Bonus Skips

Video Demonstrations

World 1 1-1: [1] [2] 1-2: [3] [4] 1-3: [5] [6] 1-5: [7] 1-6: [8] [9] 1-7: [10] [11] [12]

World 2 2-1: [13] 2-2: [14][15] [16] 2-3: [17] [18] 2-5: [19] [20] 2-6: [21] [22] [23] 2-7: [24] [25] 2-E: [26]

World 3 3-1: [27] [28] [29] 3-2: [30] [31] 3-3: [32] [33] 3-5: [34] [35] [36] 3-6: [37] 3-7: [38] [39] 3-E: [40] [41]

World 4 4-1: [42] [43] 4-2: [44] [45] 4-3: [46] [47] [48] 4-5: [49] [50] [51] 4-6: [52] [53] [54] 4-7: [55] [56] 4-E: [57] [58]

World 5 5-1: [59] [60] 5-2: [61] 5-3: [62] 5-5: [63] [64] [65] 5-6: [66] [67] 5-7: [68] 5-E: [69]

World 6 6-1: [70] [71] 6-2: [72] [73] 6-3: [74] [75] 6-5: [76] [77] 6-6: [78] [79] [80] 6-7: [81] [82] [83] 6-E: [84] [85] [86]

Basic Information

1-E Forced Bonus

• There are 42 levels in Yoshi's Island that have goal rings and in a 100% speedrun, there are 41 levels that can result in a bonus game, 1-E being the exception. If you were to get a bonus in 1-E, Poochy's sprite would become glitched due to memory limitations when displaying him and the bonus challenge sprite at the same time. To avoid this, the developers just made getting a bonus impossible.
• Bonuses cost around 10-30 seconds depending on which one you get.
• They're not random and can be reliably skipped in every level, drastically reducing the time of a 100% speedrun.
• Running full speed and jumping into the goal ring will cause the roulette to always land on the bottom left flower. This is because the goal loads in at the same time, every time.
• If you slow down just a little bit before entering the goal ring, you can skip the bonus.
• Conversely, if you speed up via speed oscillation, you can also skip the bonus.

Skipping Bonus Games

Press B+Y+> at this point or a little earlier.

There are a few different methods used to skip bonuses:

The Zewing

• Named after it's creator, the Zewing bonus skip is the most used and practical method. While running at full speed, hold forward and spit out an enemy as you jump into the goal ring. [87] This causes you to slow down just enough to skip the bonus game. Normally, you'd want to release the dpad when you spit out an enemy to avoid losing speed, but here, it works to your advantage. Keep in mind, you have an 11 frame window.
• A good visual cue is when Yoshi's nose is just about to touch the bottom left flower. Using this method, the goal ring should always land on the dot after the bottom left flower.
• This also works with Koopa shells, pokey projectiles and watermelon seeds.
• As a backup strat, if you run out of options, you could try to do a Zewing without an enemy.

Distance

• If you stop at a specific distance from the goal ring, then run and jump into the goal without losing speed, you can skip the bonus. The reason being, you don't have enough time to reach full speed but rather, slightly slower. [88]
• This also works with any distance that results in skipping the bonus, the main thing is that you have a good visual cue so that it can be done consistently. [89]

Terrain

• You can use the terrain in a level, like mud, snow or stairs to skip the bonus game. Running through mud, snow and down stairs slows you down.
• You can also use a moving platform to speed up (speed oscillation) or to just set up a bonus skip. [90]

Pause Buffer

• With Yoshi's nose touching the bottom left flower, you can repeatedly pause and unpause (pause buffering) until the goal ticker is on a dot or between a dot and a flower, then jump into the goal ring. [91]

Timing & Strats

A rough timing of Bonus Games and how much time they lose.

Open 1 Window (W2 & W4)

Open 1 Window (win) - 13.30
Open 1 Window (lose) - 13.47
Optimal Strat: Just open the first window and pray.

Flip Cards (W1 & W5)

Flip Cards (0 Flips) - 11.28
Flip Cards (1 Flip - Lose) - 14.61
Flip Cards (1 Flip - Win) - 17.37
Optimal Strat: If you wanna try your luck to get a +20 open 1 or 2 cards, otherwise leave immediately.

Match Cards (W3 & W6)

Match Cards (0 correct flips - optimal movement) - 29.04
Match Cards (Getting +20) - roughly 36.47 (too many different combinations to test them all)
Optimal Strat: Unless you go for a +20, alternate between top right and bottom right corner (Use up/down to skip the cursor animation, use left in the very beginning to get to the bottom right corner)

Scratch Cards (W1 & W4)

Scratch Cards (0 Marios) - 27.09
Scratch Cards (1 Mario) - 29.20
Scratch Cards (2 Marios) - 30.24
Scratch Cards (3 Marios) - Not tested but more than the others.
Optimal Strat: Not really any strats, but avoid clicking on an already scratched card.

Roulette (W3 & W5)

Roulette (+1) - 18.92
Optimal Strat: Mash hard on the front buttons. DO NOT mash on the D-Pad, you could accidentely increase your stake (pressing down will put ALL your lives on the line, and getting a x3 then would mean getting a nice chunk of lives... takes forever though)

Slots (W2 & W6)

Slots (0 Match) - 14.21
Slots (3 melons/other) - 15.38
Slots (3 cherrys) - 16.56
Slots (777) - 18.78
Swag (How to get triple 7 everytime): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSrePHOehKk#t=2m27s
Optimal Strat: Mash hard.

+20 Stars Strats

Bonus Games are almost always bad, but at least some damage can be minimized by being smart about bonus games/items Getting a +20 Stars Item can actually be kinda OK, if you already got into a bonus game anyway:

• It can save roughly 10 seconds on 2-E
• Can be used as a back-up in whichever level you need it in to get 30 stars, looking at you 3-E... (does not work in boss fights however!)
• If you somehow have 2 of them you could even use the other one on 3-E, since that level also has a room dedicated to getting stars and nothing else (Don't go for this without practice though, it's not as easy as with 2-E and actually needs some looking into it to know how to do it properly)

It really only matters for the following bonus games...

• Open 1 Window: Have a lucky day and get yourself a nice tasty +20. Nothing else to say here (random)
• Flip Cards: If you get +20 on the first flip, you can minimize the time lost overall (semi-random since you can decide to not flip any cards)
• Match Cards: Going for a +20 can be worthwhile here, since it can be faster to get +20 and use it on 2-E (sometimes there is no +20 to get)

3-4 crab room strat using an item

In the 3-4 crab room you have to normally shoot a total of 6 eggs and usually get to a star count of 20-22 doing that. Using an item like Melon, Fire, Ice, POW or the star cloud item, you might be able to save a little bit of time in 3-4. POW & Star Cloud item are faster than the 3 melon items.

Reminder: Since you have to get/play a bonus game for the item, you cant save time doing this, looking at the run as a whole. This is just to minimize damage if you already got a bonus and one of the mentioned items. So might as well use it at that point.

Remember that doing this will skip the stars created from shooting the crabs (If you do the standard speedrun strats for this level anyway), which means you will have to get stars elsewhere, probably having to take the first save ring that is normally skipped. However, time is saved by not having to get new eggs.

This whole strat has not been time intensively, just very roughly, and probably only saves like 1-2 seconds at most, maybe even loses time but in that case: ~ S W A G ~