Donald in Maui Mallard Any% Genesis FAFAQs

Fully Anticipated and Frequently Asked Questions:

- What is even this game?
This is a 1995 game which was developed in-house by Disney Interactive. It was released on Genesis, SNES, PC (and Gameboy), with the original version being for Genesis. While the PC port is mostly faithful to the Genesis version, the SNES version on the other hand was actually developed by Eurocom and is a very different game.
It's worth pointing out that the Genesis version only came to North America through the Sega Channel. The only 60Hz physical release of it is the Brazilian release.

- Why run the Genesis version?
Firstly, I grew up with the PC version and thus this rendition of the game (Genesis/PC) is special to me. I ran the PC version in 2019 already, and was interested in giving the Genesis run a try. There are a few differences that affect the speedrun:
- The game runs a bit slower on Genesis (kinda feels like it controls slightly better, as a result);
- There are a few tricks that only work on Genesis (like the out of bounds wall climb in 2-2, 3-2 skip, and most clips in level 6);
- There is one trick that only works on PC (in 6-2: https://youtu.be/AWbh3WlIv7s - you can do the clip on Genesis too, but doesn't skip as much of the level)
- There exist a bunch of minor differences (hooks moving slower on the final boss, hooks moving faster in level 7, some enemy patterns being slightly different, etc.)

As I mentioned above, the SNES version is so different it's hard to even draw a direct comparison. But generally speaking, the run of the SNES version has next to no skips, more autoscrollers, longer loading times, and different game mechanics and physics (most notably, you can't dash in ninja form).
I personally enjoy the Genesis/PC version more (and arguably makes for a particularly good speedrun), but don't dislike the SNES version either.

- How are double jumps performed?
By running out of yin-yang tokens during the ascent of a neutral jump. By briefly releasing and repressing B as soon as you run out of tokens, you can double jump. It's also important to not hold anything on the dpad right before the double jump.

- How's the skip in 2-1 performed?
This combines a zip (which is triggered by running out of yin-yang tokens right below a ceiling) into a double jump. Zipping works on the PC version as well, but requires attacking right before the moment of the zip.

- How does the boss of level 6 die from just one bomb?
For some reason, bombs are a huge weakness for it. Firing just one bomb as soon as it retreats into the ship is a consistent way to kill it in one hit.

- How is the autoscroller in 7-2 (the tower) skipped?
By getting far enough from the jar and the flames, it (probably) despawns some stuff and prevents the escort mission from failing. Then by a miracle, there's an end level trigger at the very top of the tower that you can touch to end the stage. I have no idea why that is there, but it's surely very convenient for a speedrun.