Route Information

Naturally your route depends on the category

• Any% - Beat the game (at the time of writing, this assumes All Stages) regardless of the number of items collected
• 100% - Beat the game collecting 8 Heart Tanks, 4 sub tanks, all 4 armor upgrades (boots, helmet, buster, chest-plate), and the Hadoken

Any%

Almost all routes start with Penguin to get the boots so you can dash.

The record any% route from here is low%. It goes to Kwanger second, then follows weakness order from there.

There are several easy to collect safeties along the way, even if the record run collects none of them. Mandril, Armadillo, Mammoth, Eagle, and if you can Iceless Kwanger, have relatively simple to collect Heart Tanks. A Sub tank for Final Sigma, and potentially the Armor Chestplate, are other potential safeties.

1. Chill Penguin
2. Kwanger
3. Chameleon
4. Eagle
5. Mammoth
6. Mandrill
7. Armadillo
8. Octopus

100%

100% route starts with Penguin, and has variants based on skill level and how early you want to acquire items.

Kwanger Second

Kwanger Second is the record route. To run this route (without additional revisits), you must be able to do the "Iceless" jump to collect the Kwanger heart tank without the boomerang or charged-ice.

This route does Eagle and Mammoth shortly after, allowing runners to use the "Magic Carpet" glitch in Eagle (aka Neymar's Magic Platform Phantom Carpet Boeing UFO Grab Ride 77747™)

It may also do Chameleon Third (see below). This route is designed around both having weapons that go fast early, and avoiding as many revisits as possible. (A run with additional revisits is valid, if obviously slower.)

1. Penguin
2. Kwanger
3. Chameleon*
4. Eagle
5. Mammoth
6. Mandrill
7. Armadillo
8. Octopus
9. Penguin Revisit*
10. Armadillo Hadoken Revisit

Chameleon 3rd or 5th or 8th?

The record route goes to Chameleon Third, and uses the Item collection glitch to get the heart tank in Chameleon without the aid of the Octopus Water or the Charged Ice "Waterless" technique. This ends up being a very inconsistent option, but decidedly produces the fastest time due to the speed of the heart tank grab and having Chameleon's weapon for Eagle.

Chameleon 5th or 8th is debatable. Going 5th requires "Waterless" to collect the heart tank, but gives you early access to Sting Chameleon's weapon (safe, but laggy), and the armor defense upgrade. Going 8th is then slightly faster when done optimally, but does not have the other advantages.

Eagle Second

Eagle Second is a strong beginner route. It does not have access to the Magic Carpet, but removes most challenging tricks from the run. Charged Ice will be available to collect the Kwanger Heart Tank and other items (such as Chameleon's "Waterless" heart tank)

It likewise can decide to clear Sting Chameleon's stage at any point after Kwanger depending on the player's comfort with waterless and desire to have the Armor.

Weakness Order

While referenced above, true Weakness Order is not typically used in speedruns of this game due to item collection and wanting certain weapons for certain stages. It is presented here for reference

1. Chill Penguin (Boots)
2. Spark Mandrill
3. Armored Armadillo
4. Launch Octopus
5. Boomer Kwanger
6. Sting Chameleon
7. Storm Eagle
8. Flame Mammoth