Yoshi's Story any% FAQ

CURRENT GOALS

Derusting and hoping to eventually improve the record to 10:58 or lower!

On my stream, the times you see on the left are the level times for my personal best, and the current world record is shown at the bottom of the timer.

GENERAL FAQ

Q: Why are you always mashing the lick button while jumping?
It's a technique called Tongue Jumping, where you mash B while jumping to gain extra height on your jump. Read more about it in the Techniques section.

Q: Are you using a Gamecube controller for an N64 game?
Yes, I play on Wii Virtual Console, which is about 2 seconds faster than N64 and also allows me to use a Gamecube controller.

Q: Why do you reset after every level?
It skips the level end cutscene, saving ~30 seconds each time.

Q: How does level progression work in this game? You only play one level per world?
Yep. The more Power Hearts you get in a level (the giant red hearts), the more levels you have access to in the next world. After six levels, you beat the game. That's why the run is so short.

Q: Why does it sometimes rain fruit when you ground pound?
This is a property of the Super Happy Fruit (SHF). After eating one, your ground pounds turn Shy Guys into fruit.

Q: What's with the fruit roulette at the beginning of the run?
This selects your Lucky Fruit, which is the fruit that Shy Guys turn into when you ground pound. (It does other things, but that's what's important in this run.) Because of a technique I use in 4-1, my Lucky Fruit MUST be a watermelon. The timing on the roulette is about 2 frames. If I press too early, the roulette keeps spinning - that's why I sometimes reset without finishing the roulette. If I press too late, I land on grape.

Q: Why green Yoshi?
It takes the shortest amount of time for green Yoshi to run off the screen and start the level. Silly but yeah.



TECHNIQUES

Tongue Jumping - Every time you press B while jumping, Yoshi doesn't have gravity for one frame. This means you can mash B while jumping to increase the height of your jump. Mashing B while holding A is really tough, but tongue jumping is used constantly through the entire run. Because of this, Yoshi's Story - specifically any% - is probably one of the most mashing-heavy games to speedrun.

Dustless Ground Pound - You can ground pound instantaneously by charging an egg right before landing, then canceling the charge into a ground pound. Precise timing is needed. While a dustless doesn't have any power, it can be used to uncover hidden fruits from the ground, making it invaluable. Each dustless saves a full second of time.

Glide Toss - A tech that lets you throw an egg without losing any speed. Normally, Yoshi stops moving whenever he throws an egg. By jumping right before he throws it, Yoshi keeps his momentum.

Swallow Cancel - Yoshi's swallow animation can be cancelled by tapping the B button to lick again. Movement is limited while swallowing, so it's preferable to do this. B has to be tapped as lightly as possible to make sure Yoshi's tongue only stays out for a couple frames, because he can't move while his tongue is out.


1-2

This level is short and sweet, pure tech skill with no fancy tricks. You'll see me resetting a lot on 1-2 because the tech can be inconsistent, and wasting even 1 second is too much for the first level. When eating the Super Happy Fruit (SHF), Yoshi's ground pounds turn Shy Guys into fruit, which we use near the end of the room to finish the level quickly. One of the ground pounds also reveals a Power Heart, which is needed to unlock 2-2.


2-2

One of the more technical levels to complete without slowing down. You'll see a lot of precise jumps, licking, and egg throws to grab exactly what I need while maintaining full speed. This is the most consistent level in the run, so I shouldn't be losing any time here.


3-1

This level involves getting to the second room as quickly as possible, then using the SHF to turn all the Shy Guys into fruit. There is randomness involved with them, so there's a chance of getting unlucky and losing time, or not getting enough fruit. The worm platforms have janky collision detection, so my jump patterns are planned out to reduce the chance of me slipping off. The whole first room is vertical so there is a ton of button mashing.


4-1

This non-linear level uses a very innovative strategy to get 30 fruits while only having to transition screens twice. After entering the hut, I have to kill and eat the Shy Guys in a very specific order so that by the time I leave, I've eaten 5 watermelons in a row. Doing this efficiently is extremely precise and depends on the Shy Guys to be on an exact cycle, or the fruits they drop will despawn. A tiny movement error would ruin everything. Once outside the hut, I eat a sixth watermelon to spawn a SHF, which I can use to turn the rest of the Shy Guys into fruit. (Eating six of the same fruit in a row spawns a SHF.) I also need to collect two Power Hearts to unlock 5-3.


5-3

Another dense, tech skill-heavy level with few special tricks. Egg management is important, so I take care to eat my way to six eggs so I don't have to stop at an egg block. You can get 30 fruits very quickly in this level, but you have to collect two Power Hearts to unlock 6-3, so the strategy is to eat only the fruits that don't require you to slow down, and get your 30th fruit immediately after collecting the second Power Heart.


6-3

This level is a race to the tiny ghost room, where you can get a SHF and turn them all into fruit. I need an egg for a dustless ground pound, so I have a maneuver to grab one at the beginning without slowing down much. Like 3-1, there is randomness with the tiny ghosts, so time can be lost. I enter the Bowser fight with 3 eggs, stun locking him while I make my way to the SHF, which gives me infinite eggs and lets me finish him off.