Fluttering

Extended Flutter

An extended flutter is performed when Yoshi bounces on an enemy, and is able to flutter much higher than normal.

There are three ways to maximize the height gained from an extended flutter:

• Hold jump in advance before bouncing on the enemy (Not holding jump results in a much smaller bounce).
• Release jump and manually initiate the flutter around the apex of the jump, rather than just holding down jump and waiting for it to automatically flutter. Or in other words: Do the extended flutter like you would perform a perfect flutter
• Follow the big flutter up with a second perfect flutter.

Extended flutters are used in many levels to reach otherwise unreachable locations. For example, in 1-1 to skip the beanstalk, or 6-4 to travel over the stone column, skipping the need for a key.

Video (6-4 Key Skip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1qSJ23mQ7k

This video demonstrates an extended flutter, followed by a perfect flutter as part of the route in 6-4.

Perfect Flutter

Normally, a flutter is done simply by pushing jump and holding it down until a flutter begins. This produces a flutter which both comes out later, and does not give Yoshi optimal height. If jump is manually released right as Yoshi begins to fall, and then very quickly repressed (1-3 frames later), Yoshi will perform a flutter which travels a bit higher up. This is used to access several locations otherwise too high for Yoshi to jump to, such as the area above the red switch in 2-4 or traveling over the stone column in 6-4.

Video (2-4 Perfect Flutter): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ldUbaN9tvs

Sustained Flutter

Flutters can be chained indefinitely so that Yoshi does not lose height throughout consecutive flutters (in fact, several pixels of height can actually be gained between flutters). This is used to travel across areas that must be fluttered across to avoid slowing down (such as the water in 3-4), or even to gain even more height than a single perfect flutter.

Video (5-4 Skip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CnmRBnr1gI
Video (6-4 Lava Skip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP2Sxh82sMw

Doing it over a long period of time takes a lot of practice.