General Movement Tips

Wall Jumping

R Shoot

While Samus has her beam charged, tapping R makes her automatically shoot it. However, an R shot is different from shooting her beam normally as R shooting does not affect Samus's current state. In other words, Samus's movement will continue as if she did not shoot at all.

The R shot allows you to shoot your beam while spin jumping, without breaking out of spin. This is the most practical use for R shots, and is required to open doors while spaceboosting. It is also useful for shooting your beam while climbing across ceiling bars without stopping.

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.

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, meaning to open doors while space boosting, you need to charge your beam and R shoot the door while space boosting.

Though space boosting is used in all categories, it is most prominently used in 100%, particularly during Sector 6 Cleanup.

Double Missile

The standard technique for double missiles is used for defeating the core-x of bosses more quickly. Typically, against a normal core-x, you hit it with a single missile then it is invincible for a few seconds, and you repeat. However, by hitting it with two missiles on the same frame, you can skip one round with each successful double missile.

The key to double missiling a core-x is the fact that the core-x's hitbox is a square. The standard method is to lure it to come sideways from high up, and shoot two missiles upward as closely together as possible. If done correctly, the side of the core-x's square hitbox will hit the two missiles and both missiles will hit it.

With the standard method, while aiming up and holding R, fire a missile up, immediately jump vertically, then while still rising in your jump, fire the second missile as early as possible. The first missile will have been fired as low as possible, and the second missile as high and early as possible, so both will be very close together.

If you have normal missiles, you can also hit the core-x easily if it's low. Simply stand near the core-x, and while it's forming, fire two missiles quickly. If done at the right time, both missiles will be inside the core-x by the time it forms, and it will be hit by both.

The timing for the double missile varies depending on what kind of missiles you have. Each upgrade to your missiles increases the cooldown after firing a missile, and the missile also travels faster than the previous type. Thus each upgrade makes it more and more difficult to double missile. The player should be able to master the timing for all four types (normal, super, ice, diffusion) to reliably double missile all standard core-x.

Beam Core-X are near impossible to double missile, mainly because the hitbox is much, much smaller, so both missiles must be at the same spot on the same frame. It is unviable to double missile any beam core-x besides the charge beam core-x.

List of Core-X and how many missiles they take:

• Arachnus - 3
• Charge Beam - 4
• Zazabi - 4
• Serris - 5
• Mega-X - 6
• Wide Beam - 4
• Yakuza - 6
• Nettori - 5
• Nightmare - 6
• BOX-2 - 4
• Ridley - 6

Ladder Jump

Jump Extend

Every time Samus breaks out 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.

While it is a very minor technique, it helps turn several pixel-perfect jumps into just difficult jumps. It can also make the difference between power gripping a ledge and landing on it.

Unspin Cancel

Underwater Wall Jump

Samus can walljump on a single wall and gain height if she does it underwater without Gravity Suit. However, she gains very little height with each walljump, and it requires very fast fingers. After doing a walljump, immediately pull back towards the wall and walljump again.

This technique is almost useless, except for one trick. After speed booster, you can leave backwards from Serris's tank and get out of the alcove with the underwater walljump. If done quickly and on the first try, this saves less than a few seconds than taking the standard route.

Weapon Chart