Complete Data Wipe, or CDW for short, is an anomalous phenomenon that can happen in certain personalized copies in Super Mario 64 from frequent cartridge tilting or AI Degradation. However, in very rare cases, it can be triggered by another anomaly. As the name suggests, it wipes all save data present in the game.
Description[]
CDW will usually happen with little to no warning, and in rare cases where there is a warning, it will commonly be minor lag spikes. The anomaly will normally occur when the game is shut off. However, in certain rare cases, the game will crash. It is theorized that after the wipe, the Personalisation AI is deleted, due to all of the verified copies this happened to seemingly reverting back to the base game with no new anomalies occurring ever again. It also is theorized that it is a protective measure made by Nintendo to prevent people from discovering the AI or to protect their cartridge from AI Degradation.
Reports[]
These reports are all unverified.
Report 1[]
"So, I was never really in a super rich family, so I was very surprised when I got a Nintendo 64 with Super Mario 64 for Christmas. I will be honest with you; I played that game nonstop. My favorite course of mine was called Cheep Cheep Bay, I think. One day, when I got home from school, I sat down on my couch and turned on my console as I normally did. I booted up my save file, jumped into the painting of my favorite course, and I noticed something was off. The sand texture was replaced with the grass texture, and the music in the level was silent. I played on the course anyway, killing as many enemies as I possibly could, then some minor lag occurred. I still played and then the game crashed. I thought that was extremely strange and I was honestly shocked, and maybe a little scared. I turned off the console and turned it on again, and then I got to the title screen. That was the most hurt I have ever felt when I saw that all my progress was gone. A few weeks later, I decided to replay Super Mario 64. I got to the area where my favorite course would normally be, but it had a different painting. I jumped in it anyway and I was extremely devastated when it was Wet Dry World instead. That was extremely heartbreaking to me."
Report 2[]
"When I played video games as a kid, I would usually try to find as many ways to glitch it as possible because I found that interesting. One of my friends told me about cartridge tilting one day, but he warned me about it because it got rid of his save file in Super Mario 64, and I thought he was just lying about that, and I thought it would be neat to try out. I got home, did my chores, and then I went to my Nintendo 64 to test it and see if it was real. I put in my cartridge of Super Mario 64 in the console, and I selected my save file. I did it, and I found out it was real. It was hilarious because Mario's animations were glitched and he looked like he was having a seizure or something. When it was time for bed, I turned off the console and went to bed. When I woke up, it was Saturday, so I turned on my console and saw that my save file was completely gone. That was extremely painful because it wasn't even a new one anyway. That save file I had was almost 100%. I almost got all of the pages in the game as well. Those things were so hard to get. I still get so mad thinking about it too, because when I replayed the game, I could not even get a single page, and I could not find Peach's Bestiary ever again for some reason. Well, that shows that you don't play with fire I guess."
