Super Mario 64's Final Mystery Has Been Solved After 30 Years

Published Oct 20, 2026, 9:41 AM EDT

Chris is a Gaming Editor at ScreenRant. He has been a professional writer since 2009, and has written for top TV, comics, movie, and video game outlets like Engadget, Polygon, Destructoid, and more. He brings with him an expertise in every game genre, no matter how niche or mainstream.

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Super Mario 64 was a magical game for multiple reasons. On a macro level, it ushered in a new era of 3D platforming with games like Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, and moved Mario into uncharted territory. The response was so rapturous that it fueled multiple other 3D entries, and now we're all the way up to Mario Odyssey, one of the most beloved entries in the entire series.

On a micro-level, it was a source of tons of schoolyard mysteries and rumors. People were wondering what Mario was yelling when throwing Bowser, how to secretly unlock Luigi, and a lot more. Now thanks to an open-source project on Github, fans have finally cracked the code on a secret (via VGC).

Mario 64 included a ton of secrets to dig into (both inside the levels in the paintings and in the castle hubworld). One such mystery involved a practically unreadable plaque with text that couldn't be deciphered. Until now.

User Mochi64 ran tons of calculations on what it could be, and the mystery seems solved. According to millions of computations, the plaque reads:

Eternal Star

We hope so

Previously, fans thought it spelled "L is Real 2401." For years, fans took this to mean that "Luigi" was real to unlock, and that 2401 was some sort of code to crack. Nintendo didn't confirm the text on the plaque, leading to rumors and speculation. We reached out to Nintendo to confirm the plaque's wording, but this mystery may end here.

Here is what Mochi64 had to say about the event: "[Nintendo], your 30-year-old Mario 64 mystery is solved. The blurry plaque in Peach's courtyard isn't "L is real 2401." It says: "Eternal Star / We hope so." Adobe Palatino Bold Italic, 1990. Cracked with Grok + Opus 5.5. You hoped Mario would be a star forever. He is."

For reference, here's some background from fans on the Luigi rumor, which the "L is Real" plaque speculation helped fuel. Famed Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto did note multiple times that Luigi was originally going to be included as a side mode for some form of multiplayer. However, this concept was ultimately scrapped, and the only public footage of Luigi's existence in Mario 64 is from a Space World 1995 showing of the game, pre-launch.

Luigi eventually got his due in the Nintendo DS version of Super Mario 64, where he joined Mario, Yoshi, and Wario. It was a curveball bonus for the portable version, especially since they all handle differently. In the DS version, you find Luigi hidden behind a door after beating King Boo.

Every so often I get the itch to go back and play Super Mario 64, and it still holds up. There are so many big swings, especially in the hub world, that it's impossible to return without forgetting at least one thing. With 120 stars to capture, there's still so much to do years later.