This guide will give a basic overview on techniques for getting fast times in the game.
In general you want to be taking the shortest path, and having the highest average speed over the course of that path.
Taking the shortest path
This in large part comes down to the exact route you take through a level. It will usually require a combination of experimentation, trial and error, and viewing other people’s runs, to come to a conclusion on what path you would like to take.
Once you have decided on your routing, taking the shortest path usually involves doing inputs at the earliest possible moment rather than delaying them. For example, if you would like to dash from point A to point B, as soon as you reach a position where you will reach point B from dashing, you want to push the dash button. Delaying the button press beyond that is often simply wasting time.
Often it will be possible to pass an obstacle with multiple different dash directions. Choosing the direction which allows you to push the dash button earliest will usually result in the fastest line.
How to start moving fast
Running around on the ground is slow, and unless you carry speed into the air, floating around in the air is also slow. The easiest solution to this and quickest way to begin moving quickly is to spam the dash. There are ways to maintain or build upon the base dash speed, but many of them begin with dashing.
As a rule of thumb, if you are moving at a speed slower than the base dash speed, and you have a dash to spare, you should push the dash button! This won’t always be the fastest strategy, especially when moving vertically (often due to needing to optimize landings, as discussed later), but you want to get out of the habit of just running from point A to point B on flat ground, and even if you are sliding, if you are going at below the dash speed, you can just weave in a dash to quickly add to your velocity.
Dash → Jump
Spamming dash only works on flat ground, but there is a simple way to traverse gaps with similar pace. Pressing the dash and jump buttons at the same time, or dash followed by a jump before the end of the dash duration, will cancel the dash into a jump. This will cause you to do a jump while retaining the speed from the dash. Spamming this technique is the easiest way to improve upon slow runs.
This technique can be used even if you are in the air, by dashing diagonally downwards into the ground, and jumping once you reach the ground. This is often faster than waiting to fall normally and land on the ground to begin your next jump.
Please note that if you jump at the same time as you push the dash button, you will not have a dash leftover to use while you are in the air from the jump. If you would like to retain the ability to dash afterwards, slightly delay the jump from the beginning of the dash.
Dash → Walljump
This functions very similarly to the Dash → Jump technique, except instead of jumping on the ground, you dash upwards (or up diagonal) and jump off of a wall. This can be useful for quickly moving vertically. When doing this, do not do a climbjump, because if you do your upward velocity will be reset/slowed.
Fastfall
If you need to reach the ground to continue moving through the level, you’re going to want to be fastfalling. Simply hold down (or down diagonal) while falling, and you will fall quicker. Be sure to still reach the platform you are intending to land on though!
Jump timing
Often you will have to wait to land before you can continue through a level. When this is the case, you need to optimize landing as early as possible. The easiest way to do this is to do shorthops instead of full jumps, timing your release of the jump button to barely make it over the ledge you are jumping onto.
When considering how to reach a platform higher than you, you want to choose the moves which allow you to land as early as possible. For example if dashing directly upwards puts you too high, you can try dashing diagonally or jumping instead.
Climbjumps (as taught in the tutorial) can also be helpful here, as they allow you to get a small boost in height to get over a ledge that you are very close to. You can do shorthops with climbjumps the same as you can with other jumps, by releasing the jump button before reaching the top of your jump arc.
Sliding
To learn more about sliding, it is recommended to visit the Jumpmania Slide Speed Retention Info page. That page will help you with understanding how best to maintain speed while sliding. The remainder of this page will go over various techniques for using the slide in gameplay.
QUOTE
The slide has two main functions:
- Stick to walls/ceilings
- Maintain your momentum
- The slide has less friction than moving in the air and much less than moving on the ground.
There is no need to release the slide button between slides unless you deliberately want to be running on the ground instead of sliding, as the slide has zero effect on air movement.
Climbjump → Slide
As you have probably noticed from playing the tutorial level, you have a limit of three climbjumps, which are the same as walljumps, but instead of pushing you away from the wall they push you directly upwards. It is possible to extend your maximum vertical distance with these three jumps by canceling each one into a slide. Simply do a climbjump, and then push the slide button. Note that you must slightly delay your slide press, otherwise you will slide before jumping, and in order to do another climb jump you will have to first release the slide button before pushing the jump button again (or you will do a slidejump instead, pushing away from the wall).
This technique works because sliding up a wall has less gravity than simply being in the air. It is generally the fastest way to scale vertical walls, aside from dashing.
Dash → Slide
Canceling your dash into a slide is often slightly faster than cancelling it into a jump, however the gain in speed only occurs if you stay on the ground for a bit, and the slidejump maximum height is shorter than the normal jump.
The reason this can be faster than jumping immediately is that the slide has reduced friction compared to the air, and in fact as mentioned in Jumpmania Slide Speed Retention Info, you actually accelerate for a short time when starting a slide on perfectly flat ground. In general this is not something you need to concern yourself with too much unless you care about saving a small amount of time, or are on a relatively long stretch of flat platforms (more than a few tiles).
Dashing into slides is mostly useful when moving upwards or along the ceiling, as it allows you to quickly carry a large amount of speed into the slide.
Example!
This run by Rellort on the tutorial level demonstrates almost all of the techniques described here and in the slide info page. With the knowledge you gained here, you should be able to understand what is going on in the video! Still, it is rather quick in real time, so you may want to try slowing down the speed of the video.