MBJ Best Ending% Route

Mighty Bomb Jack (NA version) Best Ending Route Information and Guide:

First and foremost, the best companion for this guide is right here: http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mighty_Bomb_Jack
The StrategyWiki entry contains a complete walkthrough, complete with maps of all the stages and normal and hidden items labeled on many of them.  It does have some info that pertains specifically to the Japanese version of the game, so make sure to also reference this guide for specific version differences important to the route.

Another useful link is my current best time for the category, a 13:31: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfhraIWT9gY
Watching this video will help familiarize you with the route, especially patterns for bomb collection in Royal Rooms, which I mostly will not describe in detail in this guide.


MBJ Basics:
- Two buttons, Jump and Use Mighty Coin (MCs cannot be used in Royal Rooms at the end of the 16 Rounds)
- Hold up while jumping to jump higher, hold down while falling to fall slightly faster (it adds up)
- Upward movement post-jump will not stop until you press Jump again to hover.  HJump can be mashed repeatedly to float across gaps.
- Normal chests can be opened by jumping off of their tops.  Gold chests cannot be opened normally (see Mighty Coin use section below).

!!! Important!!!
- If you are at 9 MCs and collect a 10th, or if you are at 90+ seconds and collect a Mighty Tonic to add 10 seconds to the timer, you will be sent to a Torture Room.  In the case of MCs, you will returned to having 0 of them.  This route is designed to specifically avoid that issue while collecting a minimum amount of MCs to still complete the game.

- In the Royal Rooms at the end of stages, Jack must collect 24 bombs.  Once he collects the first bomb in the room, the next one in a particular sequence will light up.  If he leaves that bomb for last and collects all the other unlit bombs before it, he will skip the Adventure portion of the next Round, going straight to that Round's Royal Room. (If you instead get the remaining 23 lit bombs in sequence, you get 50,000 points, wooo)


Mighty Coin use and effects:
- Normal Jack is red, and he can spend up to three MCs to go Blue, Orange, and Green in that order:
Blue Jack: Can open Gold chests by jumping on them.
Orange Jack: Can open any chest by running into it, instantly collecting the contents (unless hitboxes choose to completely troll you, which does happen occasionally).
Green Jack: All enemies are temporarily transformed into coins for 5-6 seconds.  Additional enemies cannot spawn at this time.  If transformed enemies remain on screen past the time limit of the power (i.e. you didn't scroll them away or collect their coins), they return to whatever form they were in before.

- Each powered up Jack form goes away after a certain number of Jump button presses, including presses mashed for hovering:
Green Jack turns to Orange after 6 presses
Orange Jack turns to Blue after 10 presses
Blue Jack turns to normal Red Jack after 20 presses

- If a coin is used to power Jack up, the counter for transforming back is always returned to the default (e.g. you've pressed Jump 12 times in Blue, then use a coin, so now you are Orange and 10 Jump presses will return you to Blue with another 20 presses returning you to normal Jack).  Managing Jump presses to maximize the number of jumps without dropping out of a certain form is crucial in a few places in the Best Ending route!


Enemy behavior patterns:
- For a complete description of how enemy transformation works and the various enemy types' behavior patterns, please check out the StrategyWiki once again: http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mighty_Bomb_Jack/Enemies


The Best Ending Route:
- To get the Best Ending, Jack must collect two Crystal Balls from hidden routes in Round 7 and in Round 12.  He must also collect at least 5 Secret Coins, of which there are maybe 15-18 throughout the game.  Secret Coins can be revealed by any form of Jack, but only Green Jack can actually collect them, so much of this route is designed around getting the 5 most on-the-way Secret Coins and having the Mighty Coins to collect them, the Crystal Balls, and get through the ending gauntlet safely.

Round 1:
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mighty_Bomb_Jack/Stage_1
- Collect 6 Mighty Coins from chests (remember to hold down while jumping on the chests to fall faster, and to stop your ascent as soon after leaving the ground as possible).  There are 7 in the level, so leave out either the one hidden in the stairs (takes one jump-hover to reveal chest and another to break chest) or the one to the left of the tall pillar midway through the stage (requires a straight vertical jump after).  The timing is roughly the same, but in many of my most recent attempts a mummy would spawn directly above the hidden chest in the stairs, forcing the decision.
-- MC Count: 6

- Warp from Round 1's Royal Room to Round 6's Royal Room, then complete Round 6's RR without warping to enter Round 7.


Round 7:
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mighty_Bomb_Jack/Stage_7
- Section 1, break through parthenon structure above second chest by jump hovering, then break the chest.  Spend 2 MCs to walk through the chest directly to your left (contains another MC).  The group of four chests in that small area contains 4 more MCs in the NA version only, so break through one column of them, then activate Green Jack with one more coin press, and finally run/jump through the remaining two chests to pick up the other 2 MCs.
- On the next platform, run through the chest and off the platform while holding down/left.  The quicker fall speed allows Jack to fall just under the pillar of fire coming from the ceiling without having to
fall straight down and hover across.
-- MC Count: 8

- Section 2, fall a slight bit, then hold right to run through the chest, getting another Mighty Coin.  Jump and hover to the far right and land on the fire (which is fake next to the wall), then break through with jumps to get a Sphinx that opens an alternate route out the left side of the room halfway down.
-- MC Count: 9

- Section 4, proceed through to the floating 2x4 stone platform with a gold chest on it.  Spend 2 MCs to go Green, run through the chest to get an MC back, then jump on the second block from the left to break it, then the block below it to reveal a chest, then open the chest and spend another MC to go Green again and collect the Secret Coin.  Mash float hard to the left to land on the single stone block, then jump up to 1x4 floating stone platform with two Gold Chests on it, landing on the left one and opening it to collect another MC.
-- MC Count: 8

- Section 5, climb up the room to the top right and land on the invisible chest, open it, and collect the Sphinx to open the hidden door above you.

- Crystal Ball Room, break the two chests above the second bird block from the left, get the Crystal Ball, then leave out the right
-- A note: This room is hard to escape without using MCs depending on what enemy arrangement you get, but you have to be able to do it so keep practicing.

- Section 6, collect the 1 Mighty Coin in the chest on 1x3 stone platform
-- MC Count: 9

- Section 7, climb up the left side of the room and get on the second chest on top of a solitary stone block, then make a big jump (holding up/left) and spend 3 MCs to go Green, breaking through an otherwise unopenable door.  In the offshoot room, hold left to run (you might think you'll run into a Mummy but you'll be fine), get near the left wall, then Up Jump through the chests into the top-left one for your second Secret Coin.  The middle chest in the row of 3 chests also has an MC, so make sure to hover through it to collect it.  Leave out the door you came in then climb the rest of the way up the previous room, which will take you directly into Round 10.
-- MC Count: 7


Round 10:
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mighty_Bomb_Jack/Stage_10
- IF you still have two presses of Orange Jack left, collect the MC in the gold chest on the platform directly above the entrance by running through it.  Either way, proceed right.
- If you did not get the MC in the previous note, get the MC to the right of the third totem pole in the gold chest.
-- MC Count: 8

- Complete Round 10's Royal Room without warping.


Round 11:
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mighty_Bomb_Jack/Stage_11
- Section 1, DO NOT ENTER THE DOOR BELOW YOU.  It is a trap that goes back to Round 6.
- Collect the MC from the chest on the low single block to the right of your starting position, then proceed to the right until you get to the single block with a gold chest on it.  Spend 1 MC to go Blue and open it, collect its Sphinx, and then double back to the left to enter the newly opened door in the floor there.
- In the offshoot room, fall to the bottom and spend 2 MCs near the very bottom.  Run through the entire row of chests to get another MC back and your third Secret Coin.
- Return to the first room then proceed all the way right, opening the chest on the floor near the door for another MC.
-- MC count: 8

- Section 2 is just falling to the bottom as fast as possible.

- Section 3, consult the map to see where the fourth Secret Coin is hidden.  Jack will still be Blue, so this costs 2 MCs to grab.  Hover to the right through the chest on the solitary block, then jump-hover to the right, land on the chest, and big jump up into the door.
-- MC Count: 6

- Complete Round 11's Royal Room without warping.


Round 12:
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mighty_Bomb_Jack/Stage_12
- Section 1, a hidden chest with a Sphinx in it is 3 units to the right of the lone floating stone block.  If you land on the block with rightward momentum then run off and hold right, you will land on the invisible chest.  Jump-hover to reveal it, then jump-hover back to the left to open it and avoid the Mummies spawning directly above the Sphinx.  Let the two fall, then run right off the block, fall through the Sphinx, and fall down-right into the newly revealed door into The Labyrinth.

--- The Labyrinth is long and dumb, so be sure to reference the map in the link above and read here as I describe it room from room:
- Room 1 (the one with Start in it on the map), fall left and hover twice into the door on the floor.
- Room 2, hold down-right, then immediately up-right jump and hold it to leave.
- Room 3 (long horizontal room), hold right as you fall, jump if any enemies spawn on the floor in front of you.
- Room 4, hold down and then press right to enter door.
- Room 5, hold right then jump over chest and fall down into door on floor.
- Room 6, hold straight down.
- Room 7, hold down-left, then up-left jump as soon as you touch the floor.
- Room 8, hold down.
- Room 9, hold down, then press right to enter door.
- Room 10, run right and jump over the enemy that will spawn in your way.
- Room 11 (long horizontal room), hold down-left, then run left until you see the wall with alternating chest/no chest in a vertical line next to it.  This is actually a column of visible and invisible chests (the top of which is an invisible chest above the highest visible chest) with a Sphinx in the very bottom one.

!!! IMPORTANT NOTE: This column of chests is unique in that you must break all of them to get to the bottom one!  Even though you can land on the visible chests without breaking the invisible ones, they will not break unless the invisible chest above them has been revealed and broken!  Furthermore, if you scroll even slightly offscreen because you want to be clever and run from enemies, these chests WILL ALL RESPAWN!!!
Anyway, break through the column of chests as fast as possible (make sure you're holding down to fall faster and ending your upward jump momentum with a hover as quick as possible).  Unless you get the god pattern of enemies, eventually one or more will be close to you and homing in one you.  Wait as long as possible, then go Green and finish breaking the column of chests, getting the Sphinx from the bottom one.  Leave the room out the way you came.

!!! IMPORTANT NOTE #2: From this point on, as soon as Jack reverts to Blue, you need to keep count of the number of times you press Jump.  If Jack reverts to his original form, it will cost an extra coin later, wasting valuable time.  If you get to 19 Jump presses while he is Blue, immediately spend a coin to go Orange and begin keeping count of those presses.

- Room 10 again, HOLD LEFT ASAP or you will fall back into the Sphinx room.  Leave out the left
- Room 9 again, run to the left and exit out the top left door.
- Room 11, HOLD RIGHT ASAP to avoid falling back through the door, then jump up-left to leave.
- Room 12, hold left and hover 3 times to leave.
- Room 13, hold down to land, then up jump to leave.
- Room 14 (long horizontal room), HOLD LEFT ASAP to avoid falling back through door, then run left until you fall into the next door.
- Room 15, hold straight down.
- Room 16 (long horizontal room), hold down-right to land ASAP then run to the left.  This should cause the Mummies to never spawn on the floor in front of you, saving precious Jump presses.  Leave out the bottom right.
- Room 17, hover once to land on top right chest, then jump-hover to far left chest and get the MC inside of it.  Dodge the enemies and then leave out the bottom right.
- Crystal Ball Room, if all has gone well, Jack will still be Blue when he enters the room, so do as many jump-hovers on the bird blocks as you can before Blue wears off (or before enemies close in on you).  The top bird block takes three jump-hovers to break and the bird block under it takes five jump-hovers to break, so try to wait to Go Green until you've done at least two jump-hovers on the second bird block.  Once you break the second bird block, walk through the chest to get the MC inside, get the Crystal Ball, jump back out of the bird block cage and run through the chest directly to its left to get another MC.  Once all this is done, DIE ASAP to deathwarp out of The Labyrinth.
-- MC Count: 4 if everything went according to plan, 3 if something messed up.

- Section 1 revisited, IF YOU HAVE ONLY 3 MCs, collect the MC in the chest on the far right of the room on the floor.  Otherwise ignore it and leave.
-- MC Count: 4

- Warp from Round 12's Royal Room up to Round 16's Royal Room.
*** Note: Round 13's Royal Room is a pain because it's the only Royal Room left in the game where you basically have to improvise based on what enemies spawn and how they are moving past the halfway point of
bomb collection.  Every other Royal Room has, for the most part, foolproof plans or at least plans with strong safety backup strats, all of which can be seen in action in my runthrough I linked near the start of this guide.


End Adventure Portion:
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mighty_Bomb_Jack/Stage_17
- Climb the room until you get to the top right platform, then reveal the hidden chest in the far left block of the platform, open it, go Green, and collect the fifth and final Secret Coin needed for the Best Ending.  From here, fall down and to the right, then reference the map to see where the blocks are you have to break to find the Sphinx that opens up the door halfway up the room on the right.  Collect the Sphinx, then enter that newly opened door while maintaining Orange status.
-- MC Count: 1

- Side room, run to the right until near the column of chests, jump up and immediately Go Green, ascend through at least three of the visible chests (collecting another MC from the third visible chest from the bottom), then hover to fall back down onto the bottom, invisible chest.  Jump-hover to reveal it, then fall to its right and run through it back to the left and exit.
-- MC Count: 1
-- Green Jump presses: 4

!!! IMPORTANT NOTE: From here, it is imperative that you keep an accurate count of your Jump presses while Orange.  The goal through the last rooms of the game is to never fall out of Orange Jack status.

- First room revisited, simply climb up to the top right door using a single up-jump.
-- Green Jump presses: 5

- King Room, if you did everything correctly beforehand, you have just enough Jump presses to jump-hover up to the platform above, run off, land on the second bird block from the right, jump-hover three times to break it, holding right on the third hover to land on the far right chest, then doing one more jump-hover to reveal and collect the MC inside.  Immediately spend it to Go Green, then jump into the cage, get the King, and up-jump out and to the left.  IF you for any reason used more jumps beforehand, then only jump-hover on the bird block twice before opening the chest to get the coin and going green, then do the third jump-hover to break the block and save the King as normal.
-- MC Count: 1

- Queen Room, hold down to fast fall, then run through the chest under the entrance to get another MC.  Jump hover up to the platform, then run off and fall down and to the right, then jump through the two gold chests for yet another MC, hover to land on the bird blocks, and run to the far left one.  The top bird block takes three jump-hovers and the one under it takes one jump-hover.  Wait as long as possible (basically whichever comes first, an enemy threatens to kill you or your Orange Jump count reaches 8 or 9), then Go Green, finish freeing and collecting the Queen, and leave out the bottom left.
-- MC Count: 2

- Princess Room, jump-hover up to the platform, then run and fall onto the gold chest above the far right bird block.  Break the chest with a jump-hover, the block under the chest with two jump-hovers, and the block under that with five jump-hovers.  You will likely need to Go Green near the start of all that breaking, and will have to Go Green again near the end of it as well.  Try to put activations off as long as possible, though.
-- MC Count: 0

-- Final Room, jump-hover up to the platform, then run and fall onto the chest above the far right bird block.  Break it open and collect the MC inside, then break the two bird blocks under it (the top one takes three jump-hovers and the one under it takes four jump-hovers).  Collect the item inside the cage, then quickly escape out the top right and you're done!