Shine Cancel

**Shine Cancelling** (sometimes called star cancelling) is a technique which allows the runner to stay in a stage after collecting a shine, rather than exiting the level. Shine cancels are widely considered one of the most frustrating techniques in Super Mario 63 speedrunning, as they are difficult to get with very high consistency and cost between several seconds and over a minute when missed. They are widely believed to be frame perfect in most circumstances, but in some circumstances the window has been shown to be two frames.

Shine cancels are very significant to the routing of No Major Skips and 100%, having a large impact on the routing of most courses in the game. They are one of the most important glitches for speedrunning.

In the most common shine cancelling methods, the runner pauses the frame they the touch shine and then performs a dive or a ground pound as they unpause. Delayed pause buffers can be used if you pause before the correct frame. Shine cancels where the runner pauses on the correct frame on the first attempt are often called "firsties", and tend to save a second or two.

By pausing on the frame that the shine collection animation begins while in some specific states, the runner is able to cancel the shine collection animation by switching to a different animation (typically diving or ground pounding) instead. Since being kicked out of the stage is tied to the shine collection animation, this allows the runner to stay in the stage.

Runners can identify that they paused on the correct frame because the shine sprite will no longer be visible, but Mario will still be in the same animation he was before he touched the shine. If the shine is still visible, the pause was too early and the runner should try to do a delayed pause buffer. If Mario is holding the shine, then the pause was too late and the runner missed the shine cancel.

A video tutorial can be found at Super Mario 63 in 63 Seconds: Shine Cancel.

## Standard Methods

### Triple Jump Shine Cancel

Triple jump shine cancels are the most common type. The runner triple jumps into the shine, pauses on the frame Mario touches it, and usually then unpauses and dives. Ground pounds are occasionally used if the runner doesn't want the forwards momentum from diving.

### Backflip Shine Cancel

Backflip shine cancels are slightly more difficult than triple jump shine cancels. Because the backflip does not allow for ground pounding or diving for several frames, the runner usually has to do several static pause buffers after performing the frame perfect pause. This progresses the backflip animation until Mario can dive or ground pound.

Backflip shine cancels are often slightly faster when performed optimally, but are difficult to save time with. TTM Silvers is usually cancelled using a backflip, since the wind makes triple jumping take much longer than usual.

### Wing Cap Shine Cancel

If Mario is flying into a shine and the runner pauses on the frame of touching the shine, they will be able to perform a shine cancel by diving or ground pounding. As with other shine cancels, runners can tell the pause is successful when Mario is in his flying animation and the shine is not there.

In 100%, this is useful for BoB Island, TTM Silvers, and to an extent, SL Reds as well.

## Impractical Methods

### Damage Boost Shine Cancel

Sometimes taking damage while touching a shine can cause a shine cancel, even if you do not pause. This could possibly save time in some places but is difficult to replicate.

### Lava Shine Cancel

If Mario lands in lava after beginning the shine collection animation, then the animation will be cancelled. This is difficult to perform outside the Level Designer, but it can be done for some specific shines. By static pause buffering on the standard shine cancel frame, players can rocket as the shine collection animation starts. This can give them momentum and allow them to land in the lava in some shines.

### Death Shine Cancel

Similarly to the lava shine cancel, dying will also cancel the animation. This was historically a viable strategy in Rainbow Ride Mansion, before more convenient shine cancel methods were discovered.

## Key Cancel

Key cancel is a technique used in Any% by runners doing Tutorial 2 skip. The Bowser 1 key behaves exactly like a shine, but is on the ground. This means that several methods which do not work for airborne shines can be used.

### Backflip Key Cancel

Backflip key cancelling is the most common technique, as runners can avoid the frame perfect input by standing where the key will spawn before the cutscene where Bowser dies and the key appears. By holding Down and P as the cutscene ends, Mario ducks and pauses on the key. Runners can then backflip to do the key cancel.

### Dive Recover Key Cancel

Dive recover key cancel is one option for a backup if the setup is missed. The runners dives onto the key, pauses when they land, and dive recovers out of the pause.

### Dash Key Cancel

Dashing is a second backup method. The runner dashes into the key, pauses when they touch it, and then jumps.

## History

Shine cancels were initially discovered by AprilSR in December 2015, though they had been accidentally performed previously without anyone being able to replicate them.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20201125223221/http://runouw.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=49411
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbgWfi2tu68
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnb8QCFBsP8
4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tarP22oozKI