by Billy Gard
Introduction
Differences From Super Mario 64?
List of Super Mario DS Secrets
List of Super Mario DS Questions
Now the epic adventure of Super Mario 64 goes portable, in the revised and expanded release on DS. First the bad news: A lot of the Mario 64 glitches have been "fixed", and can't be done on the DS. But the good news: DS has new glitches of its own to make up for that, including some that remained only a pipe dream in the original game. As in the Mario 64 page, I will only present glitches that I can do. Others will be listed as questions. For that reason this only covers glitches available in version 2.
This site is aimed at those who have collected either 150 stars this game, or 120 stars in the original Super mario 64. This is not a guide for collecting the stars, but only a list of secrets, and glitches, and commentaries about intriguing features, including differences from the original game.
Warning: This site contains spoilers. Before reading it, it is a good idea to collect all 150 stars.
Well, for one thing, Luigi is in the game! And so is Yoshi and Wario. But now there is a new bug-bear for this game as well: everyone wants to find Waluigi.
And the wing, vanishing and metal powers are now divided among the three players Mario, Luigi and Wario, all provided by red blocks. For Mario, some blocks make him Balloon Mario, while others give him a wing cap. For Yoshi, the block gives him fire breath. This game also brought back the old super mushroom, which makes the characters bigger for a limited time. The vanish cap and metal cap courses still exist but only for collecting stars.
There are two new kinds of stars: the switch star, and the one that you get by collecting 5 silver stars. There were also some course enhancements. Go check out the new sections added to Whomp's Fortress, and a new construction in the moat.
Most intriquing for glitch hunters is that the game has changed the boundary rules and the behavior of water. Now it is possible to circumvent boundaries. And with a certain glitch you can now walk underwater, and even swim in places where there's no water. There is also a new kind of glitch called a heaven's portal. Here by hitting a certain surface correctly you somehow get thrown extremely high in the air and can fall back down and land where you want. Then there's a hell's portal, where you fall into the abyss until you die.
One thing that has gotten people's goat is the way the controllers work. In place of a true analog stick, there's a simple D-pad. And curiously there seems to be an almost 50-50 disagreement as to whether this makes it harder to control the game or in fact easier. I heard a rumor somewhere that this D-pad was programmed to operate in a sort of "momentum-based" fashion, supposedly to make it work like a kind of "virtual analog stick". I would guess that to notice this characterisic of the control and take advantage of it requires a lot of time and getting a good feel of the game. Maybe it's those who have achieved this that like the new control, while those that haven't don't. As for me, I still find myself in tight situations where I resort to the use of the stylus.
Here is my periodic list of secrets that I have done, and where known the source.
Yes, you heard me right. Now it can be done. First, go to the beach. Go stand facing the sign next to the cannon, and the tree behind and to the left of the sign. Now run up the hill toward this tree and hit A to dive into it. You are trying to grab the tree at the bottom. If you do it right, you will be half-way through the ground when you grab it. Now just slide down and you will fall into the water underground. From here you can swim around under the entire castle grounds. You can even swim outside the water boundary, and use the map to see how far you are. Then turn around and look at the castle grounds from a distance. But if you jump when there's no water to land back in, you will fall down really far and die. You can also swim down quite a ways (probably at least as far as you can fall before dying) and look back up at the castle grounds from the deep.
Enter asLuigi and Select a star where the owl is available. Fly him up and drop to the path right before the "breathtaking view" bridge. Walk across the bridge, collecting the stars as you go. Go up to the square at the top. Using the map to get direction, stand with your back to the fence and back flip, floating down to the path near the "scary shrooms." Now take the teleport on the mushroom. You should come out swimming. The water has an invisible surface at the same level as the water near the monkey that takes your hat. If you swim over any real water you the flood will disappear. Go back to the teleport to reflood.
Set the water at middle height so the curved ramp is partially submerged. Now go under the ramp right behind where it enters the water. Face the ramp and jump up against the left part of the ramp bottom. You should bump it just as Mario is coming out of the water. If done right, Mario will drop down to the floor and walk.
Enter as Luigi. Set the water at mid-height. Go where the crate is under the platform where Chuck-Ya is. Push the create into the nearest corner. Stand on the crate and push against the corner, mainly facing the boundary wall. Zoom in to look-around mode, and rotate until Luigi is facing slightly left of diagonal from the corner. Unzoom. If the placement is right Luigi will fall inside the crate. The next part is tricky because the crate blocks your view of Luigi. Push against the boundary wall, and you should go through it. You will fall out of bounds. Use Luigi's flutter kick to direct the fall around the outside edge of the water. Then hook back in and land inside the pipe. If you did it right, you should be able to walk to the end of the pipe and the downtown won't be loaded.
But unlike the original game, there's more than meets the eye. The pipe is not totally plugged shut at the end. The cage with the opening at the top is there, but invisible. Stand with your back to the opening and back flip. You should go through and fall to an invisible room below. From here you are surrounded by the background of Roman Ruins, and the upper area above you. But if you look at the map, you can see that you are actually in town - but it's invisible! See where you can get by watching yourself on the map.
These are my questions about the game, including all known information about glitches that I still cannot do.
Is there a way to go through the balcony window near the Mario painting?
This refers to a soft corner to the immediate right of the door that exits back to the lobby. You're supposed to be able to do a series of long jumps in place against the corner until you suddenly hit the ceiling and fall through the floor to your doom. I'll I can do after a number of long jumps in place is bump something and get dislodged.
Is there a way to go through the wall inside the sunken ship and swim in the darkness outside it?
Is the cute groaning sound when Yoshi flutter-kicks imported from a previous game, like maybe Yoshi's story or some special mode in Yoshi's Island?
List of Mario 64 Secrets
List of Mario 64 Questions
A Backward Look: Super Mario World
Bizarre Screenshots
Billy's Mario home page
Billy's home page