I have an interesting history with the hack. I first saw CarlSagan42’s playthrough of it (Part 1 and Part 2) and was enticed by the puzzle aspect in addition to its soundtrack. I had seen Carl play through plenty of puzzles in Mario Maker 1 (which served as a more formal introduction to the Kaizo community), so seeing him play an SMW hack was certainly an interesting shake-up.
Recently I’ve been watching a lot of Twitch streams and interestingly enough my favorite streamer LaserBelch also decided to play it despite himself acknowledging that puzzles aren’t his forte. Indeed, he spent 2 hours trying an impossible trick in order to solve a puzzle (even though the intended solution is quite simple). In the end, his time would have been fine had he not tried to spend all that time doing something that he would later learn was impossible.
I’m not particularly sure on why I decided to pick this ROM hack up for myself, but I kind of did on whim this past Valentine’s Day and went through each level at my own pace. I was essentially solving them on my own with little to no knowledge on how to do each, and it was a nice challenge. Really the only one where I had to look up hints was for the last puzzle “Finale”. Once I was finished, I decided to play it again on whim and I shaved a lot of time from the in-game timer, and on subsequent runbacks I shaved even more. At this point, I knew I could clean some of my movement so I decided to try my hand on some speedruns, especially considering that on comparison with the in-game timer with the times from runs submitted to speedruns.com, I had a legitimate shot at setting a good time.
Finding a good setup was a bit of a challenge. As I don’t have a SNES on hand, I have to play on emulator, and because I run on Mac, my options are limited. I eventually found OpenEmu as one that can run multiple game systems, so I settled on it to evolve from ZSNES (which I still have for specific hacks). In order to have some splits to help time myself, I knew that a lot of speedrunners use LiveSplit, but once again, I have to use a specific version known as LiveSplit One because I run on Mac. In order to record my runs, I use QuickTime’s screen recording function and route sound through another app known as “Soundflower”.
In terms of the run itself, I’ll go through each level one-by-one. However, here are some notes ahead of the level-by-level breakdown:
- This speedrun was for 37 exits which goes for all key exits and orbs. Timing stops upon entering the last level “End”.
- The levels up through and including Herring (Level 6) are BRUTAL to speedrun. Each level aside from Alliances (Level 4) are run-breakers. Other run-breaker levels include each of the challenge levels (aside from the second one “Spectrum”), Indiana (if not one-shot), Hydrologic, Polaris, and Perpetual.
- Most speedruns grab the orb in Agility (Level 3) that leads to Headache (Level 5) before the key exit that leads to Alliances.
Level 1 – Lesson
Most often I would reset at this level. This level is so simple in concept that it’s actually very difficult to do fast and not screw up.
The solution to the puzzle is simple: take the grab block, jump on the info block, and kick the grab block upward to hit the Gloomba, then grab the block and kick it into the turn block to drop the key, then go to the keyhole. Again, the level is called “Lesson” as a way to introduce the flow of how puzzles go: it’s a one-screen puzzle where you, the player, have to get the key to the keyhole.
Why is this level terrible in the speedrun? Grabbing the block, and then doing a precise kick to knock out the Gloomba and to get it to the same floor as the turn block without breaking is incredibly difficult to do fast. This level kills runs in an instant if both kicks aren’t executed perfectly, the first one in particular.
Level 2 – Return
This level is quite interesting in that if you ever reset the level with the L and R triggers, the bubbles will move differently, which messes up how to properly speedrun the level itself.
Anyway, the expanding blocks represent an obnoxious obstacle in this level, because hitting the one-cycle requires a lot of precision. My method involves setting myself between the second and third blocks and then jumping for the Gloomba when it passes the white mountain in the background. Placing myself there gives enough horizontal movement on the rebound to go right which gives me enough momentum to barely jump through before the blocks close off that enclosure. Again, when starting out speedruns, don’t fret if you wind up having to two-cycle it to beat the level, as long as you don’t have to reset. The one-cycle is only necessary when shooting for a good time.
The rest of the level is still quite precise. While mid-air, you have to kick the Gloomba into the turn block to unleash the key, which you then have to grab mid-air and turn back still mid-air toward the keyhole. This can seem difficult when doing it fast at first, but it is a lot of fun to pull off.
Level 3 – Agility
This is another level that is brutal, thanks to the janky beans. The level certainly lives up to its name as swift movement is necessary to avoid losing time.
To start, you’re on a timer to get to the beans on the right to catch the key if going for the key exit. In order to cross one-tile gaps without falling through, hold either jump button (B or A) as you run across. The tricky part is that after you grab the key, you need good movement in order to get back to the keyhole. A good jump into the ceiling can allow you to rebound onto the blocks below and give you enough momentum to cross the one-tile gaps. That last jump on the left beans is also quite precise because walking on those beans can cost a ton of time if you don’t do soft bounces like I do in the run, and this will take a lot of practice.
The orb exit can also be quite tricky because there isn’t a lot of room to jump on the shell. In my run, I jumped for the shell when the third turn block from the left was stationary, but is possible to do it when it’s the second, although the margin of error is very thin. However, if you do manage to grab the shell on that cycle, it does save about one second of time.
Level 4 – Alliances
This level is probably the one I am most consistent with of the first six levels.
The concept is simple: grab the baby Yoshi, kick him up so that he eats the kicking Beach Koopa, but without eating the shell which is necessary to hit the item block as it careens through. The item block spawns a mushroom that you can eat in order to destroy the turn block above the key via spin jump.
The most consistent way I’ve found to do the kick is to stand on the right side of the platform so that I can gain some horizontal momentum as I run on the platform while grabbing Yoshi. Then, I kick Yoshi into the Koopa as I’m nearing the ground. What’s interesting is that it is possible to do a precise kick where Yoshi will hit the turn block and just barely get onto the clouds as the shell comes close. This means that the shell doesn’t have to rebound in order to pass through the turn block, which can save another second or two. This trick is pretty difficult to pull off, as I’ve only done it twice (the first time I found by accident) in my 539 attempts.
The jump for the keyhole is also notable: I used to do a series of small jumps, but doing a giant “Geronimo” jump for it does actually save time. Thus, even if I lost time in the previous level, I knew I’d be able to save quite a bit of it in this one.
Level 5 – Headache
This is another precision level because there isn’t a lot of room to maneuver.
The idea behind this one is to grab the blocks to make them “live”, then walking on the block on the right to activate a block snake that eats the ground, which, upon dropping the “live” blocks, will kill the urchins that cover the key and keyhole. The jump over the right block is quite difficult to do consistently, because you need momentum to make the jump for the left platform with the key, but you can’t be holding Y or X as you jump over the block because you risk grabbing it by mistake which spoils the level.
It is possible to jump earlier for the keyhole than I did in my run, although only by a hair as the block is still needed to smash into the urchin for the kill. Going for the early jump is what I refer to as the “greed kill”, and because it goes on the concept of saving as many frames as possible. The difference is quite substantial as it can save up to a second.
Level 6 – Herring
This level is a notable jump in difficulty, and it’s another brutal one to speedrun as one wrong move will end a level attempt (and consequently, a run).
The movement to get the mole into the little pocket on the left is somewhat precise as you do not want to risk having the mole to turn around and not fall in. The next is the P-Balloon section which can be difficult to time. Most often, if I don’t grab the P-Balloon in the window that I do in the run, it can completely mess up my timing for the Volcano Lotus section which is without a doubt the most difficult part of the level.
What also builds anxiety is the fact that you need to have the P-Balloon run out at a precise time: you need to float through the platforms without hitting them (they allow you to escape), but you also need to have movement restored to grab the key, because floating there near the lotus is incredibly dangerous and almost always gets you killed.
The jump for the keyhole used to trip me up and I was overthinking it. In order to land on the mole consistently, just jump for the item block that spawned the P-Balloon. The momentum will allow you to hit the mole consistently.
Level 7 – Foliage
The run begins to ease a bit with this level. The block snakes represent an interesting challenge, though, for people playing it for the first time.
The strategy for the orb was quite interesting to figure out. Retracting the block snake near the orb early avoids the problem of accidentally setting off when going for the orb, as you need the coin snake to become blocks to jump for it using the P-Switch. Additionally, I used to set the snake such that it was like a staircase where the movement to get to the orb would cost some time because fast, precise movement on a staircase is quite hard. Simply jumping for the orb is a far quicker strategy.
As for the keyhole exit, you have to avoid activating the block snake until the end because we need to use the coin snake and align it so that when they become blocks, they become part of the block snake which unravels the cover for the keyhole. I also used to overthink where to stand over the keyhole but it does save time over jumping for it from the main ground.
Note that the keyhole exit was the one where I saw Laser spend two hours trying to do an impossible key jump. He couldn’t figure out the block snakes and attempted to key jump into the keyhole which was found to be impossible as the key de-spawns upon going off-screen.
Challenge 1 – Strider
Strider lives up to its name as a “challenge” level, both for first-time play and for speedruns.
The gimmick with this level is that the single red blocks disappear when jumped off of, although they do not disappear if walked off of, though. The tricky part with this level is managing the grey Bowser statue, as it’s entirely possible to jump into the fire by mistake. The jumps to make the red blocks disappear have a very tight window to pull off, which is why it seems like I take a leisurely time in making them disappear. Additionally, in order to do the level the intended way, you do need to have three of the red blocks under the statue to disappear so that the flames are at a low enough height to spin jump off of to activate the block snake.
Obviously, the cheese strategy is to simply ignore the statue and go for the block snake right away, and then key-jumping to the keyhole, but I personally cannot pull off mid-air key jumps, hence why I don’t go for it.
Level 8 – Length
The gimmick with this level is that the pipe periodically rises and then retracts depending on your horizontal or x-position on screen. You need to set it up just right so that the Beach Koopa can kick the grab block into the item block that spawns the mushroom needed to break the turn blocks leading to the key.
A consistent setup for getting the pipe to be at a good length is to first walk and then start running right around the turn blocks. I used to trip up on kicking the grab blocks for the Koopa, but somehow I got a lot more consistent during practice. The walk back to get the mushroom down using the pipe’s retraction is somewhat precise in timing in order to avoid a wait time.
Level 9 – Demolition
The Thwomps in this level will destroy the gray blocks when they go down for a smash. The blocks on the left have to be destroyed regardless, although the ones on the right may or may not depending on the strategy.
What’s interesting is that this level has two options: go for the block snake strategy or use the star. I have no idea how the block snake strategy works, as I went to the star strategy when I played this the first time. Using the star allows you to kill both of the Thwomps, and the right one has to be killed before it can smash the blocks below it.
This level used to be a run-breaker, as what used to trip me up was that grabbing the star before the right Thwomp came crashing down was difficult to time. Additionally, what would often happen was that the right Thwomp would crash before I could grab the star, which would end a level attempt. Furthermore, the presence of the P-Switch also threw me off because I’d accidentally grab it on my way to the key, and I’d basically spaghetti my movement.
During one of my various practice runs, I hit the P-Switch by accident on the first jump, and then, I noticed the effect on the Star’s movement upon hitting the item block, as it made grabbing it a lot easier. I then noticed that using spin-jumps to start the level gives me a lot better control of my horizontal movement which is better with preventing the right Thwomp from going for a smash too early. The time I saved using the strategy was something I noticed quite easily.
Level 10 – Unstoppable
The gimmick with this level is that the arrow blocks will spawn up to three blocks in the direction they point to when hit (one block for each time it is hit), and there is a window to which the blocks “retract”.
The strategy I go for is to hit the block on the right as the Koopa turns back to walk right, then position myself to hit the block to its left as soon as possible so that the Koopa can walk to the right to kick the shell. Then, once it is on the left arrow block, I kick the shell again so that the top blocks can retract to send the key to the lower blocks. The shell will careen to the shell below which will cause the lower blocks to retract which drops the key to the ground. The jump for the keyhole is somewhat precise as it’s best to jump at the tip of the small hill.
This level was where I first had some time loss, although my mistake wasn’t costly enough to have to reset the level. My mistake was that I hit the right block again which forced the Koopa to walk backward, which cost about five seconds. However, the mistake at least allows you to try again as opposed to having the Koopa accidentally fall on the shell and die (which forces a level reset). This is where some cleanup is necessary for a future speedrun, although the time saved isn’t too much.
Level 11 – Construct
This level allows for some wait time, but timing is key. The blocks needed to send the kicked shell into the item need to retract before the mushroom goes to the left, as it’s needed on the floor below for you to grow big for both the orb and the key. Additionally, hitting the lower arrow block needs to be timed properly so that the mushroom can fall to the ground, as any miss will force a level reset.
If going for the orb, you need to damage boost through the munchers, while for the key, you need to smash the turn block. In one of my previous runs, I took damage as I went for the keyhole, which may cost time if that ends up happening in a run.
Challenge 2 – Spectrum
I personally like this level a lot. This one introduces a “chocolate” mechanic in that each switch turns the Yoshi into the switch’s color, and we basically get a “tour” of colored Yoshis.
What’s interesting is that to my knowledge, every switch has to be hit, as the Yellow and Red are impossible to avoid and the other switches are needed to avoid using certain mechanics of the colored Yoshis. The shell is needed to hit the item block that spawns the key, but because you need to spit it as a shell and not fire, you need to turn the Yoshi from red to green. The Blue switch is needed to fly back up the level.
The timing to grab the coin that the item block turns into is somewhat precise in that you cannot jump for it right away as you risk having just enough height to “stomp” on the shell which destroys it (because the key “jumps” as it spawns).
I do know of the intended strategy to get the key back up which is to kick it onto the cloud, but for whatever reason I found my strategy of spitting it into the blocks which kind of “sticks” it in place. It’s possible that depending on how you spit the block and where you spit, the key could end up moving up above. The most consistent way to spit the key into the blocks is to simply lean left into them.
Level 12 – Guidance
I always found this one interesting. The block hit into the arrow block is somewhat precise. I also grab the blocks on the right on purpose because it just allows for easier jumps into the block below the baby Yoshi. Getting the mushroom to the baby Yoshi also requires some good timing, as most slip-ups cause a level reset. I feel as if I have some internal timer that allows me to hit the arrow blocks that get the mushroom across to the note block at the right time.
I did lose some time here again thanks to messing up the Yoshi tongue to grab the key (up to two or three seconds, not sure). I have also lost time when mistiming the block hits to raise Yoshi up to the higher ground, as baby Yoshi jumping could mean it’s in the air which means it doesn’t rise up with the blocks.
Level 13 – Velocity
The tight corners in this level can be quite difficult to navigate fast, so the movement never feels as crisp as it could be. The shell tosses are also somewhat precise as it’s easy to accidentally have the one of shells run into the other (or have them both run into each other to “kill” them both), and they’re both needed to hit the switch. Overall, very precise level here.
Also, I love the music selection for this level. Golden Sun is amazing, and the Elemental Stars theme is audible chocolate.
Level 14 – Olympus
What’s interesting with this level is that through the time when you go up to the floor with the item block, there really isn’t time to save. Your movement can be as slow as possible as long as you make the rise upward riding the key, much akin to the framerules in Super Mario Bros. (as this time, there’s definitely a more obvious allegory to darbian’s bus analogy).
After the rise onto the floor above, every frame begins to count. In one of my runs, I managed to hit the item block with a certain timing that I managed to get the mushroom to fall on Mario right away, which saved a ton of time. I’m not sure if I saved the footage so I’d have to look at it again. Anyway, destroying the turn block and then grabbing the key can be a little tricky for first-time players, so it’s best to not hold X or Y when spin jumping and only hitting one of those two buttons (usually the former) after the block is destroyed. Grabbing the key through the floor as I did to get to the keyhole is some of SMW’s more weird mechanics to my knowledge, and I believe it is due to Mario’s hitbox: while holding Y or X, Mario will grab any item that overlaps with his hitbox. I could be very wrong on how that works.
Level 15 – Suicide
This level introduces the “death” blocks that “revive” Mario if he hits them during his death animation, and these blocks appear in a few levels after this one (including the next one). These blocks allow you to access different parts of levels that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
Overall, this level is quite simple in concept to introduce the death blocks. The movement is somewhat tight as well, so don’t fret if it isn’t clean during you first speedrun attempts. The only reason I saved that much time is because in my lone full speedrun attempt prior to this one, I had to do the level twice.
Level 16 – Indiana
This level you have to get right the first time because of the amount of time spent waiting. Any level reset is costly because of the slow cycles.
Anyway, even with all the waiting, there’s still quite a bit of precision with this level. To start, the first and third hits of the switch must be hit in a certain window because not doing so will require a level reset.
The movement with the second death block does include a skip that is done in the World Record but is extremely precise: after the first hit of the switch, it is possible to hit the switch again and jump on top of the switch to skip some waiting time. I’ve only pulled this off once and it was by complete accident, and any “attempt” at getting the skip in practice runs or just general speedwalks resulted in failure, hence why I don’t plan on ever going for the skip.
Going for the orb is much harder because of the timing needed for the third hit on the switch to allow for enough time to get to the alcove with the coins and the other switch. The key exit is considerably easier because you don’t even need to hit the switch a third time.
Challenge 3 – Chronos
This level is super precise, and it’s not particularly surprising that it took me multiple attempts in my run.
Hitting the clock will halt all falling objects and make it so that any object that can fall will simply stay put until interacted with again after the block destruction sound plays.
What’s tricky about this level is lining up the platform. If the platform halts anywhere around the fifth block from the ground, you’re pretty much given a generous window to jump onto the platform and hitting the clock again after fetching the P-Switch. Again, the first platform height is critical in order to get a high enough jump after getting the key.
Level 17 – Hydrologic
This is probably my least favorite level both for casual play and for speedrunning. It’s probably the closest the hack gets to Kaizo-style design as well because of the tricky movement.
The chocolate mechanic in this level is something I actually like a lot, which is the block that floods the room with water and completely dries it on alternating hits. This is needed to get the Rip Van Fish up to the muncher level, as well as getting to the fish’s level in the first place.
The reason why I mention this level being very Kaizo-like is because you need to spin jump on the fish and effectively ride it into the gap leading to the key, which is just as difficult as it looks. Spin jumping through the one-tile gap after dropping the key is just as difficult in my opinion, as I’ve died many times by landing on the pixels next to the gap which caused me to lose my spin jump and simply landing on the fish and dying.
Getting past the fish while swimming so it goes to the munchers below is also difficult, as you need to time your up swim while also leaning against a wall so that it has little horizontal movement while you swim past. Overall, this is probably the biggest run-killer past the first six levels and I hate this level. A lot. Even if it has a really cool mechanic.
Level 18 – Grandiose
This level is really cool. One of the cool parts is using the key to free the urchin. It feels funky to kick the key into the arrow block at first, but upon getting consistent, it will feel very smooth and very cool to pull off.
The block expansion within that window is a layover from my old strategy where after freeing the urchin, I’d kick the key back up and be able to get to the key faster by jumping into the Sparky that got held in place and using the death block above. However, because I found I can do stationary key jumps, the key jump strategy I found to be a lot faster and a lot safer.
I do have to note of key jumps here again. Stationary key jumps are considerably easier to do than mid-air key jumps, as the setup required is just there for you. All that is needed to do a key jump is to press a jump button and grab button on the same frame (which is a window that is about 1/60 of a second long) while Mario is standing on the key (this is the same for grab block jumps like in the Boo fight in Kaizo 1), which effectively means you have to push the buttons at the same time. It’s easy to do from a stationary position as Mario will already be standing on a key, but it’s incredibly difficult to do mid-air, hence why I don’t think I’ll ever be able to perform a mid-air key jump.
Another warning on key jumps: it’s entirely possible that if your thumbs aren’t big enough to hit a jump and grab button at the same time, a stationary key jump might be difficult to pull off. This is a noted problem for one of my internet friends Amy Shira Teitel, known to some (including myself) as TheSpaceVixen.
Level 19 – Symmetry
Now this is a cool level concept-wise. The two info blocks note of how to get the spawn the key and keyhole as well as the orb: destroying all the ice blocks and collecting all coins leads to the latter, while doing as little as possible to obtain symmetry leads to the key and keyhole.
Interestingly, I found the fireball launch at the start of the level by complete accident, and this actually saves some time because it has to be destroyed for both paths. I used to go for the block last, but killing it right away just saves time for other stuff in the level.
Challenge 4 – Paradox
Could I potentially save a few seconds in this level? Sure. The only reason I hit the clocks so many times is to line myself up to jump off the spring, which is probably the hardest part of the level. Again, just going for safety strats here.
It’s possible that if you kick the key to close to the turn block, the key warps up into the ceiling to force a reset. It’s happened to me before so I try to kick it earlier but close enough to have the block start turning. Of course, most often I have to run back to grab the key but it’s better than forcing a level reset.
Level 20 – Canvas
This one can be a little tricky to do precisely. The ice physics make movement quite tricky, and the need to replicate the block structure on the right means precise fireball launches to destroy the ice blocks. A strat I use to destroy the blocks on the lower level is to let go of the run button prior to getting to the spring, because this means I don’t grab it by mistake and allow for an easy turnaround. Could I just grab it and destroy the blocks? Sure, but to have to hold the spring while destroying the blocks is difficult considering I need to also jump to launch the fireballs to destroy the blocks and holding the controller that allows for that is really awkward. I could go for it in the future perhaps, but it sounds daunting.
My old path through the level was to destroy the ice blocks on the upper right before laying down the spring, but I found that my new path is just a little more consistent for me.
Level 21 – Polaris
This level is just straight up annoying and also serves as a run-breaker much like Hydrologic does. You need to keep your fire flower up through getting the disco shell to hit the block that spawns the vine, which can be quite difficult to do considering the spikes as well as the disco shell itself. Can’t really say much about this level because it’s very frustrating to speedrun for all the hazards and ice physics.
Level 22 – Sacrifice
This is a cool puzzle. You have to guide the Thwimp into the pit where the other two Thwimps are, which can be difficult to do the first time around. Once you have the solution, though, this level is very easy to do and is a virtual cakewalk as long as you don’t do something stupid like hit a switch early or late (believe me when I say that I’ve done it before).
The reason I hit the switch again after the Thwimp passes through the last pink block into the pit is to make the jump for the key easier, which saves time.
Level 23 – Richter
I honestly don’t think my strategy for this level is intended, and I found it by accident on my first playthrough. My assumption on how the intended strategy goes is that involves flying and slamming into the ground to cause mini-earthquakes, hence the level name “Richter”. Indeed, a Yellow Yoshi is here which also causes small quakes when it holds onto a shell in its mouth.
Regardless, I don’t know if there are faster strategies but it works for me hence why I like going for it.
Level 24 – Flashfire
I won’t apologize for saying that this level is HOT.
In all seriousness though, this is one of my favorite levels in the hack alongside Foliage, Spectrum, Grandiose, and another level later on. There’s a ton going on thanks to the fire that spawns based on your x-position, plus the need to hit the switches using the keys. It’s possible to kick the key in such a way that the key lands on top of the blocks that renders the level impossible to complete (thereby forcing a reset), and I’ve done that many times much to my chagrin.
Overall, this level is quite hectic but it’s just so much fun. It’s nice that you get to save after this level.
Level 25 – Wanefo
This level requires good timing because it’s all based on the rocks’ movement and direction. You need to destroy the hollow blocks using the arrow blocks and carve a path for the rocks
I used to get tripped up on this level thanks to not hitting the first arrow block three times (for whatever reason I’d hit it twice and be perplexed as to how I wasn’t solving the puzzle properly). Additionally, if I was hugging the right wall when the rocks came, I most often wasn’t getting enough height to grab the key, hence why I walk a little to the left.
A skip is possible by jumping in between the gap between the lower right blocks and the gray block above them and then jumping on the gray block to start the formal process of getting the rocks out of their little alcove above, and I’ve pulled it off a few times in practice but it’s very precise and quite difficult.
Level 26 – Perpetual
This level is just so cool. Janky as hell for sure, but still very cool. Upon learning new strats for it, this level became one of my favorites.
You need to use the grab blocks and kick them into the two sets of slopes, which sets them up as “live” indefinitely, hence the level title “Perpetual”. The Silver P-Switch will turn all “live” blocks into Silver coins that the baby Yoshi can eat, and the baby Yoshi needs to eat five things to grow into an adult so that you can “tongue” the key out of its enclosure. The baby Yoshi can eat “live” blocks as well as the silver coins, hence why there’s five grab blocks for you to use.
How to get the kicks consistently is a bit tricky. The kick the block to the upper section, you have to kick it as you’re moving into the slope. To kick the block into the lower section, you have to set it down before kicking it.
What’s interesting is that it’s possible to force a “double eat”, in which Yoshi eats items in a certain time frame that the game registers Yoshi eating two things as opposed to one, which allows you to use less items to allow the baby Yoshi to grow into an adult, which consequently saves time. The World Record uses only three of the grab blocks to do this, which is the optimal strategy, although I haven’t been able to do it consistently which is why I use four of the blocks (although this still exploits the double eat glitch).
Level 27 – Finale
This was the only level that I looked up hints for to beat the first time because I spent at least one hour (possibly two) on this level.
The intended strategy to get the shell is to do a block drop into the small gap which activates the block at the lower-right that spawns a vine. Then, you have to grab a block and hold onto it as you hold onto the vine (which is another well-known glitch) and kick it left. However, when watching other videos after completing my first playthrough, I found the strategy I use in my run where you do a precise block kick into the block. What’s nice is that if you don’t get it the first time, you have one more shot thanks to there being two grab blocks (which is what’s required for the intended strategy).
Afterwards, I accidentally borked the shell hit which is needed to get to the first death block by jumping instead of just standing still, but at least it gave me another shot at effectively killing myself again. Again, the shell rebounding back and forth can be a little janky because there are times when it falls into the gap that leads to the vine block, which forces a reset. Anyway, a safety strat that I show is to hit the turn block when the Koopa is near it so that the block turning “kills” the Koopa.
Timing the movement to get the key to the keyhole used to be tricky, but upon figuring out the timing, I found this section to be a lot easier.
Overall, a nice end that pretty much puts most of the unique chocolate mechanics into one challenging level as one final test.
Level 28 – End
Timing for speedruns stops as soon as you enter the level, so I think I might’ve hit the final split a little late. Had a bit of a brain fart there because by this point, I was shaking so much and just had an adrenaline rush from pulling together a run like this. So many runs had died that I was just happy to even finish on that pace.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this breakdown of the speedrun. I’ll also leave the soundtrack below (which I grabbed from S.N.N.’s comment on Carl’s second video)
Soundtrack
Title Screen: One Must Fall 2097 Menu theme (ported by Sinc-X)
Overworld Map: Custom composition by S.N.N.
Lesson (Level 1)/Symmetry (Level 19)/End (Level 28): Custom composition by S.N.N.
Return (Level 2)/Agility (Level 3): Bowser Strikes Back – Peaceful Lands (by Jimmy)
Alliances (Level 4)/Length (Level 8)/Guidance (Level 12): Touhou Shinreibyou ~ Ten Desires (Touhou 13) – Desire Drive (ported by K M S)
Headache (Level 5)/Olympus (Level 13): Alcahest – Sky Fortress (ported by Pinci)
Herring (Level 6)/Foliage (Level 7): The S Factor: Sonia and Silver – Spectra Valley Zone Act 1 (ported by juniorsword)
Strider (Challenge 1): One Must Fall 2097 – Arena 2 (Power Plant) (ported by Sinc-X)
Demolition (Level 9): Street Fighter
Unstoppable (Level 10)/Construct (Level 11): Socket – Treasure Castle (ported by Sinc-X)
Spectrum (Challenge 2): One Must Fall 2097 – Arena 1 (Danger Room) (ported by Sinc-X)
Velocity (Level 13): Golden Sun – The Elemental Stars (ported by Masterlink)
Suicide (Level 15): Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei – Jakyou 1 (ported by ???)
Indiana (Level 16): Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon – Gloomy Manor (ported by Sayuri)
Chronos (Challenge 3): Kero Blaster – Time Table (ported by Pinci)
Hydrologic (Level 17): Loonie – Contemplated (ported by Sinc-X)
Grandiose (Level 18): Touhou Kaikidan ~ Mystic Square (Touhou 5) – Alice in Wonderland (ported by K M S)
Paradox (Challenge 4): ???
Canvas (Level 20): Custom composition by S.N.N.
Polaris (Level 21): Albert Odyssey 2 – Land of Frozen Forest (ported by tcdw)
Sacrifice (Level 22): Mushishi – Mushishi no Theme (ported by tcdw)
Richter (Level 23): Walk the Rugged Region (custom composition by Ruberjig)
Flashfire (Level 24): Shin Megami Tensei (SNES) – Battle (ported by Ultima and musicalman)
Wanefo (Level 25)/Perpetual (Level 26): Jukka Kaartinen – Mess Center (ported by Sinc-X)
Finale (Level 27): Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective – The Last Desperate Struggle (ported by aCrowned)
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