Ripple Star
100% Route
Note: this page was adapted from swordsmankirby's guide. Some strats may be outdated.
6-1
A reskin of 1-1, but some parts are trickier. The shards are in the same location, but the third shard has some large differences.
After jumping over the Ghost Knight, grab fire from the Bobo. The extra jumps I do in between the two Scarfies is my preferred strat for affecting the fire's spacing before grabbing Shard 1. Inhale the Ghost Knight right afterwards, but don't swallow just yet. Instead, swallow during the miniboss fight. The Sawyer doesn't become vulnerable until after it's visible for about a second, so swallowing while waiting saves a little bit of time. Shard 2 spawns after defeating it.
These shotzos have the same pattern as in 1-1, but since we don't have fire, we actually have to dodge the shots. I like to jump over the first one and get underneath the second one, making sure not to lose any horizontal speed. It's safest to jump behind the Poppy Bros. because he throws three bombs, unlike his 1-1 counterpart. The gordo powerup is required for getting Shard 3. In the video, the gordo is exploded on the Scarfy, but you can also do it manually. Hopping out of the water feels awkward, but it's faster than floating out. At the end of the level, remove the powerup.
6-2
A suspenseful level, though not much is going on, with much of the difficulty avoided by the lightsaber.
Prior to entering this level, backtrack to 6-1 to get spark.
After jumping into the hole, move to the left a little bit to manipulate the position of the Flopper below. Use spark on the block and grab Shard 1, and then combine for lightsaber on the Fishbone in the next room. Swallowing above water is faster, and Kirby's horizontal speed with lightsaber out is always at running speed, even when walking or attacking. My strat for swinging through these enemies just makes sure that each Scarfy is killed with the Pupa before it.
The enemies in the next room can just be cleared with lightsaber. After dropping into the water, Shard 2 is hidden on the left.
At the beginning of the room, it turns out that sliding into the trigger for Adeleine's drawing is slower than just running up to it. Wait for the candy with the lightsaber out, then collect Shard 3 behind the Cutter barrier. In the last room, jump into the middle of the platform to avoid a slow walking animation.
6-3
The enemy rush level. There are five rooms with enemies that spawn in waves, and some rooms in between. Below, I've described the strategies for the five enemy rooms. For the remaining rooms, good movement just means avoiding slopes (in between steps of a staircase) and headbutting enemies. One thing to keep in mind for this level is that the jump mechanics change when holding the lightsaber.
Enemies here don't move around. The lightsaber can also be swung, but I find it more consistent to just turn around. Remember to get Shard 1 after killing the two stone enemies.
The enemies in the second room can move around, but if they're hit before they land they won't get a chance to. The Bouncys can be headbutted as in the clip on the right, but some people choose to use the lightsaber as the headbutt timing is probably the tightest out of the transition rooms.
This room is tricky because of the different parts to it. The Bouncy enemy that spawns (second one in the left group) doesn't fall immediately, so you have to jump higher to reach it. Throw your powerup into the Kapar enemy. For some reason, it takes awhile to remove your powerup if the lightsaber is active, but pressing down makes it disappear. Afterwards, combine for the bow, get Shard 2, and combine for lightsaber on the remaining two enemies on the right.
The next transition room has some easy headbutt targets, but a really safe strat is to take out the lightsaber and just run forward.
Each triplet can be taken out by just swinging the lightsaber. The two Flora enemies in the first wave can move left or right, so adjust accordingly. While there are probably some real-time damage boost strats for the Gordos, it's much easier to just run on top of the blocks.
The hardest room of them all. The same idea applies, except each wave has its own timing. The three Bronto Burts bob up and down, the Pterans fly to the left, and so on. The most consistent thing I've found for getting the Bronto Burts in one go is to swing while moving from right to left. For all the other waves, move from left to right. Note that I stand farther left for the Pteran wave to catch the leftmost Pteran. Grab Shard 3 at the end and hop over the N-Zs in the next room to the exit.