After a year of practice, Twitch streamer Bubzia has become the first person to collect all 120 stars in Super Mario 64 blindfolded, and the run only took 11 1/2 hours.
Speedrunning is one of the most fascinating yet demanding facets of gaming. Beating a game as fast as possible is incredible to watch, but takes hundreds of hours and loads of skill for the runner to master.
An even more strenuous hobby is challenge running video games. This is where players apply a self-imposed ruleset making it ever more difficult to beat a game. A popular challenge run that can be applied to most games is the blindfold run.
As the title implies, the blindfold run requires a player to wear a blindfold for the entirety of the game. Super Mario 64 has been beaten by a number of people wearing blindfolds, but it’s never been beaten 100% while blindfolded. That was until May 8, 2022.
Bubzia celebrates at the end of his nearly 12-hour blindfold run.Bubzia collects all 120 stars in Super Mario 64 blindfolded
On May 8, Bubzia would don his blindfold and start a new file on Super Mario 64 with the intent to beat collect all 120 stars while blindfolded. A feat that had not been accomplished by any player up until this point.
He would spend the next 11 hours and 22 minutes blindfolded playing Super Mario 64 without looking at the screen or his chat once.
Bubzia has practiced for this run every day for more than a year. He stated that he had attempted this run twice before but failed both times. It would be on his third attempt of the run that he would collect every star in Super Mario 64 using only audio cues and muscle memory.
Not only is he the first person to collect all 120 stars blindfolded, but his sub-12-hour run was a few hours under his estimated 15 hours.
“I learned so much during this journey,” stated Bubzia following his run, “About not only blindfolded, but about mentality, speedrunning, and life. All the struggles were worth it.”
If you missed the live run, Bubzia plans to rewatch it with his stream on Monday and Tuesday (May 9 & 10) and then plans on grinding The Legends of Zelda: Ocarina of Time any% runs.
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