Super Mario 64 players have opened a door that was previously believed to be unopenable, and they did it without cheating.
Detailed by Pannenkoek2012 on YouTube, Discord user Alexpalix1 was able to access the cabin door at the base of Cool, Cool Mountain by using a very specific string of moves and an upset mother penguin (via Tom’s Hardware). Players will likely recognize the location as the same spot where many have dropped a young penguin off of the mountain’s cliff in the Nintendo 64 classic.
The cabin set just to the side of the penguin nest is where you can find Super Mario 64’s unopenable door. It usually serves as an exit for Cool, Cool Mountain’s first stage, Slip Slidin’ Away, awarding players with a Star after they complete the slide and walk through the door. However, Mario is unable to walk back through from the outside, as this half of the door is uniquely missing a doorknob and is blocked by an invisible wall. Anyone who’s played Super Mario 64 has probably tried to walk through the door even if they don’t remember doing it, and now, after 28 years, a solution is here.
Pennenkoek2012’s video walks players through the struggles presented by the legendary door and how Alexpalix1 managed to bypass them. While players have been able to use the mother penguin to make Mario clip through the invisible wall and near the door, they’ve never been able to actually use the door itself to enter the cabin.
Alexpalix1’s new method still guides the penguin up against the cabin, while backflipping in between the blue bird and the building just as others have done before. What they change, though, is Mario’s animation just as he comes into contact with the door’s hitbox. There’s no floor on the other side of the invisible wall that blocks the entrance, and unfortunately for our plumber friend, he needs to be walking when opening a door.
Alexpalix1 tricks the game by turning Mario around just before he falls, allowing him to briefly walk in midair long enough to use the door. The player can levitate for one frame when triggering Mario’s turn-around animation, so even though Mario continues to fall through the floor, the door opens and sends Mario back inside the cabin. Voila!
Players have finally solved a mystery they were never intended to solve after nearly 30 years of work. Unfortunately, it looks like there isn’t really a good reason for anyone to try and replicate Alexpalix1’s strategy. Entering the cabin from the outside does not benefit the player in any way other than providing an alternate entrance to the bottom of the ice slide. As Pannenkoek2012 notes, the doesn’t seem to have any use as a speed-running strategy either, as it’s still quite a bit slower than simply taking the slide down from the top.
For more on Super Mario 64’s endless mysteries, make sure you check out some previously long-lost footage that seems to reveal that Luigi was almost included in the game.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
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