Feb 1, 2023

This is my first ever 100% completion of an extreme SM64 hack. I'm incredibly proud for this to be my first, because it's an exceptionally high quality experience that I whole-heartedly recommend to kaizo players looking for something completely different from the usual impossibly-hard stuff.

That being said, this hack is, well, very hard. However, I would say that the difficulty is very well balanced and very fair in its challenges. No one star demands consistent precision and careful movement, which makes movement much more fluid. Add that nearly every red coin star has several routing options and suddenly you have a hack that is a refreshing break from typical kaizo fare, with its nominally linear, several-minutes-long stars that demand all concentration.

Some of the more notable stars include:

1) Abandoned Excavation red coins (1:22:19): with my route at least, the beginning is the hardest part and the rest is a "don't choke" gauntlet.

2) Forest of Despair red coins (3:52:27) and Mournful Winterscape red coins (4:14:37): I struggled a lot with both of these stars despite how short they are. I had deaths with all reds for both of these stars, it was very painful.

3) Illustrious Peril stars 4 and 5 (4:28:20 and 4:31:31): minutes-long platforming gauntlets with demanding, tight movement. Star 5 is harder than star 4, and took me about twice as long.

4) Symmetrical Mossy Ruins red coins (4:45:23): the hardest star of the entire hack, the first five red coins are so much harder than the rest of the level and I don't think I had a single attempt past the jump at around 4:47:45 until about 2 hours into attempts.

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This hack was created by MorningStorm and several guest creators. You can download it here: https://romhacking.com/hack/silver-stars-of-wisdom

Played on version 1.0.1.

Gameplay recorded between November 29, 2022 and January 22, 2023.

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Here are some quick-navigation timestamps, so YouTube can generate some chapters. A full list of timestamps is in the pinned comment.

Cap Training Grounds - 0:00

Course 1: Blue Valley of Solace - 6:07

Course 2: Cold Cavern - 16:52

Ethereal Sunrise - 25:40

Course 3: Triassic Playground - 32:43

Gusty Giza - 47:38

Course 4: Cosmic Lounge - 57:38

Course 5: Abandoned Excavation - 1:06:25

Bowser's Burning Junkyard - 1:29:44

Course 6: Forlorn Cove - 1:43:22

Course 7: Skies of Hope - 1:59:52

Course 8: Volcanic Midway - 2:12:53

Starry Night Slide - 2:26:11

Course 9: Deserted Murky Factory - 2:30:07

Course 10: Remnant of the Boo - 2:43:03

Chronomagic Cavern - 2:58:17

Neo Ruined Kingdom - 3:05:50

Course 11: Dismal Industrial Basement - 3:23:03

Course 12: Day of Endless Rain - 3:32:37

Forest of Despair - 3:48:24

Course 13: Checkered Parkour Fortress - 3:56:38

Mournful Winterscape - 4:09:33

Course 14: Illustrious Peril - 4:21:58? ??

Course 15: Symmetrical Mossy Ruins - 4:38:23

Overworld stars - 4:52:25

Stronghold of Lost Wisdom - 5:16:25