The Many Myths and Conspiracies of Super Mario 64 

90s Gamer: “Is your game haunted?”. Developer: “Do you have any idea how much memory that would take?”.

I can’t believe that the “Bowser Room” is still talked about to this day. I still remember when OneyNG admitted to faking the whole thing to impress his school friends lmao.

In all fairness, although it's fake (except for that Nintendo live event), Wario taking the opportunity to hijack one of Mario's most popular games to make it all about himself is *extremely* on-brand for him...

The one myth that Michael Jackson voiced Mario at one point is a hilarious one.

I always took the “please walk quietly in the hallway” sign as a hint to sneak up on the boos to attack them

I find it hilarious how so many people believe or at least entertain the Bowser room myth even though Chris from Oneyplays literally admitted that he made it as a joke

In case it's not obvious, the "Not for resale" carts are cartridges not meant to be sold separately by retailers, they were meant to be sold with consoles and other games. So yeah, it's literally the same game with a different sticker.

Probably the first game I was bamboozled by. I remember listening to and believing every single hoax on how to unlock Luigi.

It’s hilarious that oneyNG’s fake bowser room render he made as a kid has become a rumor some people actually believe. 😂

Imagine making this whole video without knowing how to beat King Bob-Omb in the first level, that was so hard to watch

so tired of hearing ppl say the luigi texture/model leak is what 'confirmed' L is real, miyamoto stated in an interview years ago that sm64 was intended to be multiplayer

I was upset not hearing the follow up to the bowser room segment not being backhanded by confirmation that it was just made up by OneyNG and discussed on his crash LP.

Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time seem to be the games with the most amount of blatant hoaxes and creepypastas trying to pass off as real.

I used to work in video games at Toys R Us. The not for resale games usually come from demo stations. Nintendo reps used to come in to collect them but sometimes you’d be able to snag one from them.

Seriously, watching this game play is so hard, and they are on the first damn star!

The "L is real" text always just looked like blurry lorem-ipsum to me, and people were trying to hard to convince themselves in a true Jesus toast moment. And Luigi being a part of the early game's concept doesn't mean that the statue ever referenced him to begin with.

Toads in the wall makes sense because in an instruction manual for one of the nes/snes games, bowser turned people into the breakable bricks.

The Toads in the Walls thing is so obviously taken too literally. It's wordplay to mean "we are trapped in the castle." Edit: @keroppib4ptista pointed out how the ost is literally named “inside the castle walls” dang Tbh I’m kind of tired of Mario 64 getting turned into this hyper scary thing unironically, not that the creepy pasta stuff is bad, I just don’t like the people who literally believe that shit is real lol

people who use the word "conspiracy" when they mean "theory" is one of my biggest pet peeves

Some one probably said this already, but there is code that was around at the time that allows for the game to be easier or harder for players depending on how good said player was. An example would be if the player kept dying to a boulder rolling, the boulder would slow down so the player could react in time. Developers do this so players won't rage quit the game, thus allowing for better beliefs surrounding the game. Maybe this is what people mean when they say the game feels different depending on what console or time they play, as people will be better or worse at the game, resulting in major or minor differences. I could be wrong about all of this, but that could be what Miyamoto meant when he says the game changes for players.

The gameplay leads me to believe it was played by a game journalist.

10:34 great video, but i couldn't stop giggling at how mario fails to ground pound one block numerous times & just gives up

I'm surprised that after all this time there's not a conspiracy about the eel giving people thalassophobia

The “L is real” thing falls apart completely when you think for more than two seconds and realize the game wasn’t developed in an English speaking country

I remember the bowser room where oneyplays started that whole rumor about it as a joke when one of them was a child

So, stupid question, didn’t we already know Luigi was scrapped from SM64 when they were considering a possible two player/split screen mode? Since you could manipulate the camera in the final cutscene of the game by plugging in a second controller, it seemed like a lot of people (to my understanding) chalked it up to be a leftover bit of that two player feature and that was where Luigi was going to be included before it was scrapped

I’ve definitely had nightmares about being swallowed whole by one of the giant fish in Mario 64.

the cognitive desire thing is actually op, like, imagine if you went into the basement thinking "damn, would be pretty cool if there was a naked peach in here" an then the AI spawned in 2 naked peaches by default

I never understood why the every copy is personalized theory is so hyped up I feel like if every copy of Mario 64 was personalized why would it be something Nintendo would want to hide like it's a dark secret? I feel like that would be a good selling point and Resident Evil 4 has something kinda simalr to the Mario 64 theory where depending on how you're doing the game will differ slightly

Damn; the Mario Silhouette has gotta be a mandala effect or something because I distinctly remember seeing that back in the day

This gameplay makes mario 64 look like the cuphead tutorial

The best thing about the L is real 2401 thing is that it was solved 24 years and one month after the release of Mario 64. *24* years and *1* month.

I’m so dang distracted by you repeatedly throwing King Bob-omb off the mountain, even though he keeps saying you can’t do that. 💀💀💀

these myths, while obviously fake, are perfect "campfire tales" to tell with your nerd friends

Conspiracy Theory: Van Partible owns one of the prototypes & is currently hoarding it as we speak.

Kind of unrelated...but had a flashback to playing this for the first time and having my mind blown by those shiny 3d rolling balls and the mechanics of having to avoid them. Such a game-changing Nintendo game. Super psyched to get this for Christmas. 👑

I used to play this game religiously as a child and I was right along with you until you mentioned the Mario Silhouette theory because I specifically remember this in my game. I don't know how, but it was there and it freaked me out. I thought I was supposed to follow it---like it was part of the game---and it would lead me somewhere. Also, the ship level with the eel totally gave me submechanophobia.

Remember when the game was relatively new and gaming magazines basically tearing the game apart to come up with new trivia. Still have a copy of Ultra Game Players where they had an article showing off a variety of tricks and glitches. Really neat to see the staying power of some of the rumors and gives me awesome nostalgia of being 6 years old listening to all the various gossip about the original Super Mario Bros on the playground.

Beware the Warriors apparition, it says if you meet him…..he will show you fun!

King Bob‐omb: You can't keep throwing me off the cliff! Mario: No. More.

I was so bloody obsessed with this game when I was little, I used to have several nightmares with it, all of them were somewhat related to the paintings, with scary images. Probably due to that one Peach painting that turns into Bowser. It terrified me back then.

Any 3d game on n64 was ideal nightmare fuel just how characters happen to look and the limited expressions something about it…

2401 -> 24 years and 01 month later when Luigi was found quite a coincidence

7:30 the image was made by OneyNG and he did it as a joke as a kid

I used to get nightmares of Wet Dry world or the secret aquarium. It was terrifying. My dad bought me a Nintendo 64 when I was about 3 years old. Super Mario 64 was my first game ever. Great memories and hundreds of hours of play. Super Mario 64 opened the door of video games for me

5:43 The music that plays in the background when Wario chases you is actually the song from the endless staircase/looping stairs. It souds kind of off-pitch when you compare them together, and that's because the version from the Wario Apparition is kind of pitched up (probably +1 semitones.).

It’s amazing how many stupidly hilarious conspiracies are made about this game.

the fact he spent the entire 25 minutes of the video to beat king bob-omb is hilarious

Tbh I remember seeing a black Mario and I cried so bad bc it scared the shit out of me. Long story short my dad threw the console away. Now I’m sad to know it was probably just a glitch.

dear god i dont think ive ever seen a worse mario 64 gameplay and now i don't think there is s worse one

Nearly all of these can be attributed to 1) out-of-control, over-eager modders, 2) people who don't understand Japanese, or 3) people who have no understanding of how limited the N64 hardware was.

7:31 "LOOK! ITS REEEAL!"

Now that the Luigi thing is solved, can we just acknowledge that the statue totally says, "Eternal Star."

Fantastic video going over all of this stuff. Nicely done. I just have a few things to note. We've known that Luigi was originally meant to be in the game since shortly after it's release. It was not something realized in 2020. That's just when game data relating to Luigi was finally found. As for the game feeling a bit different each time it's played, that's most likely due to the time gap between plays. People are coming back to it years later, and do to our faulty memories things seem a bit different. Also, graphics and especially the controls are not going to feel as good as they once seemed to be. For me personally, I've played through the game numerous times since it's release and it has always felt exactly the same. Pretty much all of these myths (except for Luigi and L is real) never were a thing until around 2 decades after it's release. People just like to make stuff up, and many people are sadly gullible enough to believe it.

A lot of this stuff would make for great inspiration for a PetScop-esque series or even an actual indie horror game. There's so much you could do with it. Also, I'm not sure that statue plaque actually says anything. Probably just random lines to give the appearance of text. The same texture has been used in several other games including at least one Zelda game. And the Chainchomp with no pupils is probably just a weird texture glitch if anything lmao.

In regards to the shared nightmares, I had a nightmare about falling into a pit of ants on the road I usually took when walking to school, and the ants made the same sounds as the SM64 penguins made. Coincidentally, the sounds that the ants in Fallout 2 make when they die are strikingly similar to those of the SM64 penguins. I say coincidentally because I played SM64 -> had the nightmare -> played Fallout 2

I interpreted the Shigeru Miyamoto as everyone will find new things to notice about the game because it's more in-depth (3d) than games before lol

Just to add: the bowser room was created by Chris O’Neil.

your delivery is relaxing af i listen to ur vids when falling asleep

Man I missed content like this. It really takes the best of both worlds with both one of my favorite childhood video games, and horror and mystery

That’s funny asf bc I had a reoccurring nightmare about this game as a kid. Honestly until I started watching your videos recently, I thought this whole game was made up from my nightmares

basically all of these "campfire stories" are easily deubunked with at least at bit of technical knowledge

The reason we had nightmares was spending hours upon hours trying to get those stars on those stages

Approaching N64 now I would suggest one for ocarina of time. There are some interesting ones, like obtaining full triforce, unicorn fountain, light temple and so on.

I fucking despise the Personalized Copy meme. It makes Minion memes on Facebook look funny in comparison

Bowser Room was made up by OneyNG.

that gameplay footage was rage inducing

I’m not an old guy, I just have a huge interest in the 80s - mid 2000s. I remember playing my uncle’s old N64, when I was around 7. While playing my uncle told me to play SM64, so I did. My uncle then told me if I had gotten to the wario level yet, at the time I had absolutely no idea what he meant, but through recent years I now know that it had something to do with the wario apparition. When I found out what he meant all those years ago, I texted him asking if he remembers about the wario level. He told me almost the exact details about the apparition, besides running in an “infinite” hallway. I couldn’t tell if my uncle was joking years ago, but it seemed like he was serious, so I believe him. He explained to me that he played the game at a friend’s house. They had been playing for hours, up until 11:00 pm he said. Around 9:00 or 10:00 he said that he died, so his friend took his place. The friend decided to go to the level my uncle was struggling on. Again, my uncle can’t remember this perfectly, and nor can I. The conversation was around 3 years ago, so it’s difficult to remember. As I was saying, his friend took over and beat whatever level was hard for my uncle. After that, strangely, instead of coming out of the painting as usual, he spawned into the hallway with no transition whatsoever. They were both confused, and decided to continue anyway. They then saw wario, just sitting there. They walked up to him, and nothing happened. They decided to leave and go into peaches castle, and continue their session. I don’t really know what to say from here other than that he saw wario, so that’s strange.

The gameplay in this video is making my eye twitch.

I had to repeat a few sections as I got distracted by the god awful gameplay XD I really enjoyed the video!

Whoever was playing SM64 in the background was doing a very bad job

I remember reading the text box when you get enough Stars for the 2nd Bowser fight saying "Did you rescue poor frightened Luigi? Did you pound the 2 Columns down?" Even though I unlocked Luigi it made me think there was an alternate way to unlock Luigi.

I strongly remember as a kid having a dark Mario sometimes that would appear after dying when I was playing and it was mirroring the routes I had done before and I genuinely thought this was a feature of the game and didn’t realize this was part of the “ myths and conspiracies “ relating to the game before watching this vid. I remember trying to race it allot because it reminded of me of platforming and racing flash games where that was a common feature. But he never came from a prison door like the first picture it was just once I died and restarted it would just start doing the run. I genuinely think it’s just a bug though and would love to see it uncovered someday.

fun video! it makes me happy to see people still discussing all this crazy stuff in Super Mario 64! keep it up!

I beat this game so many times, usually within the span of a day just to challenge myself. Never once saw anything out of the ordinary, but I will say that one sunken city map did give an eerie vibe sometimes

Very good analysis,subbed!

I'm sorry this was a good video and all but the boomer gameplay in the background turned me into a backseat Twitch chat member when I should've been listening to you talk about Wario stalking Muda on his driveway at 3 AM

The "L is real" text is just random Japanese letters, highly compressed

I’ve started going down this super Mario 64 rabbit hole and I’m addicted.

Am I tripping? or this guy has one or more youtube channels. I swear to god his voice is in every RU-vid channel.

Strangely, the only SM64 nightmare I had as a kid was about Tiny-Huge Island of all places.

i would love if a company make a game that every copy is personalized.

Fun fact: in the July 29 1995 build, the courtyard was originally a course, and its name flashed between mario.reunion and luigi.purgatory, also there was no fountain, it was more colored pink and orange (at least that's how i remember it)

I like to imagine the dude behind the Giga Leak was like “I’ma time myself 24 Years and 1 Month to leak this!”

This gameplay should result in jail time

>bowser room You guy were fooled by a child

The every “cartridge is personalised” is my favourite entry and pretty much covers all of these lol.

Me: Mom can we have Mario 64 iceberg? Mom: No we have Mario 64 iceberg at home. Mario 64 iceberg at home:

Your channel is seriously underrated, keep up with the great content! also you have a really fitting voice for this sort of topics

Only 379 more years until the second coming of Luigi!

Loving the series. If you're looking for suggestions, fighting games could be a good one. Smash and MK had some wild ones that I can remember

Who’s playing Super Mario 64 in the background? Because they don’t know how to play and it bothered me how bad they played XD

I remember spending hours on trying to unlock Luigi by getting 1000 coins in a bowser battle, or something of that nature, back in the day.

The bowser room was created by Oneyplays as a prank for his other class mates.

10:34 man was struggling 🤣

Dude its crazy oney is part of the mario 64 mysterys Its also crazy that the "personalized AI" thing was kinda mirrored in undertale in a way like the gaster things lol

the bowser room is one of the best memes in all of mario 64 thank you oney

14:44 - Honestly, this whole trend of making “creepy” anti-piracy hoaxes baffled me with how common they were at the time. Granted the first time around it was very believable with that one Mario Party DS video that seemingly started this whole thing, but outside of that Mario 64 one you just showed here, every one of them have gotten more and more annoyingly cringy to the point where it rivals that of the most cringy of Creepypastas. Even the ones that emphasizes hyperrealism in the eyes and whatnot.

bro his 3 to 4 second pauses in between categories makes me CRACK UP

I used to think that there were secret rooms at the top of the swimming beast room in HMC. If you stand on top of Nessie and look upwards, you can see doors high up. They probably are the earlier rooms but I used to think that there was a secret room, possibly leading to an early Bowser fight.