MIPS
- “Yeeoww! Unhand me, brute! I'm late, so late, I must make haste! This shiny thing? Mine! It's mine. Finders, keepers, losers... Late, late, late... Ouch! Take it then! A gift from Bowser, it was. Now let me be! I have a date! I cannot be late for tea!”
- —MIPS, Super Mario 64
MIPS[1] the rabbit is found in the basement of Princess Peach's Castle when the player acquires fifteen Power Stars during the events of Super Mario 64. When Mario approaches MIPS, he runs away. After Mario catches MIPS, the rabbit gives him a Power Star. MIPS appears in the basement a second time after Mario has collected fifty Power Stars. Mario can catch MIPS again and will get another Power Star from him. After getting the last power star, MIPS will not reappear for the rest of the game.
In the remake Super Mario 64 DS, MIPS does not make a reappearance; instead, there are seven multi-colored rabbits throughout the castle for each character to find, in addition to the one who holds the key to the castle at the beginning of the game. They're modeled after MIPS, but they do not give up Power Stars. Instead, they give up keys to unlock minigames in the Rec Room. Two of Mario's, one of Wario's, and one of Yoshi's rabbits can be found in the same location MIPS was in the original game. Later in the game, Sparkly white rabbits appear which replace the usual colored rabbits. Catching them all provides the player with a key to the last door in the character changing area, which houses Boos and a Power Star.
Along with Mario, MIPS was the first character created for Super Mario 64. MIPS was used extensively in early Nintendo 64 test simulations and ultimately made it into the final game because the development team liked him so much.[2]
MIPS also makes a cameo appearance in Mario Party 3 on the Woody Woods board where several can be seen around the board.
Trivia
- MIPS is named after the MIPS (Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages) microprocessor, the type of processor used in the Nintendo 64.
- MIPS is involved in a glitch where if the player picks him up and places him near a wall, Mario will go through that wall.
- Although not quoted directly, several of MIPS's lines reference the White Rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
References
- ^ Super Mario 64 Player's Guide, pages 49, 43-44, 83 & 103
- ^ Shigeru Miyamoto Interview from Nintendo Power (October 1996) at Miyamoto Shrine
