Kirby Super Star

This game has a run page on SDA!

Introduction

This page is meant to compile information about speedrunning the SNES version of this game. Most of the credit for things outlined on this page should go to runner 0xwas, who is god at all things this game.

Focus on 100%

Most of the information here will pertain to 100% running, because the difference between any% and 100% is so small (Dynablade, Revenge of Meta Knight)

DS version

The SNES and DS versions have significantly different engines so they are count as different games, as opposed to different categories of the same game.

Tricks, Glitches, and Strategies

Most of the information here might be fairly straightforward with anyone familiar with the mechanics of this (and most other Kirby games), and there are relatively few glitches, however these tools are all still important for moving and fighting as fast as possible.

Fighting Bosses with the Jet

Since Jet is overall the most useful ability in running this game, it often comes up that you will be facing a boss while holding this power.

Rocket Dive

Its most powerful attack, the Rocket Dive (when FULLY CHARGED hold UP or FORWARD and TAP Y while within grab range of an enemy) normally cannot be used against bosses, since they cannot be grabbed/inhaled. However, if you execute a well-aimed rocket dive against a nearby enemy, or a star/piece of debris released by the boss, you will also be able to hit the boss for quite a bit of damage in the process. This is in particular useful against Dynablade and Fatty Whale.

Jet Blow

Much the same principle as using Rocket Dive (except that you don't need to be fully charged), you can deal extra damage against bosses with the Jet equipped by using Jet Blow (hold UP or FORWARD and TAP Y while within grab range of an enemy) to throw small enemies/inhaleable items at bosses. In particular, this is useful when fighting pairs of mini-bosses, since after defeating one, you can shoot it at the other one.

Ultra Jet Jump

Although its a little tricky to use (when FULLY CHARGED, JUMP while IN MIDAIR), most mid-bosses can be killed in one hit if they are hit from below by this attack. The trick is to time your initial jump into the air well in advance of the boss appearing, such that you are already descending, and then should be just below the boss, but still in midair as it appears, at which point you hit jump again to make the kill.

Jet Dash

While in the middle of performing a Jet Dash (when FULLY CHARGED, TAP Y), if you press Y once again, you will release a large blast of energy that generally does a good deal of damage against most bosses. Generally this is a last resort when the other methods do not work.

Glitching through bomb blocks

In the 4th room of the Old Tree area in the Great Cave Offensive, there is a bomb block near the bottom of the room that unlocks access to the water current at the very bottom of the room. Due to the way that the game remove/replaces the stone blocks as the bomb is active, if you are using the Wing power, and perform a Dive Bomb (while IN MIDAR, HOLD DOWN and TAP Y), such that you hit the bomb block head on without touching the tiles on either side, you will actually pass right through the floor below and into the water. This seems to be the only place where this glitch applies/is useful in a run.

Charging up the plasma

Every time you tap one of the 4 directions on the D-Pad, the plasma's charge count will increase by 1. It takes a total of 16 charges to full charge a large plasma shot. Hence, the fastest way to build up full plasma charge is to alternate between UP+RIGHT to DOWN+LEFT (or equivalently UP+LEFT to DOWN+RIGHT) 4 times. This is important since quickly charging plasma is one of the fastest ways to kill most bosses.

Using the Mixer

When you inhale two power-giving objects, you will gain the 'Mixer' power. With this power, the enemies will still be in your mouth, and can be fired like normally inhaled enemies. If you press DOWN or A however, you will swallow the enemies, and a roulette of various powers/effects will appear in your status screen. Each icon will be visible for 4 frames, and hence, there is a 4 frame window to select a desired power (note that you can only select the currently visible power on the first 2 frames it is visible, the next 2 frames will select the next power in the sequence). The sequence of the roulette itself is fixed; the only variation is the starting position in the sequence, which is determined by the types of the two powers you sucked in. With planning, training and really good timing (or a metronome) it is possible to get whatever power desired using this method.

The order of the mixer abilities can be found here: [1]

TODO

• Any other tricks/techniques worth mentioning in isolation?
• Add the fastest known routes through each of the 6 games
• Add boss strategies for the relevant powers