File Management

A New Game+ File is identified on the file select screen by a green screw attack symbol on the right side.

Getting a New Game+ File is very convenient for seeing the player's current in-game time while pausing, or using its checklist of expansions in the map screen. To obtain one, simply beat the game with a saved file. That same save file will have the green symbol.

Time Attack Mode is a convenient way to improve your records in the game itself. With a New Game+ file, on the file select screen, select the New Game+ File, then before hitting start, press up, left, right, and down. You will open a menu with the option "New Time Attack". Select it and you have converted your file into a Time Attack File. You can NOT copy over time attack files, so time attack mode is not recommended for segmented runs.

General Movement Tips

• Run as much as possible, and jump as little as possible. Jumping is horizontally twice as slower than running.
• If in the air and you need to move horizontally, avoid being in morph ball. Morph ball moves horizontally slower in the air than spin jumping.
• Land as little as possible. Every time Samus land, she has a landing animation and must then accelerate to start running again.
• In 100%, if you have power bombs and there are bomb blocks to destroy, plant power bombs as early as possible that can reach the bomb blocks, as this is faster than using normal bombs up close.
• Screw attack destroys individual bomb blocks as well, but not chains of bomb blocks
• Whenever the morph ball fall from a high height and lands, it spends a little time stopping and bouncing. If you have fast fingers, you can avoid this by unmorphing and morphing again a few blocks before landing, so you don't bounce.
• If given the option between the two, always space boost (or jump with speed boost) instead of shinespark, as shinesparking has a considerable startup and bonking lag that makes it usually slower.
• Avoid ballsparking if possible (and shinespark instead), since ballsparking has a longer startup animation.
• When space jumping, optimal space jumps wait until Samus dips down a little bit, then space jump again. Try to lose minimal height whenever space jumping; if there are ladders, or enemies that you can freeze, then it is better to ladder jump or hijump off of frozen enemies, respectively.
• Avoid power gripping if you can just jump up instead.
  • However, power gripping then jumping from a ledge grab is very fast for climbing rooms, but difficult to do. This is faster than walljumping if done properly.
• To shoot as early as possible after a door transition, run through the door with at least a partial charge beam. Let go of B during the latter half of the door transition, and Samus will automatically shoot an uncharged beam shot. This is useful for objects that need to be shoot ASAP after going through a door.
• In Metroid Fusion, you can R Shoot. You can NOT R shoot in Zero Mission!

Wall Jumping

Walljumping is a technique to gain height.

If walljumping off of a right wall, spin jump towards the wall and press right against the wall. After touching the wall, press left then A to walljump off of it.

Walljumping is useful to reach a higher height more quickly. Samus can repeatedly walljump on a single wall as well.

• You cannot walljump anymore after obtaining space jump.
• Power gripping and then jumping from a power grip is faster than walljumping, as there are a few frames where Samus is doing the walljumping animation without moving.
• You can walljump as Zero Suit Samus.

Shinespark

Shinesparking is a basic technique that speeds up many parts of the game. While running with a speed boost, crouch at any time to Shine Charge. To shinespark, press A from the ground without pressing a direction. During the start-up animation, press a direction to shinespark in that direction; Samus can shinespark horizontally, up, or diagonally up in either direction. Samus will then shoot herself in that direction, and will not stop until she hits an object.

To shinespark in the air, press A with a shine charge while samus is in aerial standing position, then press a direction during the startup. Samus can spinjump with a shine charge without shinesparking, but to shinespark, you must break out of her spin before trying to shinespark.

If Samus shinesparks horizontally or diagonally into a slope, and the horizontal direction on the d-pad is held, then Samus will continue running on that slope with speed booster. You can then shine charge again and repeat.

Shinesparking is the fastest form of movement in the game, and is very slightly faster than speed boosting and space boosting. However, there is a considerable startup animation and a long bonk animation, which makes shinesparking primarily useful only if you can cancel the bonk by hitting a slope, or usually only for long rooms. In other words, avoid shinesparking short distances, and if you can, space boost.

Ballspark

Ballsparking is shinesparking in morph ball, and can only be done once Samus has hijump (which enables spring ball).

Whenever Samus has a shine charge, simply morph and then press A (without any direction held) as if you are shinesparking normally. You will ballspark in the direction you hold.

Ballsparking controls are exactly the same as shinesparking controls.

• Ballspark into a slope to continue rolling with speed boost; press down to shine charge in morph ball after that.
• To spring ball with a shine charge without ballsparking, just press A while holding left or right as if you are doing a spin jump.

Space Boost

Space boosting is space jumping while speed boosting. This move horizontally as fast as running on flat ground with speed boost. This is one of the best forms of movement after obtaining space jump, as there is no start up nor delay unlike with shinesparking. However, it is also the most difficult technique to master, as touching any solid object besides a ceiling from below will stop Samus. Pressing any direction besides forward will also stop the space boost. Shooting anything will cause Samus to break out of spin, which stops the space boost. You cannot open doors while space boosting; the door must be shot before starting the space boost, as you can not R shoot in Zero Mission.

Though space boosting is used in all categories, it is most prominently used in 100%.

Jump Extend

Every time Samus shoots in the middle of her spin in the air, her vertical velocity is set to a constant and she stays in the air for a very slight amount of time. This gives her a very slight boost in horizontal distance for a jump, hence the name. By linking multiple jump extends in one jump, Samus can gain a few extra pixels of distance. The most common way to jump extend is while spin jumping, alternate between pressing B and A.

This is a very minor technique that isn't as useful in zero mission as in fusion. It can be used as a backup-strat in case you do a jump that barely falls short, but there aren't very many jumps where jump extends are very helpful, especially since power gripping in zero mission is faster than fusion.

Also note that you can break out of samus's spin by pressing up or down, without the jump extend effect. This is also different from metroid fusion, where breaking out of spin always gives the jump extend effect.

Infinite Bomb Jump

Bomb jumping is extremely versatile in Metroid Zero Mission. As such, there are several different types of bomb jumping techniques, each with their own separate uses. You can combine any of these techniques with each other (for example, transition double bomb jumps into single bomb jumps into diagonally left into horizontally left, if you want to get complicated).

Infinite Single Bomb Jump

This is the easiest bomb jumping technique. Plant a bomb, then plant a second bomb the moment the first bomb goes off. Plant a bomb anywhere while Samus falls down. The second bomb will propel Samus up; plant a fourth bomb anytime Samus is falling down towards the third bomb. The third bomb will propel Samus up, and so on. In other words, after the first two bombs, plant a bomb any time in the middle of Samus falling down towards the previous bomb.

You can gain infinite height with this technique, and the timing for it is very lenient due to the big blast radius of bombs in zero mission. It is also very versatile and allows you to control your height (i.e. slow down or speed up). However, single bomb jumping is slower than double bomb jumping, so it is recommended to use double bomb jumping whenever possible.

Infinite Double Bomb Jump

This is the faster, double equivalent of the ISBJ. If you are familiar with double bomb jumps in the Metroid Prime series, this technique works the same way.

Plant a bomb. When it goes off, plant a second bomb on the ground then a third one at the very peak of the jump. After Samus falls, the second bomb will propel Samus up to the third bomb.

Just as the third bomb goes off, plant a fourth bomb where the third bomb was, then a fifth bomb at the peak. Repeatedly do this.

The timing is very difficult to get a grasp of, but IDBJ is faster than ISBJ. When putting the lower bomb of a jump, make sure it's placed at the exact time as the previous bomb, and when planting the higher bomb of a jump, make sure it is not planted before the peak (otherwise it will not hit Samus).

Diagonal Bomb Jump

The timing for pressing B is exactly the same as a SBJ or DBJ, whichever you want to choose. The difference is adding in a direction now.

To diagonal bomb jump right, plant a bomb and move very slightly right of the bomb. The moment the bomb goes off, hold left for the entire duration of the bomb jump and start pressing B to do single or double bomb jumps.

If you want to go left, simply move left of the bomb, then hold right for the entire duration after the first bomb goes off.

You can also start a diagonal bomb jump while in the air, in the middle of a vertical bomb jump. The concept is the same; to go right while vertically bomb jumping, move slightly right before the previous bomb goes off, then hold left after it goes off.

You can change the directions by "bouncing" off any blocks during your bomb jumping. Normally as you diagonally bomb jump, you're locked into moving one direction until you start to fall, but any collision cancels this. All you have to do after colliding is continue holding the direction so that you fall past the other side of the bomb, then hold the opposite direction once it explodes. It's easier than it sounds, since the blast radius is so large. This is referred to as a Zig-Zag Bomb Jump, notably used to get out of the pit containing the Grip ability, saving about a second over the standard IBJ method.

Horizontal Bomb Jump

This technique is notorious for doing acid worm skip without power grip, and is one of the most difficult techniques in the game.

If horizontally bomb jumping left, plant a bomb on the ground and move slightly left of it. When the bomb goes off, plant another one at ground level without holding any direction. Just after reaching the peak of the bomb jump, hold right and plant a bomb just as the previous bomb goes off. You want this bomb to be as low as possible so you do not gain height from it. After being propelled by the next bomb, let go of all directions until after you reach the peak of the jump, then hold right, and repeat.

You do not want to hold the opposite direction the entire time or else you will not gain much horizontal distance. If you go too high, you will generally bump into a ceiling and fall straight down.

Jump Bomb Jump

This is a minor technique used to reach a morph ball tunnel that's barely out of reach of a grounded bomb jump, and this is slightly faster than using two bomb jumps, but requires extremely fast fingers.

Jump in human form, then at the peak of the jump, morph and plant a bomb while falling. Immediately unmorph, jump, then morph again. Because Samus is in morph ball while higher than the ground, and the bomb is higher than usual, Samus will be propelled up higher.

Weapon Information ^[1]

• Number of Beam Upgrades is how many beam upgrades (besides charge beam) Samus has obtained. So long+ice will do the same amount of damage as long+wave.
• If plasma beam is obtained, then the beam deals damage for every frame it is inside an enemy.

References

1. ↑ Dump of damage data for Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid: Zero Mission by PJ Boy - http://tasvideos.org/PJBoy/Dump.html