Room 1

1-2 room 1 Map

Start of the standard route

Starting off 1-2, we are going to want to start moving right and grab our first copy ability of the run. The Flamer at the start here will give the ability Burning, Kirby's fastest horizontal ability without the help of an animal friend. Before you grab it, while being the more rare outcome, you want to see if the Flamer immediately starts rising or not as the route you will preferably use throughout this room will be determined by if they rise or not.

Flamer rising visual

If the Flamer doesn't rise...

If the Flamer doesn't rise immediately upon entering the level, you will stay a little more grounded at the start as oppose to if the Flamer decided to rise. First things first, walk towards the block the Flamer is circling around. You want to jump and bonk Kirby's head onto the block (or just jump) and inhale the Flamer. You can use the ground tile with the black line and the fence as a visual cue if you want:

Visual cue to jump into star block to inhale Flamer

Once the Flamer is inhaled, while still going right, press down to absorb them to get the copy ability Burning! We are going to be using this ability a lot...

With the Burning ability go ahead and press/mash B to use it as soon as possible. Kirby will go in a straight line horizontally as a fireball for a short period, taking out a Waddle Dee in the process. After the burning animation is over, go ahead and start performing a full jump and while in the air, use burning again once Kirby's right side lines up with the right side of the candy looking thing in the background:

Visual cue to use burning again

After this Burning is complete, have Kirby fall back to the ground.

Full Flamer not rising GIF

After falling back onto the ground, the differing RNG routes line back up again.

If the Flamer rises...

If the Flamer rises immediately upon entering the level, you will jump on top of the star block. Start performing a full jump here on top of this candy looking thing or a little after (this jump can be a little tricky):

Jump here or a little after

Before inhaling the Flamer, make sure Kirby is on top of the block, not too far to the left, and the Flamer isn't too high. This is hard to explain but if you are not high enough or a bit too left when trying to inhale the Flamer you might inhale the start block instead and that makes things a little awkward. If Kirby and/or the Flamer is around here you should be safe to inhale:

Wait until Kirby is over the block to inhale

After inhaling, stop pressing right and hold down, as you might walk off the block if you are holding right while trying to absorb the Flamer. Once Kirby has the Burning ability, perform a full jump off the star block while holding right. You want to start using Burning once the middle of Kirby crosses the in-between part of the two candy lookin' things in the background:

Start using Burning once Kirby reaches here or past

After Burning once, go ahead and mash B (or time the input) to Burning once more as soon as you can. After you have used Burning a total of two times in the air, have Kirby fall to the ground.

Full Flamer rising GIF

After falling back onto the ground, the differing RNG routes line back up again.

Last bit of regular route

No matter if the Flamer rose or not, you should now be grounded about halfway through the stage.

Continue walking to the right and Burning again somewhere around here (little further to the right should be fine):

Can line up with the background if that helps

After that burning is complete, continue walking right and use burning a tile or so before this upcoming ledge:

Burning here to get to the other side

After Burning to the other side, immediately use Burning again, you should kill a Flamer and be in the air for a short period. Wait for Kirby to fall and hit the ground:

Kirby touching the ground

Then, you guessed it, Burning again! After this Burning concludes, walk until there is nothing above Kirby and jump once again and use Burning in the air somewhere around here:

Burning in the air somewhere around here

You should plow through the first 3 rows of the blocks, just go ahead and Burning immediately after and hold up to finish the first room! If you used the first Burning a little late, you might destroy the first 4 rows of blocks instead. If this happens, use Burning immediately again and don't hold up, instead hold left and press up once Kirby crosses over the door again.

Later half of the regular route gif

Harder less consistent route

This route is not recommended for beginners as it requires great efficiency and use with Burning, however the route is the same no matter if the Flamer rises or not (if you want to combine the starting regular routes, you can use this as well).

Jump on top of the star block when starting 1-2, full jump somewhere around here:

Jump here or a little after

Inhale Flamer, starting around here (if you want to combine the starting regular routes, you can use this as well):

Inhale here

You will jump to the top of the screen and continue to chain Burnings together until you need to take out the next Flamer. Use the GIF below to see the rest of the route:

Harder route full GIF

Make sure when taking out the Flamer you are in their line of path to rise up, so they rise up into your Burning path:

Burning here

Finish the level using the GIF as reference. Press up above the door.

Room 2 (Mid boss)

1-2 room 2 Map

[Efreeti
Ability: Burning
Health: 30
Invincibility frames: 50] Efreeti, the mid boss here, essentially has 4 possible RNG outcomes if you play it well enough. Efreeti can be killed by either using burning into them 5 times followed by discarding Kirby's ability for a star or by using Burning into them 3 times followed by discarding your ability for a double star.
When using Burning when Kirby is facing the right, you can use this tile as a visual cue. It might be a little hard at first to notice which one it is but it'll become more obvious the more you play:

Burning visual cue when facing right

Burning visual cue when facing the right

This fight consists of using the above visual cue to Burning into Efreeti to the right, using Burning left immediately after, and repeating while looking at Efreeti's "standing" sprite:

Single star ending fights

This sprite indicates Efreeti will continue hopping back and forth, continuing the Burning back and forth until they have 4 bars of health left:

While this sprite indicates Efreeti is about to jump into the air, attempting to get the last Burning off:

If Efreeti ends up not jumping ever, you will end the fight when Efreeti is at 4 bars of health by discarding your ability and exhaling it back at them (2nd fastest RNG, 10.5 seconds):

Fight 1: Efreeti grounded single star

If Efreeti ends up switching to their jump cue sprite, while you are about to use Burning to the right or have already started a Burning right and end up with 4 bars of health, discard your ability, turn around, full jump while inhaling, exhale at the peak of your jump (3rd fastest RNG, 10.9 seconds):

Fight 2: Efreeti jump single star

If you are one hit off from Efreeti being at 4 bars of health before they jump, go ahead and adapt and damage them once more with Burning and end it with a single star after.

Double star ending fights

If Efreeti is airborne, you are going to want to look at their peak jump sprite:
This sprite indicates Efreeti is about to start sinking slowly downwards until Kirby gets in front of them:

Efreeti always shows this sprite, however if it is shown for longer than 1/4th of a second, then Efreeti is about to dive diagonally into the ground:
(this sprite is the same as a grounded sprite, with the only difference being that Efreeti is now airborne)

If Efreeti switches to their jump cue sprite sooner you are going to want to end the fight with a double star (8 bars of health or less).

If Efreeti jumps, you should be already on the right side of Efreeti. Use Burning on the grounded to the left while they are still going up. Shortly after the Burning animation ends and you are actionable again, do a full jump. The full jump covers one of the two actions Efreeti can do at the peak of their jump and it doesn't waste anytime to do so you should always want to do that.

If Efreeti starts their horizontal fireball, you are going to want to wait until they are close to clashing with the wall. Once they are close to the wall, turn Kirby to face the right and press select to discard his ability. Once Efreeti clashes with the wall, they will produce a star of their own and you can inhale both stars to fire back a double star to kill Efreeti. Once Efreeti is dead absorb them to get Burning back. (Slowest possible RNG, 12.1 seconds):

Fight 3: Efreeti jump horizontal fireball

Efreeti also spawns a star when falling from the wall and bonking on the wall as well, so if you accidentally discard Burning the wrong direction or maybe some other mistake happened, with this RNG you can wait a little longer to get another double star.

If Efreeti shows their dive cue, make sure Kirby is at least a little past the initial burning cue when you started the room (this is to make sure when Efreeti lands you don't get hit). While falling from the full jump, press select to discard Kirby's ability (still facing left). The instant Efreeti hits the ground, start inhaling. When Efreeti hits the ground they will spawn a star of their own, when you start inhaling when they touch the ground, you should inhale a double star. Exhale the double star back at them and inhale Efreeti's corpse to get Burning back (Fastest possible RNG, 10.4 seconds):

Fight 4: Efreeti jump dive

Efreeti has been defeated

After the fight is over and you have inhaled and absorbed Efreeti's corpse and have Burning back, you are good to leave the room. The animal bag here contains Rick who is unfortunately notoriously terrible in this game so we will not be grabbing him. If you had either fight 1 or fight 4, you can exit the room immediately after absorbing Burning by doing a full jump and holding up before the full jump finishes, which will buffer the up input into the door without floating on the first possible frame. For fight 2 you can do the same thing but it cant be a frame perfect door entrance and for fight 3 you have to walk a bit farther to the right first anyways.

1-2 room 2 door entrance

Room 3

1-2 room 3 Map

Start this room by immediately using Burning and holding right, you should end up pretty close to the ledge of the platform you start off on. Perform a full jump close to the edge of the ledge:

Jump here, use the ledge as a visual cue if you want

After this jump, there are a few branching routes you can try for this room: the "standard" route, an easier route, and two "harder" strategies that are basically extensions of the standard route.

Start of the "standard" routes

At the peak of your full jump, you are going to want to wait just a little bit then start a series of Burning chains. Lining up Kirby with the left side of the cloud is a decent visual cue to start Burning (a little more right would be probably better):

Start Burning chains here (or a little more right)

You are going to want to time the next 6 Burnings so you are not going to lose that much height. On the 3rd Burning in this chain, you should destroy the block with the pep brew on it, if you don't, refer to this small upcoming section. After 6 Burnings, if you are high enough in the air, you have the option to continue with the more standard route or you could try a harder strategy (not recommended for beginners).

If you don't destroy the block with the pep brew on it...

[with a pep brew on it] If you are a too much towards the left when you start the Burning chains and chain the Burnings too well together, the 3rd Burning in this string might not destroy this block and the next few Burnings might become a little awkward. If you fall too low, just try to fall far enough down to take out the Poppy Jr, if you don't lose that much height you can continue stringing Burnings together until you are just past the Poppy Jr. Walk a little more forward to line back up with the standard route.

The block doesn't get destroyed full gif

The more consistent and easier strategy

Start of the standard route demo

After the 6 Burnings, if you want the more consistent strategy or are too low for the harder strategies, you are going to want to stop using Burning for a short period and have Kirby fall to the ground. You should be somewhere around here:

Kirby touching the ground

Once Kirby touches the grass, do a short jump, making sure Kirby is high enough to not hit the slope, not going to hit the Waddle Dee floating down, and not too far to the left to get hit by the apple, and use Burning.

Use Burning here, making sure you clear the slope

You should destroy the Poppy Jr's apple, follow this Burning up with another one. I don't believe this image is needed but just in case things where awkward with the movement, you can use Burning when Kirby lines with the ledge (will work a bit before/after as well):

Burning here if you are not already lined up around here

After this, have Kirby fall a little. You should be in-between two Waddle Dees that are on different platforms. Make sure you time your next Burning to be in line with the Waddle Dee on the next platform. You can play this part a bit more safe by just letting Kirby touch the ground before trying to use Burning again, as you wouldn't lose anytime trying to do that, with this route anyways:

Burning when in line with this Waddle Dee. Can also wait to drop to the ground

Now with that Waddle Dee taken care of, skip ahead to the final Burning string of the level.

Slope cancel route

First bit of the slope cancel route demo

This is not recommended for beginners. After this 6 Burnings, you are going to want to time this next one to hit the top of the slope to perform a slope cancel. The slope cancel will cancel your Burning attack and allow you to chain it immediately into another:

Slope cancel

End of the slope cancel route

You should destroy an apple and be actionable again in the air. For the next few Burnings, stop holding right! Use Burning again as soon as you can, as if you are too late, you might hit the Waddle Dee below! After this Burning concludes, once again use Burning again as soon as you can, as if you drop too low, you'll miss the 2nd platform and have to jump back up. After this, you are going to want to full jump almost immediately as you land. Depending on how late you are this timing may vary but you might have very little room to jump or too much time, just use your best judgement.

Too high to slope cancel

If you decide to not slope cancel or you "miss" the slope cancel by Burning too early, the route is basically the same but harder as you have less room to work with.

No slope cancel route

You should destroy an apple and be actionable again in the air. For the next few Burnings, stop holding right! Use Burning again as soon as you can, as if you are too late, you might hit the Waddle Dee below! After this Burning concludes, once again use Burning again as soon as you can, as if you drop too low, you'll miss the 2nd platform and have to jump back up. After this, you are going to want to full jump almost immediately as you land. Depending on how late you are this timing may vary but you might have very little room to jump or too much time, just use your best judgement.

Easier route

This route has a much different start than the previous one. After the full jump, let Kirby drop until he is in line with the Waddle Dee slowly floating down with a parasol.

Kirby in line with the Waddle Dee floating down

Start chaining Burnings together, you are going to do 3 in a row while trying to not lose that much height. After those three Burning strings, let Kirby fall onto the slope here and after sliding, full jump. At the peak of Kirby's jump, chain 2 more Burnings together.

Jump here after sliding down the slope

After those Burnings you should be somewhere around here:

Kirby touching the ground