Through persistence, a player of Super Mario 64 managed to open a door sealed since the game’s release in 1996. A resounding feat for fans of the famous plumber’s first 3D adventure.
In 1996, Mario embarked on the very first 3D adventure of his career: Super Mario 64, on the Nintendo 64 — a revolution at the time. Today, this cult video game continues to fascinate. It must be said that the title still has its share of mysteries. For example, since its release, a door refused to open. In 2024, 28 years later, a player has managed to unlock this secret.
“ Super Mario 64’s unopenable door has finally been opened! », rejoices Pannenkoek2012, content creator (more than 240,000 subscribers), in a video published on YouTube on May 12. It goes behind the scenes of this resounding feat achieved at the end of April by Alexpalix1, a particularly gifted and dedicated speedrunner. To achieve his goals, the person had to use several tricks executed with precision and perfect timing.
What is behind this Super Mario 64 door that has been closed since 1996?
The door in question is in the snowy mountain level, in a chalet located at its foot. It has always been possible to open it from the inside, but never from the outside (in fact, there is not even a handle). In his very complete video, pannenkoek2012 indicates that there are two types of doors in Super Mario 64 : the normal ones and those which allow you to load a new zone. The door to the chalet belongs to the second category knowing that, in the game code, Mario must perform the action of walking — towards the door — to open it.
Issue ? An invisible wall prevents the plumber from interacting with the door from the outside. If we walk towards it, it will be blocked. And while it is possible to use a loophole to stick to her (using the baby penguin’s mother, who pushes the plumber and makes him go through the invisible wall), Mario does not perform the right action (walking). He then falls into the void and dies. But Alexpalix1 has found a way to circumvent the system: by making a U-turn at the right time, Mario will perform the right action (walk) upon contact with the door, even while in the air. An exploitable breach, which actually allows the door to be opened.
When you open this door, nothing extraordinary happens: you simply return to the chalet (after a small loading screen). pannenkoek2012 believes that this discovery, important as it is for the community Super Mario 64should not impact speedrun records.
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