Beck Abney is a Mario Kart 64 speedrunner with world records on many tracks. He’s also a man on a mission. Trees dot the landscape in Mario Kart 64 and if he has anything to say about it, they will soon be gone.
When Abney isn’t grinding out speedruns of individual tracks or hunting down new skips in Mario Kart 64, he tries something a little different. Seeing how quickly he can destroy all the trees in certain courses by knocking them down with a power star.
“It started with Luigi’s Raceway,” Abney said. “I hit all the trees and was able to finish it with a shortcut. That made it a surprisingly decent run for something not too serious.”
His latest run was on Koopa Troopa Beach. To destroy the trees, he needs a super star to turn invincible. Heading backwards and staying in last place, he is able to get more stars. Abney estimates that the chances of getting the three stars he needs all in a row is roughly 1 in 186. After destroying the trees, he can focus on besting the AI in the following laps.
Abney says that destroying all the trees in the game isn’t possible. Certain trees on the Royal Raceway track cannot be destroyed by a star and others are safe and unreachable out of bounds. This limits him to individual levels and deters him from attempting a ‘No Trees’ speedrun through the entire game.
What’s next? Abney says that Mario Raceway is a tempting track for targeting topiaries. Time will tell if he terminates all those troublesome trees.
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