Movement

General Information

Sex Stomp

• Tonguing walls is the fastest way to stop and turn around. When there is no wall available, holding down on the dpad briefly is the next fastest way to come to a complete stop to turn around.

• Running off of a ledge causes Yoshi to fall at max speed, thus, the quickest way to fall down from an area is not to jump like in other games, but to simply run off of the ledge.

• Jumping off of slopes as Super Baby Mario gives you a speed boost. Also, facing the opposite direction you want to move, when jumping into a Mario star, gives you a speed boost (if you want to go left, face right as you jump into the star).

• The quickest way to move up stairs is to walk along them for a split second and then jump. Jumping too quickly results in Yoshi losing a significant amount of speed.

• Jumping on snow and ice is the fastest way to accelerate to full speed. If you run on ice while at full speed, you'll run slightly faster than normal, whereas snow always slows you down.

• Swallowing enemies or tonguing while fluttering should be done as soon as the leg kicking animation starts to avoid any slowdown. The end of the flutter provides acceleration, which tonguing and making eggs would cancel out.

• Ground pounding while travelling up towards a door will save 2 frames if you get a 1st frame door entry. This is because you're entering the door during the ground pound animation rather than after landing and then entering. This is known as the sex stomp.

• If you shoot a winged cloud and then enter a locked door right after, you'll enter the door 32 frames earlier because the door-unlocking animation is skipped due to the winged cloud being hit. This can be seen in 2-4 100% [1] and 4-4 Any%. [2]

• Entering the bottom of the goal ring saves a small amount of time over hitting the middle or top of the ring. This is due to Baby Mario being caught by the next yoshi sooner. The difference between the very bottom and the peak height of a jump is 10 frames. [3]

Avoiding Slopes

• Avoiding slopes is one of the keys to having good movement in this game. Just about every slope is slower to run across than flat terrain. For this reason, it is very often preferable to jump over slopes than to walk across them. The only exception to this rule is speed oscillation.
  

• If a slope is unavoidable, the slowdown can often be minimized by jumping off of the slope as soon as possible and in the case of a perfect jump the slope won't even slow Yoshi down at all.

Here is a quick tutorial by Trix where he talks about avoiding slopes. [4]

Perfect Jump

Perfect Jump 1-2 Skip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZZVR3fmMmQ

• Perfect jumps are performed by jumping on the first possible frame as Yoshi lands on the ground. These jumps produce several interesting effects, most notably, the game does not register Yoshi as having landed on the ground. This is often used in conjunction with an extended flutter. Whenever Yoshi bounces on an enemy, he gets a much longer and higher flutter that can be used to reach high areas. However, the flutter must be initiated before landing on the ground or else it is canceled. (e.g. you must use an extended flutter immediately after bouncing on an enemy). This cancellation can be avoided by using a perfect jump, as the game never registers Yoshi as having touched the ground. This is seen in the 1-2 skip, which the video demonstrates.

• First, it is shown that simply bouncing on a shyguy does not give enough height to reach the cliff. Second, a shyguy bounce, followed by a failed perfect jump fails to give an extended flutter. Finally, the perfect jump is executed, granting an extended flutter, even after jumping off of the post, giving enough height to reach the cliff and complete the level.

• A perfect jump can be used to skip an autoscroller in 6-5. The basic premise of this skip is that a perfect jump won't allow the screen to scroll up because the game doesn't register Yoshi as having touched the ground.

• You can also use the help box in 1-1 100% to reach the top area via perfect jump and an extended flutter from the shy guy. [5]

Tonguing

Tonguing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYlk5Ual64w

• Using Yoshi's tongue normally slows Yoshi down. This can be avoided by only tonguing while in the air and releasing the dpad after initiating the tongue. You can resume directional inputs after Yoshi's tongue is almost fully retracted back into his mouth.

• Continuing to hold forward while tonguing reduces Yoshi's speed by half.

• Holding Y longer makes Yoshi's tongue longer.

Regarding the video:
The first 4 tongues are performed while holding forward the entire time, then the rest are performed while the dpad is released.

Making Eggs

Making Eggs: https://youtu.be/OpZEqWm9JmI

Egg Making Tutorial: https://youtu.be/QLVtL6_Dtmk?t=1m34s

• If Yoshi swallows an enemy on the ground, he almost comes to a complete stop. Therefore, all eggs should be made in the air, whenever possible.

• As with tonguing, holding any direction during the egg-making animation will cause Yoshi to slow down to half speed.

• The optimal way to make eggs is to:

1. Tongue an enemy.

2. While traveling at max speed, jump.

3. While in the air, let go of the dpad and tap down for as little time as possible.

4. Continue holding jump so that you do not land until the egg-making animation is finished (still not holding any directional input).

5. Resume holding forward when the egg-making animation ends.

In the top video:
The first egg is made on the ground, resulting in a complete stop. Then, 4 eggs are made while holding forward. As you can see, Yoshi's speed is drastically reduced. Finally, the last 3 eggs are made using the method described above, where the dpad is released during the egg-making animation. Full speed is retained using this method.
The tutorial also explains the same thing, as well as avoiding slopes.

Ground Pound

File:Ground pound example.gif

4-5 Extended Flutter to Ground Pound

• A ground pound causes Yoshi to fall 2 times faster than normal, however, the ground pound takes 37 frames to do (8 frames to start it, 22 to do the animation and 7 to land). Doing a ground pound also reduces Yoshi's speed to 0 so it's preferable to only do them when necessary.

• Even though a ground pound takes 37 frames in total, you still have to fall to the ground and then start accelerating after landing, so there's not too many places where it's actually faster. One example though, is in 2-8. [6]

• Ground pounding into pipes can also skip the landing animation, though you would want to do a pipe jump to save the most time.

• As stated above in the general movement section, doing a ground pound just before you enter a door from below will save 2 frames (and it looks cool).

• There are a couple other uses of the ground pound like the blast off trick at the end of the Hookbill boss fight and the stompception trick.[7]

Speed Oscillation

Slope Speed Oscillation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GROO2V8Uuf4

• It is possible to gain a very slightly higher than normal running speed by jumping off of a slope. This can be used to skip certain bonus games in 100%, such as the one in 1-3 or 2-2. [8]

• Important Note: There is a 1 in 3 chance of losing the higher speed when jumping off of a slope!

• For Any%, speed oscillation isn't something to worry about, as you always want to jump over slopes anyway. It's not worth jumping off of a slope to get a higher speed when the slope could be avoided completely, since the time lost by touching the slope would be greater than the time saved by the higher speed. The exception to this is when the slope is unavoidable, like at the end of 2-2, in which case, it's best to stay on the ground and not jump, to potentially save a frame or two. [9]