Fish Strats

An example of anchovies in the extension port, using the head-first method

Fish Strats is a technique used in some categories of Super Mario 64 speedrunning. The technique involves placing anchovies into the extension port on the underside of the Nintendo 64 console after ascending the Endless Stairs, but before entering the warp at the top. The electrically conductive ingredients of the anchovies send inputs to the game which were never tested during development, as at the time no peripherals utilizing the extension port existed - the N64 Disk Drive would not be released for another three years. These cause Mario to fly upwards during his spawn animation and land at the top of the map, saving around 7 to 8 hours if performed correctly. Players must then remove the anchovies from the console before continuing the run, or else risk crashing the game upon entering the next area.

The strategy was banned in 2018 after being deemed hardware manipulation.

A year after the strategy was banned, an alternative strategy using AA batteries was discovered, which was considered riskier as they could get lodged in the console.

In Popular Culture

The famous speedrunner Siglemic first rose to fame after breaking the 1 hour barrier in the 70 Star category using Fish Strats, popularizing the strategy and ultimately leading to its widespread adoption in all categories of the game except 120 Star. This run was revolutionary as Siglemic showed that common anchovies could be used for the trick if players simply made sure to hold C-Right while spawning, instead of relying on rare and expensive Hákarl as was previously done. This discovery was also praised by environmentalists as the Greenland Sharks used to make Hákarl have an extremely slow life cycle (with individuals taking over 150 years to reach adulthood) and are thus extremely vulnerable to extinction due to hunting.