Super Mario 64 Speedrunners Discover Game-Changing 'Crackslide' Trick, Redefining 1 Star Runs
Super Mario 64 has long held a revered status in the speedrunning community, both for its groundbreaking approach to 3D platforming and its endless potential for skillful movement exploits.
Released for the Nintendo 64 in 1996 and available today on the Nintendo Switch via the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection and the Nintendo eShop, Nintendo’s beloved classic remains one of the most actively dissected speedrun games nearly three decades later.
Now, a momentous new trick—known as the 'crackslide'—is taking the community by storm, pushing the competitive boundaries of Super Mario 64 speedruns and especially transforming the famed 1 Star Speedrun and blindfolded categories. For years, one of the most iconic maneuvers in Super Mario 64 speedrunning has been the Side Backwards Long Jump (SBLJ).
This skillful exploit allowed runners to bypass the 30-star door in the basement of Peach's Castle.
Mastering the SBLJ required impeccable timing and precision, making it a rite of passage and centerpiece for the game's most renowned runners. However, the speedrunning landscape shifted dramatically when two dedicated community members, FramePerfection and Crackhex, discovered a workaround to the SBLJ.
This new method, affectionately dubbed the 'crackslide' by the community, bypasses the notorious skip entirely.
According to Bubzia—a speedrunner specializing in blindfolded runs who helped popularize and verify this technique—the crackslide involves lining up next to a specific wall in the castle's basement, executing a backflip, and then performing a butt slide along the railing.
If pulled off correctly, this maneuver launches Mario up to the door, effectively allowing players to phase through the wall after engaging with some on-screen text.
Runner haribo39 further cemented the crackslide’s legitimacy by replicating the sequence successfully outside of emulator-assisted settings. Bubzia expressed surprise at the speed and relative simplicity with which the crackslide can be executed.
In a demonstration video, he showcases the trick, noting how it drastically lowers the skill ceiling for this segment and opens new possibilities for runners.
In his own recent attempts, Bubzia clocked a 1 Star blindfolded run below 11 minutes, despite a series of mistakes, putting him mere seconds from the current world record in this challenging category. The crackslide discovery not only streamlines the process for veteran runners but also significantly impacts blindfolded speedruns—a popular and rapidly evolving subcategory that has been striving for sub-10-minute completions.
As more runners adopt the crackslide, competition within Super Mario 64 speedrunning is expected to heat up, drawing renewed interest and optimizing routes for both casual and professional speedrunners alike. For players eager to attempt the crackslide themselves, Bubzia has provided a detailed tutorial in the latter portion of his showcase video, guiding runners through the precise steps needed to master this breakthrough technique. The continued evolution of Super Mario 64 speedruns in 2025 testament to the community’s creativity, persistence, and love for Nintendo’s timeless classic.
Whether on Nintendo 64 hardware, Nintendo Switch, or emulation, the legacy of Peach's Castle grows with each new milestone shared by dedicated fans.
Released for the Nintendo 64 in 1996 and available today on the Nintendo Switch via the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection and the Nintendo eShop, Nintendo’s beloved classic remains one of the most actively dissected speedrun games nearly three decades later.
Now, a momentous new trick—known as the 'crackslide'—is taking the community by storm, pushing the competitive boundaries of Super Mario 64 speedruns and especially transforming the famed 1 Star Speedrun and blindfolded categories. For years, one of the most iconic maneuvers in Super Mario 64 speedrunning has been the Side Backwards Long Jump (SBLJ).
This skillful exploit allowed runners to bypass the 30-star door in the basement of Peach's Castle.
Mastering the SBLJ required impeccable timing and precision, making it a rite of passage and centerpiece for the game's most renowned runners. However, the speedrunning landscape shifted dramatically when two dedicated community members, FramePerfection and Crackhex, discovered a workaround to the SBLJ.
This new method, affectionately dubbed the 'crackslide' by the community, bypasses the notorious skip entirely.
According to Bubzia—a speedrunner specializing in blindfolded runs who helped popularize and verify this technique—the crackslide involves lining up next to a specific wall in the castle's basement, executing a backflip, and then performing a butt slide along the railing.
If pulled off correctly, this maneuver launches Mario up to the door, effectively allowing players to phase through the wall after engaging with some on-screen text.
Runner haribo39 further cemented the crackslide’s legitimacy by replicating the sequence successfully outside of emulator-assisted settings. Bubzia expressed surprise at the speed and relative simplicity with which the crackslide can be executed.
In a demonstration video, he showcases the trick, noting how it drastically lowers the skill ceiling for this segment and opens new possibilities for runners.
In his own recent attempts, Bubzia clocked a 1 Star blindfolded run below 11 minutes, despite a series of mistakes, putting him mere seconds from the current world record in this challenging category. The crackslide discovery not only streamlines the process for veteran runners but also significantly impacts blindfolded speedruns—a popular and rapidly evolving subcategory that has been striving for sub-10-minute completions.
As more runners adopt the crackslide, competition within Super Mario 64 speedrunning is expected to heat up, drawing renewed interest and optimizing routes for both casual and professional speedrunners alike. For players eager to attempt the crackslide themselves, Bubzia has provided a detailed tutorial in the latter portion of his showcase video, guiding runners through the precise steps needed to master this breakthrough technique. The continued evolution of Super Mario 64 speedruns in 2025 testament to the community’s creativity, persistence, and love for Nintendo’s timeless classic.
Whether on Nintendo 64 hardware, Nintendo Switch, or emulation, the legacy of Peach's Castle grows with each new milestone shared by dedicated fans.
