Any%
Route options and benchmark times: Only route: ~1:58
Overview:
- Do the Whirlwind Tour skip (WWT skip)
- Beat most of the level normally: a)kill and be a fox b)cross the river using the boxes and head to the kangaroo c)kill and be the kangaroo d)cross the river using the boxes and head to the vulture e)kill and be a vulture, carry the kangaroo back to where you left the desert fox 3)do a turbo launch to beat the level
Notes on the armed desert fox fight: If WWT skip gets you onto the fox platform, jump out of the camel and right back into it. This will recharge your energy and instantly rotate the cannon to the correct position. You should also rotate your camera to face the foxes so that the cannon doesn't rotate out of position again. Then blast the foxes while making sure the recoil doesn't push you off the platform. If you REALLY need to, you can fast recharge again if you run out of energy. If WWT skip gets you to the opposite shore, but not onto the fox platform. Walk clockwise around the platform to get up to it. As you approach the foxes, hold Z to aim at them, then blast em.
Notes on the kangaroo fight: The optimal kangaroo fight is to climb the peak facing the kangaroo and shoot it a few times (no holding Z). After the 5th or 6th shot, the kangaroo will move forward to attack you. When this happens, run towards the water in the up-left direction. When you reach the water, turn around and shoot the kangaroo while face-tanking punches. The cliff will stop the kangaroo from running away. If you are having problems with the fight, a safe strat is to shoot the kangaroo until it charges you, then run down the cliff to the left. After the kangaroo falls down the cliff, jump back up it and shoot it from there. The kangaroo will not jump up to attack you so you are 100% safe.
Crossing the river as the kangaroo: There are 3 ways to cross the river. First is the slow way where you jump from one shore to the second box, wait for the box to splash, then jump to the third box, wait for the box to splash, then jump to the opposite shore. The second method is the swag jump method where you jump from one shore all the way to the third box, barely making it onto the box and avoiding its splashing effect (this is the swag jump), then jumping from the third box to shore without delay. The third method is the short jumping method where you jump from one shore to the second box, spam A as you land so that you do a short jump to the third box before the splashing effect occurs. The short jump avoids the splashing effect on the third box, so you can do a full jump to the opposite shore without delay. The first method is slow but the swag jump and short jump methods are comparable. Do whichever you prefer.
Notes on the vulture fight: The typical strategy for this fight is to punch one of the vultures off the edge of the cliff, then butt-stomp it as it tries to fly back up. When the vulture is off the cliff, it gets stuck against the wall, so butt-stomping is really easy. Alternatively, it is possible to permanently de-aggro the vultures, but we don't know how to do it.
Techniques
Whirlwind Tour skip: This skip requires camera manipulation to position your turret cannon properly, proper movement before the skip starts so that you start the skip at the right time and location, proper movement during the trick, and then some luck on top of that. This trick may be frustrating at first, but it is absolutely necessary as it saves ~2 minutes, maybe more. You can fail the trick 10 times, maybe 15 times and still save time relative to not doing it. Don't get discouraged! Starting the level, rotate the camera 135 degrees counterclockwise to point towards the nearby corner. Your turret cannon should have stopped rotating before you are able to move. If not, wait until it stopped. Move straight downward briefly, until the middle of the camel crosses the edge of the teleporter, then move straight down-left until you reach the edge of the shadow of the nearby power cell. At this point, rotate the camera 45 clockwise once and immediately start spamming A (while continuing to hold down-left). Right before you hit the opposite shore, switch to holding down on the analog stick. If you are successful in launching yourself upward, change directions to try moving towards the armed desert fox platform. If you miss, you have two recommended options: 1) head back to the entrance teleporter and attempt the exact same setup as described above (remember to wait until your turret cannon has stopped rotating after pointing the camera at the corner) or 2) do Mcill's old setup. Mcill's old setup is to float in the water just to the left of the power cell and aligned with the corner of the shore by the entrance teleporter. Hold Z and aim at the corner of the level near the entrance teleporter, maybe a little to the right of the corner, its not an exact science right now. Let go of Z, wait until you are at the bottom of your floating oscillation, then start moving straight downward while spamming A.
In either scenario, if you succeed, you may end up directly on the armed desert fox platform (best) or on the ground below the platform (worst). It MIGHT be faster to attempt the skip again if you end up below the platform but given how inconsistent the trick is, its best to just walk around until you get up to the foxes (described above). A third possibility is that you land just on the edge of the platform but not quite on top of it. If this happens, don't give up; keep walking in the appropriate direction to make sure you don't fall down and keep shooting cannonballs. Each cannonball should push you up a bit more until you've made it completely onto the platform.
The initial strat we have is pretty good in terms of speed and consistency, but it might not be the best one for you specifically or even in general. If you want to take a crack at your own setups, go for it! Its an SSSV speedrunning ritual to attempt to improve this trick
Turbo launch: As the vulture, place a small animal (eg. armed desert fox) on top of a larger animal (eg. kangaroo), then start flying and push B quickly after. You will grab the large animal, causing the small animal to push into your hitbox and making the game force you upward as a result. The timing for this trick is pretty lenient: you can roll your thumb from A onto B at a pretty casual pace and it will work. There seems to be certain spots where this trick works and certain other spots where it doesn't work. One place were it is confirmed to work in Whirlwind Tour is on the triangle-shaped slope edge right beside where the kangaroo is killed.
