100% General Guide

There are two potential routes for 100%: "Fresh File" and "NG+". Fresh File must be done from a new save file, while NG+ allows the use of an existing save file that has 0/60 Starfish colllected. The main benefit of NG+ is the ability to skip cutscenes, and having the dart unlocked at the start of Going to School (though at the cost of the level ending a couple seconds slower).

When setting up an NG+ file, play each level the same as an Any% run to set a time record that likely won't be beaten when going for all the Starfish. The only difference is that you must actively avoid winning the races in Going to School and Whale Chase, and miss at least one Bubble Ring each in Catch Dory, Minefield and Anglerfish Chase. You'll also want to do a run of each level where you aim for a high Shell Score, as beating that score will cause a few seconds of timeloss.

When doing the actual run, NG+ players should do each Bonus Level as they are unlocked. Earning a Starfish from a previously finished level will highlight the Bonus Level automatically. Fresh File players, meanwhile, should play through all main levels first, as finishing a level for the first time automatically highlights the next level regardless of Starfish status. Once you've finished Fishing Net Rescue, play through each Bonus Level in reverse chronological order (i.e. FNR Bonus, TP Bonus, WC Bonus, etc.), grabbing any main level Starfish you missed along the way. This does make Field Trip Bonus more of a late run killer than an early run killer, but saves several seconds on menu navigation.

Starfish progress will not reset when you die, the only exceptions being Minefield Bounce, Field Trip Bonus, and Training With Gill Bonus. While completion of every level in order is required regardless of which route you take, completion of levels is not required to collect Starfish on return visits. As soon as the Starfish spawns, you can exit the level through the pause menu and the Starfish will be saved, skipping the Starfish cutscene and the rest of the level. This does not apply to Bonus Levels, however, and is only useful when backtracking.

Now for a few level-specific tips:

- The Slide Puzzles all have predetermined starting layouts, and can be solved with the same sequence of moves every time. For more details, see the Slide Puzzle guide.
- The Pairs and Simon Says bonus levels are RNG-dependent. You'll need to rely on short-term memory for them.
- In Minefield Bonus, you can make the Starfish cutscene play faster if you swim into a mine after the last hoop.
- In Hide and Seek, find Bubbles, Deb and Peach first, then go to the left, saving Gurgle for last.
- In Mask Search, try to get every Starfish as Dory, as her Starfish cutscene is shorter than Marlin's.
- In Anglerfish Chase, just mash the Move button (X on PS2 or A on Xbox/GCN) and you'll automatically get all the Bubble Rings. You may want to avoid the first Shell Ring if you're doing Fresh File, though.
- In Fishing Net Rescue Bonus, you'll want to deposit the Green Pebble last, which can only be done with Nemo.

Console loads

From what I've gathered, Console loads go like this:
XBOX (with a good disc drive)>GameCube 1.1>PSN>PS2>GameCube 1.0 (XBOX varies from being faster than GC 1.1 or slower depending on the type of disc drive. Samsung disc drives are the fastest).
GameCube 1.0 has horrendously long load times that can take over a minute so GameCube owners should buy 1.1 if their copy has slow loads. Gamecube 1.1 saves over 35 minutes compared to 1.0 in any% so that shows the massive difference that exists between the two versions.
The Japanese/Korean versions are all based on 1.1. 1.1 may not exist in PAL regions. The PAL GC version is faster than NTSC 1.0 from what I've heard but it is still slower than all other versions.
XBOX loads can vary between consoles. Some XBOXes are faster than GC while others are slower. The fastest XBOX would be one with a Samsung disc drive (differences between A and B drives have not been tested).

XBOX also runs at a silky smooth framerate unlike the PS2 and especially the GC versions.

Segmented run.

This is a segmented run, combining all of the any% IL records. It is mostly up to date outside of a couple of levels. Despite the title of the video, this is not a legitimate run. It's just a compilation of the IL records.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GokOcXHsemI

Slide Puzzle Solutions (updated, corrected)

This guide details the solutions for every Slide Puzzle in the game.
Note: directions indicate which way the tile moves. For example, if the empty space is in the bottom-right corner, the only valid inputs are "down" or "right".

**Submarine**
Down, right x2, down, left x2, up, right, up, right, down, left, up, left

**Hide and Seek**
Down, right, up, right, up, left, down, left, up

**Mask Search**
Left, down x2, right, up, left x2, up

**Mount Wannahockaloogie**
Right, down, left, down, left, up x2

**The Drop Off Bonus**
Right x2, down, left x2, down, right, up, left, up, right x2, down x2, left, up, right, up, left x2

**Catch Dory Bonus**
Down, right, down, left, down, right, up, left, up, right x2, up, right, down x3, left, up x2, right, down, left, down, left x2, up, right, up x2, left

**Mask Search Bonus**
Down, right, down, left, down, right, up, left, up, right x2, up, right, down x3, left, up x2, right, down, left, down, left x2, up, right, up x2, left

Some tips and speedrun techniques

This page intends to give some starting tips if you plan to speedrun an individual level or the entire game. However, most techniques are restricted to a single stage. This page will be updated if something new is discovered. If there is a need for discussion about the content of this guide, a thread in the forum can be used for that purpose.

General tips and techniques:
- During the 3D sections, keep tapping (not holding !) the acceleration button to swim faster. It is not necessary - for your button's health - to press the button incredibly fast. Pressing at a moderate speed is enough to reach the maximum speed of your character.
- If you keep pressing the dash button with the correct timing, Nemo will move slightly faster. This only applies to Nemo, but not Marlin and Dory.
- All four slide puzzles in the regular stages (Submarine, Hide and Seek, Mask Search, and Mount Wannahoockaloogie) have an easy solution. It's hard to describe them in words, so it is recommended to look into the current World Record of that specific stage and to memorize the solution.

Going to School: For IL and 100% IL runs, start a new game and play the level once to learn the dash ability. Now you can repeat the level as much as you want, but never enter the stage 'Field Trip'. Entering 'Field Trip' introduces the points, which causes the clams in the last area of 'Going to School' to drop points. After defeating the second clam, the game would give you about two more seconds to pick up the points before ending the level. Without ever entering 'Field Trip', the clams won't drop anything and the stage ends immediately, which saves about two seconds.

Mask Chase: In the 2D areas, the rule of thumb is to stay on the upper side of the stage most of the time to avoid obstacles and to memorize the exceptions.

Submarine: In the 2D areas, if you are fast enough and you don't get stuck anywhere, you can swim past almost every leak before the fire comes out. You just have to memorize the few exceptions.

Anglerfish Chase: If you keep tapping the acceleration button, you don't even have to dodge. This way, everyone should be able to easily achieve 01:23:??? or 01:22:??? on that stage.

Jellyfish Race:
- The amount of jellyfish that can be used without interruptions is time-based once you touch the first one, so better timing leads to less interruptions. However, this maneuver is difficult to time and 9 to 10 jellyfish will be the most likely amount you can use. My personal record was 13 so far.
- Unfortunately, the directions where the small jellyfish move during the bouncing section seem to be completely random, so you can only hope that they won't jump towards you or block bottleneck areas.

Whale Chase:
- Dashing makes you temporarilly invincible to some (not all !) obstacles. You still get the usual animation when getting hit, but you don't receive any damage. Combined with the current in the 2D sections, you can dash through the gas and save a lot of seconds.
- In the second 2D area, where the falling balls appear, getting hit by one on purpose resets the pattern of the obstacles in a way that requires less dodging because the falling balls now won't appear at all if you don't stop moving anywhere. Since the in-game timer stops during cutscenes where the character gets defeated by something, this technique is especially beneficial for IL runs.

Treatment Plant: The first spinning obstacle with the spikes does not reset its position when you restart the level, so you can restart until you find a timing where you don't have to wait because the obstacle is blocking your way. It is currently unknown if other obstacles that are further away like the elevators are affected by that trick.

v 1.0 : Initial release of the guide (05.08.2018)

Name	Author
100% General Guide	DrRank 1 year ago
Console loads	SuperSqank 8 years ago
Segmented run.	SuperSqank 3 years ago
Slide Puzzle Solutions (updated, corrected)	DrRank 1 year ago
Some tips and speedrun techniques	Fastynator 6 years ago