“16 Star is dead. 16 Star is f*?%ing DEAD! OH, MY GAWD! OH MY GAWD!”

That was the reaction of Twitch streamer and Super Mario 64 speedrunner, GreenSuigi as he smashed his own record for Super Mario 64 16 Star, with a time of 14 minutes and 35 seconds. Yes, that’s right. He earned sixteen stars and threw Bowser around like an Olympic hammer three times in 14:35.

Super Mario 64 was released on the Nintendo 64 in 1996. The game sees the titular Italian plumber collecting stars to unlock a path to his archenemy, Bowser, and save Princess Peach. It’s an iconic 3D platformer that is insanely popular to this day. According to Speedrun.com, Super Mario 64 is one of the world’s most prevalent games to speedrun, boasting over 280 active runners. That’s a lot of competition!

But is it competition when you’re this good?

The world record run was unbelievable! GreenSuigi’s record is only 7.9 seconds slower than his sum of best, the sum of the fastest times he’s ever performed in each of the splits of the speedrun. That’s a shorter amount of time than it takes me to read the previous sentence out loud. It’s nothing in the grand scheme of a fifteen-minute run. That’s why GreenSuigi says that this category is dead.

Could somebody improve on that time? It’s theoretically possible. His sum of best doesn’t disprove it. But is it likely? HELL, NO! It would take a monumental effort to get anywhere close to it. And, at the time of writing, second place is fifteen seconds behind the WR. There’s nobody within touching distance.

And it’s not the only category that’s been dominated by Suigi. He currently has the World Record in 1 Star as well. In fact, he boasts the only sub-seven-minute run on Speedrun.com, clocking in at 6 minutes and 58 seconds. That’s nine seconds faster than his nearest rival. Just wow.

This guy is unreal.

Super Mario 64 low star speedruns depend on some skips and glitches, which make the skilful look like Gods and amateurs look like noobs. GreenSuigi’s Backwards Long Jumps (BLJs), an extremely important technique needed for the biggest time saves, are the best I’ve ever seen. There’s so much speed in the setup and control of where Mario ends up; I just stare in amazement.

But, mostly, the runs rely on precision platforming. Pixel-perfect platforming where the speedrunner, uses the correct type of jump, sidestep or hops for each situation. I don’t know how anyone is that good at a game, but it’s incredible. Well, I suppose I do. Hours upon hours of practice and grind. Perseverance, even when it’s been months since any improvement. Speedrunners are a breed apart.

We saw it ourselves when Anthony Caliber showcased his The Last of Us speedrun on Retro Replay. And since his appearance, Anthony has improved on most, if not all, of his world records. Every time I see him shoot that bloater in the foot in the coal mine level, I just think, daaaaaaaaamnnnn. The technical ability and improvisation are awe-inspiring.

So, all hail GreenSuigi, the King of SM64 low-star speedruns. I can’t wait to see what he does next.

With the talent he has, I’m sure it’ll be incredible. And rapid. Check out GreenSuigi’s World Record 16 Star run here! I challenge you not to be impressed.