The Wario Approximation

The Wario Approximation, named after the Wario Apparition, is the name given to a scale of the amount of personalization in a copy of Super Mario 64 used to measure how drastic the personalization is, and the scale of how significant anomalies are in the copies. While this is mainly a scale used by users of MIPS Hole, some have reported a meter appearing in Super Mario 64 that appears to monitor the Wario Approximation.

The Wario Approximation's Scale
The Wario Approximation's Scale is most commonly depicted as a scale from 0, the base game of Super Mario 64 with no personalization, to 10, maximum personalization with new floors, levels and mechanics. Each level has the typical personalization of the previous levels below it as well as it's own new instances of personalization. However, this scale does not appear to apply to the supposed in-game meter for the Wario Approximation, instead appearing to follow it's own scale that is not entirely understood.

Level 0
The Wario Appromixation begins at Level 0, where there is no personalization and the game is the same as the game's version seen in unpersonalized re-releases of Super Mario 64 and emulated ROMs. If there is even a slight amount of personalization, the copy would instead have a Level 1 Wario Approximation, due to Level 0 being absolutely no personalization. This has caused some people to ignore Level 0, as it could be considered pointless.

Level 1
The first real level of the Wario Approximation is Level 1, mainly consisting of the Dynamic Level Rearrangement and Enemy Discoloring anomalies, or other basic anomalies such as a crack texture appearing on the Whomp's Fortress tower, indicating the Whomp's Fortress 1-Up, a notorious example of personalization in Super Mario 64. It is worth noting that the White-Eyed Chomp anomaly has been reported to appear even at this level, though more commonly appears in later levels.

Level 2
Level 2 of the Wario Approximation is the level characterized by a few new anomalous levels, usually being smaller levels instead of full courses. The Self-Patching Anomaly also appears to begin to show itself in Level 2, though this has been debated as several players with a Level 1 Wario Approximation have reported the Self-Patching Anomaly occurring.

Level 3
Level 3 of the Wario Approximation is where more anomalous levels, particularly full courses, begin to appear, as well as some anomalous new objects such as the Purple ! Box and some objects seen in Super Mario 64 DS. This appears to be the most common level of the Wario Approximation for copies of Super Mario 64, though this does not mean cartridges with much higher levels of the Wario Approximation do not exist.

Level 4
Level 4 of the Wario Approximation is the level where smaller areas of Princess Peach's Castle, mainly the Minor Anomalous Locations, appear to begin to manifest, as well as other anomalies such as levels made through Dynamic Level Arrangement and Procedural Generation. The presence of these anomalies reportedly causes a lot more anomalous levels to appear.

Level 5
Level 5 of the Wario Approximation is where anomalous enemies such as Bloobers and Angry Suns begin to manifest, as well as anomalous power-ups such as Fire Flowers or the Yellow Cap Switch. Due to being the halfway point of the Wario Approximation, this has been somewhat debated, as some say that the change would have been more notable than new enemies, though this has been argued as anomalous enemies would theoretically be rather hard for the Personalization A.I. to reimplement.

Level 6
Level 6 of the Wario Approximation is when more drastic gameplay changes begin to emerge, such as the Costume Closet and anomalous collectibles such as discolored Power Stars and Medals. This is a result of the Wario Approximation going past the halfway point and beginning to enter the range of much more drastic personalization of the copy.

Level 7
Level 7 of the Wario Approximation is similar to the previous level, with more gameplay changes, particularly new floors of the Princess Peach's Castle, most commonly the 4th Floor, though others such as Floor 2B have also been reported. As a result of the new floors, the amount of anomalous levels increases significantly.

Level 8
Level 8 of the Wario Approximation is where several more gameplay changes occur, such as Companions and Quest Items, as well as anomalous bosses such as the Wario Apparition, even if it doesn't necessarily count as a boss in most manifestations, the Castle Keeper, and bosses from Super Mario 64 DS. This is considered the first level of "extreme personalization."

Level 9
Level 9 of the Wario Approximation usually adds Alternate Endings and new playable characters, particularly Luigi, Yoshi and Wario, as well as a Multiplayer Mode to go with these new playable characters. Several other reported gameplay changes have occurred, though these are much less well documented due to the small amount of copies confirmed to have this level of the Wario Approximation.

Level 10
Level 10 of the Wario Approximation is the hypothetical maximum amount of personalization before it begins to break down the game itself. No copies have been confirmed to have this level of personalization, as the maximum itself has been very heavily debated, and those that have claimed to have a Level 10 copy tend to have Level 7 to Level 9 copies. Other reports that do actually appear to have Level 10 copies have not been confirmed, leading some to believe that a Level 10 copy does not exist.

In-Game Meter
Several reports claim there is an in-game meter to measure the Wario Approximation, often alongside the Debug Mode, meaning that the game would have to be modified to view this meter, leading some to believe this meter does not exist. However, several reports claim it appears as part of the regular HUD. The actual appearance of the meter itself is inconsistent, often either being a bar that goes up with the amount of personalization, or a number representing the percentage of personalization, implying there is a real Level 10 Wario Approximation as there would be a 100% amount of personalization. This version of the Wario Approximation was likely used by the developers of Super Mario 64 to test the variation of personalization in some personalized copies.