Controller Drift Challenge

The Controller Drift Challenge is a challenge in Super Mario 64 that involves the player having a constant input on the joystick. It is based on the difting issue on the Nintendo Switch Joy-cons, which causes a physically neutrally positioned joystick to register a significant input in an arbitrary direction, depending on the type of internal wear it has. The setup for this challenge involves using TAS input to set the analog stick to any input in both the X and Y directions at startup, however it can't be changed beyond that.

History

The idea for the Controller Drift Challenge was initially conceived after the announcement of Super Mario 3d All-stars, which featured Super Mario 64 as one of the games included in the bundle. Since this was over 3 years after the initial release of the Nintendo Switch, the Joy-con drift issue was already widespread and known, with a class action lawsuit being in progress at the time. People who tried Super Mario 64 found that drift result in mario walking on his own, and disgraced speedrunner Creamer77 decided to attempt completing a level with this restriction. Under his alt account RedditSnu466, he published him beating Bowser in the Dark World with a constant single analog stick input.

This resulted in an explosion of levels being attempted by various runners, who have chosen to remain anonymous. After Bowser in the Dark World, all of Whomp's Fortress was completed with various single joystick inputs, and Dire Dire Docks stars 1, 3, 4, and 6 were completed after. This was around the time when TASing with precise numberical inputs began being used. Videos of the rest of the Castle Lobby levels went viral, and resulted in a series of memes being created, similar to the boom in A Button Challenge memes being created after rennenhoek1991's Watch for Rolling Rocks in 0.5 A presses. So far, 103 out of 120 stars can be completed in the Controller Drift Challenge.

Strategy

The most common setting for the Drift Challenge, being used in 56 out of 103 stars.

The main strategy used to complete stars in the challenge is to set Mario to a run away from the camera, similar to how you would actually play under normal circumstances. Because of limitations with the camera, it is common to set Mario to a direction at an angle instead of a straight run, which lets you perform curves and turns, meaning more options for jumps and platforming.

The challenge progressed from a Real Time joke challenge to a TAS challenge very quickly, meaning that most of the challenge comes from knowledge on how Mario moves, and how to manipulate his direction primarily from the camera instead of manipulating the analog stick as intended. Various glitches such as Squish Manipulation, Bounce Cancel, and Analog Hell are used to get Mario to unit specific spots to enable proper movement around a course. A documentary about the short yet interesting history is currently under development and is set to be released sometime next spring.