SM64’s Unopenable Door Has Finally Been Opened!

pannenkoek2012
11 May 202411:48

Summary

TLDRIn a fascinating exploration of Super Mario 64, a video script details the discovery of a long-unsolved mystery: opening the seemingly unopenable door in Cool, Cool Mountain. The video explains the game mechanics behind doors that lead to new areas and how a player, Alex Palix, finally managed to open this particular door using a clever trick involving the mother penguin's hitbox and Mario's turning action. This discovery, while not providing a time-saving strategy in gameplay, marks a significant achievement in the game's community. The video also features a member event, where subscribers participate in a unique race as 3D marbles, adding a personal touch and interactive element to the content.

Takeaways

  • 🎮 In Super Mario 64, a star in Cool, Cool Mountain can be collected by exiting the cabin at the bottom of the mountain after going down the slide.
  • 🚪 Players have long tried to re-enter the cabin from the bottom, but it was believed to be impossible due to the door's design and the cabin wall blocking access.
  • 🔍 The door in question is a special type that unloads the current area and warps to a new one, unlike regular doors which simply open to the other side.
  • 🕹️ Clipping through doors can bypass them, but not with special doors that require opening to transition areas, which is the case with the Cool, Cool Mountain door.
  • 🏠 The door is fully functional but designed without a doorknob on the outside, and the cabin wall prevents players from getting close enough to open it.
  • 🤔 The challenge remained until April 22nd, 2024, when a player named Alex Palix discovered a method to open the door using a combination of actions and game mechanics.
  • 🐧 The mother penguin's hitbox can be used to push Mario through the cabin wall, but the challenge was to do so while in a walking action, not in freefall.
  • 🛫 By exploiting the game's code, where turning around leads to a brief walking action even in midair, Alex Palix managed to open the door with a single frame of walking action.
  • 🕰️ Despite the discovery, the technique of opening the door does not save time in gameplay, as the slide still needs to be descended and additional steps taken.
  • 📺 The video also features a member event where subscribers are involved in a race scenario within the game, showcasing a unique way for the creator to engage with the audience.
  • 💰 The creator prefers member events as an alternative to sponsorships, allowing them to maintain authenticity and avoid promoting products they are not passionate about.

Q & A

  • In Super Mario 64, what is the purpose of the star in Cool, Cool Mountain?

    -The star in Cool, Cool Mountain is collected by entering the cabin at the top of the mountain, going down the slide, and exiting the cabin at the bottom, which then spawns the star for the player to collect.

  • Why can't players re-enter the cabin from the bottom of Cool, Cool Mountain?

    -Players cannot re-enter the cabin from the bottom because the cabin wall blocks them from getting close enough to the door to open it, and the door model lacks a doorknob on the outside.

  • How does the door in Cool, Cool Mountain function within the game's mechanics?

    -The door in Cool, Cool Mountain is a special type that unloads the current slide area and warps the player to the outside area when opened from the inside.

  • What is the significance of the door's hitbox in relation to the cabin wall?

    -The door's hitbox has two parts, the south part which is inside the wall hitbox and the north part which is in the air. The south part cannot be accessed due to the wall pushing the player away, and the north part, while reachable, does not allow the door to be opened because the player is in freefall, not walking.

  • How did Alex Palix manage to open the previously unopenable door in Cool, Cool Mountain?

    -Alex Palix used a combination of the mother penguin's hitbox to push Mario through the cabin wall and into the door's hitbox, and a turn-around action that briefly put Mario in a walking action midair, allowing him to open the door.

  • Does the technique discovered by Alex Palix to open the door save time in speedruns?

    -Despite the ability to skip the slide by entering the cabin from the bottom and using the technique to open the door, it does not save any time due to the necessity of still reaching the bottom of the course and interacting with the mother penguin.

  • What is the role of the turning around action in enabling Mario to open the door?

    -The turning around action allows Mario to transition into a walking action even after leaving the ground, which is an unexpected behavior in the game's programming. This one-frame walking action in midair is exploited to open the door.

  • What happens to Mario when he opens the door using the discovered technique?

    -When Mario opens the door, he downwarps to the death barrier, but he is not killed because the death barrier has no effect when Mario is in a cutscene action, such as opening a door.

  • What is the purpose of the member events at the end of the video?

    -Member events are a way for the content creator to involve their paying subscribers in the video. It's an alternative to sponsorships and allows the creator to express creativity by placing members in interesting scenarios within the game.

  • How does the member event in this video work?

    -The member event involves all the members being turned into 3D marbles and rolling down a slide in a race. The first to cross the finish line without falling off the slide wins.

  • What does the content creator prefer about member events compared to sponsorships?

    -The content creator prefers member events because they allow for direct support from the audience without having to promote or endorse products they may not be passionate about or that could potentially engage in unethical business practices.

  • How does the content creator address the issue of not wanting to associate with companies that might engage in shady practices?

    -The content creator avoids this issue by not accepting sponsorships and instead opting for member events, which allows them to maintain control over the content and not risk their reputation based on the actions of a sponsored company.

Outlines

00:00

🕹️ The Mystery of the Unopenable Door in Super Mario 64

This paragraph delves into the peculiarity of a door in the Cool, Cool Mountain level of Super Mario 64 that players have long attempted to open from the outside, to no avail. The narrator explains the mechanics of how doors function in the game, distinguishing between regular doors that simply move the character from one side to the other and special doors that trigger area transitions. The Cool, Cool Mountain door is of the latter type, and the reason it cannot be opened from the outside is due to the cabin wall that blocks access. However, using game manipulation, it's shown that the door could theoretically be opened if the wall wasn't in the way. The paragraph concludes with the revelation that, despite the door being fully functional, it cannot be opened through normal gameplay due to the game's mechanics and the physical barriers within the level design.

05:05

🐧 Innovative Strategy to Open the 'Unopenable' Door

The second paragraph narrates the surprising discovery made by a player named Alex Palix, who found a way to open the previously unopenable door in Super Mario 64. The summary explains how the mother penguin's hitbox can be used to push Mario into the door's hitbox, but the challenge is that Mario cannot open doors while in freefall. Alex Palix's innovative solution involves using the turning around action in the game to transition from a freefall state to a walking state within a single frame, which allows Mario to open the door. The paragraph also discusses the implications of this discovery for speedrunning the game and concludes with the outcome that, while the technique is impressive, it does not save time in completing the level.

10:07

🏆 Member Event: A Competitive Slide Down in Super Mario 64

The final paragraph describes a unique member event held for the channel's supporters. The event involves transforming members into 3D marbles and having them participate in a race down the slide from the Cool, Cool Mountain level. The rules are simple: avoid falling off the slide, and the first to cross the finish line wins. The race is intense, with many participants getting eliminated at various turns and straightaways. The narrative playfully describes the competition, highlighting the strategies and mayhem of the race. Ultimately, Midnight posting is declared the winner, with a few other members also making it to the end. The paragraph concludes with an invitation for viewers to become members to participate in future events and an expression of the content creator's preference for member support over sponsorships.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Super Mario 64

Super Mario 64 is a classic 3D platform video game developed by Nintendo. It is central to the video's theme as the entire discussion revolves around a specific star collection challenge and the discovery of a new method to access a previously unopenable door within the game.

💡Cool, Cool Mountain

Cool, Cool Mountain is a level within Super Mario 64. It is significant in this context because the video discusses a particular star collection strategy that takes place in this level, highlighting the exploration and problem-solving aspects of the game.

💡Door Hitbox

A door hitbox refers to the invisible boundaries that detect when a character, like Mario, interacts with the door. In the video, understanding the door hitbox is crucial to the strategy of opening the door from the outside, which is a key part of the video's narrative.

💡Mother Penguin

The mother penguin is a non-playable character (NPC) in Super Mario 64. In the video, she plays a pivotal role in the strategy to open the previously unopenable door by using her hitbox to push Mario into the correct position, showcasing creative use of game mechanics.

💡Freefall Action

Freefall action in the context of the video refers to the state Mario is in when he is falling through the air without control. The video discusses how a unique glitch involving the freefall action allows Mario to 'walk' in midair for a frame, which is essential for opening the door.

💡Turning Around Action

The turning around action is a specific movement Mario can perform in the game. The video explains how this action, combined with a fall, can lead to a one-frame 'walk' in midair, which is a critical part of the technique to open the door in Cool, Cool Mountain.

💡Door-Opening Action

The door-opening action is a specific animation and state that Mario enters when he opens a door. The video mentions that this action causes Mario to snap to the floor, which is a programmed behavior that prevents him from falling to his death when opening the door in the described scenario.

💡Death Barrier

The death barrier is a game mechanic in Super Mario 64 that ends the player's life if they fall below it. The video discusses how, despite Mario warping down to the death barrier when opening the door, he does not die because of the cutscene action he is in.

💡Member Event

A member event is a special activity or competition held for the members of the video creator's channel. In the video, the member event involves a race in Super Mario 64 where members, represented as 3D marbles, compete to reach the finish line first, adding a community engagement aspect to the content.

💡Cutscene Action

Cutscene action refers to the actions a character performs during a non-interactive cinematic sequence in a video game. The video mentions that the death barrier does not affect Mario when he is in a cutscene action, such as opening a door, which is part of the strategy to open the unopenable door.

💡Glitch Exploitation

Glitch exploitation is the act of using unintended game mechanics, or glitches, to achieve a goal or advantage. The video details how a specific glitch was exploited to open a door that was previously thought to be impossible to open, demonstrating the depth of player interaction and exploration in gaming.

Highlights

In Super Mario 64, a star in Cool, Cool Mountain can be obtained by entering the cabin at the top, sliding down, and exiting at the bottom.

Players have long tried to re-enter the cabin from the bottom, but the door appears to be non-functional from that side.

Most doors in the game simply transition between areas, but some special doors unload the current area and load a new one upon opening.

The door in Cool, Cool Mountain is a special type that requires opening to trigger the transition to a new area.

The door from the slide area to the outside is functional, but the reverse door has never been opened by players.

The reason the door can't be opened from the outside is due to the cabin wall blocking access, not because the door is broken.

If the cabin walls were removed, the door could be accessed and opened normally.

The door's hitbox is divided into two parts, one of which is blocked by the cabin wall.

Mario must be walking to open the door; other actions do not trigger the door's opening.

Using the mother penguin's hitbox, a player can push Mario into the door's hitbox, but the door won't open if he's in freefall.

For 28 years, the door was considered impossible to open until Alex Palix discovered a method on April 22nd, 2024.

The turning around action in Mario's code allows for a brief frame of walking in midair, which can be used to open the door.

This discovery does not save time in gameplay, as the slide must still be traversed to reach the door.

The video includes a member event where subscribers are turned into 3D marbles and participate in a race down the slide.

The member event is an alternative to sponsorships, allowing subscribers to be part of the video and support the content creator.

The race concludes with Midnight posting as the winner, followed by a ranking of all participants.

The video emphasizes the importance of creativity and community involvement over traditional monetization methods.

The content creator expresses gratitude for the support and explains the appeal of member events for both the audience and themselves.

Transcripts

00:00

In Super Mario 64, there’s a star in Cool, Cool  Mountain that goes as follows. You enter the cabin  

00:05

at the top of the mountain, go all the way down  the slide, and then exit from the cabin at the  

00:09

bottom of the mountain. And that spawns the star  for you to collect. But something everyone always  

00:13

tries is going back into the door. Though as you  find out, that doesn’t work. And let me tell you,  

00:18

as a kid, I really wanted to get back in there.  I mean, we were just in there, but the idea of  

00:23

a door that you can’t open from this side  just made me want to open that much more.  

00:27

And let me clarify something. For most doors in  the game, opening them just takes you from one  

00:32

side of the door to the other. And so if you  clip through the door, like by getting pushed  

00:36

by an object, then you can bypass the door.  But some doors are special, because opening  

00:41

them unloads the current area and warps you to a  new area. If you clip through this kind of door,  

00:46

you don’t actually go to the new area. Instead,  you just end up in a sort of fake area behind the  

00:51

door. In other words, the only way to load the  new area is to literally open the door, because  

00:57

that triggers the transition between areas. Now  the door in Cool, Cool Mountain is the kind that  

01:02

loads a new area. See, opening it unloads  the slide area and loads the outside area.  

01:07

Now, since there are two different areas involved,  there are two different door objects involved.  

01:12

There’s one door in the slide area that warps you  outside. Everyone’s opened that door before. And  

01:17

there’s one door that’s outside that warps  you back into the slide. But no one’s ever  

01:22

opened that door before. So to emphasize,  this is actually a fully functional door,  

01:26

despite that it was given a special model  that doesn’t have a doorknob on the outside.  

01:31

So the reason you can’t open the door from the  outside is NOT because the door doesn’t work,  

01:35

but simply because the cabin wall blocks you  from getting close enough to the door to open  

01:39

it. As you can see on the right, the wall  triangles cover the whole side of the cabin,  

01:43

without any opening for the door. But if the walls  were gone, as I’ve done here with hacks, then we  

01:48

could get close enough to the door to open it  and re-enter the cabin. That raises the question,  

01:53

can we open the door without any hacks? Well, going back to the door, let’s look  

01:57

at it from above. Here are the floor triangles  around the cabin. Note that there are no floor  

02:01

triangles inside the cabin. Here’s the door’s  hitbox. So if Mario walks into that hitbox,  

02:06

he opens the door. And to emphasize, he must be  walking to open the door. No other action works.  

02:12

And then here’s the cabin wall, and its hitbox. If  Mario enters that hitbox, he gets pushed south.  

02:18

So the door’s hitbox basically  has 2 parts to it. The south part,  

02:21

that’s inside the wall hitbox. And the north  part, that’s not inside the wall hitbox,  

02:25

but it’s in the air. Remember, for Mario  to open the door, he has to walk into the  

02:30

door hitbox. But that’s seemingly impossible for  both parts of the hitbox, for different reasons.  

02:35

For the south part of the hitbox,  if Mario tries to walk into it,  

02:38

the wall pushes him away to the south. This  wall push happens every time he moves forwards,  

02:42

and so he’s not able to be inside the door’s  hitbox when the game checks if he’s touching it.  

02:46

And for the north part of the hitbox,  it is possible to get there. See,  

02:50

we can deliver the baby penguin to the mother  penguin, and then regrab the baby penguin to  

02:55

make the mother penguin get mad at us and follow  us around. And the mother penguin has a hitbox  

02:59

that pushes Mario outwards. So we can use the  mother penguin’s hitbox to push Mario through  

03:04

the cabin wall and into the door hitbox. But even  though he touches the north part of the hitbox,  

03:09

he still doesn’t open the door, because he’s  in freefall, not in the walking action.  

03:13

So the door seems impossible to open.  And that’s what everyone believed for  

03:17

28 years. Until April 22nd, 2024, when  Alex Palix posted this video on discord.  

03:33

He had found a way to do it! But how does  it work? Well, we already knew you could use  

03:37

the mother penguin to clip behind the wall.  But of course, since there’s no floor there,  

03:41

that puts Mario into freefall, and you can’t  open doors in freefall, only when walking.  

03:46

So to solve this, Alex Palix did a turn  around. See, there’s an interesting thing  

03:50

about the turning around action, which I’ve  explained in a previous video, and that’s  

03:54

what actually gave Alex the idea to use it to  open the cabin door. But I’ll explain it again  

03:59

now. So when Mario turns around, he goes into  the turning around action. And then a bit later,  

04:04

he transitions into the walking action,  because he finished turning around.  

04:09

Here’s the code for the turning around action, and  here’s the relevant logic. So when Mario finishes  

04:13

turning around, he goes into the walking action.  But a bit earlier, we have the code that handles  

04:18

his movement. This one says, if Mario leaves  the ground, put him into the freefall action. So  

04:23

the issue is that the programmers never expected  these two conditions to happen on the same frame.  

04:28

If they do, then the logic goes like  this. First, Mario left the ground,  

04:32

so he goes into the freefall action. And  then second, Mario finished turning around,  

04:37

and so he goes into the walking action. So  that first action change gets overwritten  

04:41

by the second action change. And so even though  Mario left the ground, he still ends up in the  

04:45

walking action. Now this exploit by itself just  results in one frame of walking in midair before  

04:50

transitioning to freefall on the next frame. But that one frame of walking in the air is all  

04:55

we needed, and that was enough to open the  door. Let’s play it again. On this frame,  

04:59

the mother penguin’s hitbox pushes Mario through  the wall and into the air. And also on that frame,  

05:04

Mario finished turning around. So first his  action got set to freefall, and then his action  

05:09

got set to walking. And since he’s now walking  inside the door’s hitbox, he opens the door.  

05:14

And you’ll notice that Mario downwarps to  the death barrier when he opens the door,  

05:18

because Mario’s programmed to snap to the floor  every frame when he’s in the door-opening action.  

05:23

But fortunately, the death barrier doesn’t kill  him, because it has no effect when Mario’s in  

05:27

a cutscene action, like opening a door. Now one question that this brings up is  

05:31

does this technique save time in a run? After  all, if we can enter the cabin at the bottom,  

05:36

then we can just exit from there and  get the star, skipping the whole slide.  

05:40

So let’s do a side-by-side comparison. On the  left, I’m showing the current strat for the star,  

05:45

which involves entering the cabin at the  top of the level, going all the way down,  

05:49

and then exiting from the cabin at the bottom  of the level to get the star. And on the right,  

05:53

I’m showing the potential new strat for the star,  which involves going into the cabin at the bottom  

05:58

of the level, and then immediately exiting  to get the star. But even in this new strat,  

06:02

we still have to spend time going to the bottom  of the course. And then there’s the whole process  

06:07

of interacting with the mother penguin and  luring her into place. And interestingly,  

06:11

triggering the star this way actually messes  up the camera during the star’s cutscene,  

06:15

though that doesn’t cause any trouble.  And so in conclusion, even though we can  

06:19

use this technique to skip the whole slide, it  doesn’t actually save any time. But regardless,  

06:24

it is pretty cool that Super Mario 64’s  unopenable door has now finally been opened!  

06:30

And now, for this video’s member event.  In case you missed it from my last video,  

06:35

all my regular videos from now on are gonna  have a member event at the end, where all the  

06:39

member names participate in the event Now last  time, there were only 13 members. But this time,  

06:45

let’s just say we have quite a few more. Over  200! So thanks everyone, it really does mean a  

06:50

lot to me that you guys are so willing to support  me! And if all goes well, this can become my full  

06:55

time job! So if you’re not a member and you  want to get in on the action, you can click on  

06:59

the join button below the video or the link in  the description. It’s sort of like subscribing  

07:04

to someone on Twitch, where you pay them a  little money each month. The lowest tier is $5,  

07:08

but you can pay a little more to get more perks,  like a colored name, a gradient name, a moving  

07:14

gradient name, or for me to call out your name. And like I said, each member event will be  

07:18

different. This time, I turned everyone into  3D marbles. So welcome everyone. Glad you  

07:24

could make it. Haven’t seen you in a while.  Hey, nice to meet you. Yo what’s up? How’s  

07:28

your life been going? Long time no see. Now the rules are simple. You guys are  

07:33

all gonna be rolling down the slide. If  you fall off the slide, you die. Also,  

07:37

the shortcut is off limits. And so basically, the  first person to cross the finish line wins. So,  

07:43

does everybody understand the rules? You my good sir. Mr. uh Lunarcomplex. May  

07:49

I call you Lunar? Errr! Okay, Mr. Complex.  Do you understand the rules? Yeah sorry,  

07:56

I was just still thinkin’ about the door, it  was pretty cool. Oh okay, I’ll keep that in  

08:00

mind. But let’s try our best in the race, okay?  And so without any further ado, let’s begin!  

08:07

Okay, off to a good start. In the back,  there’s a mad dash to get out of the cabin,  

08:11

and squeeze through that tiny opening. But it  looks like everybody made it onto the slide. Oof,  

08:16

we already lost our first person, OwlBag.  And there goes another one! Man, you guys  

08:21

are ruthless! Is winning really worth pushing your  fellow competitors off the edge? Yes, yes it is.  

08:27

And now the first turn of the slide. You guys are  doing pretty good so far, no casualties. Uh! There  

08:33

they go. We lost Shanna, Eric Vilas, Mangomens.  It’s just pure mayhem on this turn! We also lost  

08:40

Chrixiam1998 and hollow220. And remember, that  was just the first turn, there’s way more turns to  

08:45

come on the slide. Now we’ve lost Kyle Fluharty,  Kaydax, Cubik, Hannah, Chillaxel, Shaun Glaze,  

08:53

Lugmillord, Rage Man, SomeKindOfTaco, and Fat  Goomba. Man, there is some aggression going  

08:58

on at the back of the group. I mean I know you  guys want to win, but can’t you have a little  

09:02

more decorum like the front of the group? It’s  like ripples of collision propagating backwards.  

09:07

Now we’ve lost thebroz. I guess you guys weren’t  his bro. And there goes Chase T. Now a couple more  

09:13

turns coming up. Can you guys handle it? Let’s  see. Uh! Pushing each other off on the far side  

09:18

of the slide. And now we’ve lost Valton Zenola.  Gone, but not forgotten. But forget about them,  

09:24

we’re on the final stretch of the slide. Down  to the elite few. And now the even eliter few.  

09:29

Now this part of the slide is pretty straight,  so it seems like you guys are maintaining an  

09:33

uneasy truce to not push each other off, despite  ramming into each other at every opportunity. Uh!  

09:38

We’re losing some more people at this little turn.  And we’re even losing some people on the straight  

09:43

part. Come on guys, just last a little bit longer  and you’ll make it into the tunnel. Just a few  

09:47

more turns. And now we’ve lost Hot Joe! Not Hot  Joe! He was so hot, he melted the ice and slipped  

09:54

off. A few more casualties on that last turn, but  we’re finally in the tunnel. So congrats to our 6  

09:59

finalists: Cameron Cookl, Hum4n1ty, Midnight  posting, movezig5, Protectator, Scarristo.  

10:06

And lastly, the ice bridge. Can they all make it  across? Uh! We lost Hum4n1ty. And for the other 5,  

10:13

they all made it! But who got first? Well, if we  check the instant replay, we can see that Midnight  

10:18

posting was the first to cross the finish line! So, congrats to our first place finisher,  

10:23

Midnight posting. And good job to the other people  who also made it to the end. And everyone else  

10:28

will be ranked by how long they lasted in the race  before dying. So yeah, that’s what a member event  

10:33

is like. So if you want to get in on the next one,  consider becoming a member of my channel. Like,  

10:39

I know other YouTubers will take sponsorships and  talk about how a company’s product revolutionized  

10:44

their life, or something like that. And I’m not  hating on them, but that just doesn’t feel like  

10:49

me. Like, I don’t use many products, and of the  ones I do use, I’m not like super passionate  

10:54

about them. So I really don’t want to have to  pretend to like some product to get you to buy  

10:58

it just so I can make money. Plus, what if I did  back a company, and then it turned out they were  

11:03

doing some shady business practices or something?  I don’t want to be associated with that. I don’t  

11:08

wanna stake my reputation on some thing that  I have no control over. And so that’s why I  

11:12

like these member events. It’s like the perfect  alternative that feels right for me. You guys  

11:17

get to pay to be in the video and participate in  the event. And I get to express my creativity by  

11:23

putting you guys into interesting scenarios  in the game. So yeah, that’s why I’m glad I  

11:27

came up with this idea of member events. But  let me know what you think in the comments.  

11:32

And one more thing. Mr. Lunarcomplex, I’ve been  thinking about what you said, and you did try your  

11:37

best in the race, so I have an idea that I think  you’ll adore! Yo, I’m the doorknob on the door!

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Etiquetas relacionadas
Super MarioCool Cool MountainSpeedrunningGaming TricksDoor GlitchVideo Game SecretsMario 64Game MechanicsCommunity EventDiscord Share
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