The Crown is an anomalous collectible found in some personalized copies of Super Mario 64. The Crown has been described as a collectible similar to the Ghoul Medal and the Book on Bad due to it's enigmatic and inconsistent nature. The Crown most commonly appears in Princess Peach's Castle, usually in anomalous floors such as the 4th Floor or Floor 2B, and even more commonly in Peach's Bedroom. What the Crown unlocks is inconsistent, with some people saying it unlocks a playable Princess Peach, nothing, a new move, a new power-up, most commonly being the Umbrella, or something else entirely.
Description[]
The Crown has been described as appearing incredibly similar to the crown worn by Princess Peach, potentially being a direct rip from the model, though it has been reported to have it's own model which looks like a stereotypical Crown. The Crown is commonly found in one of the later parts of Princess Peach's Castle, such as Peach's Bedroom, the 4th Floor, Floor 2B, etc. Most reports say it is simply found somewhere in the area on the ground or on a piece of decoration, though it usually does have it's own room dedicated to it. Due to the common association with Princess Peach and most rewards tying back to Princess Peach in some way, it is safe to say that the Crown belongs to Princess Peach.
Collecting the Crown usually spawns in text explaining what it unlocked in a similar manner to the text that appears when pressing a Cap Switch, though the text varies depending on what the Crown unlocks. However, this text can reportedly not appear at all, most commonly when the Crown doesn't unlock anything, though it can disappear even when the Crown unlocks something.
Rewards[]
The rewards for obtaining the Crown vary greatly, from minor things such as being able to wear the Crown to much more drastic rewards such as a playable Princess Peach or a new power-up. Note that these are inconsistent between copies, and more uncommon rewards may exist that are yet to be documented. The list of common Crown rewards include:
- An addition to the Costume Closet to allow the player to wear the Crown, either on top of Mario's hat or entirely replacing it. This reward has also been reported to appear without the Costume Closet, instead happening automatically.
- Princess Peach being unlocked as an unintended playable character. This is reportedly very buggy, as Princess Peach was not intended to be a playable character, and the Personalization AI may intend to change the movements of Princess Peach, potentially resulting in unstable results.
- A new move that the player can use. This move itself is inconsistent. It can be the unused spin jump that was replaced with the triple jump, an upgrade to the triple jump similarly to the upgrade rewarded by Yoshi, a slower fall, or something else entirely.
- A new power-up. This could be any anomalous power-up, but is typically the Power Flower, Rainbow Cap Switch, or the Umbrella, with the latter being the most common. Some have speculated this is due to an umbrella being the main weapon of Super Princess Peach, though due to that game releasing 9 years after Super Mario 64, this is rather unlikely.
- A new difficulty or Alternate Campaign. This is one of the most noteworthy rewards as this tends to be the most unrelated to the Crown or Princess Peach, though this is likely because it was meant to be a post-game reward instead of specifically being related to Princess Peach, the closest being the Bad Ending Campaign.
- A new level or part of Princess Peach's Castle. These new areas is commonly unrelated, though the level can be one of the levels found in Peach's Bedroom, the World of Dreams or the Sunken Castle, though the new part of Princess Peach's Castle is more directly related due to the castle belonging to Princess Peach, and Peach's Bedroom commonly being unlocked by the Crown if the Crown is not located there.
