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] [62] 5-3: [63] 5-5: [64] [65] [66] 5-6: [67] [68] 5-7: [69] 5-E: [70]

World 6 6-1: [71] [72] 6-2: [73] [74] 6-3: [75] [76] 6-5: [77] [78] 6-6: [79] [80] [81] 6-7: [82] [83] [84] 6-E: [85] [86] [87]

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 it.

Skipping Bonus Games

Hold > and press B+Y here or a few frames earlier.

There are a few different methods used to skip bonuses:

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. [88] 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, it is a 9 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 this flower.
• This also works with Koopa shells, pokey projectiles and watermelon seeds.
• This is a variant of the Matt bonus skip where you would spit out an enemy then immediately tongue upwards while still on ground, however, this was much less lenient.
• As a backup strat, you could try to do a Zewing without an enemy but it only has a 3 frame window. Unless you only press Y for 3 frames or less, in which case, you can extend this window by 25 extra frames but then you don't really have a good visual cue plus it's pretty unlikely that you'll only press Y for 3 frames or less.
• Here's a few images showing this window and the extended one.

Gif

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. [89]
• This also works with any distance that results in a bonus skip, the main thing is that you have a good visual cue so that it can be done consistently. [90]

Gif

Terrain

• You can use the terrain in a level like a slope, mud, snow or stairs to skip the bonus game. Running on slopes, 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. [91]

Gif

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. [92]

Gif

Bonus Game Timings and Strats

If you alternate mashing A and B near the end of any given bonus, you can exit the game a little bit faster. All timings include mashing.

Flip Cards (W1 & W5)

• 0 Flips - 9.41s (565 frames)
  
• 1 Flip - Lose - 8.51s (511f)
  
• 1 Flip - Win - 13.36s (802f)
  
• If you want try your luck to get a +20 star item, open 1 or 2 cards, otherwise, leave immediately.
• Mashing A and B saves 2.11s (127f). However, if you if you flip 1 card and lose, then it actually saves more; 3.18s (191f).

Scratch and Match (W1 & W4)

• 0 Marios - 23.53s (1412f)
  
• 1 Mario - 24.88s (1493f)
  
• 2 Marios - 25.70s (1542f)
  
• 3 Marios - 28.15s (1689f)
  
• Depending on the scratching animations you get, the bonus may be slightly longer (or shorter). The above timings were calculated using the shortest animations.

• X pattern = 5.48s (329f)

• Diagonal = 5.43s (326f)

• Vertical/Horizontal = 5.08s (305f)

• Mashing saves 2.11s (127f) and 2.21s (133f) if you only win a 1up.

Drawing Lots (W2 & W4)

• Win - 10.10s (606f)
  
• Lose - 10.06s (604f)
  
• Mashing saves 2.11s (127f).

Match Cards (W3 & W6)

• 0 Matches - 25.43s (1526f)
  
• 1 Correct match (+20 stars) - 31.36s (1882f). Since there are 91 possible different combinations, only the fasted match is listed.
  
• Optimal strat: Alternate between the top and bottom right corner cards.

• Press left at the start to get to the bottom right.

• Then press down to get to the top and vice versa.

• 1 Cursor movement takes 0.28s (17f).
• 1 Movement across the middle takes 0.8s (48f).
• Any movement that goes off of the board takes 0.01s (1f) (e.g. pressing left at the start).
• Mashing saves 2.11s (127f).

Egg travel time diagram (in frames)

Diagram 2 (in milliseconds)

Roulette (W3 & W5)

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

Slot Machine (W2 & W6)

• 0 Match - 14.21
  
• 3 Melons/other - 15.38
  
• 3 Cherries - 16.56
  
• 3 7's - 18.78
  
• Optimal strat: Mash hard.
  
• Swag - how to get triple 7 every time [93]

Item Strategies

Bonus Games will always cost you time but some damage can be minimized by being smart with items, at least in 100% speedruns.
Useful items can be won in Flip Cards, Drawing Lots and Match Cards bonuses.

+20 Stars

• This item can be used as a backup in any given level if you get hit, except for boss fights (+10 star items too).
  
• 2-E: using a +20 in this level saves roughly 10 seconds because you'd be able to skip the star gathering room.
  
• 3-E: this level also has a room dedicated solely to gathering stars however, it's not as easy as 2-E and requires a bit of prior knowledge - only go for this strat if you've practiced it before hand.
  

3-4 - Crab Room

In the 3-4 crab room, you have to throw 6 eggs to destroy both of the crabs to get the flower. However, you can use almost any item to destroy the crabs quicker - any of the melons, a POW block or the cloud item.

• The downside: you effectively skip the stars that you would normally get from throwing eggs at the crabs (10-12 stars), which means you'll have to get stars from the first mid-ring (this is normally skipped because there is another mid-ring that cannot be skipped at the end of the level).
• The trade off: you save time from not by not having to throw 6 eggs or refill after leaving the room.
  

This whole strat has not been time intensively (yet), just very roughly, and probably only saves like 1-2 seconds at most, maybe even loses time.