire Sea]] takes 0 A presses instead of 1 due to a rounding error.

PAL Wii VC is rarely seen because it is obscure and slow. However, it is actually the ideal game version for the ABZ Button Challenge, at least for any%, because it contains both language switching and the rounding error in BitFS.

''Main article: [[Virtual Console]]''

The Wii U Virtual Console version has no known interesting glitches that set it apart from either N64 or Wii VC. It is identical to Wii VC, except that the rounding error is absent. Wii U VC is often joked by speedrunners for have a high amount of input lag and how it's mostly used by new runners.

Much like Wii VC, Japanese Wii U VC is the Shindou version. This means that BLJs and other glitches that were patched in the Shindou version are still impossible.  

Also like Wii VC, American Wii U VC is the US version.

Unlike on N64 or Wii VC, the PAL version runs at 60hz instead of 50hz. As a result of this, PAL Wii U VC will run at full speed like the American and Japanese versions.

Super Mario 64 DD Version or SM64DD (called Super Mario Disk Version on the title screen) was an unreleased version of the game for the 64DD, likely made to test the load times of the system. Only one public copy of this version exists, owned by adonfjv, who found it at a Japanese video game store in 2014<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rd6_5HoJd8</ref>. The ROM (NDD) of this version has since been dumped.

==References==