Glossary

General Terminology

Act / Act Select	An "Act" is a specific instance of a world or course. All main courses typically have six Acts, with each one being named after its assigned Star. Differentiating between each Act is important as the world or course may change depending on which Act is in play. For example, in Act 1 of Bob-omb Battlefield (named "Big Bob-omb on the Summit"), the cannons are deliberately not available for Mario. However, by selecting any of the five other Acts available, the cannons will become available. The names of Acts is also useful to note as they often provide a hint for the corresponding Star's location, or how to obtain it.
‎K	‎K
Kaizo	"Kaizo" is a term used to describe a ROM hack that is deliberately designed to be extremely difficult. This term was originally coined by a Super Mario World hack called "Kaizo Mario World". On romhacking.com, kaizo levels have been assigned their own difficulty scale, which use red flames to represent each point of difficulty. Here is a video showcasing a kaizo level.
‎K	‎K
romhacking.com	"romhacking.com" is a website that is currently the primary hub of activity for Super Mario 64 ROM hacks. It was started by some very well-known members of the community who have fostered a reputation for being a trustworthy website for downloads. "romhacking.com" is home to one of the most complete lists of Super Mario 64 ROM hacks and allows for the creators to communicate more easily with players, and as such is referenced as a source for much of the information on this wiki.
‎K	‎K
1.5D	"1.5D" is a term used to mean "between 2D and 3D". It is most commonly a level set in a 3D world, but limits Mario to 2D movements. Some hacks that feature this are Seaside Town and A Snowy Evening.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

SM64	This is short-hand for Super Mario 64, the base game for the hacks we create and play in this community.
‎K	‎K
C1	Short-hand for "Course 1". In Super Mario 64, each course has its own assigned number, with there being 15 in total. This number is also found in the game's coding, which makes it a reliable way to find out what areas have been superseded and in which order.
‎K	‎K
B1, B2, B3	Super Mario 64 has three distinct Bowser levels. They are Bowser in the Dark World, Bowser in the Fire Sea, and Bowser in the Sky respectively. Differentiating between each Bowser level- particularly the third- is important, as this affects the game's progression and changes what type of battle Mario will face against Bowser.
‎K	‎K
SC, WC, VC, MC	SC very simply stands for "Secret Course", it may not always have a number assigned to it. In Super Mario 64, each Cap Switch that activates one of Mario's powers (flying, invisibility, and turning into metal) has its own Secret Course. WC, VC, and MC all stand for Wing Cap, Vanish Cap, and Metal Cap respectively. They are used in place of "SC" to signpost that the corresponding Cap Switch can be found in that course, rather than having to add it in separately as a footnote.
‎K	‎K
BLJ	BLJ is an abbreviation standing for "Backwards Long-Jump". It refers to a type of trick one call pull off in Super Mario 64, that takes advantage of the game's mechanics and propells Mario backwards at very high speeds. It is used for performing speedrunning tricks, clipping out-of-bounds, or bypassing certain aspects of the game. It is also the subject of a fair amount of memes.
‎K	‎K
QoL	QoL stands for Quality of Life. This phrase is often used in changelogs for projects, or in the credits for hacks. In this context, it refers to a genre of minor updates (also referred to as "tweaks") creators have made that change small aspects of Super Mario 64's gameplay. The gameplay aspect most commonly affected by "quality of life" updates is the camera the player controls. In general, quality of life updates/tweaks aim to fix or improve areas of weakness in Super Mario 64 that most people complain about spoiling gameplay, thus allowing the player to more thoroughly enjoy playing a SM64 ROM hack.

Technical Terms

ROM	This is an acronym that stands for "Read-only Memory". It is a file medium for storing digital data that can only be read by a computer, not altered (at least not without some difficulty).
‎K	‎K
.z64	This is the file format most commonly used for games that were designed to run on the Nintendo 64. A file ending in this extension that contains a complete game is referred to as a ROM. There are many file extensions used for game ROM files, but in this community, .z64 is pretty much the only one that's relevant.
‎K	‎K
.bps / patching	This is a type of file that contains instructions for performing modifications on a ROM file. The act of using a .bps file to alter a ROM file is referred to as "patching". Note that the act of altering a ROM file with a .bps file does not actually alter the ROM file, but instead clones the ROM file and alters that one instead.
‎K	‎K
Emulator	An emulator is a piece of software that is capable of simulating real-life hardware. In the context of Super Mario 64 ROM hacking, we use emulation software to simulate the Nintendo 64 console. This allows us to play games designed to run on a Nintendo 64 from our own computers, thus making those games much more accessible.Here is a more comprehensive guide to emulation as a topic.
‎K	‎K
TAS	This is an abbreviation standing for "Tool-Assisted Speedrun". A tool-assisted speedrun is a simulated playthrough of a game in which a computer performs a predetermined set of inputs. Tool-Assisted Speedruns are typically used to push the limits of a game, and to test out strategies that would be impossible for a human to do- this is because it is possible to test out incredibly difficult techniques that would take a human a very long time to perform reliably. Tool-assisted speedruns are great for testing ideas, strategies, and for providing proof-of-theory.