The life of a speedrunner is made up of 99.99 percent pain and suffering, and .01 percent joy and excitement. Super Mario 64 speedrunner Clint Stevens knows this all too well, especially after losing a potential new personal-best time in its homestretch on Thursday.
The popular Twitch streamer was on a rampage, gold splitting several levels and setting himself on a course for breaking his record. By the 53-minute mark, Stevens was in Bowser in the Sky, the final level of the run.
Stevens jumped on some rotating platforms and, likely as a result of his confidence with how well he was playing, tried to achieve a very tight jump to get on a higher platform. Had he landed this, Stevens could’ve saved a couple seconds instead of waiting for the full rotation to complete.
Instead, Mario let out an “oof” as he fell down to a lower platform.
“That was so stupid,” Stevens said. “I was trying to, like, eek out a little bit more time to get on the next platform. I’m not gonna do it this time.”
True to his word, Stevens took the slower and safer route and waited for the platforms to rotate. Once at the top of its rotation, Stevens lined up for a long jump, one that SM64 speedrunners are well accustomed to.
But this time, Stevens’ aim was off just a hair. Mario was launched straight into a Goomba, and the resulting knockback sent the lovable plumber plummeting to his death into the great empty purple sky.
Stevens watched in silence as Mario and his run disappeared right before his eyes.
“Oh my god, dude, are you kidding me?” Stevens said after a long sigh.
With how much time it would take to make up the lost progress, Stevens was left with no other option than to reset the Nintendo 64 and start all over.
