Any%

Route options and benchmark times: normal: ~3:03 analog stick reset: ~2:48

It is recommended not to attempt a faster route until your time is close to the benchmark time for the current strats you are using. If you are using faster strats and your time is still slower than the benchmark for a route with worse strats, it is recommended that you simplify your route.

Swim forward a bit, then cut to the right and jump over the wall. Move down toward the fish in the right corner of the area you are in. Free the fish, then head out of this area by moving up and toward the opposite side of where you came in. Wrap around the centre of the level until you reach the door to the middle area. Jump over it, head to the ramp, and perform the cod escape. Hit the switch at the top and head back into the fish. Jump back over the wall and cut to your left. Head forward and jump into the little water cave thing. Free the fish in there and head back out and to the right. Free the fish in the far right area, then head toward the exit. Free the fish in the exit area and head to the teleporter.

Moving as the cod: Tapping A as fast as possible makes the Cod swim quickly. Never hold A, always tap. The fish jumps higher if it is swimming upward while jumping. When you approach the door to the middle area, approach it from underwater while swimming up to the surface such that you can jump right when you reach the surface and make it over the door. Finally, the fish bounces off walls, which can be annoying but we believe this is the fastest way to round the hairpin turn (in both directions) in the water cave thing where the second fish is.

Jumping over the wall: The wall can be hard to jump over if you don't do a setup. The fish actually jumps different heights depending on how you move. If you stay at the surface and push B, it won't jump very high. You get more height if you start off fully submerged, then move upward toward the surface and jump as you reach the surface. You can push B again in midair to boost if you need a little extra height/distance. If you are having trouble, you can try some controller shenanigans to help you out (see controller shenanigans section)

Cod escape: This is basically getting out of the cod. You cannot jump out of animals while you are in the water, so you have to be on land. However, you have to be standing still to jump out of an animal and fish are programmed to slide around when on the land. This means you usually can't jump out of the cod. To trick the game into letting you jump out, you need to be standing still on the land. The best way to do this is to swim directly onto the slope while spamming R. If you get (a little) lucky, you jump out. Otherwise, try again until it works.

Moving during the cutscene: Hit the closest corner of the switch, then hold down-right. Right when the door gets completely out of the water, switch to holding down. When the noise of the door stops, switch to down-left. This will consistently move you very far along the path you need to go. Small optimizations are possible, but this setup is consistent.

Controller shenanigans for going faster: If you hold the analog stick in a certain direction and push L, R, and Start, the controller will reset that position as neutral. Normally this doesn't help much, but in the case of something fishy, it can let you swim up and down much faster. After you jump over the first wall, you can reset the analog stick so that down is neutral. This way, holding up will make you swim downward twice as fast. After freeing the fish, change the controller so that up is neutral so you can swim upward faster. This will also make jumping over the wall easier. Once over the wall, return the controller to normal. Finally, when swimming down to the last fish, you can set down to neutral to swim down faster.