The Many Myths and Conspiracies of Super Mario 64

super mario 64. a game that needs no introduction but one that is loved by casual and hardcore fans alike and has become a classic platformer since its release all the way back in 1996 for the nintendo 64. one of the biggest draws of this game still today is the speedrunning aspect which really took off for this game and is now one of the most speed ran games out there but there is another smaller yet i think equally interesting community of this game one that looks at the many myths urban legends and even conspiracies related to this mario title because over the years since its release it has been one of the most analyzed when it comes to secrets lore and mysteries and for good reason there are a ton of secrets in the mario games and even in this one too but by now you'd think most of them have been discovered over 20 years later but sometimes that's not always the case and it wasn't until recently that arguably the biggest super mario 64 mystery of all was solved so from the well-known and documented secrets and mysteries to the most obscure and downright bizarre of theories we're going to be looking at the many myths and conspiracies of super mario 64.

l israel 2401 starting it off here i only thought it was right to address possibly the biggest myth of them all l is real or el israel 2401 which actually turned out to be true and was solved only in 2020 due to the nintendo gigaleek 24 years after the mystery was first introduced but i'm getting ahead of myself if you haven't heard of this myth before basically refers to the idea that luigi is or was meant to be in super mario 64 as a playable character the evidence being for this other than the fact that he's playable in a lot of the mario games is that there is a sign located in the courtyard of the castle attached to a power star but unfortunately the text is pretty much unreadable and has become a big point of contention in the community on what was actually displayed here with the most popular interpretation being l israel 2401 which many believed meant luigi was in the game and as for the 2401 part while that just led to more speculation and theories on how you could potentially unlock the character some believed that you just had to collect all the coins in the game which some thought actually totaled 2401 although that was not actually true some believed that you had to collect the power stars within a certain time limit and some even thought the number could refer to a release date for another game entirely and some thought you even had to run like laps around certain parts of the map anyway none of these were actually true it got to the point where there were so many myths and rumors surrounding this that ign offered a 100 bounty to anyone who could figure out how to unlock luigi and even after all of that we weren't even sure if this text read l israel 2401 at all because some believe that it's simply red eternal star as it was attached to a star statue and some even believed that it read giant dead daedongo as the same sign texture was used in legend of zelda ocarina of time so after many years of myths rumors and speculation it seemed that this was just dead in the water until on july 25th 2020 the source code for a beta version of super mario 64 was leaked and in the files it was found that there was actually a fully modeled luigi so yeah while he can't be unlocked in the game we have today we now know l really was real all along space world 95 beta also known as the show shinkai beta was an early build of super mario 64 that has been the subject of many myths and conspiracies over the years due to not much being known about it besides the gameplay that was recorded at nintendo space world as unlike many other builds of the game this one still remains lost which is disappointing as it contains many aspects which never made it to the final release which of course spawned a lot of speculation with regard to what else could be contained in this beta demo for one thing the hud was very different and there was even a mini map feature which ended up being removed even the levels in the game looked very different and mario even actually had a different voice some speculated that luigi could have been playable in this version or was at least planned to be at one point in development which might not be too far off considering not too long ago it was found that luigi was planned for the game but some also believed that this beta version could have contained the strange entity and myth in his own right the wario apparition which speaking of wario apparition this is definitely one of the most popular urban legends or myths in this game and he is part of many conspiracies related to super mario 64 including some of the ones on this list but what even is he well it's pretty much what it sounds like an apparition of wario but just of his head that is said to sometimes appear in your game although it's not common or guaranteed in any way he is said to most often appear in the 30-star door room and is said to typically chase the player down the hall which is seemingly an endless hallway all the while chomping and laughing as some pretty creepy music plays which is said to actually be an unused track from the game some thought he could have been an unused boss meant for the basement of the castle that would have appeared in beta builds of the game such as the space world demo while others thought it might have been tied into the personalized ai conspiracy which don't worry we'll get to that but of course sadly none of this is actually real as much as i want it to be it looks like all of this was started because of a creepypasta-like post on 4chan which reads quote the wario apparition was created from the subconscious wishes to see him in mario 64 that the shared desire caused him to appear as a horrifying half-start in some copies of the game that image is what it's supposed to look like but those who encountered it in game can't even describe what it looked like as many suffer from memory loss and stroke-like symptoms if you suspect you're seeing it in game it's suggested you shut the console off immediately because once you give it power by witnessing it it gains power to begin manifesting itself in your reality yeah but in reality this is even predated by this which was actually shown at a nintendo event in 1996 which must have been the catalyst for this creepypasta and eventually for all of these memes rumors and conspiracies surrounding the wario apparition pretty interesting stuff and there have been some great videos made on this phenomenon like edits and such creating some pretty realistic takes on this myth the bowser room another one of the most common myths and conspiracies found in mario 64. the bowser room is said to be a small hidden room that normally can't be accessed although through various means if you do manage to get in you'll be greeted by a portrait of bowser staring at you on the wall surrounded only by tiled grey walls and a gray floor one of the theories for getting to the room is by backwards long jumping which is a meme in its own right into a hidden warp zone outside of the castle while others think it can only be reached by getting to a hidden location underneath peach's castle some believe that the room itself was meant for a scrapped bad ending to super mario 64. while others believe that it's somehow related to the personalized ai conspiracy like just about everything else on this list it's also worth mentioning that there is also thought to be a course hidden within one of the many bowser paintings throughout the game but sadly this as well as the bowser room are simply rumors mario silhouette this is another mythical figure similar to the wario apparition in that it is said to have been spotted by players in their games although it's not said to be any common occurrence it's been stated in various reports of those who have claimed to encounter it that it is simply a completely black version of mario like a silhouette and will walk around peach's castle even going as far as to open doors and jump through paintings there have been various sightings of this figure including some with screenshots some think that it could simply be a weird glitch of some kind or that it's simply a mario player model that follows the same past movements as the player however like the wario apparition this is most likely a hoax every copy of mario 64 is personalized uh yes we're finally here every copy of mario 64 is personalized the infamous meme and conspiracy that has led to a lot of the stuff on this list in function it kind of acts as an explanation a way for all of these different experiences regarding rumors myths and urban legends to all be true because every copy is personalized and therefore different as for the reasons stated for how this could be well one of the most cited is that the game uses an experimental personalization artificial intelligence which will change each individual game as you play it the most notable evidence for this being the case besides the many reports of various strange findings in each game is that many people have claimed that the game feels different ever so slightly every time they play it whether that be with a different cartridge or just a different rom on an emulator and there are many facets to this conspiracy as it's pretty much the biggest one and paved the way for most of the anomalies people claim to find in this game some explain occurrences such as appearances of the wario apparition as well as the dynamic and changing level design as the artificial intelligence pulling unused content from the files and using it to change each experience in the game suggesting that the wario apparition as well as many of the other strange entities are simply remnants of a beta build of mario 64.

but i guess the most interesting evidence to support this personalized ai is a quote from shigeru miyamoto in an interview in 1996 about the n64 and mario 64. where he said quote the game always changes with players playing however this was miyamoto speaking english and you can tell in the interview he's giving it his best effort but i don't think this is actually what he meant to say here but some people seemingly ran away with this line mostly just as a meme though as yeah you might have guessed but no not every copy of mario 64 is personalized and as far as we know there is no such personalization ai as cool as it would be yellow cap switch okay so this one is a lot less well conspiratorial than the others but it's still kind of interesting nonetheless anyways in super mario 64 there are three switches in the game those being the red switch with the wing cap green with metal cap and blue switch with the vanish cap however there was a fourth cap found in the game's files that is unused a yellow cap some have theorized that there were going to be four switch stages including one with the yellow switch which ended up being cut at some point in development although it's also thought that this stage as well as the switch would have involved koopa shells as it was found in a decompilation of mario 64 that at some point when the yellow switch cap was activated it would give the player a koopa shell however if they are spawned in game using mods the blocks are already pressed and they don't actually give a koopa shell in the final version not for resale cartridges this one is pretty simple but it relates mostly to the other entries and the fact that it's believed by some that some of these early cartridges of mario 64 are marked not for resale due to them having either cut beta content or possibly traces of the infamous ai algorithm which nintendo doesn't want anyone to find out about but as far as i can tell there are no notable differences between those carts and the retail ones except of course for the fact that these ones are a lot more valuable yeah who would have thought that the not for resale cartridges would actually be more valuable for resales please walk quietly in the hallway sign a couple of rumors and theories have arised from this sign found on the second floor of the castle near the stairs to the third floor it reads simply quote please walk quietly in the hallway and while this may seem like just an innocuous detail which i mean it probably is there has been some speculation on what this could be about some believe that this was either intended for a different cut area or that there was meant to be a mechanic in this part of the castle which ended up being cut in the final release in which mario might have to sneak around but in reality it's most likely just a random sign that the devs threw in anti-piracy screens okay the whole anti-piracy thing is a whole other rabbit hole in its own right but basically this refers to screens that can be found in games that activate when a game is either pirated torrented or hacked in some way and while there are real anti-piracy measures that exist in games they aren't really that common and have become more so edited videos used to scare people as they tend to be made intentionally creepy or just kind of over the top in presenting their messages and there are quite a few great fan-made ones for this game such as this me one [Music] but there are many variations on this message or screen some more creepy than others with many claiming that they received these screens upon booting up a used mario 64 cart but these are all just simply hoaxes although fun ones at that there have been a lot of really creative anti-piracy screens for not just this game but many other games but that may be a different video for another time wide-eyed chomp this is another supposed anomaly said to be encountered in the game which is known as the wide-eyed chomp as it's simply a chain chomp that is missing its pupils having only plain white eyes he has been said by players to appear in numerous locations in the game but most commonly he is seen in bomb battlefield although it is said to act like a regular chain chomp it's been stated that him showing up in your game is simply more of an indication that the personalization ai is in full effect 1995 07 29 build do not research definitely the most infamous and interesting build the july 29th 1995 build is a concept that dates back to before the nintendo 64 was even made and instead was back when it was known as the ultra 64. although some believe that this build was at first of a game not even related to mario at all something not even created by nintendo but instead a mysterious and anonymous japanese organization the same group that is allegedly responsible for the personalization ai although it's thought that nintendo might have purchased this game as well as the ai and turned it into what we now know as super mario 64.

the do not research aspect of this build comes from the fact that apparently its contents are disturbing as well as the fact that those who played the game were said to experience seizures as well as horrific nightmares and hallucinations due to what they saw in the game the game was described as being a lot darker and more desolate especially the basement area which was said to be somewhat of a testing ground for the ai and would track the player's quote cognitive desires in order to defy their expectations it was also said that this build of the game was unstable and would have many texture glitches and would occasionally become corrupted it's also believed that this build contained the notorious wario apparition which we talked about earlier but yeah as fun as it is to speculate on and make rumors about it this build isn't actually real sadly the omen archive the omen archive is a leaked archive pertaining to coding tied to the nintendo 64 by which through its various leaked contents led to early n64 emulation which is a big no-no for nintendo not to mention the fact that the leaked contents were covered under an nda or non-disclosure agreement so nintendo went after any traces of these archives although it's thought that the leaker of this data worked for a company called silicone graphics we'll get to them later and they were involved with nintendo in creating the n64 which was at first called the ultra 64. upon discovering these files an anonymous worker at the company known simply as omen because of the leaked file name which was simply called omen. rar or oman however you say it some theorize that this worker was found and subsequently sued by nintendo or was even arrested while others believe that this archive was simply censored by nintendo as nothing in it could be tied to the personalization ai womp's fortress creature yet another kind of cryptid or anomaly said to be encountered occasionally in super mario 64.

this creature is said to be found in womp's fortress and is said to be kind of fluid in form what i mean is it takes on many different appearances simply using corrupted in-game objects while some believe that this could simply be a bug others think it could be something found only in the 1995 beta build or even something that was discussed in the full uncensored omen archive shared nightmares this refers to the very strange phenomenon allegedly said to happen to various players of super mario 64 which is that they have claimed to have experienced very similar nightmares which are all related in some way to the game one of these documented cases was of users claiming to have similar nightmares of cool cool mountain penguins specifically the ones that appeared on the 1996 box of kellogg's frosted mini wheats some also claimed to have shared nightmares in wet dry world the forbidden door other than that some think it is somehow related to the 1995 beta build in some way in reality this refers to a door behind the mirror room one which cannot be normally accessed because there actually is no room behind the door although in the ds remake of the game it is actually used for a secret star super mario 64 is a free mason initiation super mario 64 is a freemason initiation yes you heard that right how is this the case you might be asking well apparently the conspiracy goes that super mario 64 has a lot of hidden masonic and occult imagery which was popularized on twitter by user owen broadcast and in it he details a lot of the observations surrounding this conspiracy basically it's been stated that in the game you play the role of a quote mercury type character traveling into the earth and between the realms and that the coins in the game are actually meant to represent pentacles of occult symbolism apparently also in freemasonic rituals they put you in a coffin and have you enact your own death which is supposedly represented by mario's descent into deep waters before rising again the castle itself is also apparently supposed to represent a masonic hall with its checkered floors as well as the solar disk and red carpets kind of an interesting theory and there's a lot more wild speculation on this but really this is reaching even for these mario conspiracies silicone graphics curse yeah so remember that company i briefly mentioned silicone graphics well apparently there is a conspiracy or more like a theory that states that silicone's involvement with the n64 led to the company's eventual downfall let me explain so in 1993 sgi would begin a project with the help of nintendo called project reality in which sgi would develop the components for said console as project reality would be renamed to ultra 64 and eventually the nintendo 64.