Drip Drip Cave is a secret level accessible in select copies of Super Mario 64. It is a dark aquatic cavern very reminiscent of Jolly Roger Bay, though with a purple hue. It is somewhat unstable, having a moderate range of varying details between reports, though is fairly consistent. Is is unknown whether it was a developer-created level that went unused, or an instance of Dynamic Level Arrangement produced by the Personalization AI. The level almost always uses the same theme as Hazy-Maze Cave, barring one report claiming it used the Jolly Roger Bay music instead.
The most common method of entry is by glitching behind the hatch available only in the first mission of Dire, Dire Docks, which is usually only accessible after collecting the “BOARD BOWSER’S SUB” Star and then leads to the water around Peach’s Castle. Though other methods of entry are rarely reported, with some players claiming they could still access once the hatch was opened. One player reported a usually deactivated painting on the Second Floor leading to this stage, and another claimed entry through the Unagi’s tunnel in Jolly Roger Bay.
Geography[]
A diagram illustrating the average differences between Jolly Roger Bay (left) and Drip Drip Cave (right). Please note this is not intended to be an accurate map and is only meant to convey an approximation of the level's structure.
Drip Drip Cave is a narrow and linear cavern, with a rough structure similar to Jolly Roger Bay. All reports claim it begins with a beachlike area dotted with Goombas leading to a tall subterranean reservoir, with a reused sunken ship and a nearby cave that is usually not filled with water. Most players claim the submerged portion is much longer or thinner than Jolly Roger Bay’s, though some have said the stage feels almost like a retexture.
Encounters almost universally entail very few coins and the presence of enemies from Dire, Dire Docks, as well as multiple holes from which Unagis emerge, amping up the level’s difficulty dramatically. The only exception is one report claiming coins were plentiful and enemies were scarce, though this is believed to be due to the Personalization AI making the game easier to suit the player’s playstyle.
Information regarding the cave at the bottom of the underground lake is unclear, as most reports oddly gloss over this portion of the stage. Many players say they simply did not spend much time there, other than to catch their breath before returning to the water. The only clear details are that it has many Boos and usually one Metal, Vanish or, oddly enough, Wing Cap. Some people conject that there may be a second Star hidden somewhere in the cave, though this is unfounded.
Missions[]
The location of this level’s Star is usually inconsistent, though an unusually high number report the same objective: Using a Metal Cap from the nearby cave to defeat a Big Boo at the sunken ship. Various other ways of collecting the Star have also been reported:
- Clearing boos in the underwater cave
- Collect eight Red Coins
- A reprisal of Jolly Roger Bay’s “CAN THE EEL COME OUT TO PLAY?” mission, although with the added layer of needing to guess which Unagi has the Star.
- Being out in the open in the cave
- One player reported finding two secrets, though not the five required for a Star.
Speculation[]
It is unclear whether this is an unused stage or one created through Dynamic Level Arrangement. Proponents of the former idea cite how a dark and haunted underwater cave is a very specific theme for the AI to consistently create, and the stage was either cut for being too similar to Jolly Roger Bay and for being too challenging, or was eventually changed to be Jolly Roger Bay. It is also claimed that it was meant to be accessed through the hatch in Dire, Dire docks after being opened, but when the level was removed the warp’s behavior in the first mission was not adjusted accordingly. Proponents of the latter idea claim the level’s similarities to Jolly Roger Bay are simply because the AI is modifying the course, and the consistent theming is nothing more than the AI’s natural conclusion from trying to make a level accessed from a dark hole in the water