Editing Endless stairs

{{item infobox
|image=[[File:Endless Stairs.png|200px]]<br>In ''Super Mario 64''<br>[[File:SM64DS Endless Stairs.png|200px]]<br>In ''Super Mario 64 DS''
|first_appearance=''[[Super Mario 64]]'' ([[List of games by date#1996|1996]])
|latest_appearance=''[[Super Mario 3D All-Stars]]'' ([[List of games by date#2020|2020]])
}}
{{quote|To open the [[Big Star Door|door]] that leads to the "endless" stairs, you need 70 [[Power Star|Star]]s. Bwa ha ha!|Bowser|Super Mario 64}}
The '''endless stairs''' (also stylized with {{wp|sneer quotes}} as '''"endless" stairs''') are an obstacle within the [[Peach's Castle|Mushroom Castle]] in ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' and ''[[Super Mario 64 DS]]''. They are behind the final [[Big Star Door]], which leads to [[Bowser in the Sky]]. Unless the player has more than 70 [[Power Star]]s in ''Super Mario 64'', or has more than 80 Power Stars and is playing as [[Mario]] in the [[reissue|remake]], the player character is met by the endless staircase instead. The endless stairs are supposedly continuous, although it is actually an illusion created by warping the player character back down a few steps once they reach a certain point,<ref>{{cite|author=Blaf Snarten Burg|date=January 12, 2019|url=youtu.be/gBHwF4kfMYY?t=453|title=Off Camera Secrets Super Mario 64 Boundary Break (REUPLOAD READ DESC)|timestamp=07:33|publisher=YouTube|accessdate=February 4, 2025}}</ref> combined with {{wp|distance fog}} to hide the top of the staircase. In the remake, the player character's position can be seen moving from the Touch Screen map, and the ceiling at the top of the stairs is actually slightly visible due to lighting changes.

==Names in other languages==
{{foreign names
|Jpn=はてしない　かいだん
|JpnR=Hateshinai Kaidan
|JpnM=Endless Stairs
|Ita=Scale infinite
|ItaM=Endless stairs
|Fre=L'escalier sans fin
|FreM=The endless stairs
}}

==Media==
The audio track that plays seems to be based on the {{wp|Shepard tone|Shepard tone audio illusion}}.
{{media table
|file1=SM64-Looping Steps.oga
|title1=''[[Super Mario 64]]''
|description1=The Endless Stairs
}}

==Trivia==
[[File:SM64 Notendless.png|thumb|150px|[[Mario]] at the top of the endless stairs with fewer than 70 [[Power Star]]s]]
*There is [[List of Super Mario 64 glitches#Backwards long jump|a glitch]] with which the player can bypass ever needing to collect at least 70 Power Stars, but this works only for the original [[Nintendo 64]] version, as this glitch was patched in the [[Super Mario 64#Super Mario 64: Shindō Pak Taiō Version|''Shindō Pak Taiō Version'']], which carried over to ''[[Super Mario 3D All-Stars]]'', as well as ''Super Mario 64 DS''.
**However, [[List of Super Mario 64 DS glitches#Fall through the stairs|a different glitch]] can be used to access Bowser in the Sky with any player character aside from Mario and/or with fewer than 80 Stars in the DS remake.
*The concept of the endless stairs is similar to {{wp|Penrose stairs}}, except the latter forms the stairs in such a way to produce the endless illusion, whereas endless stairs follow the usual manner of going up.

==References==
<references/>

{{SM64}}
[[Category:Super Mario 64 objects]]
[[Category:Super Mario 64 DS objects]]
[[it:Scale infinite]]