In this page you will find all the secrets of Super Mario 64, including: stars, extra stars, warps, tricks, and specially featuring the 3 power switches.

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Level 6

Level 7

Level 8

Level 9

Level 10

Level 11

Level 12

Level 13

Level 14

Level 15

Green Power "!" Switch

Place: In course 6, make your way to the blue water creature area, climb on his head and steer him over the island where there is red grating onnthe ground but not blocking the door. jump off onto the red grating, go through the door, and jump into the pool of metallic liquid. You'll be metallic mario here temporarily which will allow you to walk under water, and against the current. Hop from island to island and you'll see the Green Power ! Switch. EFFECT: makes you metallic mario which allows you to walk under water and can kill most enemies just by touching them.

Blue Power "!" Switch

Place: From the door that leads to level 6 (facing away from the door) go left, and left again, there should be a door with no star on it. Go in it and you'll come to an area with water. There should be 2 small platforms in the water that you can jump on, do a butt-slam on both of them, and this will drain the moat. Once you've drain the moat, go out the door, and ahead towards the waterfall. There will be a hole you can fall in. follow the logical path through this area and you'll see the Blue Power ! Switch. EFFECT: makes you transparent mario which allow you to walk through all grating and other special places.

Red Power "!" Switch

Place: In the main floor of the castle when you first enter it, there is a large picture of the sun on the ground. Stand in the center and look up at the sun. The Red Power ! Switch is on the platform in the center of the level. EFFECT: you get wings, to fly, do a triple jump, or launch yourself out of a cannon.

Extra Stars

Warps

Warps are areas that if you can stand still in them, you'll be transported to another place in the level. Warp 1A will take you to warp 1B and vice-versa, and so on for warps 2A to 2B.....etc.

Level 1

Level 2

Level 4

Level 7

Level 8

Level 10

Level 11

Level 12

Level 13

Level 15

Tricks

Level 11: You can raise or lower the starting water level in this level by how high you jump into the picture. There are 3 diferent levels: 1) if you jump into the picture very low, the water level will start almost on the ground. 2) if you jump in around the center of the picture, then the water level will start at mid level. 3) if you jump above the center of the picture, the water level will start higher than you can actually set in the level (it makes the pink bomb guy a piece of cake) the best way to jump into the picture above the center is to stand 2 checkboard floor tiles away from the picture and do a backflip into it (double jump and triple jump also work).

Yoshi

After you have all 120 stars, go outside the castle to the grate that has been closed for the whole game. There is a cannon inside, launch yourself on the top of the castle, go around back and talk to YOSHI.

Penguin Ride

In Course 10, Snowman's Land, another cool trick for Mario is his new way to cross the ice bridge. Use the cannon to launch up to the tree, then get to the face of the giant snowman. Before crossing the ice bridge by using the penguin's help (walking at his side), try jumping on his head instead.

What will happen is that Mario will end up sitting on the penguin's head, and will avoid the strong gust of wind that normally pushes him off.

 

Blockmen Secret

In Course 2, Chip off Whomp's Block (found in door 1 on the right side of the castle), there is a cool trick Mario can pull off, but only if you're really good.

Take Mario up to the mid-section of the castle, where you can find the two giant guard blocks.

The trick is cool because it looks like a developing mistake, but I've have been assured by Nintendo that it isn't. See those bandaids on the blocks' backs? There's a reason for that. The normal way to beat these angry blocks is to stand in front of one, wait until he's about to collapse on Mario, then quickly avoid him, and perform a butt-stomp on his back. By doing this, gamers will get three coins (also by just jumping on these guys' backs, Mario gets one coin per jump).

But instead of avoiding the block, aim directly into the center of the block's face and jump into it (it has to be exact). What will happen is that Mario will jump straight through the block's face, and appear unharmed on the other side. This makes collecting coins from these blockheads a little easier (once you get the hang of it).

  

Staircase Weirdness

This one is surely a glitch. Take Mario to the second story (up from the foyer in the main part of the castle). Enter the door with the big pudgy star on it. Take about three or four steps, and face the wall on the left. Face the wall and jump two times. The second time Mario will slip through the underside of the staircase and appear on the stairs above.

 

Big Penguin Race

One of the cool things to do after achieving 120 stars in Super Mario 64 is to go back and look at certain differences in the game.

Go back to Course 4: Cool, Cool Mountain, and before entering, move the selection cursor over the stars until you reach Big Penguin Race. Enter into the game, jump into the chimney in the house at the level's beginning, and you'll meet up with the fattest penguin known to man (uh, Mario, that is).

It looks like the designers simply took a 3D tool and stretched the penguin out as far as they could, though it probably took more work than that.

This trick is good for a laugh, and the race is a little more difficult as well because when the Penguin gets in front of Mario, you're more vulnerable to fall off than before.

 

Rabbit Test

Go to the Basement. Find a door which you can easily go in and out of. After going through the door, quickly execute a jump kick back at the door. Usually you'll go through the door completely without opening it. However, if you time it right, you can "merge" Mario with the door, i.e. half of Mario will be on one side and the other half will be on the other side. (This takes a little practice.)

There is a situation in which you can actually do something weird with this trick. If you manage to find the rabbit in the basement and catch him, don't collect his star. Instead, carry him to a door and set him down just in front of it. Now go through the door and try the jump kick trick until you get Mario "merged" with the door (don't be surprised if it takes a while to get the timing right). Now pick the rabbit back up and set him down on the other side of the door. Go through the door and now you can carry the rabbit though the front room in the Basement.

 

Secret Room

After attaining all 120 stars, here's a cool glitchy thing to do just for kicks. Drop into the cannon and blast onto the roof where Yoshi is. Grab the winged hat (from the red switch box) and rush back into the cannon on the ground. Aim toward the middle tower and then aim the cannon really high at the top of the cloud above it, and blast toward it. Land on it and walk around to the left side, and Mario should fall through the wall behind the front door.

Except for one thing, it's black and weird, and it seems he can't get out. Go through the door first. He will then appear as if he's in the front lobby. Now, if Mario is facing the door, scoot him over to his right, and he should be able to walk right through the wall beside the door. Ah, glitchy madness!

 

Turn Butterflies into One-Ups

This works for Course 2, Course 12 and Course 13. Sometimes as you walk along, a bunch of butterflies will come out of the grass or trees. If you punch the butterfiles, they will turn into black round bombs that chase you. They will either explode or turn into one-up mushrooms! I thought it was kind of a neat trick. Not too impressive, but neat!

 

Hat Trick

Go to any level where Mario loses his cap (the desert or the last snow zone) and make the plumber lose his hat. Watch where the hat lands, but don't pick it up. Instead, go to a warp (use it) and then go back to your hat. Once you're there, tip-toe slowly to the headgear and Mario will grab it, but there'll be another hat underneath it!

Be careful not to run into these two hats, or you'll pick both of them up. Now there will be two hats (one left and one on your head!), so repeat the hat loss routine (get the hat blown off, watch where it lands, warp and return again), pick up the second hat and you'll find another under it! You can repeat this fifty times for fifty hats, when, finally, the game shuts down!

A variation on this cheat enables Mario to continue his merry way around the snow level with his hat in hand! Do the routine for obtaining two hats (explained above), and when you're creeping to collect the hats, grab both of them at the same time. With luck you'll pick one, then Mario stops in the middle of putting on the other hat!

Mario can then hit enemies with his hat, and he won't put it back on his head until you either use the warp again, get a star or leave the level. Be forewarned: When Mario has his hat in hand, he will take double damage.

Have you ever wanted to do the hat trick in other levels besides Stage 10? Now, you can do the trick even earlier in the game. First, go into Stage 8 and make sure that you select Star 2 or higher. Go to the area where the pink Bob-omb is standing and let the bird steal your hat (you know, the bird that looks like Mini-Necky from DKC.) Now get on top of one of the obelisks and jump to knock the hat away from the Mini-Necky when he swoops by. Don't take the hat! Just leave it there and stand next to the palm tree so that you warp to the area near the cannon. Warp back and forth as many times as you like (well, don't do it too much ...) and there will be another new hat each time. If you pick up too many hats at once, Mario will hold one in his hand! This is similar to the trick on Stage 10.

There are a few things you can do with the hat trick on Stage 8 that you couldn't do on Stage 10. One cool trick is to go ahead and create a large pile of hats, but leave them there. Then, look for a Wing Cap and fly back over to the pile of hats. Now pick up a bunch of them, and Mario will hold the Wing Cap in his hand! You can now fly around without wearing the Wing Cap!! (Peter Pan, eat your heart out.)

 

 Mystery of the clock revealed

Before you enter Course 14, you will notice that the hands of the clock move. The minute hand is what affects the way things move. Any hour on the hour (minute hand on 12) the clock is stopped. Any hour at the half hour (minute hand on 6) the clock stop/starts alot and is screwy. Any hour qurter after (minute hand on 3) the clock is slow. And any hour quarter till (minute hand on 9) the clock is pretty fast.

 

5 Coins Wooden Post

Wherever there is a wooden post buried on the ground, go and run 5 complete turns around it and 5 yellow coins will pop up from it. It will help you to get 100 yellow coins to get the extra star in several levels.

 

Control the Ending Camera

I found something interesting in Mario 64! During the ending sequence after you beat Bowser, you can control the camera if you have a second controller plugged in. Using controller two's analog control stick, you can move the camera in many different ways during the sequence with the Princess and during the tour of levels!