Before entering 1-1...
Make sure you have a 0% save file at the top of the file select screen! Having the save file at the top will be important for the Any% and Best Ending categories when you will need to soft reset! You can delete the save file with "ERASE" bomb bellow all the selectable files, which will need to be done anyways for any run that gets past 1-1, the game will save after each level is completed so you don't need to delete a save file if you reset in 1-1. Time starts once you press A on a 0% file on the file select screen.
| File select screen |
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After the game starts, you will be brought to the world select screen which only has the Grass Lands unlocked. You will need to mash either A, start or both to get through this screen.A
| World select screen |
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And after that screen you have the Grass Land animated scene, which can be skipped partway through (when Rick raises upwards, 7 frames later it can be skipped) by mashing A, start, B, or all any combination of them at once.
| Grass Land animated scene |
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Once you're dropped from the star, you'll be in the level select room! Walking left at the start is faster by a single frame, so hold left until you fall about somewhere around here and start holding right!
| File select screen |
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Enter the door by pressing up once you are above it and the run shall truly begin!
Room 1
There are basically two ways to navigate this room, an easy route and a harder route. The harder route is not recommended for beginners as it only saves around a second total and is quite difficult.
Easy Route
Go ahead and start holding right. You want to inhale one of the first two enemies at the start of the level (usually the first Waddle Dee) by jumping above them and inhaling on the way down once you are pretty close to the enemy. Inhaling on the ground is fine however it is slightly slower than if you where to inhale in the air above them.
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With something in your mouth ready to be exhaled, you want to avoid getting hit by the remaining enemies and continue holding right until you jump up the little slope. Up ahead there is a Waddle Dee on top of a block and you're goal is to take out the Waddle Dee and get on top of the block, which can be accomplished with the enemy you inhaled earlier! While jumping over the Waddle Dee in the middle of the hill, exhale the star into the offscreen Waddle Dee that is on top of the block! You can use this as a visual cue:
| Exhale visual cue |
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Jump onto the block and jump on top of the platform. Make sure you walk off the platform instead of jumping off as jumping might just throw you into an enemy. Once you are down and out of the "bonking" animation, jump and inhale the Waddle Dee in front of you and go ahead and exhale them towards the Bouncy Ty. The Bouncy Ty can sometimes jump or not jump so its better to take them out just in case. Walk a little more forward and enter the door to start room 2!
| Room 1 gif |
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Harder Route
This route uses two "hill boosts" that save a very small amount of time total and is not recommended if you are just starting the game. The room starts similar to the easy route, where you hold right and inhale an enemy. See the easy route if you feel like you need better explanations on this.
To do a hill/slope boost, you will need an enemy in Kirby's mouth while going downwards on a slope. You need to jump and immediately after exhale the enemy in your mouth and you will conserve the speed from the downwards slope for longer. The goal of this first hill boost is to boost towards the block with the Waddle Dee on it and inhale the Waddle Dee right as you get in front of them. For this first hill boost, there are two different kinds of hill boosts I will demonstrate; a "late" hill boost which is more consistent but not as fast or a really fast but way less consistent hill boost.
Late hill/slope boost
This one is more consistent and saves time compared to the easy route but loses time to the less consistent boost. You want to jump over the Waddle Dee in the center of the raised hill and slide down the downwards slope until Kirby's left foot lines up with these pieces of geometry:
| Late hill boost visual cue |
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When Kirby reaches here, press and hold A immediately followed by B press. Kirby will maintain slope speed a little longer and go slightly faster. When Kirby is close to the Waddle Dee, inhale the Waddle Dee. If Kirby doesn't make it onto the block, just jump back up. If Kirby has enough speed when inhaling the Waddle Dee, while not as common with the late slope boost method, he will slow down then immediately speed back up with little to no window to be able to jump. It is recommended to let go of the right button just in case for a very very short period and then try to jump on top of the platform.
Once Kirby is on the platform, do a short jump as soon as you can and fall off the platform and stop holding right. Aim Kirby towards the top of the next little slope
| The 2nd slope to jump onto |
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Once Kirby is on the slope, hold right again and slide on the slope to build speed. Towards the bottom of the slope, hold A then press B right after to perform another hill boost. Kirby should land on top of a Waddle Dee, so make sure you inhale them as soon as possible followed by an immediate exhale to carry the speed even further. After all that, jump over the last few enemies and exit the room!
| Full late hill boost room |
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Earlier hill/slope boost
This is the faster but less consistent hill boost route. You want to jump over the Waddle Dee in the center of the raised hill and slide down the downwards slope until you are just over halfway through sliding down the hill:
| Earlier hill boost visual cue |
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Note that this is a very difficult hill boost to hit consistently and isn't recommended to most runners of the game. There is an even faster slope boost you can do towards the top of the hill but it is even less consistent and hardly saves time in comparison to this.
When Kirby reaches here, press and hold A immediately followed by B press. Kirby will maintain slope speed a little longer and go faster. When Kirby is close to the Waddle Dee, inhale the Waddle Dee. If Kirby doesn't make it onto the block, just jump back up. If Kirby has enough speed when inhaling the Waddle Dee, he will slow down then immediately speed back up with little to no window to be able to jump. It is recommended to let go of the right button just in case for a very very short period and then try to jump on top of the platform.
Once Kirby is on the platform, do a short jump as soon as you can and fall off the platform and stop holding right. Aim Kirby towards the top of the next little slope
| The 2nd slope to jump onto |
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Once Kirby is on the slope, hold right again and slide on the slope to build speed. Towards the bottom of the slope, hold A then press B right after to perform another hill boost. Kirby should land on top of a Waddle Dee, so make sure you inhale them as soon as possible followed by an immediate exhale to carry the speed even further. After all that, jump over the last few enemies and exit the room!
| Full earlier hill boost room |
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Room 2
Hill boosting and Waddle Dee inhaling
The regular route
Immeidately start holding right as soon as you can! You're going to want to inhale the first Waddle Dee you come across by, once again, jumping above them and inhaling in the air. When sliding down this first hill, you are going to want to attempt a "hill boost" as you don't really lose any time in trying this one. Perform a hill boost by sliding down the slope and towards the bottom of said slope, hold jump and press B. If done correctly, you will maintain the slope speed into the air! You can also do this grounded but is slightly slower in the example. The star will clear a poppy from your path and you are good to continue walking and jumping over slopes. Once you approach the next Waddle Dee, once again, jump and inhale them on the way down.
| First half of room 2 |
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This Waddle Dee is the first case of RNG in the run and sometimes they like to jump. If they jump and hit you its not a big deal, as you mainly want the Waddle Dee to clear a Bouncy Ty in your path.
| Waddle Dee Jumping |
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However, this Waddle Dee can technically be reacted to or you could just inhale earlier to cover all RNG outcomes.
| First half of room 2 with Waddle Dee jumping |
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If you have the Waddle Dee, exhale them at the Bouncy Ty when falling off the big hill (this will also prevent Kirby from bouncing when he hits the ground).
Advanced Techniques
There is an exclusive piece of tech that can be used at this point of the run, however it is quite difficult, requiring 2 frame perfect inputs.
If Kirby is physically on the hill while performing a hill boost, he will still be in his "slope state" while in the air. Usually this will go away once he touches the ground, however if you perform a jump the first possible frame after landing, Kirby will still be in the slope state. If you full jump after performing one of these into another, Kirby will end up above the Waddle Dee. Inhaling the Waddle Dee while in the air will now give Kirby a little speed boost!
| Slope state conservation speed boost |
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You can extend this speed boost further by exhaling the Waddle Dee as soon as possible, however this does make you rely on the Bouncy Ty jumping, adding more RNG into this part.
| Exhale boost |
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Getting over the pyramid
Starting off, you might find getting over this pyramid efficiently a bit difficult. I will go ahead and cover two different ways of navigating this, the sloww down method, an easy way to get over the pyramid, and the no slow down method, a hard way that get over the pyramid that saves milliseconds.
| The Great 1-1 Pyramid |
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Slow down method
With this method, you will be jumping to the top of the pyramid and then walking off the top and letting go of the right button to slow down on top of a block to then jump off of the pyramid.
Holding right until other wise stated, to start, go ahead and start performing a full jump (holding A until Kirby starts to descend) once Kirby is about here:
| File select screen |
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Kirby should land somewhere on this block:
Jump the instant you land on this block and try to land on the top of the pyramid. Continue holding right until you fall off and reach around this point, then go ahead and let go:
Let Kirby fall until he lands on a block, then perform a jump aiming to land on the next block pillar, then again. While on the next block pillar, make sure you are close to the right edge of the block before performing a full jump onto the floating block above a Waddle Dee. Walk off of the block and continue walking until Kirby is a tile away from the upcoming floating block. Jump and bonk Kirby's head into the block and inhale the poppy (or just inhale the poppy without jumping if you are not confident enough for this strategy). Jump and exhale the poppy into the Waddle Dee and complete 1-1.
| 2nd half of the room while slowing down |
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No slow down method
With this method, you will not be slowing down at all, which is a lot harder and requires precise jump timings. Not recommended for most runners as it only saves milliseconds at best.
While holding right the entire time, start by performing a full jump (holding A until Kirby starts to descend) once Kirby is about here:
Once Kirby lands on the 2nd block up, look at the star pattern bellow and time your next full jump to be inline with the star block here:
Full jump once again and Kirby will fall over the pyramid and onto the 2nd highest block on the right side of the pyramid, the instant you land, full jump once again.
| Where Kirby should land on the pyramid |
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If you have successfully performed those jumps, you should end up on the upcoming block pillar and can continue the route as normal.
Jump again onto the 2nd block pillar. While on the next block pillar, make sure you are close to the right edge of the block before performing a full jump onto the floating block above a Waddle Dee. Walk off of the block and continue walking until Kirby is a tile away from the upcoming floating block. Jump and bonk Kirby's head into the block and inhale the poppy (or just inhale the poppy without jumping if you are not confident enough for this strategy). Jump and exhale the poppy into the Waddle Dee and complete 1-1.
| 2nd half of the room with no slow down |
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Completed the level
Execute the goal game however you feel is needed with help from the goal game section in the wiki!
Once thats done, hold left and press up above the next door and start 1-2 here!