(NOTE: Speedrun.com doesn't seem to embed images, so if you want to see them, you can look at the guide on Google Drive here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JRTIGTCbCLMr4EbHvtlwwym__RBjahLXWQBL7sFAjwo/edit?usp=sharing)

This WIP document will serve as a temporary guide to the route until I can make a video series detailing it properly, but I will attempt to explain it as best as I can. This guide assumes that you know how the game works, and you’ve beaten the game before, so you know casually how to play the game and what needs to be done to beat it. First notes: • Text boxes/messages – there is a LOT of these in the game, in every single level. So, to simplify things, whenever a text box appears that isn’t triggered by objectives or isn’t skippable (to my knowledge), I will put in a message - TEXT BOX to indicate it. • Text skipping – Following on from text boxes, it’s important to mention how to skip past them as fast as possible, by mashing the A button whenever they’re up. In addition, when there’s a text box that has multiple messages in it, the entire set of messages can be skipped at once by mashing the A button on the first message fast enough. There’s a small window in which this works (about a second long), but it’s small enough to be missed if you don’t button mash through it. • Tutorials – the tutorials between each stage can be skipped when in them by pausing, then pressing the X button. Remember to do this, skipping these stages saves a lot of time. • Ledge grabs – Most times, ledge grabs and rope grabs are slow, slower than nearly all other movement. Unless you really need to, try to avoid doing any edge grabs. • Money – Not overly important, the money gained by the end-of-level conversions is enough for the items you need, but just make sure that you collect enough for that. Time controls give the most money for Time Sweepers (100g per control), and remaining ammo gives the most for the Tom Toms (Cash varies on the weapon and remaining ammo). • Cat & Pig medals – Avoid grabbing these whenever possible, whenever one is picked up, you’ll have to watch a little cutscene of them being added to your collection at the end of the stage. Avoid this.

Time Sweepers 1: Mission 1: Begin by running forwards and sweeping up any trash. Jump up the slope to get to the top. TEXT BOX. Defeat the two time monsters and get a Pause. Activate the Pause, then complete the puzzle in the water. • Note – don’t jump in the water beforehand, OR run up the slope nearby – both trigger text boxes. Once the puzzle is complete, run to the right of the elevated area and jump up the side to avoid a text box. Advance forward, sweep up more trash in your path and ignore the next time monsters. TEXT BOX. Jump down the level and shoot the Tom Tom turrets, and collect the key from them. Jump down to the lower floor and move to the door. When the Reactive triggers, use a Pause and run to the door. Unlock the door to the next stage. There’s also one more TEXT BOX for the Cat Medal. Mission 2: First of all, avoid moving forward. Turn to the right, and run towards the bombs. Avoid the ones on the left. Sweep up the bombs and perform the “Switch Skip”. • Switch skip – This is a slightly tricky skip – the aim is to activate the cutscene of the time monsters smashing the barrier and the cutscene of activating the switch at the same time. To do this, starting from the nearby bombs, you’ll need to approach the switch on the left side, the side facing the door and the time monsters, and press the B button at just the right time. o For these switches, you’re ‘locked’ into activating them when the B button is pressed. This is kind of the point – you want to cross the threshold of where the time monster cutscene activates via this ‘locked’ action. • If successful, the cutscene of the time monsters should activate, but then be suddenly interrupted by the one of the door opening. • This is rather tricky, so practice a bit to get the positioning down correctly. Either way, after the door is open, turn around and sweep up another two bombs (they should be respawned by now) and run through the door. When the Reactive prompts up from the cannon, use a Pause, and run to the bridge as fast as you can, and sweep up the bomb. This will prevent the bridge being blown up. Ignore the time monsters, and run into the building to the left. (There’s a TEXT BOX here from the cannon) Inside are Kerofish time monsters, two of which hold large batteries that you need to complete the stage. However, the two Kerofish that have the batteries are completely random. So, you’ll need to defeat them all to find out which ones have the batteries. • If the batteries are obtained at the entrance of the building (If the first Kerofishes have the batteries), then simply turn around and run back the way you came to get to the helicopter. • If the batteries were obtained at the end, run to the end of the building and climb up the building, but ignore the puzzle and jump around to the right, and drop down to the bridge from above. Run to the helicopter at the start of the Mission to complete it and move on to the Boss. Boss: The Stone Guardian boss is why you want to play the game on Easy difficulty instead of Normal. On Easy, the Stone Guardian takes 2 cycles to defeat, instead of 3 on Normal. Each cycle takes two bombs to deal damage – 1 at the legs to knock him down, 1 at the core for damage. There’s no real trick to this, just run to the right to grab some bombs and shoot them. There is one minor trick to slightly speed up the fight – right as the Stone Guardian falls over, dummy-fire a bomb at the core just right before you can lock-on to the core. If fired at the right time, you can deal damage right as the hitbox becomes active. Saves maybe a few seconds, but it’s a time save. End: Jump to the right, then run to the goal gate.

  Tom Toms 1: Note: I’m not going to include pre-stage stuff UNLESS it’s part of the route, so unless mentioned, go and do the tutorial skips and enter the stage.

Mission 1: Head over to where the lasers are. TEXT BOX. Now, instead of crawling under the lasers, you can jump on the crates to the left and crawl under only one set of lasers. Alternatively, you can crawl under the first laser, then jump over the next two, but it’s a bit riskier, you don’t want to trigger the alarm just yet. TEXT BOX, then smash the crate in front of you to pick up the Subspace Dive Space Control, you’ll need it for the end of the level. TEXT BOX, then jump onto the crate and shoot the Guard Sweeper with the slingshot to put him to sleep, then nab his key. Run to the right and begin pushing the block. As soon as you hit the TEXT BOX, stop pushing the block and jump over it, to the right. TEXT BOX, then unlock the door for another TEXT BOX. Now, the safe’s reels are completely random, so there’s no real way to get through it fast. Just aim for the unlocks and hit them when they come. When opened, collect the Time Grenades and the map to clear the mission.

Mission 2: Run back through the door. TEXT BOX, then jump up onto the crate pushed earlier. TEXT BOX, then jump to the upper level. Run through the door when it opens. If you’re unsure of attracting the guard’s attention, then use a Time Grenade, but it’s not needed. Continue through to the next room. TEXT BOX, then there’s a little trick here to skip this section. From the edge where the nearby box (Which contains a Slingshot), it’s possible to jump over to the left and to the upper level without passing by the camera, skipping at least two text boxes. Now, the next part is rather important and tricky to do correctly. When you crawl along the wall here, you want to actually trigger the second laser, in order to setup for a cutscene skip later. The guard that appears on the right should fall off the edge, while, more importantly, the guard on the left should detect you, but don’t worry, they shouldn’t be able to hit you. Now, from this point, you want to move fast. One final TEXT BOX here, and Mission 2 is done.

Mission 3: This part you need to move fast. Mast as fast as you can through the first TEXT BOX, run up the slope, and mash through the text TEXT BOX. The moment it’s clear, throw a Time Grenade. The timing for this is that the grenade needs to activate BEFORE you hear the voice prompt of the guard that noticed you before triggers to say it lost sight of you. If you hear the voice prompt before the Time Grenade activates, then you were too slow. When the grenade activates, quickly run through the plaza over to the other side. You can get to the next area by jumping on to the crates in the gap, then across to the next area. It’s around here where the Time Grenade should wear off. Jump onto the container and target the Guard Sweeper on the right-hand side with the slingshot, to make him drop the key. Quickly pick up the key and jump over the next crate before the other guard spots you. TEXT BOX, then unlock the door and head inside. TEXT BOX. There’s a small puzzle here, but the solution is simple, just flip the switches on the right and left. One more TEXT BOX, then run outside and crawl through the hole.

Mission 4: Now, immediately, if the manipulation of the Guard Sweeper in Missions 2 & 3 were successful, then the “detected” alarm music should be playing here. You need to move fast before it stops. Button mash through the TEXT BOX, then run behind the guards to sneak by them. Run through the door. TEXT BOX, then crawl under the laser trap. Now, if everything was done correctly, there should be no text boxes when flipping the switch. So flip the switch and open the treasure box. • Note – opening treasure boxes is slow, so the faster way to open them is to punch them. Since the button for punching and for activating objects is both B, the most consistent method for punching chests open is to jump first, then punch while in the air. This should trigger a mid-air punch that opens chests consistently. Pick up the parts from the treasure chest. There’s another cutscene here that tells you to escape, but if the cutscene skip was pulled off, then it won’t appear. Either way, turn around and head back to the goal gate. Now, when you get spotted by the Guard Sweepers in the plaza ahead (not the ones by the door you just exited from), use a Subspace Dive and move around them to get to the goal gate. You should have just the right amount of oxygen to make it there.

Boss: Now, instead of a boss battle, we have a Team Battle here, in which you must defeat a team of Time Sweepers instead. The problem is that you – and the rest of your team – are only equipped with Slingshots, which don’t damage enemies. You have to first run and find other weapons first before you can fight. All the weapon and ammo drops are random, so this here is the first major RNG point of the run. The weapons that you WANT are: • Crossbow – Undoubtedly the best weapon, as it one-shots all Time Sweepers in any Team Battle. The only drawback is that is has very low ammo, with a maximum of two shots. • Bazooka (BAZ 006) – Second-best weapon. One-shots Time Sweepers in the first Team Battle, two-shots them in the rest. Still the best damage output of the weapons nonetheless, second only to the Crossbow. Also has splash damage, which can help take out multiple foes. After those, some good weapons to get are: • Ray Gun (G300 RAY) – A decent damage output with good ammo capacity. If you can’t find a crossbow or a bazooka, this is a good alternative. • Sniper Rifle (Winterfield) – Normally, the sniper rifle does only moderate damage. However, you can pull off a headshot with it for an instant kill. Not common with the lock-on targeting, but happens sometimes. You also have a better chance to headshot if you jump above your enemy and shoot from above. • Hammer – This weapon can one-shot enemies, but the downsides are that it’s melee ranged, has a long windup, and it disappears after use. Good if you can’t get anything else, but I wouldn’t use it that much. All of the other weapons after those aren’t as good as the default pistol (PiG-38, we’ll get it later) that you have. A higher rate of fire won’t help if the first shot triggers I-frames, or if the weapon’s auto-homing is shit (like the SAM-440. Don’t get it if you can help it.). But since you’ll be trying to go fast in these fights, don’t be too picky about what comes up. Keep switching up weapons when you find better ones, and don’t hesitate to drop a crossbow if you’re out of ammo and there’s a perfectly good bazooka nearby. If you’re in a pinch, use some Space Controls. The Black Hole and Void Trap can kill some enemies, but don’t rely on them. Weapons are much faster, and sometimes the Space Controls won’t completely kill an enemy. Now that’s out of the way, for the first Team Fight, the first two Time Sweepers will be to your right. Look around your starting location for some weapons and pick one up. Head over to the right and take out the Time Sweepers there, then turn around and head to the left. The next two Time Sweepers should be on the beach over to the left. Head down there and take them out. Occasionally, one of the Time Sweepers can get caught on a piece of the terrain in the centre building area. Pay attention to your minimap to see where the Time Sweepers are in case this happens.

  Time Sweepers 2: First, from now on, for both Time Sweepers and Tom Toms, you have to do a ‘Rank Up Exam’ to play the next stage. These are just more tutorials, and they can be skipped the same. Just head to the shop, select ‘Talk to Jimmy/Carlos’, and select ‘Rank Up Exam’. After they’re done, just head to the appropriate level gate to get going.

Mission 1: There’s two different goals for this stage – press the switches or break the statues. For this route, we’re going to press the switches, so don’t bother with the statues. Go through the first few TEXT BOXes, and cross the bridge. TEXT BOX. Pick up some ammo, and jump over the boulder path. There’s a text box that you can trigger if you move over to the door over to the right, so don’t go there. Shoot the two nearby Octoballons, and pick up at least two Rewinds from them. Once you have them, go back to the boulder path, and use a Rewind. Specifically, you want to run past a boulder, then trigger it to have the boulder push you up the path quickly. You’ll be damaged, but it’s a fast damage boost, so it’s worth it. You should be pushed to where the button is, so press the button. TEXT BOX, then run down the boulder slope and head to the door. Before you head through the door, make sure you hug the left side of the wall, so that only the pillars on the left fall down. You want the pillars on the right to remain upright. Shoot the Octoballon and pick up a Pause from him. TEXT BOX, then use the Pause to kill the other bouncing Time Monster. Pick up his Time Crystals for another Pause, and some additional ammo during the remainder of the Time Control’s duration, then activate the button. Another TEXT BOX, then run up the slope to the top. Now, if you didn’t make the pillars collapse, you can jump on them to avoid doing a ledge grab, which is slower. Activate a Pause on the second pillar – if you jump up to the arrow trap beforehand, you’ll activate another text box. Break through the arrows during the Pause, and run into the Slot Machine room. Shoot the Time Monster if it’s there, then press the button in the left corner. That opens a door, but we don’t care about it – we’re just adding the button press to our tally. If the Time Monster appears now, shoot it to get it out of your way, but ignore the crystals it drops, you don’t need them. Instead, run in the direction of the bridge, but not too close – you’ll trigger a text box. Instead, jump up the slope to the Slot Machine’s right-hand-side, and press the other button there. This triggers a bomb trap, but again, we’re just adding the button press to our tally. Turn around and run back, but before you drop down, activate a Rewind to restore the bridge. Do it early, or you’ll activate a text box. Run onto the bridge, and press the button on it (You can press it during the Rewind, you just have to stand on it for a bit longer, and the effects will only occur after the Rewind finishes.), then run to the other side, and ledge-climb to the next room. You can jump some of the distance, but that is risky. I wouldn’t recommend it. Next is the rotating fan room. Go to the right and shoot the Octoballon to get rid of it, and press the nearby button. Jump across the gap to the newly-opened room, shoot the Time Monster, and press the button in there. If you did this correctly, then that should be the last button required, triggering a TEXT BOX. Run back to the fan, use a Pause, and run across it to get to the goal.

Mission 2: Now we get to some good stuff. First, there’s a bit of dialogue accompanied by some TEXT BOXes, and a Reactive. For this Reactive, use a Slow. This will make the Rewind crystals come closer to you, instead of going around the room to collect them. They should be to your left when you start. So as the game says, grab the Rewind, use it, and after a handful more of TEXT BOXes, flip the switch, go through more TEXT BOXes, then climb up the pillars to get to the next room. One last TEXT BOX, then the next room. Now, if you’re unsure about performing this trick, you can shoot the Octoballon to your left and get a Pause from it in order to run past the moving wall + arrow trap. It takes two hits to kill, but it is safer. Now, for this trick, you can get past the moving wall and arrow trap without using a Pause. First, jump onto the bit of floor right before the two. Make sure you keep to the side, as jumping in the middle will trigger a text box. Keeping to the right-hand-side, start running up the slope the moment it starts moving back after being out. Now this part is tricky – you need to run far enough so you’re close enough to jump up and edge-grab the top of the moving platform when it pushes out again. Doing this will let you remain on the slope, and let you run the rest of the way to the top. Now to get past the arrow trap – you can jump over it with a precise jump. Jump on top of the moving wall, and use it to jump over the arrow trap. It’s a tight jump, but if you miss it, you can just damage-boost your way through during invincibility frames. In the next room, you need to activate the Slow panels. First, shoot the Octoballon to get a Slow from it (while also triggering a TEXT BOX), and then use the Slow to activate the panels. Shoot the other two bouncing Time Monsters during it, and pick up a Pause from the dropped crystals, as well as additional ammo. In the next room, use a Pause when the moving wall is open, BEFORE you cross the gap. If you move past the bronze coins on the side, then you’ll trigger a Reactive Cannon, and using the Reactive Pause is extremely unreliable. So use a manual Pause to get past both. At the top of the slope, after the Pause, there’s two TEXT BOXes, however, you want to specifically trigger the SECOND one (The one that says “You can’t open the door, so jump over the wall”). After that specific text box, this will trigger the spawning of a specific Octoballon that you want to kill for a Fast Forward Time Control. Collect it, then use the nearby bounce pad to get to the top tower, and line yourself up with the building to the right (Where the conveniently placed FF Ring is, between you and your target destination), and use a Fast Forward to jump over to it. Jump onto the top of the tower, and press the switch to spawn the second switch. Now, jump back over the wall, and back to the same Time Monster – it should spawn again, so defeat it again to get another Fast Forward. Jump back up to the top of the tower again, and use the Fast Forward to jump to the wall in the middle. Now, run across the wall to the left, then, when you’re close enough, jump over to the tower with the switch, and jump to the top. Press the switch at the top. The platforms should lower, so move forward and drop down. This should lead down to an overhang above the Goal Gate, but make sure that you DON’T pick up the Cat Medal in front of you, so jump around it and down into the Goal Gate.

Boss: The first Time Sweeper-based RNG part; the Giant Mandrake is easy in theory, but difficult to do fast. In order to beat the boss, you need to:

1. Gather trash that it fires at you
2. Shoot its mouth to make it drop Rewind crystals
3. Use the Rewind to make the Mandrake shrink into fragments
4. Destroy the fragments to beat the boss It’s simple to do this, but hard to do fast. To progress fast, the best thing to do is first wait until you gather three pieces of trash. When you get three, attack the mouth on the next boss’s attack. The Rewind crystals that drop scatter randomly, so it can be difficult to gather them all. Your aim is to at least gather 2 Rewinds. The problem is, the moment that you obtain the first Rewind, the boss will slam the ground, sending a shockwave that destroys all the other Time Crystals and junk on the ground. So the aim is to find a group of crystals that are close to each other, so you can gather two Rewinds at once, or at least as many as you can. After using a Rewind, run to the centre of the arena to get close to the moving fragments. The melee attack is the best form of taking out the fragments, but there is a damage limit to how many fragments you can take out, making the fight last for at least three cycles minimum. The defeated fragments also drop other Time Crystals, you might want to pick up a Pause or Slow for backup. Once you get to the last cycle and there’s only a few fragments left, it might be difficult to hit the last few fragments, so using whatever ammo you may have in addition to your Time Controls is best in the last phase, as the fragments can move rather erratically. There’s one more TEXT BOX (or cutscene) after the boss is dead. End: There’s another cutscene/TEXT BOX here, but then just jump forward, up the block and into the Goal Gate.

  Tom Toms 2: Note: From this moment forward, after the tutorial, your Slingshot weapon is replaced with an actual weapon, a pistol (PiG-38). So we can actually damage stuff now. Keep it in mind.

Mission 1: First, run to the left and crawl into the hole to get inside. When you get inside, there’s a cutscene that shows the path being blocked. When it’s done, immediately run to the other side and shoot the Guard Sweeper, then press the switch again. Run back and through the newly opened path. You have to jump up some stairs and crawl through some holes to progress. Try to crawl as little as possible, as crawling is slow. When you get to the room with the Time Monsters, move over to the left and move across the ledge to get to the other side, where the puzzle is. There’s a TEXT BOX here that explains the puzzle, which is a moving block/light beam puzzle. Solving the puzzle gives you a golden cat statue, which is one possible solution to a puzzle later in the level. There’s two possible routes here:

1. If you want to solve the puzzle, push both blocks so that the light beam shines on the mirror, so it gives you the gold statue. Then, push the block on the left onto the switch to open the bridge. In the next room, there’s three guards in there, two of which have alarms but don’t move, and another that walks around the room but doesn’t have an alarm. A TEXT BOX will show up when you enter the room. There’s stairs to the immediate right, and while the guards can’t detect you when their lights aren’t on, you can still jump up the stairs if you move quickly enough without getting detected. So move up the stairs and move behind the stone head. When the three guards are lined up, push the head to take out all three at once. There’s a TEXT BOX after the head is pushed. If you want to, you can run to the smashed wall behind the guards, and pick up some Time Grenades in a crate. After, run through the opened door to the next area. If you need it, there’s a crate that has a piece of meat if you need health. Next, there’s a spike trap with a nearby switch. If you press the switch, the spikes will stop moving. This is accompanied by a TEXT BOX. If you want to, you can press the button, then throw a Time Grenade, then cross the spikes, or you can just try to force your way through. After that, there’ll be a TEXT BOX that shows the scale button. Drop the statue bag on it to end the mission.
2. You can ignore the puzzle entirely, and just press the button to continue. When you get to the next room, jump up the stairs to the right. At the back, there’s a gap at the right. You can jump over the gap and reach the next room without pushing the stone head. In the next room, it’s best to time your jump through the spikes when they’re lowered. Next, you need to gather the three gold bars at the left and right sides of the room. On the left, there’s two chests that have bars in them. There’s a TEXT BOX here showing the chests. Move over there and open them both. (Around here, there’s another TEXT BOX here about the stone head in the previous room.) Once you have both gold bars, put the combined bag on the end of bridge, then press the switch on the wall. Go grab the bag, the bring it to the scale. There’s a TEXT BOX when you bring the bag over. On the right side, there’s another TEXT BOX when you approach it. You’re meant to ledge crawl to get to the other side, but it’s possible to jump the gap to the spot in the middle. Move over and open the chest. There’s another TEXT BOX x2 here, one for the box and one for opening all three boxes. Grab the bar and place it on the platform in the middle, the press the switch. Jump to the platform, grab the bag and move to the scale. One more TEXT BOX, then put the bag with the other one on the scale to end the mission.
3. (NEW REVISION) The fastest route through this section is via the statue route. What you need to do, is when entering into the mirror room, run on the right-hand side of the pit to get to the mirror, and push it down the track. Move to the other mirror and push it down into the light beam to reveal the cat statue, then push that same block back to reveal the bridge. Pick up the statue, but drop it right before the bridge. Run across it, and skip past the guard room by jumping over the gap in the back, then go and press the nearby switch in the wall to raise the nearby steps, letting you grab the cat statue again. Grab it, jump back up the stairs, and cross the trap to get to the scale.

Mission 2: You want to try and move quickly for this part, as there’s some guard cycles that will make this section a bit easier. Now, we have a block-pushing puzzle that we’re required to do. Move into the next room and run to the right. You need to direct the beam of light into the statue. Personally, I like to work backwards for this puzzle, but the solution is- • Move the first mirror into the beam of light. • In the next block set, push the block towards the wall, then push the mirror to the centre and then upwards. • In the third block set, push the mirror towards the wall, and the block out of the way, towards the centre of the room. • Push the final mirror into place. If done right, the Time Control Neutralizer will appear at the bottom of the statue. Exit the room for a TEXT BOX and walk off the immediate ledge. Turn to the left and go over to the switch, then press it in to move the lifts. Drop back down into the bottom of the room and run right behind the guard to get the Time Control Neutralizer.

Mission 3: Immediately move forward and place the bag on the lift in front of you, then climb up and press the switch again. Pick up the bag and continue on the path, around the room to get to the next lift. Put the bag down and press the lift button again, then go back to the bag, pick it up, and continue. Move up the slope for another TEXT BOX, then continue. There’s another TEXT BOX when you reach the top, telling you to watch out for falling rocks. If you time it right, you can cross over the spike trap without getting hit, or if you did the Statue method for the scale before, you can drop the bag you’re holding, step on the trap switch, and use a Time Grenade to halt the trap (I do recommend trying to get through just by timing it, it’s much faster). After the spike trap, take the bag and just jump down the ledge to the floor below. Move to the area where the block was lowered and take that path again, but when you get to the crawl tunnel, instead jump up the steps to the right to get out and to the goal gate.

Boss: Now, we have another Team Fight for our boss. There’s a total of 8 enemies to defeat here, all spread around the arena. Three of them will be at the centre of the arena patrolling around the place, close to where you start. Another three are stationary on elevated blocks on the centre of the arena, needing you to climb the blocks to reach them, and the final two are on the opposite ends of the arena, in the alleyways on the side. By this point of the game, your team is already equipped with proper weapons capable of dealing damage, so you’re not required to find weapons to defeat your enemies. Still, despite this, finding more powerful weapons is key for a faster time. As before, the best things to find are the Crossbow and the Bazooka, with the Ray Gun and the Sniper Rifle being good alternatives. Always be on the lookout for better weapons and more ammo. For the enemies, move forwards to find a few of the Time Sweepers, and take them out. After the enemies in the immediate area, take out the enemies on the elevated blocks in the arena. Keep an eye on your radar to help in locating where the enemies are. When there is only two enemies left, run to one side of the arena’s alleyways then the other to take out the last two enemies. Be aware that when fighting the Time Sweepers, they may try to use Time Controls on you. They can either use a Pause or a Slow randomly. When it happens for the first time, a TEXT BOX will inform you to use your newly-acquired Time Control Neutraliser by waggling the left thumbstick to break out of it. This can only happen when one of the Time Sweepers is in combat with you or your teammates.

  Tom Toms 3:

Mission 1: Be wary, in this stage, we have ice physics to deal with. The ice can boost your maximum speed when sliding across it, without jumping, but it can be difficult to turn, making it easy to slip off a cliff or other, and can also stun you if you bonk into a wall at high speed. Be cautious. Also, this level is the run killer of the game. Be wary, and be prepared to fail a lot. Immediately off the bat, we’re going to do a difficult jump to skip a portion of the level. Start climbing up the steps to the side, staying to the side. Normally, you’re supposed to use the cannon to clear the path to continue. If you’re new, it might be better to take the normal route, as this trick is difficult. If you’re taking the jump, keep to the right as you move forward, climb up the ice and move over to the pole nearby, and climb up it. There’s a Pig Medal here, but we don’t care for it, so don’t pick it up. Instead, you need to stand right about here:

Make sure you’re right up next to the wall. A tip for positioning yourself on the ice is that you can completely stop your movement by jumping and letting go of any movement. You won’t slide when you land, so use that to stop sliding. When you’re in position, turn to the left and face towards here (Use the First-Person view to help):

You want to be looking just to the side of the Crow’s Nest for the best angle. If you’re at the right angle, with the camera facing in this direction, go back to Third Person camera, and run forward. The moment you reach the end, jump directly forward, then delay your double jump just slightly to give you enough distance to reach the end. If done correctly, you should end up here, just on the one point where the platform sticks out:

This is not an easy trick, by normal means. Don’t be surprised if you miss the jump a few times. If you have trouble performing this trick, runner Shady_ has a tutorial for this specific trick here: If you’re taking the normal route, then there will be a TEXT BOX when you get close to the cannon. Flip the switch to clear the path and trigger another TEXT BOX as well. Continue forward for another TEXT BOX introducing you to the new Time Monster, the skeleton. (TIP: It might be advisable to shoot and kill at least one of these Time Monsters, as another text box will appear if you just avoid them for a while. However, you can also skip this text box if you get to the next checkpoint before it appears.) After this area, you have to jump across a few ice platforms to get to the next area. It might be tricky due to the ice physics, but a tip here is that the green spots on the floor are safe areas where you won’t slide on. Stand there for a more precise jump. In the next room, there’s some more Time Monsters, but ignore them and just climb up the pole on the left to get to the next area. There’s a checkpoint and another TEXT BOX here telling you to use the cannons again to clear the path, but we only need to use one. Run across the bridge. (NOTE: If you used the jump skip at the start, you’ll be right here.) Move just around to the edge of the ice, then jump over and around the ice to the other end. Run over to the cannon and shoot it to clear the path. (NOTE: If you DIDN’T take the jump skip, there will be another skeleton here. Not a threat per se, but it’s something to mention.) Turn around and go back, jump around the ice again, across the bridge and head right, past the cannon and up to the next part. Now we get to the REALLY tricky parts. There’s a TEXT BOX here indicating the rope and the ice blasts here. Now there’s two ways to go past here; the slower and safer option of climbing the ropes, or the faster and more dangerous method of jumping on top of and running across the rope. Climbing across the rope is the easier method, but it is a lot slower, as the cliffhanger movement is very slow, plus, if you are frozen by the ice jets, you will be stuck in place and will take some time to get out of it (Enough time that you CAN’T brute force it – I’ve tried. It takes the same amount of time – often more – than just waiting.). Running across the rope is more difficult, as the rope is very thin to stand on and can be difficult to get on the rope to begin with, as you can easily slip off. Plus, with the rope being so thin, you can easily fall off into the water below, requiring you to restart. The benefits, however, is that you can easily move at full speed across it, plus you can’t get hit by the ice vents. When you get to the island in the middle, drop down and jump over to the nearby crate. Don’t go too far across, or you’ll trigger a text box. Break it open for some Time Grenades. Get back on the rope and continue. If you’re running across the rope here, DON’T JUMP. If you do, the camera will move on its own, which will change your jump angle, most likely making you fall. There’s a TEXT BOX here about the Time Bubble around the cannon, but ignore it. Go up the pole for the next rope. This rope is very dangerous if you try to run across it. It’s very much possible, but not easy. I find it much more difficult to both get on and stay on this rope, and, unlike the previous rope, if you were to fall off, instead of dying and restarting right back at the rope, you’ll land right back at the beginning of the level, wasting SO MUCH TIME. So, if you try to cross this one, be cautious and practice it a lot. Also, it might help to shoot the nearby Octoballon as well before you start. Whether you cross or climb the rope, at the end, there will be another box. Break it open to get some Warp Tunnels. Now, there’s one more rope to cross. It’s rather hard to get on top of this rope, and again, if you fall, you’ll be back to the start of the stage. So practice it if you’re going for it. After this rope, you’ll see another TEXT BOX regarding the Time Bubble. Throw a Time Grenade and punch the Bubble to destroy it. Do it quick to avoid a text box. There’s a short cutscene showing the tank being freed. Move ahead over to the tank and run through the lasers to get the switch (Don’t worry about the alarm, these just drop bombs over the area.) Flip it to finish the mission.

Mission 2: Jump down the fireman pole, it’s faster than climbing. When you land, you’ll see a TEXT BOX showing the light switch. • Note: There’s a box here that contains a piece of meat if you need some health. Move over to the next area. To your left is a light switch for the next area. • The light switches are very handy. When you flip them, the Guard Sweepers in the affected area won’t see you at all. They’ll wander over to where the light switch is, then flip it back on. Press the light switch to distract the guard and move forward. I highly recommend just shooting the guard as well to get rid of him, because we’ll be coming back later. Climb up the crates and get over them. When you land on the ice ahead, there will be a TEXT BOX. Head over to the left. Ignore the box on the crates here, all it has is some Warp Tunnels that we already have, and it will also trigger a text box if you do. Just head across and into the first laser room. A TEXT BOX will show the room. Just run across the ice and get to the switch. Don’t be afraid to trigger the alarm – these lasers will only drop bombs, so don’t hesitate. • Additional note: there can’t be two alarms triggering at once, so if you were spotted by a guard and the alarm triggered, running though lasers won’t drop bombs, and vice versa. Flip the switch to switch off the lasers and open the next door. Go over to the chest and open it for the first set of tank parts. Take them with you. You’ll have to use a Warp Tunnel to get the tank part across the crates, but there’s a small trigger area for a text box that will tell you exactly that right behind the crates. So, don’t get too close, drop the bag early, and cross over to place the Warp Tunnel. Also, there’s another of this exact same trigger for the big wall of crates from where you came when you get the second piece, so don’t leave the bag too close, put it over to the left a bit. Right about here should do:

There’s a TEXT BOX when coming back here alerting you to the other two guards. Just ignore them, slide across the ice and jump over the crates right over to the next door. Don’t worry if you get spotted. In the next room, there’s two TEXT BOXES about the next room’s lasers. Just run right through them to the switch, and flip it to end the Mission.

Mission 3: Pick up the second bit of Tank Parts, and walk to the door. If you were spotted by the guards before, wait until they leave. Move over to the light switch, drop the bag, flip the switch, then place a Warp Tunnel over where the first bag of Tank Parts are. Go back to the second bag, pick it up and go through the Warp Tunnel. Merge the two bags together. Now, jump up to the top of the crate wall, and throw a Warp Tunnel to the other side, right by the now open door. Pick up the bag of parts and warp through, then drop the bag at your feet. In the room to your left, there’s the last switch you need to flip, but there’s a bit of a square-shaped trigger zone in front of the doorway for a text box, so if you can jump around it, you can avoid its trigger. Flip the switch to open the elevator door and head back out. Make sure to jump over the text box trigger again. Pick up the bag, take it to the elevator, drop it and flip the switch. Long TEXT BOX here, mash through it and pick back up the bag. Once the elevator reaches the top, take it over to the tank to finish the mission.

There’s a really quick tutorial here about how to operate the tank, but it can be skipped like all others. So do so.

Boss: The first actual boss for the Tom Toms, the Icy Tundragon. This boss is simple, but can be very tricky if you don’t operate the tank right. The aim is to shoot each of the four heads, then shoot the core to damage it, three times over to defeat it. The problem is your ammo. The tank has two weapons; the main cannon, and the sub-weapon missile launcher. The sub-weapon doesn’t have any ammo to start with, meaning that you only have your cannon. And the cannon only has 4 clips of ammo, with 4 shots each. Meaning a total of 16 shots for you to use, and the boss requires a minimum of 15 shots to beat. This means, unless you get lucky with item drops, YOU CAN ONLY AFFORD TO MISS ONE SHOT. You need to make precise shots. At the beginning of the battle, the Icy Tundragon will shoot the ceiling and drop some ice pillars in the ground. You can run into them for a random item, which can be either: • Main cannon ammo • Sub weapon ammo • Nothing at all • An active bomb that will blow up and damage you if you don’t drive away I highly recommend breaking as many of these as possible, as getting either one of the ammo pickups will keep you from losing time to missed shots and being unable to fire. Also, if you don’t break one after a while, it would trigger a text box telling you to break them for items. As for fighting the boss, patience is key. As was stated, you cannot afford to waste ammo, so you need to wait for a chance where the boss isn’t on invincibility frames or swinging its heads around. Wait for when it’s moving towards you. When shot, it will usually recoil before standing still, which is a perfect time to shoot again, providing you can align your shot properly. With that, you can sort of chain your shots together for one cycle. The sub weapon, if you can get ammo for it, can take out two heads at once, which makes it a great pick up. Only a really well-placed cannon shot can take out two at once as well, but it’s really tricky and precise to do. However, for the missiles, the targeting reticule is different to the cannon. While the cannon uses the cross in the middle of the reticule, the missiles will instead focus on targets inside the reticule, which will then say “LOCKED ON”. Only when that shows will pressing X launch the missile at the targets, so don’t just shoot with reckless abandon. Avoid attacks whenever you can, the tank has a lot of health, but don’t go flying off the handle. Also, don’t get too close to the Icy Tundragon, as it can blow you away if you do so, which can knock you completely out of the tank. It will automatically do this on its third phase, which extends its invulnerability frames, so be cautious. Some practice is probably needed to get the feel for this boss if you’re new.   Time Sweepers 3:

Mission 1: Now for the Time Sweepers ice level. Move to the left and sweep up the trash to load up ammo. Shoot the skeleton time monster and pick up a Fast Forward from it. Move ahead to the right and move ahead to the next area. Oh, no, it’s Mick! Let’s go rescue him. Load up on ammo as necessary and go ahead. Shoot the flying time monster or ignore it, your choice. Move ahead for a TEXT BOX about the pirate box. Ignore it. Jump on the ice pillar to the left and then the one directly above it. Turn directly around. Use the Fast Forward and leap over to the cliff in front of you, right over to where the secret exit is. Turn to the left, shoot the Tom Tom turret and leap over to it. Jump over and go over to the second pirate box, and open it up. (TEXT BOX X2 for the pirate box) As soon as the lids are open, move back over to the secret entrance. There is a TEXT BOX   Time Sweepers 4:

Getting a Level 2 Sweeper is highly recommended for this level. It doesn’t matter which one you buy, so long as it’s level 2. Also, when you’re at the shop, don’t forget to buy a Combo Cartridge while you’re there. You won’t be able to proceed to the next to the next stage if your sweeper doesn’t have one equipped. You get a Combo Cartridge for free on your primary Sweeper when the tutorial is completed, so while it’s possible to buy a level 2 Sweeper, equip it, and then do the tutorial for a free Combo Cartridge, it would take too long to go back and forth between the shop and Locker Room. Better to just grab everything at once while you’re in the shop. Also, while you’re at the shops, it’s also a good idea to pick up an ammo pack while you’re there. It helps in the later stages, but it isn’t required. It’s more personal preference and safety than anything. Remember to say Yes to Jimmy when leaving the shop, as he’ll take you straight to the Locker Room to allow you to equip your items.

Mission 1: Sweep up the barrels on your left and go forward. Shoot the Octoballon for a Pause and press the switch to open the door and a TEXT BOX. Use the Pause to hold the door open and run through.