Super Mario 64’s last locked door finally opened… by exploiting a penguin 

The very last un-openable door from 1996’s Super Mario 64 has finally been opened, thanks to a penguin and some clever maneuvering. In their detailed YouTube video, user Pannenkoek2012, explains exactly how Mario speedrunner Alex Palix managed to achieve this feat. 

In the level Cool Cool Mountain, there is a star that can be collected by sliding down the mountain into a cabin and then exiting through the door. However, it is impossible to open the door from outside the cabin. Even so, it should be possible to clip Mario through the door but the thick cabin wall prevents you from doing this. At this point, Alex Palix tried to see if it was possible to get through the stubborn door without hacking the game.  

Near the cabin is a large penguin. Finding the baby penguin and bringing it back to the adult nets you star. However, if Mario decides to add “penguin kidnapper” to his job resumé and pick up the baby again, the angry adult will chase him. Making the big penguin pursue Mario up to the door allows for the penguin’s hit box to be exploited. Bouncing off the penguin shoots Mario into freefall, thus allowing him to clip through the cabin wall. However, Mario can only open doors while walking. Therefore, the player must do a well-timed turn while in freefall to put Mario back into walking mode and then open the door.  

We previously reported on how Alex Palix zoomed through Super Mario 64 stage Tick Tock Clock to obtain a star in 5 seconds (Related Article).