Hi everyone, Frostmitch here! I was deciding if I should make this a whole new article on the Wiki (if you so desire in the comments I will), but I wanted to be a little more relaxed in the way of writing, so that’s why I decided to post it on the blog page.
Max Coin High Scores in the main 15 courses of the Hack
Super Mario Star Road: Max Coin Guide[]
So, when I was little, I played a heck lot of Super Mario 64. After a while and basically after burning the location of each of the stars in my mind, replaying it became boring. Self-imposed challenges then became the perfect strategy to keep enjoying the game. One of those I’m sure most of us tried back in the day ,was to get the max coin score for each of the stages in the game. In fact, recently I tried that again, maxing on each one of them (except the infamous “impossible coin” on Tiny Huge Island) – albeit using save states as I was not going to tolerate Lethal Lava Land’s volcano bullies.
So after I completed that mission I was wondering if the same could be done in one of the hacks of the game. Immediately my mind went to both Star Road and Last Impact, the former which was my first ever hack played of Super Mario 64. In this travesty I came upon this very Wiki!
As I went level by level, I noticed that not much info on the matter was available online, as I was just able to find a table with the highest number counts in the main hack's page, yet with description or “proof” that these counts were achievable. As I did the vanilla game challenge, I did require some guidance such as how to get Snowman’s Land cannon coin, but to see that none of the other hacks had a guide to achieve max coin counts, I decided to take it into my own to document this experience and also, to help those who would like to attempt a similar goal as mine. I chose to start with Star Road as it is the one, I’m most familiar with.
Before that I would like to clarify some aspects about this run:
- I did use save states: As you will see, some of this coins are BRUTAL to get, so I wanted to preserve my sanity. Also, this can help if you fail to grab a defeated enemy coin or one falls to the abyss. If anyone of you would like to attempt save state-less, god bless you.
- This was performed on the 1.0.1. version, which I came to believe is the final (or known as 1.2) version of the game. I believe no changes were made in terms of coin count regarding this one and 1.0., yet I might be wrong. Also, I’m not sure if Deluxe or 1.0 Fix versions vary in this aspect.
- This is a pure glitch-less run: I wanted to include only "casual play" max coin counts in the run. No duplication glitches are allowed. Also, as I played "casually", no required BLJs, clipping, frame walking or such were used to max on the coin counts.
- Still, some ability will be required: I don’t consider myself as good as some of the regular SM64 players. That said, for some of the coins in this challenge, you will need to feel good with SM64 controls. Try honing triple jumps, wall jumps, long jumps and dives as they will help lots. Also, some coins will need you to know how to climb slopes. Jump-kick up slopes isn’t mandatory but it will help if you know how. This last one can be replaced by kicking back mid air while sliding. Don’t be alarmed as this is the only thing you will need. In fact, to give you confidence, I was able to collect all coins while using wanky touch controls in my phone.
- You will need to know some basic aspects of SM64: You will need to know some basics of coin spawning of the game. Know that the draw distance is awful. Remember running around poles gives you coins. Ground pounding Big Goombas will give you 5 coins instead of 1. Such kind of stuff.
- Research a bit about object placement in SM64: It’s not mandatory at all, but it can help you know if you screwed up. Knowing beforehand how SM64 has specific object placements, how many coins will be when placed as lines or circles, how many coins can come from “!” Blocks (1-3-10), and about enemy placements such as how trios of Goombas will form a triangle, can help you know what you may be missing (specially on the last collected coins).
- Star selection is important: As missions (or acts) will vary coin counts. In general, acts with boss fights (such as Big Bob-omb, Whomp King, Big Boo) are not recommended as they might take a couple of coins away.
For those only wanting to know the main levels max coin counts, here is an image of the final records of my run:
I will be giving some hints in each level so you can have them prepared beforehand. Without further ado, let’s-a-go!
1. Course 1: Bob-omb Islands[]
- Suggested Act: Star 4: Find the Red 8 Coins
- Max Coins: 147
Bob-omb Islands is a very straightforward level in matters of completing the max coin counts. Remember that once a Bob-omb explodes, you will need to get the coin before it despawns, as even if the enemy respawns back, the coin will be gone forever. There are some coins that are hard to forget such as the ones below the ship’s bow. Beware of the Goomba in the ship, as it can fall to the water and die, thus preventing you to get its coin.
2. Course 2: Sky Land Resort[]
- Suggested Act: Star 5: Red Coins of the Sky
- Max Coins: 156
Sky Land Resort will introduce two of the most horrible enemies for us in this run:
- First, the Whomps. You see, Whomps sometimes decide to NOT turn around after reaching a ledge, and considering you can get 10 coins from them (5 from jumping in their backs, 5 for ground pounding them at the end) you can imagine how frustrating these guys can be. Just remember you should prioritize Whomps when you see them.
- Second, Fly Guys: These helicopter jerks’ tent to appear in places where defeating them and collecting their 2 coins is hard. They usually are near platforms with little to no room. Also, if you just simply jump on them, Mario will be sent flying and slowly helicopter his way back to the floor. To prevent this, defeat them by ground pounding. Remember that coins have a RNG horizontal speed value, so the coins might go flying. Just keep trying.
That aside, Sky Land Resort is a pretty uneventful level. Remember to check all ceilings and you should be fine.
3. Secret Course 1: Mushroom Mountain Town[]
- Max Coins: 68
Mushroom Mountain Town is the first secret course of the game. This level is not hard at all for collecting all coins. In fact, the most difficult one comes from a red one you must perform a well-placed triple jump dive into an islet with a house in it. Otherwise, just remember poles will give you coins if you circle around them enough times.
4. Course 3: Piranha Plant Pond[]
- Mandatory Act: Star 1: Climb the Ruins
- Max Coins: 151
Course 3 was why I decided to made this guide. See at first when I was looking at the main page total number of 151, I wasn’t able to match that number. I was only able to get 143 every time. That was when I stumbled upon a comment of user @supermario3459 in one of SPsm64TAS YouTube videos when I realized that acts may vary the total amount of coins in a stage. Here is where we reach our first mandatory act star. Act 1 in Course 3 actually contains an extra Piranha Plant by the ruins and an extra “!” block with 3 coins, thus adding the total to 151 total obtainable coins, so if your planning on maxing here you must select act 1.
5. Course 4: Chuckya Harbor[]
- Suggested Act: Star 5: The Chuckya's Red Coins
- Max Coins: 202
Chuckya Harbor has one big coin count maxing at 202. Most of the coins here are out on the open. Some advice should go to "manually" defeat the Skeeters by swimming and jumping out of the water, rather than using the shell to crash them. Also, the blue coin switch coins are easier to collect if you climb up to the last coin, then jump and ground pound, rather than jumping back and forth from each pole, as the time limit is pretty thin. Otherwise just take your time.
6. Secret Course 2: Creepy Cap Cave[]
- Max Coins: 68
Creepy Cap Cave has really no difficult parts. Just make sure of collecting all coins in the slide before reaching the main cavern as coming back from the slope could prove nearly impossible.
7. Course 5: Gloomy Garden[]
- Mandatory Act: Star 5: Haunted Ride for 8 Red Coins
- Max Coins: 139
Gloomy Garden is very peculiar because it is very mission based, meaning it has the most changes when selecting between acts. Enemies will vary a lot. Even red coins will not appear if act 5 is not selected. Act 5 (red coins) contains 139 coins total, while other acts such as 2 and 3 will contain one less at 138, thus making act 5 as mandatory. Not much is to be said here except that the blue coin switch can be hard for it's very thin time limit. It’s to be noted that you don’t need to stand directly on the battlement stacks the coins appear to collect them, as just standing besides them can count for grabbing them. Long jumps can help here.
8. Secret Course 3: Puzzle of the Vanish Cap[]
- Max Coins: 28
Puzzle of the Vanish Cap is found within Gloomy Garden. It’s really no brainer here, just collect the coins you see and take special care of enemies like Boos and Goombas.
9. Bowser Stage 1: Bowser's Slippery Swamp[]
- Max Coins: 90
Bowser’s Slippery Swamp is the first Bowser stage in the game. The swamp can be hard to traverse as it works as instant death - quick sand. Some advice in this one includes knowing the Swoops (bats) are not coming back after their first tackle, so you should try to defeat them as soon as you see them. Also be careful with the Scuttle Bugs as their coins might just fly away. When reaching the boss battle with Pernicious Piranha Flowers, there are a couple of poles that might be hard due to their placement near the edge. Also remember to collect the final coins of the final Piranha Flower before grabbing the key, as it will teleport you out of the level.
10. Secret Course 4: Sandy Slide Secret[]
- Max Coins: 85
Sandy Slide Secret is found above the main hall’s chandelier chain. You might think this one is impossible, but in contrast to what the sign at the beginning of the level says, it’s possible to get back to the main track without losing a life by performing a well-timed long jump onto the right mountain and climbing the pink construction beam when exiting the warp pipe at the end. This can allow you to retry the last part or even go back to the Sphinx and Beams section of the slide. Paper Pokeys are placed on firm ground so you can stand there to defeat them.
11. Course 6: Colorful Coral Caverns[]
- Suggested Act: Star 5: Red Coins of the Deep
- Max Coins: 137
Colorful Coral Caverns is the first jerkish level of the list. In fact it has nothing to do with the water portions of the level (although draw distance can throw you off) but with the blue coin switch. See, the time in this one is very, very thin. To be honest with you, I was only able to perform this by slowing emulation time to 65%. The switch spawns 4 coins divided in three groups, each one located above some wooden poles you must walljump to get. Single-jump walljumps won’t give you enough height to reach them as you need a Double-jump (second "A" press jump) walljump to reach them.
To get these coins, the strategy I devised was as follows (Please refer the image to reference which pole I’m referring to): Double jump wall jump to the first coin on pole 1. Proceed to triple jump walljump on pole 2 and grab the second coin. When reaching the floor, use the momentum to back flick in the direction of the third and final pole, momentum you can conserve to do a double jump walljump to get the final two coins in pole 3 just in time. If you’re able to get these, the other coins are pretty much easy to get.
12. Course 7: Koopa Canyon[]
- Suggested Act: Star 5: Glide from The Quicksand Tornado
- Max Coins: 152
With Koopa Canyon, Star Road introduces one of the most dreaded mechanics of this run: The Dragon Coins. Dragon Coins are a mechanic brought back from Super Mario World. They are coins with Yoshi’s face on it. As in that game, they are five coins per level, but different to that game, they do not count as points but rather as 2 coins. The problem: They are the most stupidly placed things in the hack. I believe this is a fun mechanic when considering it is kind of a reward for explorer type of players, but for this specific challenge, they become a nightmare as they DO count for the coin total, and we must grab them all. In the following levels that contains them I will give out their locations, as I couldn’t find any information about their placements (I will also update the Wiki pages later - EDIT 1: Done so). For Koopa Canyon the locations are as follows:
Dragon Coins:[]
- In a pit on the right after starting the level (requires walljump).
- On top of one of the pyramid's four pillars.
- On the back wall of the pyramid.
- In the triangular shaped stone next to the final two red coins.
- (Jerkish one) On a slope in the south-western corner of the map.
The one dragon coin that is a pain in the butt to get is the last one, and mainly the reason why act 5 is suggested. To get to it, you have use the tornados up until the ledge where the star is located. After that, you must perform either jump kicks to go up the slope or use the slide – jump kick mid air while holding back technique until you reach the corner of the slope in the southwestern part of the level. Alteratively, you can use momentum by sliding in the side of the pyramid (where Dragon Coin 3 is located) and jump to the "outbounds" top of the cliff, walking to the mentioned corner. Due to draw distance, you won’t be able to see it at first, but trust me, it’s there.
13. Course 8: Large Leaf Forest[]
- Suggested Act: Star 5: Vine-Climbing for 8 Red Coins
- Max Coins: 132
Large Leaf Forest has no real problems as the two courses before it. In fact, most of the coins here are very straightforward. You should just be cautious about not letting the coins fall from enemies when defeating them in the tree branches and defeat the Chuckya before activating the blue coin switch. Here are the dragon coins for this course:
Dragon Coins:[]
- On a slope, in the southeastern corner of the map.
- On a slope, in the northwestern corner of the map.
- Underwater, below the flower lily pad.
- On a slope, in the southwestern corner of the map next to the lily pads. May require a precise triple jump then belly dive to reach it.
- On the tip of a tree branch in the big tree.
14. Course 9: Mad Musical Mess[]
- Suggested Act: Star 5: The 8 Musical Red Coins
- Max Coins: 154
Incredibly, Mad Musical Mess is not so hard as a level to max on coins. It has its difficult moments, but no coin is as infuriating as it could be, considering the fame of this level. However, we should mention this is the introductory level for our beloved “friend” – the Bzzap! (paper bees). These ones behave like Fly Guys but are much faster, and due to their 2D sprites, their hit boxes are way harder to predict. Ground pounding will work though. Thankfully, Mad Musical Mess doesn’t have any dragon coins, so no tricky hiding spots this time!
15. Course 10: Melting Snow Peaks[]
- Suggested Act: Star 5: Cliff Jumping for Red Coins
- Max Coins: 184
Do you wanna build a snowman? – No, you don’t. Welcome to HFIL, I mean, Melting Snow Peaks. This is the hardest level for this challenge, and surprisingly, not due to dragon coins. The peaks contain one enemy that fully, truly craps in this challenge: Mr. Blizzards. There are two types. Stationary and jumping. Jumping ones are indestructible, while for stationary ones, you must run around so they trip over and fall, giving you three coins in the process. Most of them shouldn’t pose a problem to you, however, we have our special 2.
Right after you start the level, if you go right down a slope, you will find 4 stationary Mr. Blizzards. Number 3 is really not a problem. Number 2 can prove a little challenging as there’s little room (but enough) to circle around it. Number 1 and Number 4, ohhh they both need their own section.
Mr. Blizzard number 1 is on the edge of the slope, meaning half of the area around it will make Mario slip, thus preventing from circling it around. Also, there’s an abyss on its right side meaning that if even you are able to circle and not slip, you will probably hit it and the recoil will send you down the cliff. I found somewhat of a solution for this jackass. Up hill where a Chill Bully waits, there is a “!” Block containing a Koopa Shell. Turns out the wall of the abyss is climbable with the Koopa Shell’s aid, so if you are able to bring it to the Mr. Blizzard you can circle it around until it gives in. Even so, it can take a number (dozen in fact) of tries to do it. Even after you see it fall, DO NOT get down the shell, as crashing will make you slip and put you in the risk of sliding and letting the coins despawn.
Mr. Blizzard number 4 is in an even worse location. After you pass the slopes, there is a staircase leading to the Snowmen’s lair. In one of those tiny stairs, he rises, to bring torment to Mario’s coin collecting mission. You don’t have room to circle him around, and due to the wall properties of the stair, the Koopa Shell will break. I found two solutions for this one. First one involves jump kicking back and forth the snowman’s head in a circular kinda fashion. If you are persistant, the Mr. Blizzard will follow and eventually trip over.
Solution two however is a little easier. This is a strategy I learned from defeating one specific Mr. I in Hazy Mazy Cave back in Vanilla SM64. If you hit an enemy, you will be able to get some invincibility frames. Use this to “clip” inside the Mr. Blizzard. You won’t take damage this way. Now what you have to do is make tiny little circles inside the snowman. If you do it right, it will start spinning. If you keep circling, eventually he will fall.
This is truly the hardest part of all this challenge. And even when done, it’s not over with this level. There are other couple of hard spots, but the Mr. Blizzards are what I wanted to focus on. Just to give advice on some: Defeat the Shy Guys as soon as possible so they don’t jeet themselves off the cliff. Also take care of the Chill Bully on the top of the tower not by throwing him of the map, but by slowly taking him to the center ice lake (the one by the waterfall that hurts like if it was lava). Money Bags can be annoying due to coin speed RNG, but just keep trying. After all, you defeated the nasty snowmen.
16. Bowser Stage 2: Bowser's Retro Remix Castle[]
- Max Coins: 51
Bowser’s Retro Remix Castle is up next. There are a couple of hard areas. But first, let’s get out of the way the dragon coins.
Dragon Coins:[]
- On the first hanging ceiling.
- Above, next to a wall where there are two tall cannons.
- Above one piranha plant.
- Next to a pit in the balcony abyss where you get the secret star – requires wall jumps.
- Floating above before the boss door.
The really hard coins are a line of five below a hanging ceiling on the way to the secret star. Normally you go up the ceiling and avoid the Amp that is there, however, to get the coins, you must hang and climb to get them. If the Amp touches you, you will fall to your doom. It will take some tries but if you keep making circular movements you may be able to avoid the amp and go back to safety.
The other hard part is to eliminate the normal bullies on the boss room. At first you might think it’s impossible as if the bullies fall all the way to the lava pit, the coins will fall in the lava and disappear. Also, if you were to follow, you would meet your scorching demise. However, it’s possible to do something similar one does when collecting the coins from bullies in the volcano from Lethal Lava Land and push them to a “safer” platform. This way you can collect the coins they leave when defeated. Fortunately for us, there is a floating staircase to the bullies platform and the initial platform is next to the lava lake, outside the pit. Remember the bullies will always be pushed the way Mario is seeing when they get hit, so be sure to align Mario’s vision to the staircase. Now just take your time and hit one by one until you reach the spawning platform, where you can then kick them to the lava and collect their coin. Afterwards, just defeat the Blueberry Bully and end the level.
17. Course 11: Colossal Candy Clutter[]
- Suggested Act: Star 6: Playful Red Coins
- Max Coins: 211
So, you want a break after all that hassle in Course 10? Well, too bad for you because here is Colossal Candy Clutter smiling menacingly. This course has THE worst locations of the dragon coins ever. I will touch on one specifically later, but first some general advices. The two Whomps are the start are your priority. As I said before, they won’t turn around in the wafer cookies they patrol. Also, you should learn from now that some enemies (specially Goombas and Shy Guys) might fall of the edge to the death barrier. Worry not. If a level has a way of warping (either teleport or warp pipe) just go through it and they will respawn in their original places (with coins and all), as long as they were not defeated before . This level has one warp pipe at the end of Tuxie’s Slide and other floating near the bell tower. Whomps on the other hand won’t reset their positions, hence making them task number 1. As for Big Goombas, remember that ground pounds will leave 5 coins instead of 1. Okay, that aside, let’s talk about dragon coins:
Dragon Coins:[]
- On top of Tuxie’s Slide Goal Cage – Requires wall jump before reaching the goal.
- (Jerk) Above exit warp pipe from Tuxie’s Slide – Requires precise long jump from a platform where a Chuckya is – Just above the chocolate bar.
- (Jerk) On the roof of the bell tower – Requires cannon.
- (Jerk) On the roof of the southeastern fortress tower – Requires long jumping from floating warp pipe next the dominoes.
- (Jerk) Behind the bullseye target, on the tripod supporting it.
These locations are plain stupid. Most of them will kill you if you don’t make it on the first shot. I did give an explanation of how to get the first four, so let’s focus on the last one. At first I didn’t believe it was real, but as I told you before, there are always 5 dragon coins per stage, and this level is no exception. The bullseye one is the dumbest one of them all. The only way I could reach there, is by using the canon in a bow, so when Mario is falling, he exactly lands on the platform. This means you’ll have to aim the canon in the exact position for this to work. I found a little "guide" that may help, yet this will take multiple attempts anyways. So, if you aim the canon to the bullseye and then go straight up, you will stumble with what seems to be a “Reverse L” kinda shape in the skybox (it’s barely noticeable, I did highlighted it in the image).
If you align the L just barely touching the bottom circle of your cannon view, you MAY hit the spot and land just perfectly in the platform.
Edit: Guess what? I recently finished another hack based on these levels (Super Mario Star Road: The Green Comet), and due to one of the Stars being located in this same specific spot (and no cannon available), I was able to figure that you can actually long jump from the top of the toy blocks tower near the Chain Chomp and make it here too... And it's waaaay easier this way LOL. Even so, I'll leave the other method for documentation purposes.
18. Course 12: Cloudrail Station[]
- Suggested Act: Star 6: Airborne Red Coins
- Max Coins: 205
Cloudrail Station is our first breather after all the pain. First of all, no more dragon coins henceforth, yay! Second, no more extremely painful perfect canon shots, double yay! Okay, but seriously, this one is not so hard. Most coins are fairly easy to acquire and if one Goomba decides to jump to sky death, there is a teleporter on a leaf so you can relocate them again. Try to lure all Bzzaps! to firm ground before defeating them. There is only one Bzzap! that may bring you trouble on the way to the Fluffy Castle as you must defeat it on the riding platform. A couple of tries after a savestate will help you here. If you find yourself lacking five coins, there is a sneaky Crazed/Music Crate inside a cloud on a platform near the flower.
19. Secret Course 5: Windy Wing Cap Well[]
- Max Coins: 70
The last cap stage is not hard at all. Just keep in mind that the floating circles have an awful draw distance so they might throw you off. Otherwise every coin is pretty much easy to acquire. Remember to prioritize enemies first, then stationary coins.
20. Course 13: Fatal Flame Falls[]
- Suggested Act: Star 5: Burning Red Coins
- Max Coins: 152
Fatal Flame Falls is really easy. Just take your time and you’ll make it. My advice would be to take care of the Goombas as soon as you can as they can fall into lava and their coin will be lost forever even if you teleport. Also for the bullies that are high up, lower them to more "on the ground" platforms and then throw them to lava. Be sure to get the Swoops as well. This one is a breather after all the sewers crap.
21. Course 14: Bob-omb Battle Factory[]
- Suggested Act: Star 5: The Rusty Red Coins
- Max Coins: 165
Bob-omb Battle Factory is a special case. While you can get only 165 coins, there are actually 175 of them as there are two “impossible 5-coin rows” in the level. Funny enough, Skellux was warned about one of them and said he was going to remove it on the next patch, yet they’re both still there. If you position your camera right, you can actually see them. I find it easy to change to Lakitu’s view as it can show trough textures easily.
One of them is next to the Chain Chomp, inside a slope you can walk up:
The other one is actually way down above the death barrier:
As for the actual "grabbable" coins, not much is there to advice. I would suggest to defeat Fly Guys in wider platforms as usual, and also to take caution with boxes as coin speed RNG might send them flying away after you break them.
22. Course 15: Starlight Runway[]
- Mandatory Act: Star 2: Climb Through the Machinery
- Max Coins: 169
For the final course (and my favorite course – well anything with Buoy Base Galaxy’s Theme will instantly be my favorite LOL) of the game. Starlight Runway has a mandatory star in Act 2, as you will need the wooden robots to reach the machinery hall with some juicy coins. They won’t spawn unless you select this star. Most of the coins are really easy to get. Take it slow with enemies as always. It’s possible to wall jump back to the main area from Handroid’s slope, but if you feel uncomfortable doing so, you can leave the final Sniffits here for your run finale and collect Handroid’s star to record the coin counter. Not much is required.
23. Bowser Stage 3: Bowser's Rainbow Rumble[]
- Max Coins: 56
The Final Bowser Stage. I would start by stating that while you can collect coins inside Bowser's Arena, as well as with Vanilla SM64 Bowser stages, these ones are infinite, thus, are banned from the challenge. Only the ones in the main part of the level are valid, those being 56 coins. Thankfully, no hard ones this time either. Just careful with Sniffits and Goombas and you’ll be fine.
24. Secret Course 6: Hidden Palace Finale[]
- Max Coins: 20
Thankfully the final stage doesn’t have any crappy dragon coins or secret slopes. It already has enough challenge as it is. The 20 coins here are in plain sight. A couple of Goombas guard some of them and maybe the final coin in the slope might make you climb the castle again, but other than that, we are DONE!
Final Thoughts:[]
So, after finishing all courses I just have to say I had fun with this challenge in Star Road. A total of 2992 coins were obtained. I would always suggest the use of savestates as frequent mistakes can be made specially on the dragon coins and the snowmen parts, but other than that, I think this is a fun way to bring life once again to a beloved hack of the community. Please let me know if you had any issues with other parts or if you would attempt a challenge of this type. I’m still working on The Last Impact, but I will eventually bring up a guide for that one as well (although with some extra rules). For now, thanks for reading so far. I hope you can get fun as well as I did. Thanks to Skelux and all who made this awesome Hack! Frostmitch out.
Special Thanks to you Skelux!