Super Mario 64 DS 50 Star Route

Super Mario 64 DS 50 Star Route as of 11/15/20
There are some situations where stars can be done out of this order, but certain orders are sometimes required, so don't do them out of order unless you know what you're doing.
This route is a basic route which anyone should be able to learn, modifications to the route with certain extra strats are at the bottom of the page.


Moat skip, pound the pillars

LLL (4)
Boil the Big Bully
Hot-Foot-It into the Volcano
(Select Star 5) Red hot Log Rolling
8-Coin Puzzle with 15 Pieces

SSL (6)
In the Talons of the Big Bird
Shining Atop the Pyramid
Re-enter and exit course

Either PSS Star
SI silver Stars
Goomboss Battle Key
Switch to Mario
Goomboss Battle Switch Star, Exit Course

WF (17)
Chip off Whomp's block
To the Top of the Fortress
100+Red Coins (12 Star Text Skip)
Blast Away the Wall
Fall onto the Caged Island
Shoot into the Wild Blue
Switch Star of the Fortress

Other PSS Star
? Switch Red Coins, Activate Switch
BitDW Red Coins and Switch Star, Exit course

CCM (23)
Lil' Penguin Lost
Mario's Super Wall Kick

Courtyard Boo Reds

BBH (25)
Secret of the Haunted Books
Save and quit, soft reset after save

Pause Clip into SUTM
SUTM switch Star

HMC (28)
A-Maze-Ing Emergency Exit
Underground Switch Star

Basement Toad

LLL 2 (31)
Bully the Bullies
Inside the Volcano

DDD (34)
Chests in the Current
(Select Star 2) The Manta Ray's Reward
Board Bowser's Sub

BitFS Red Coins, Switch star, and Key
Re enter, and Exit Course

WDW (39)
(Middle Water Level) Top Of the Town
(Low Water Level) Express Elevator-- Hurry Up!
(Low Water Level) Shocking Arrow Lifts

THI (42)
(Big Painting) Switch Star on The Island
(Small Painting) Pluck the Piranha Flower
(Small Painting) The Tip Top of the Huge Island

Upstairs Toad Star

TTM (46)
Blast To the Lonely Mushroom
Scary 'Shrooms, Red Coins
Scale the Mountain

SL (49)
Snowman's Big Head
Chill with the Bully
Whirl From the Freezing Pond

Mirror clip, star behind the mirror (50)
ESS, enter BITS
BITS

Optional Strats

Switch Star of CCM using CCM Switch Clip
Replaces Underground Switch Star, saves about 5 seconds

Big Boo's Balcony using Mansion Wallkicks
Replaces Underground Switch Star, saves about 4 seconds

If you do one of these strats, replace Underground Switch Star, if you do both, also replace Chests in the Current and do Manta Ray's Reward after Board Bowser's Sub

A run which uses mansion wallkicks and CCM Switch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ayg3OJLroQ&feature=emb_title

? Switch can be useful for Balloon strats in BitDW, and the blocks can be used to make SUTM Switch faster and easier, however it is faster to do normal strats in BitDW, though they are much harder. If you make Samosa cycle in BitDW it is about 7-8 seconds faster to do that instead of balloon normal cycle, which makes it faster to not activate the ? Switch. If you do not activate the ? Switch, it is instead faster to do ? Switch Red Coins after BitDW instead of before.

For Shocking Arrow Lifts in WDW, there is a difficult strat where you jump over to the star instead of using the teleporter which saves about .75 seconds. If you do this strat, you must enter on medium water level instead of low for that star.

SSL Cancel
It is possible to use a Fly Guy to cancel Shining Atop the Pyramid inside the top entrance, then collect Inside the Pyramid very quickly, which can save 5-10 seconds. It is an extremely difficult strat, and significantly changes certain parts of the route.
In LLL, you must get all 6 stars in the first trip. In SSL, get In the Talons of the Big Bird, then do the cancel strat to get both other stars and perform 8 star text skip. Then, do not get PSS stars or SI silvers, and instead immediately unlock Mario. In WF, in order to do 12 star text skip you must do Fall onto the Caged Island first, then select that star and do 100+Reds immediately after. When doing PSS after WF, get the sub 21 star. In HMC, you must do Underground Switch Star even when doing Mansion Wallkicks and CCM switch Clip.
(These route modifications assume that you already do CCM switch clip and Mansion Wallkicks, as they are much easier than the cancel. The modifications should be made off of a route which does both CCM switch Clip and Mansion Wallkicks, so you are expected in this route to do both of them and not do Chests in the Current.

Best Current Run using the SSL cancel route: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqII4s24QRM&feature=emb_title