Movement
Avoiding Slopes
Avoiding Slopes is one of the keys to having good movement in this game. Just about every slope is slower to run across than flat terrain. For this reason, it is very often preferable to jump over slopes than to walk across them. The only exception to this rule is Movement#Slope Oscillation.
If a slope is unavoidable, the slowdown can often be minimized by jumping off of the slope as soon as possible, and in the case of a perfect jump the slope won't even slow Yoshi down at all.
Perfect Jump
Perfect jumps are performed by jumping on the first frame possible as Yoshi is landing on the ground. These jumps produce several interesting effects, most notably due to the fact that the game does not seem to register Yoshi as having landed on the ground at all if a perfect jump is performed. This is often used in conjunction with an extended flutter: whenever Yoshi bounces on an enemy, he gets a much longer, and higher flutter that can be used to reach high areas. However, the flutter must be initiated before landing or else it is canceled, i.e. you must use an extended flutter immediately after bouncing on an enemy. This cancellation can be avoided by using a perfect jump, as the game never registers Yoshi as having touched the ground. This is seen in the 1-2 skip, which this video demonstrates.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZZVR3fmMmQ
First, it is shown that simply bouncing on a shyguy does not achieve enough height to clear the cliff. Second, a shyguy bounce followed by a failed perfect jump fails to give an extended flutter. Finally, the perfect jump is executed, granting an extended flutter even after jumping off of the pole, giving enough height to clear the cliff and complete the level.
Also used for an autoscroller skip in 6-5, see Screen Scrolling for more information. Perfect jumping on for example Spiked Platforms results in not stalling, possibly saving time.
Tonguing
Using Yoshi's tongue normally slows Yoshi down. This can be avoided by doing two things:
- Only tongue in the air
- Release all directions after initiating the tongue
You can resume directional inputs after the tongue animation is almost fully retracted back into Yoshi's mouth. Continuing to hold down forward while tonguing reduces Yoshi's speed by 1/2. Holding Y longer makes Yoshi's tounge longer.
Video (Tonguing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYlk5Ual64w
The first 4 tongues are done holding down forward the whole time. The rest of the level demonstrates tonguing while releasing the dpad.
Making Eggs
If Yoshi swallows an enemy on the ground, his speed immediately drops to zero. Therefore, all eggs should be made in the air whenever possible. However, as with tonguing, holding down any direction on the dpad while the egg-making animation is playing causes Yoshi to slow down to half speed. Therefore, the optimal way to make eggs is to: 1) Tongue an enemy 2) While traveling at max speed, jump 3) As quickly as possible after jumping, remove your thumb from forward, and tap down for as little time as possible 4) Continue holding jump such that you do not land until the egg swallowing animation is finished (you should not be pushing any directional buttons at all). 5) Return thumb to pushing down forward when the egg animation ends.
Video (Making Eggs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpZEqWm9JmI
In this video, the first egg is eaten on the ground resulting in a complete stop. Then, 4 eggs are eaten while holding forward. As can be seen, Yoshi's speed is drastically reduced. Finally, the last 3 eggs are eaten using the method described above, where the dpad is released during the swallowing animation. Full speed is retained using this method.
Ground Pound
A Groundpound causes Yoshi to fall 2 times faster than normal, however starting the groundpound takes 23 frames. Landing animation takes 7 frames. If you have to groundpound anyways, just try to do it as soon as possible to save time. Groundpounding into pipes/teleporters/doors can skip the landing animation. So basically you have to fall (regular freefall) over 42 frames or ~168 pixels for it to actually save time. Groundpounding clears all velocity, acceleration when landing is not included in this calculation.
