Endless stairs
| Endless stairs | |
|---|---|
 In Super Mario 64  In Super Mario 64 DS | |
| First appearance | Super Mario 64 (1996) |
| Latest appearance | Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2020) |
- “To open the door that leads to the "endless" stairs, you need 70 Stars. Bwa ha ha!”
- —Bowser, Super Mario 64
The endless stairs (also stylized with sneer quotes as "endless" stairs) are an obstacle within the 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 Stars in Super Mario 64, or has more than 80 Power Stars and is playing as Mario in the 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,[1] combined with 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[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | はてしない かいだん[?] Hateshinai Kaidan |
Endless Stairs | |
| French | L'escalier sans fin[?] | The endless stairs | |
| Italian | Scale infinite[?] | Endless stairs |
Media[edit]
The audio track that plays seems to be based on the Shepard tone audio illusion.
 Super Mario 64 - Looping Steps | File info |
Notes[edit]
- There is 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 Shindō Pak Taiō Version, which carried over to Super Mario 3D All-Stars, as well as Super Mario 64 DS.
- However, 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 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[edit]
- ^ Blaf Snarten Burg (January 12, 2019). Off Camera Secrets Super Mario 64 Boundary Break (REUPLOAD READ DESC) (07:33). YouTube. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
