Blue Yoshi Made a better one, heres the old one for anyone who cared. Pretty much just stay to the right, it is fastest. It doesn’t matter which ballons u get, but if u get the toad ballon mingame or the card one, reset, it takes around 1.5 minutes to complete the minigame. For Normal, for ai 6 balloons is optimal, 5 for multiplayer. Ballons routing: Idk, dm me if u have best routing. For Hard, for ai 8 baloons is optimal, 7 for multiplayer. Thanks to https://www.speedrun.com/user/blueYOSHI for this: 8 ballons shouldn't be too hard if you don't bonk too much, 7 balloons is possible too but you literally can't bonk a single time! Balloons routing: Gentle Beginning: Take the first three balloons Cheep Cheep Schools: Take the second one Rapids Run: Take the second ballon (the others completely kill your speed from the boost panels, on the second one it ends immediately before anyway) Eye of the Needle: Take the first one and the notes one. In the maze, go the left path and skip the balloon. Beyond the Jungle: Take the first one if you need it, skip it if you have enough time. I don't take credit for the routing or the spreadsheet below explaining the math behind the potential fastest route, that goes to this guy: https://www.speedrun.com/user/RiceyBeMe Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wTiimqcTWrOjnxtG4O1h-l9QAtIGyJOChLsXYJLpsq8/edit#gid=0