Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)/Oddities/zh-hans
This is a sub-page of Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)/Oddities.
Contents
Actor Group Oddities
Actor Groups consist of files in the game which contain model data for different objects. Each level has a set of actor groups assigned to it, and in a few cases, none of the objects in a file they are assigned appear in the level.
Secret Slide
The Princess's Secret Slide includes the actor group for the cap switch levels (group8 in the decomp). The group consists of the cap switch object and the unused springboard object, raising the possibility that one of these was to be included in the stage at some point.
Over the Rainbow
Wing Mario Over the Rainbow includes actor group 2, consisting of Bully and Blargg, as well as group 17, consisting of several Hazy Maze Cave actors. No actors from either group are used in the final level.
Cool Cool Mountain
Cool Cool Mountain includes actor group 16, consisting of Chill Bully and Moneybag, even though neither are used in the level.
Wet-Dry World
Heave-Ho can be picked up and thrown if it is close enough to the water in the level; this is due to the fact that grabbing in water does not check for the ungrabbable sub-type.
void bhv_heave_ho_loop(void) {
cur_obj_scale(2.0f);
switch (o->oHeldState) {
case HELD_FREE:
heave_ho_move();
break;
case HELD_HELD:
cur_obj_unrender_and_reset_state(0, 0);
break;
case HELD_THROWN:
cur_obj_get_dropped();
break;
case HELD_DROPPED:
cur_obj_get_dropped();
break;
}
o->oInteractStatus = 0;
}
const BehaviorScript bhvHeaveHo[] = {
BEGIN(OBJ_LIST_GENACTOR),
OR_INT(oFlags, (OBJ_FLAG_COMPUTE_ANGLE_TO_MARIO | OBJ_FLAG_HOLDABLE | OBJ_FLAG_COMPUTE_DIST_TO_MARIO | OBJ_FLAG_SET_FACE_YAW_TO_MOVE_YAW |
OBJ_FLAG_UPDATE_GFX_POS_AND_ANGLE)),
LOAD_ANIMATIONS(oAnimations, heave_ho_seg5_anims_0501534C),
ANIMATE(0),
SET_OBJ_PHYSICS(/*Wall hitbox radius*/ 200, /*Gravity*/ -400, /*Bounciness*/ -50, /*Drag strength*/ 1000, /*Friction*/ 1000, /*Buoyancy*/ 600,
/*Unused*/ 0, 0),
SPAWN_OBJ(/*Model*/ MODEL_NONE, /*Behavior*/ bhvHeaveHoThrowMario),
SET_INT(oInteractType, INTERACT_GRABBABLE),
SET_INT(oInteractionSubtype, INT_SUBTYPE_NOT_GRABBABLE | INT_SUBTYPE_GRABS_MARIO),
SET_HITBOX(/*Radius*/ 120, /*Height*/ 100),
SET_HOME(),
SET_INT(oIntangibleTimer, 0),
BEGIN_LOOP(),
CALL_NATIVE(bhv_heave_ho_loop),
END_LOOP(),
};
Object Placement Oddities
Mystery Goomba
Two Goombas can be seen after the yellow back-and-forth blocks in the level "Bowser in the Sky". They are loaded by a "spawner object" that spawns three Goombas in a triangle. However, the third Goomba is nowhere to be found. This is because the position of the spawner object causes the third Goomba to load just off the edge of the platform, meaning that it spawns at the bottom of the stage. As such, it vanishes completely one frame after being spawned, as it's too far away from Mario for the game to draw.
This lonesome Goomba is also impossible to reach. Goombas become disabled (invisible and intangible) when Mario is outside their radius, so the whole trio despawns completely if Mario exits the radius of their spawner object. That means the Goomba is loaded, visible, and tangible for only that single frame.
Dire Dire Docks Shadow
 | To do: Confirm that this is in the game, and if it is, get a picture. |
The Bowser door near the submarine has a shadow behind it that should have remained visible after the door opens, but it does not.
Jolly Roger Bay Ghost Ship
There is a third copy of the ship placed above the other two, which is only around during the "Plunder in the Sunken Ship" mission and cannot normally be seen without viewing the stage in an editor or using a Gameshark code. It resembles the other two, has no collision data, and is programmed to fade the closer Mario gets to it. It was likely a reference to urban legends of ghost ships or the Flying Dutchman due to having the word "Ue" in it, which means "upper" or "above". It might also be related to the fog that disappears after "Plunder in the Sunken Ship". In the source code, it is labeled as an optional moving background object. It is also worth noting that this invisible ship is not present in the DS remake. In SM64, it is loaded but never rendered due to being manually disabled in its object code. The following cheats for the US version disable the coding that obscures the ship:
812C1CB4 0000 812C1CB6 0000
void bhv_sunken_ship_part_loop(void) {
if (o->oDistanceToMario > 10000.0f)
o->oOpacity = 140;
else
o->oOpacity = o->oDistanceToMario * 140.0f / 10000.0;
cur_obj_disable_rendering();
}
Unreachable Coins
The game features a few coins that can be seen but not collected unless one uses exploits.
雪人王国
One example of an unreachable coin is located in Snowman's Land. There's a single coin stuck inside the snowman at the wooden path, at the side where you'd climb it.
It can be collected by using a physics exploit requiring the player to fire the cannon at a precise position on the corner of the nearby wall.
小人国大人国
Several other unreachable coins are part of a line that appears in the tiny version of Tiny-Huge Island. In normal gameplay, only the bottommost coin is visible. This is because the coins are positioned along a flatter trajectory than the angle of the actual terrain, causing the remaining coins to bisect the ground. While the second coin in the line cannot be seen, it is still collectible, because its collision box pokes slightly above the ground.
The third coin in the line is unobtainable by legitimate means. However, it can be collected by clipping inside the water-filled mountain at the top of the island, then using a frame-perfect physics exploit that requires jumping while exiting a body of water sideways.
There's also another line of coins on Tiny-Huge Island that has an unobtainable coin in it. This one is actually impossible to collect, because, due to a failsafe mechanic, the coin unloads on the same frame that it's loaded. This is due to the properties of its spawner object. When a five-coin object spawner is loaded, it spawns five coins 300 units above it. It checks for ground starting from 78 units above the coins, then moves the coins to the nearest floor triangle below them. However, if the nearest ground within this range is above the coin's hitbox, the coin will immediately unload. Because this spawner in Tiny-Huge Island is loaded underground, the coins spawn in such a way that the fifth one (on the far left) triggers the failsafe.
Level Geometry Oddities
Whomp's Fortress
| Final Stairs | Unused Ramp |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Hidden under the stairs in Whomp's Fortress is unused geometry for a second ramp. If the game is paused while Mario is near the Thwomp area, the stairs will unload and the ramp will be visible due to the stairs being a separate object from the level geometry.
Level Collision Oddities
| To do: Some of the collision oddities mentioned here and here are worth noting. |
The game uses separate polygon meshes for visual (intangible) geometry and for collision geometry in each course. They were apparently not always kept in sync during development, and so one sometimes hints at geometric features that were later changed or removed from the course altogether.
Over the Rainbow
| To do: Add the other odd hangable ceilings from the video. |
Although never possible by the normal game's standards, Mario can hang on the starting cloud of Wing Mario Over The Rainbow. This can only be hanged on if solid ground of any kind is present under this cloud, as shown at 1:06 in the video. This oddity still exists in Super Mario 64 DS. Also shown in this video are hangable ceilings that make no sense, probably left unchanged from an earlier build.
Whomp’s Fortress
As shown in daddu’s video, "SM64 Janky Hitboxes," the collision for water is longer than necessary. Therefore, it can be interacted with by jumping off the side and staying close to the wall. (Shown at approximately 1:05 in the video.)
In Whomp’s Fortress, the Bullet Bill's collision box is actually quite small compared to the model itself, which allows Mario to jump over it without being injured.
Tall Tall Mountain
| Visible Model | Collision Model | Prerelease Image |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
In Tall Tall Mountain's slide area, there is a single rectangular polygon above the exit of the tunnel which has collision but is invisible. This is a leftover from a sign with an arrow pointing to the left that can be seen in prerelease materials. The sign texture is no longer in the files now in the final build of the game.
The large mushrooms around the outer area of the course have a straight stem mesh for their collision, but visually their stems are bent. This possibly suggests that the stems were originally straight and then edited later to make them bent. This oddity for some reason still exists in Super Mario 64 DS.
Inside The Castle
| Visible Model | Collision Model |
|---|---|
 |
 |
In the room of the castle where The Princess's Secret Slide is accessed, the 3 windows showing Peach extend by the same distance. Their collision geometry is cut off, however, so only one of them can have their windowsill walked on by Mario.
Tower Of The Wing Cap
| Visible Model | Collision Model |
|---|---|
 |
 |
The towers extend much further downward visually than their collision geometry. This means Mario can fly right through the towers at their bases.
Castle Grounds
| Visible Model | Collision Model |
|---|---|
 |
 |
The two spires at the back of the castle have no collision at all. This is easily noticeable in-game, since this area becomes accessible after the player has collected all 120 stars.
嘭嘭要塞
Near the top of the fortress are the remains of the ground collision that is used for the level's Piranha Plants. A Piranha Plant was likely isolated here at one point during development. Interestingly, Throwback Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy 2 (a recreation of Whomp's Fortress) added a Piranha Plant near this spot.
Object Collision Oddities
Water Level Diamond
At 0x070184C8 in the Wet Dry World level data, a collision list for the Water Level Diamond object can be seen. However, the code for the object handles the hit detection in-code, so this list is not used.
Other
Unused Demo
The game plays a total of six gameplay demo reels in the main menu, seven in non-Japanese versions. However, in the demo data there exists an eighth demo without a header to define what level it was for. The data exists after the demo for the Princess' Secret Slide, but before where the Bowser In The Dark World demo would be in non-JP versions. Although there is speculation as to which level it was for, the best guess seems to be that it was a blooper take of a Cool, Cool Mountain demo attempt where the user attempting the demo ran into the sign by mistake and so restarted the demo recording. Based on how the demo is ordered in the source code, it's possible that it was an extended version of the PSS demo, based on how the demo awkwardly cuts off in the code, with these inputs appearing directly in the next line. Applying the inputs to the PSS demo ends with it getting the under 21'0 star, which is possibly a reason why it was manually shortened.
The demo data can be found at the following ROM offsets:
- US: 0x57B130
- JP: 0x5790C8
- EU: 0x55D838
- SH: 0x555F50
Level 32 References
The code for the fish behavior and switch cap behavior both contain checks for if the level the object is in matches the ID for an unused course, with the ID being that of the 32nd level in memory. In the fish behavior, if the condition is met the fish do not despawn even if the game detects no water at the fish's location. In the cap switch behavior, the condition makes the game bypass checking if the switch has been activated so that the switch is always unpressed. After the gigaleak on July 25, 2020, the stage was found in the source code and was confirmed to be a test level.
Koopa The Quick's Mouth
Koopa the Quick has a red polygon in his head which is intended to simulate the inside of his mouth. This, however, is virtually never seen given the game's usual camera angle, and just how thin his mouth slit actually is. The only time this obscured piece of detailing is ever seen is right after the end of the race in the mission "Rematch with Koopa the Quick".
Castle Sequence Flags
For some reason, each floor of the castle has its own flag for music sequences. However, it always defaults to the theme for Peach's Castle, so this is never actually able to be observed in-game.
