Any% - Should I be doing tricks?

In Any%, besides deciding on your character and board, you're left with the issue of coins and economy. You might've found yourself beating Big Snowman, yet can't afford your Tier 2 board - which is a run-killer if you're going for the WR.

By far, the most optimal strategy is earning enough coins to buy your Tier 2 board of choice *just after Rookie Mountain*. However, not all characters have the ability to do enough tricks. Additionally, you need to get an incredibly rare item from the blue boxes; the notorious thieving mouse. The mouse will steal all coins all other racers but is only available to 4th place, and extremely rarely 3rd place.

Combining all of that, for optimal play, you need to do 5'000 worth of tricks, steal at least 4'000 with the mouse (which also requires a bit of luck) and finally win the race with a respectable time. If you do all of that, you'll earn around 20 seconds of time during Big Snowman and will start Sunset Rock earlier (tested with Linda on comparable runs).

[Here's a proof of concept](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhtS-5qib4c)

-----------

With all of that being said, the most practical question you'll be faced with is how many coins you need to get Tier 3 asap, without having to land tricks on every jump.

After Big Snowman, you'll have earned 6'600 coins in just prize money. Meaning you'll have to find 5'400 during the first 2 races (assuming the most expensive board).

So here's the simple tip for regular play:

1. If you feel safe, do tricks on Rookie Mountain.
2. During your transition to Big Snowman, add 3'600 to your coins and calculate what you need.
3. Make sure you get enough coins during Big Snowman for your Tier 2 board of choice.
4. During your transition to Night Highway, add 4'400 to your coins and calculate what you need.
5. Make sure you get enough coins during Night Highway for your Tier 3 board of choice.

**TL;DR**

Yes; do the math during stage transitions.

Boards Costs / Prize Money by Course

Board Pricing:

Freestyle Level 1: Unlocked
Freestyle Level 2: 12,000G
Freestyle Level 3: 24,000G

All Around Level 1: Unlocked
All Around Level 2: 10,000G
All Around Level 3: 20,000G

Alpine Level 1: Unlocked
Alpine Level 2: 11,000G
Alpine Level 3: 22,000G

Special 1 (Star): 80,000G (unlock by completing all courses)
Special 2 (Feather): 100,000G (unlocked by getting 2,000 points in Trick Game.)
Special 3 (Ice): 1,000G (unlocked by owning all levels of the non-special boards.)

Shinobin + Boards: Get 1st Place on Ninja Land.


Prize Money by Course (assuming 1st place):

Rookie Mountain: 3,000G
Big Snowman: 3,600G
Sunset Rock: 4,000G
Night Highway: 4,400G
Grass Valley: 5,200G
Dizzy-Land: 6,000G
Quicksand Valley: 7,000G
Mt. Silver: 8,000G
Ninja Land: 10,000G

Cheat Code: Unlock All

On the title screen, press:
Down, Up on analog,
Down, Up on D-Pad,
Down C, Up C,
L Button, R Button, Z Button,
Left on the D-Pad, Right C,
Up on analog, B Button,
Right on D-Pad, Left C and then Start.

If input correctly you'll hear Slash cheer.

This is an extremely useful cheat for running the "NG+, All Races" category as well as ILs.
It essentially removes the need for a controller pak entirely (except if you want to save your ghosts in ILs).

Dealing with Pans aka. the Yuna strat

Besides ghosts, Pans will be your primary source of frustration as invisibility isn't common when racing in 1st place.

Let's answer two pan questions:

1. Does mashing matter?
2. What's the Yuna strat?

[Here's a test ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD_8MUIVF7c)done with save-states and TAS to compare all available options as closely as possible.

The Yuna strat consists of intentionally tripping - landing while doing a trick - and be hit with the pan *during* the rolling animation.

[However, the timing is very tight.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEl-mzejq1w)

Tripping and rolling dodges *some* projectiles, but it's far better trying to jump over projectiles than rolling.

In summary, during race, be aware of where you would end up if you tripped right away and keep an eye on the distance between you and 2nd place. One shouldn't commit to the Yuna strat before you're absolutely sure it's worth it - even if you do it correctly, the time earned isn't very much and you might end up rolling off the map or worse.

Finally, it's *possible* to Yuna, get hit by a pan, and then hit a wall, skipping the rest of the rolling animation. If you somehow can time it such that you spend as little time as possible rolling, you'll replace the entire pan animation with a bonk. This is extremely difficult, and you should just be aware that it might happen. This would earn you around 1 second, totalling at *saving you around 2 full seconds per pan.*

Name	Author
Any% - Should I be doing tricks?	nivyan_ 1 year ago
Boards Costs / Prize Money by Course	Deleted 5 years ago
Cheat Code: Unlock All	KoiIroHoshi 5 years ago
Dealing with Pans aka. the Yuna strat	nivyan_ 1 year ago