Top 10 Hardest Super Mario 64 Stars
Though some of the stars in Super Mario 64 aren't too difficult to get. Many; however, can be a real pain to get if you're not a skilled gamer: stars that are either really hard to get to, have you collecting red coins without dying, or completing specific tasks.
The big challenge here is that if you fall, you don't die and lose a life. Instead, you land in the pool of water outside the castle.
While at least you don't die, that also means you have to make your way all the way back to the third floor to try again. It's especially frustrating if you managed to get all eight red coins only to accidentally fall and have to do it all over again.
During my first 120-star playthrough, I spent an attempt talking to the Bob-Omb Buddy. On my next attempt, I took the higher cannon to get to the top cloud and worked downwards from there. If you do it right, you'll get the last coin at the cannon island on the bottom of the stage. Then you can just blast back to the first island.
Making it to the top of the clock is a chore. If you fall down, you could either die or land all the way at the bottom, having to make your way all the way back up.
The fact is, you have to make your way all the way up Tick-Tock Clock, and this level REQUIRES some form of clock motion to be able to reach the Thwomp.
This is similar to the Cruiser Crossing the Rainbow star, but here you use a cannon to get to it. If your aim is off, you die. Also, finding the Pink Bob-Omb to activate the cannon is very difficult.
Getting to the ship can be very tricky, and it's easy to fall to your death.
This star is not hard. I feel like people only put this here because of the coin under the stairs. Now I understand my mother's strategy to always explore everything she sees.
Two of the red coins are very well hidden, so you could easily miss them if you don't watch carefully.
Hard enough level without the completely off-path reds forcing you to repeat platforming.
The normal way to get the star is to use the cannon after talking to the pink Bob-omb and making your way to the cannon, which is located in the worst spot ever. You could accidentally fall off while getting there. Once you make it, you need to aim at the star located on the lone mushroom. If you miss, which is likely, you die.
A much easier way to do this is to jump on the flying Shy Guy near the rotating log by the monkey. Once you do, you'll spin in the air, and you can carefully fly to the mushroom instead. However, this can still be tricky.
The star is located in a very well-hidden area. You could blast out of the cannon and aim for the tree, though it's easy to miss. Alternatively, though I wouldn't recommend it, you could do a long jump from the tiny island where the cannon is, but this is very tricky to pull off.
The much easier route is to jump on one of the snowmen with a hat and glide to the area instead.
You have to lure the eel out of hiding and grab the star as it emerges. You need to be quick and try not to touch the eel, as it will damage you. This is especially challenging since you'll have lost a lot of air waiting for the eel to come out.
Jolly Roger Bay, anyway, this star is so annoying to get because the eel will always screw everything up!
Hang out under the eel and time it right.
After beating Boo, the star ends up at the top of the mansion, which you have to make your way up to without falling off the mansion.
So many things can go wrong here. You can easily screw yourself over by falling off, and the coins are in very risky places. Plus, the blue coins are very hard to collect.
Rainbow Ride is generous with the coins, but it is miserable if you mess up the blue coins. You're then stuck trying to get every obscure coin in the sky.
Why isn't this in the top 10? You have to perform 5-10 perfect wall kicks in an area, and coins are scattered all over.
The Newcomers
There are 106 total coins. Also, those docks are literally the worst docks in existence.
Aren't there exactly 100 or 101 coins in the whole level? You have to get every single coin, and it has to be after the sub is gone, so you can easily be sucked into the giant hole with 5 coins placed right underneath. Also, if you fall off the platform in the air after pounding the blue coin block, you won't be able to get the 100-coin star.
This is difficult because it's stressful. Couple that with the fact that it's super easy to fall and die, which makes this hell.
If you're playing for the first time, there's no way you're supposed to know that you have to blast a piece of the wall to reveal a star.
There are so few coins, so you have to navigate the whole level, which is pretty difficult to do with how the level is set up.
The coins are super obnoxious, especially the ones in the Hazy Maze.
I hate how coins are scattered all over the place.
You have to be completely perfect with your jumps when you get near the house. I failed so many times when I was first trying to get this star! I barely see anyone else complain about this one.
At first, I thought you had to talk to the monkey next to the log, grab the cap back, and get the star. I did this for 30 minutes with no results. Then I went to the top and found a monkey there. After that, I got the star but had trouble finding it. No one talks about this star. Weird.
Speedrunners HATE this star. The star involves a super slide into a TPD over the dunes, getting the Wing Cap on the pyramid, grabbing some coins, landing in the Oasis JUST right, doing a super slide onto the block maze, and grabbing the star.
When the bullies gang up on your character all at once, it's overwhelming. You're on a small platform and can easily fall into the lava. When you fall into lava and get burned, it's hard to control where the character jumps to next, and you could easily end up going further out towards the lava and away from land or platforms, causing you to lose a life or fail the level. Definitely harder for beginners.
Fighting all three at once is so hard and annoying.
You don't want to go too fast, or you'll run into the lava. You don't want to go too slow, or you'll fall into the lava. Plus, you have to dodge fire blasting out of the lava as you do this.
This is only hard if time is not stopped. Other than that, good luck.
If you miss the clock stop, this is your own personal hell.
You have to use the shell for most of the coins, and it's so easy to bump into something and die in the lava because Lakitu bro is a bad cameraman.
Total pain. Unless you're a high-level speedrunner, it takes forever too.
Not much to say. It's stupid difficult.
I remember having bad memories with this star back in 2017. I tried so many times just to get this stupid star.
Thankfully, if you're playing on the DS version, Luigi will make this chore a whole lot easier.
Super easy to miss coins or die going for this star.