Remember when you played Mario 64 and raced Mama Penguin on Cool Cool Mountain on her ice slide? And then, after you exit, you immediately think, “Wait, I want to go back inside.” Only to be locked out by an invisible wall unable to open it?
A speedrunner got curious and broke into the house 28 years later with a fun trick they discovered to clip through it. Speed running Super Mario 64 is a long and complicated story, so today we’re going to focus on this new trick.
The Penguin Door of Mario 64
SM64|Nintendo64Movies|Screenshot, Sema Chin
When you enter Cool Cool Mountain, there is a two-story cabin on the side and peak. Inside is Mama Penguin, waiting for you to race to her. The traditional way to enter this cabin is through the chimney on the Upper Cabin like Santa does at Christmas.
After you beat her, she will give you a Power Star. You exit the door on your left, which leads you to the Lower cabin’s outdoor area with the cold pond Mama Penguin bathes in. If you try to head back inside the cabin through the same door you came out of, an invisible wall blocks the player from entering
So what’s the reason behind it? The Mario 64 doors work through their doorknob loadout. Single-door doorknobs will lead Mario to a room built in the current castle section he’s at. Double-door doorknobs load another castle section with all the rooms included. They won’t open if you don’t have a Bowser Key.
The Penguin Door combines both doors as two separate door objects. The door in the cabin will activate the loading cue once Mario touches its doorknob. This swaps to Cool Cool Mountain’s outdoor area with the door outside the cabin. It doesn’t have a doorknob on it, preventing Mario from entering.
The invisible wall barricading it acts as a double door when Mario doesn’t have a key, forcing him to push against it. 28 years later, a speedrunner named Alex Palix (PaLix) tested a trick to clip through the Penguin Door.
Mario 64 Speedrunner PaLix Breaks In The Cabin
On April 22, 2024, Palix posted a video on the Super Mario 64 Speedrunning Community Discord. In the video, he uses a speedrun strategy from the mission, Lil’ Penguin Lost. He picks up the penguin chick wandering near the cabin. Carry it to the mountain slope, butt slam to pick up speed, and time the jump precisely to land near the pond across the pond.
After you skip Mama Penguin’s thanks, instead of picking up the star, Palix kidnaps her penguin chick so she can follow him to the cabin door. When he reaches the invisible wall in front of the Penguin Door, Palix drops the penguin chick in front of Mama Penguin, backflips, and quickly turns to the door, unlocking it without its doorknob.
The cabin’s indoor successfully cues and loads the Ice Slide and the bottom of the cavern. Leaving the door will load Cool Cool Mountain’s outdoor area and award you the Big Penguin Race star. How was this possible without a doorknob on the outdoor door?
The Penguin Door Unlock Explained by PannenKoek2012
A month later, PannenKoek posted a video on how Palix’s Penguin Door Unlock strat. He explained that Palix got inspired by his Invisible Walls Explained video by Mario’s Turn Around animation. When Mario turns around, he slides, then extends his hand out when entering his Walk animation.
Using the hitbox surrounding Mama Penguin against the Penguin Door’s invisible wall, Mario must successfully land in the center-left of the door and turn to extend his hand, reaching the indoor doorknob and bypassing it. The doorknob loads the Ice Slide area as if Mario enters the chimney.
This tricks the game’s scripted event into believing Mario has successfully beaten Mama Penguin from the Big Penguin Race mission since his character model has reached the finish line. The star’s cue waits for the player to exit the cabin to reward them for their efforts.
Is Penguin Door Unlock than Ice Slide Skip?
With the Penguin Door Unlock strat, Super Mario 64 speedrunners wonder if it’s faster than the Ice Slide Skip. The Ice Slide Skip requires entering the Upper Cabin. Then, slip through the seams of a specific wall corner. Mario will enter free-falling right above the finish line.
Next, make Mario dive when he is near the floor to prevent fall damage. Finally, jump and open the door for the Big Penguin Race star to appear. In the comparison above, Penguin Door Unlock is not as fast as the original speedrun strat. The reason is the slowdown from Mama Penguin’s textbox and a camera stutter when the game is tricked into rewarding you.
Still, it’s impressive how Super Mario 64 speedrunners are determined to push the game’s boundaries to exploit its programming and learn out-of-camera techniques Nintendo used back in the day. Palix’s Penguin Door Unlock became a guide on how asset loadout works in Super Mario 64 through object interaction and event triggers.
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