The RTA King of Super Mario 64 Keeps Beating the Prize Money He Put Up Himself
I read an article about Suigi, a speedrunner of Super Mario 64, and couldn't help laughing. The Canadian runner has been running since 2020 and holds the world records in all five main categories: 120 stars, 70 stars, 16 stars, 1 star, and 0 stars. In March 2023 he finished the 16-star RTA in 14 minutes 35.500 seconds, and he is also known for the phrase "16 star is dead."
It all started with a video on 9 February 2026. Suigi said that he had held the all-categories title for 15 months, that runners were getting close to his records but nobody could surpass them, and that both runners and viewers were starting to lose interest. He called this the "curse of 5 out of 5." So he declared that he would personally pay 1,000 dollars (about 150,000 yen) to anyone who broke any one of the five records. Later, viewer donations raised the cap to 10,000 dollars, and at the time of the article about 8,000 dollars (about 1.2 million yen) had been collected.
But right after that, he himself began to improve his records. On 15 February he ran the 70-star category in 46 minutes 23 seconds, cutting about three seconds off his personal best, and in the 18 February stream he went down to 46 minutes 11 seconds, a gain of more than ten seconds. He also got past "Snowman's Land," where he had made a mistake before, and reportedly built a lead of over 20 seconds. He can't take the prize money himself, and he is disappointed about that. When he got the star, he cried silently, and after the stream he said, "I broke down because I was released from the pressure."
Personally, I found it very RTA-like that a plan to attract challengers with prize money ended up with the king himself raising the bar. The wall got higher for challengers, but seeing the person at the top still pushing to the limit is inspiring for everyone watching. I'm looking forward to the follow-up: who will be the first to take the 8,000 dollars.
Source: AUTOMATON
It all started with a video on 9 February 2026. Suigi said that he had held the all-categories title for 15 months, that runners were getting close to his records but nobody could surpass them, and that both runners and viewers were starting to lose interest. He called this the "curse of 5 out of 5." So he declared that he would personally pay 1,000 dollars (about 150,000 yen) to anyone who broke any one of the five records. Later, viewer donations raised the cap to 10,000 dollars, and at the time of the article about 8,000 dollars (about 1.2 million yen) had been collected.
But right after that, he himself began to improve his records. On 15 February he ran the 70-star category in 46 minutes 23 seconds, cutting about three seconds off his personal best, and in the 18 February stream he went down to 46 minutes 11 seconds, a gain of more than ten seconds. He also got past "Snowman's Land," where he had made a mistake before, and reportedly built a lead of over 20 seconds. He can't take the prize money himself, and he is disappointed about that. When he got the star, he cried silently, and after the stream he said, "I broke down because I was released from the pressure."
Personally, I found it very RTA-like that a plan to attract challengers with prize money ended up with the king himself raising the bar. The wall got higher for challengers, but seeing the person at the top still pushing to the limit is inspiring for everyone watching. I'm looking forward to the follow-up: who will be the first to take the 8,000 dollars.
Source: AUTOMATON
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