OH SHIT BOIS BIG DISCOVERY WE IN THERE: I figured out there is a way to do cycle skip and grab fire flower at the same time, there are 2 methods: 1 requires grabbing it at the bottom, and still making the cycle through sheer movement optimization, and the other you grab it while you are setting up, which requires a frame perfect input (no consequence for failing the input). This allows those who use shell route to skip grabbing fire on 8-6, and skip fireworks on 8-6. This makes shell and fire route identical speeds for RTA. Lets go.

Ive executed both methods, if yall want a Video I can provide by the end of today I think

Saw this post several weeks ago, and I thought I’d give shell hyperspeed a try. Turns out that you only need two frame perfect inputs after initiating the glitch to finish 5-3 with 268 IGT remaining. Minuscule time save, I know, but it’s RTA viable in my eyes. One benefit of this strat is that it gives you a mid to high 268, meaning that even if you only get one frame-perfect jump after setup, you can still finish with 267. Here’s the setup: