Internal Clock

The Internal Clock is a scrapped mechanism that can be found in earlier builds of Super Mario 64, as well as personalized copies, first documented by Youtuber BlackJoystick. The Internal Clock can change the game to make it fit the current time and/or holiday. For example, if it is night-time, most skyboxes will be made to resemble night-time.

Documented Changes
There are several changes that have been documented and attributed to the Internal Clock. Note that new changes may eventually be discovered, and this page will be updated accordingly if this occurs.

Nighttime
If the Internal Clock detects it is nighttime, several changes can occur. The most common changes are a slight change of music, as well as most skyboxes changing to be night-time. Other documented changes include the waterfall in the Castle Grounds disappearing, most walls in Princess Peach's Castle using the Third Floor texture, the dots on Toads' heads becoming stars similarly to those seen on the Toads in Star Road, and Wing Mario Over the Rainbow becoming Wing Mario Over the Starry Sky. Some people have documented The Starry-Night Skies, Lunar Landscape, the Lunar Tower, and the Night Light only being available during nighttime, though this is unconfirmed. Interestingly, some enemies have unique behavior at night, such as the Chain Chomp in Bob-Omb Battlefield. One particular person has reported Bob-Omb Battlefield gaining the Jolly Roger Bay/Dire, Dire Docks soundfont and the music never gaining the drum instrument in Dire, Dire Docks, though this is unconfirmed as it is only reported by one person.

Day Time
Day time usually functions as the "base" of the game, with minimal changes to the game compared to the base game. The only documented changes include Big Boo's Haunt's skybox becoming daytime, and The Sun becoming accessible. It is believed that daytime has minimal changes due to being the most common time people will play.

Sunrise/Sunset
Though minimal, there are unconfirmed reports of the skybox turning orange in some levels when the time is detected to be either between 5:40 AM and 7:00 AM or 6:30 to 7:30 PM. Again, these reports are unconfirmed, so take them with a grain of salt.

Moon Phases
The Internal Clock reportedly keeps track of the phases of the moon within the game's skyboxes, changing them every 7 days to mirror real lunar cycles. On levels where the moon is visible, the phase can sometimes have minor impacts on gameplay. Documented changes include the water levels in courses such as Jolly Roger Bay and Dire, Dire Docks going up and down during New Moons and Full Moons, mirroring how moon phases alter tides in real life. Similarly, some reports mention the Chain Chomp jumping towards the sky while idle and making unique howling noises during a Full Moon, making the task of removing its stake slightly more difficult. This is likely a reference to the common misconception that wolves howl at the moon, playing off the Chain Chomp's dog-like behavior.

Halloween
If the Internal Clock detects it is Halloween, most skyboxes will be replaced with Big Boo's Haunt's skybox, songs will change to use Big Boo's Haunt's instruments, and enemies considered "scary" will appear in more levels, such as Boos appearing in Bob-omb Battlefield. Anomalous levels considered "scary" such as Big Boo's Forest also become more common. Some have reported the Ghoul Medal only being accessible during Halloween, though this has gone unconfirmed. There have also been minimal reports of these changes occurring within the time range of mid-October to early November instead of just during Halloween, though this has also gone unconfirmed.

Christmas
If the Internal Clock detects it is Christmas, several levels will become covered in snow and use Cool, Cool Mountain and Snowman's Land's skybox and song instruments. Snow enemies such as Spindrifts and Mr. Blizzards become more common, alongside anomalous snow levels such as Chroma Tundra. There have been some reports of these changes occurring within the time range of mid-December to January 5 (January 5 is the end of the 12 days of Christmas) instead of just during Christmas, though this has also gone unconfirmed. The Present Boxes anomaly also is most commonly documented here.

Birthday
If the game can detect if it is the player's birthday, most commonly via asking the player when making a save file, several changes can occur. The Present Boxes anomaly can occur, though the items can be changed to be birthday-themed, as well as NPCs saying, "Happy Birthday!". Notably, the anomalous Delicious Cake level has also been noted to become more common, despite minimal changes to the level being reported. The Birthday Toad can also reportedly appear or lead up to the player's birthday.

Changing Seasons
The game has been reported to have several general changes depending on what season is. Summer usually functions as the base game, though some snow levels have rarely been reported to "thaw" and experience a significant amount of Dynamic Level Rearrangement. Spring has been reported to have minimal changes, though more flowers and the anomalous Flower Fields level have been reported. During fall, the entire game is reported to have its grass and trees turned orange, and Bob-omb Battlefield supposedly being replaced with Autumnal Battlefield. Winter has the same changes as Christmas, though it reportedly lacks the Present Boxes anomaly, and in levels that are already themed around a snowy landscape like Cool, Cool Mountain, the snow will fall harder and there will be reduced visibility (unless this already happens in the level). All seasons appear to affect the Seasonal Sanctuary level, due to its main mechanic being related to seasons.

Mario Day
March 10th, known as Mario Day, is considered the least common manifestation of the Internal Clock's changes. The most common documented change is the Anomalous Mario Manifestations anomaly occurring, though others have simply reported more character dialogue being directed towards Mario. Others have also reported enemies from previous Mario games, such as Rexes and the Angry Sun, manifesting, potentially meant to be referencing Mario's past where he encountered these enemies.

Easter
Easter usually has most of the changes present alongside Spring, though special things have been reported, such as MIPS being reported to be reskinned to more resemble an Easter Bunny, the Easter Eggs anomaly appearing, and supposed Bunny enemies appearing as an aggressive MIPS that would attack the player and be defeated by being thrown. Special Easter courses have been reported, though none have been confirmed.

Lunar Eclipses
Lunar Eclipses, also called Blood Moons, can reportedly cause Red Moon Monastery to appear if it does not appear naturally in the copy. In most cases, the Lunar Tower also appears with it, but as stated previously, the Lunar Tower can appear without it. This is incredibly uncommon however, leading some to believe this was the initial plan for Red Moon Monastery before the developers realized how rare of an occurrence this would be, making the level appear normally or just at night in general before it was scrapped entirely, or that another level was planned to appear in the Lunar Tower on other occasions.

Valentine's Day


If the Internal Clock detects it is Valentine's Day, Stars may be replaced by hearts, and Toads may have new textures to fit with the Valentine's theme, such as having heart-shaped spots.

April Fool's




In April Fools’ Day, the game’s text is reported to be altered significantly to be far less serious, resulting in the game’s story becoming something very comedic instead, with no seriousness whatsoever. Strangely, it is reported that the altered text can sometimes be uncannily similar to memes that were created after the release of the game.

It is unknown why this is the case, but some of the text could be explained as placeholder text made by Nintendo employees prior to the final text being decided, as it is common for such placeholder texts to contain jokes, and thus could serve as a source the AI could use to grab comedic text from. However, this still raises the question on how the AI would be able to extrapolate from that to come up with jokes uncannily similar to modern-day memes that didn’t exist at the time, and no plausible mechanisms for how this could be done have been proposed, leading this explanation to be heavily doubted.

General Changes
There are several general changes that can be applied to the game that can be found in all documented time changes. These include special missions in levels, and special NPC dialogue referring to the changes. Less drastic instances of Dynamic Level Rearrangement have also been documented to appear in all documented changes to make the levels fit the new theme.