Bonus Skips
Basic Information
- There are 42 levels in Yoshi's Island that have goal rings and in a 100% speedrun, there are 41 levels that can result in a bonus game, 1-E being the exception. If you were to get a bonus, Poochy's sprite would become glitched due to memory limitations when displaying him and the bonus challenge sprite at the same time. To avoid this, the developers just made the bonus game impossible.
- Bonuses are around 10-30 seconds long depending on which one you get. By skipping them, you can drastically reduce the time of a 100% speedrun.
- Bonus games are not random and can be reliably skipped in every level. If you're running at full speed when you jump into the goal ring, the roulette will always stop on the bottom left flower, but if you slow down just a little bit before you jump in, it will stop on the blank dot (after that same flower) instead.
- This slow down can be achieved two ways:
- 1. By spitting out an enemy or watermelon seed.
- 2. By stopping at a certain distance before the goal ring to ensure you do not reach full speed.
Bonus Skips
These bonus skips are very outdated but has a video for almost every level. Only a few of them are still used.
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Zewing Bonus Skip
Spitting an enemy out while holding forward on the dpad slows Yoshi down. This is normally avoided, but it can be used to slow down just enough to skip a bonus stage. The Zewing Bonus Skip is performed by holding forward and spitting out an enemy as Yoshi jumps into the goal ring. This only works inside a certain timing window, which is shown in the picture to the right.
NOTE: Great visual cue is to perform Zewing Bonus Skip just as Yoshi's Nose is about to touch the bottom left flower.
Technical Stuff: This is a variant of Matt Bonus Skip. It has an ~11 frame input window and can be done as long as an enemy is able to be spit by Yoshi and he is going full speed prior to the goal ring loading. Using this method the dot landed on will always be bottom left if done correctly.
Bonus Games
Bonus Games are almost always bad, but at least some damage can be minimized by being smart about bonus games.
Timing & Strats
A rough timing of Bonus Games and how much time they lose.
Open 1 Window (W2 & W4)
Open 1 Window (win) - 13.30
Open 1 Window (lose) - 13.47
Optimal Strat: Just open the first window and pray.
Flip Cards (W1 & W5)
Flip Cards (0 Flips) - 11.28
Flip Cards (1 Flip - Lose) - 14.61
Flip Cards (1 Flip - Win) - 17.37
Optimal Strat: If you wanna try your luck to get a +20 open 1 or 2 cards, otherwise leave immediately.
Match Cards (W3 & W6)
Match Cards (0 correct flips - optimal movement) - 29.04
Match Cards (Getting +20) - roughly 36.47 (too many different combinations to test them all)
Optimal Strat: Unless you go for a +20, alternate between top right and bottom right corner (Use up/down to skip the cursor animation, use left in the very beginning to get to the bottom right corner)
Scratch Cards (W1 & W4)
Scratch Cards (0 Marios) - 27.09
Scratch Cards (1 Mario) - 29.20
Scratch Cards (2 Marios) - 30.24
Scratch Cards (3 Marios) - Not tested but more than the others.
Optimal Strat: Not really any strats, but avoid clicking on an already scratched card.
Roulette (W3 & W5)
Roulette (+1) - 18.92
Optimal Strat: Mash hard on the front buttons. DO NOT mash on the D-Pad, you could accidentely increase your stake (pressing down will put ALL your lives on the line, and getting a x3 then would mean getting a nice chunk of lives... takes forever though)
Slots (W2 & W6)
Slots (0 Match) - 14.21
Slots (3 melons/other) - 15.38
Slots (3 cherrys) - 16.56
Slots (777) - 18.78
Swag (How to get triple 7 everytime): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSrePHOehKk#t=2m27s
Optimal Strat: Mash hard.
+20 Stars Strats
Getting a +20 Stars Item can actually be kinda OK, if you already got into a bonus game anyway:
- It can save roughly 10 seconds on 2-E
- Can be used as a back-up in whichever level you need it in to get 30 stars, looking at you 3-E... (does not work in boss fights however!)
- If you somehow have 2 of them you could even use the other one on 3-E, since that level also has a room dedicated to getting stars and nothing else (Don't go for this without practice though, it's not as easy as with 2-E and actually needs some looking into it to know how to do it properly)
It really only matters for the following bonus games...
- Open 1 Window: Have a lucky day and get yourself a nice tasty +20. Nothing else to say here (random)
- Flip Cards: If you get +20 on the first flip, you can minimize the time lost overall (semi-random since you can decide to not flip any cards)
- Match Cards: Going for a +20 can be worthwhile here, since it can be faster to get +20 and use it on 2-E (sometimes there is no +20 to get)
3-4 crab room strat using an item
In the 3-4 crab room you have to normally shoot a total of 6 eggs and usually get to a star count of 20-22 doing that. Using an item like Melon, Fire, Ice, POW or the star cloud item, you might be able to save a little bit of time in 3-4. POW & Star Cloud item are faster than the 3 melon items.
Reminder: Since you have to get/play a bonus game for the item, you cant save time doing this, looking at the run as a whole. This is just to minimize damage if you already got a bonus and one of the mentioned items. So might as well use it at that point.
Remember that doing this will skip the stars created from shooting the crabs (If you do the standard speedrun strats for this level anyway), which means you will have to get stars elsewhere, probably having to take the first save ring that is normally skipped. However, time is saved by not having to get new eggs.
This whole strat has not been time intensively, just very roughly, and probably only saves like 1-2 seconds at most, maybe even loses time but in that case: ~ S W A G ~
