Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The OOParts worlds are finished, and we move on to the Legendary Banana worlds. The EX stages cover all ten worlds, so next up is Oceanus EX. Remember how in the ending cutscene for Oceanus, the weather cleared up and AiAi found a note from Easel saying he’s already a step ahead? That’s how conditions are like in Oceanus EX: a change of pace from the previous EX worlds, where day turned to night (or sunset in some cases) or night turned to dawn/dusk, in Oceanus EX, the rainstorm has let up, though it is still pretty cloudy and gloomy in the area. Befitting an EX world though, the stages here manage to be way tougher than regular Oceanus. You’ll see I really struggled here too.
The character I chose is Palette, in part because she was abducted by Easel around this point in the story (well, a little bit earlier). She gets an Easel outfit too, based on the artwork of her and Easel together as phantom thieves prior to meeting up with AiAi.
00:00 - 8 EX-01 Conveyor Climb
02:04 - 8 EX-02 Acrobatics
02:57 - 8 EX-03 Rainfall
04:13 - 8 EX-04 Curvy Current
05:19 - 8 EX-05 Sweeper
06:32 - 8 EX-06 Punishing Seesaws
09:14 - 8 EX-07 High Waves
10:22 - 8 EX-08 Sliding Bars
12:08 - 8 EX-09 Dangerous Swamp
15:08 - 8 EX-10 Twin Snakes
For 8 EX-02 Acrobatics, I highly recommend picking the normal platforms towards the end rather than the ones with the hopper pads on them. It can be cleard in that way, and it’s required for the Golden Banana, but if you just want to get to the goal, you want to not overcomplicate things.
I never figured out how you’re supposed to clear 8 EX-03 Rainfall normally. Do you dodge the bumpers as they race around the stage?
8 EX-04 Curvy Current looks straightforward, a wide path with no moving parts except for the incline here and there, and a gentle chute-like terrain that protects you from falling off, but it’s here because the path is too long to clear normally. You can see I skipped some parts and STILL nearly ran out of time.
8 EX-06, Punishing Seesaws, is considered one of the hardest stages in this game (and, as has been made clear by now, this is a hard game) because the sesaws not only have holes in them, they priodically turn invisible, meaning you have to rely on memorization and/or instinct to avoid the holes. It didn’t take that long for me to do the first time around, so I don’t know what I did then where I struggled with it so much here. (Fall Out Count: 25)
8 EX-07, High Waves, is the next of the “undulating hills and valleys” stages. We hadn’t had one of these since 1 EX-06, Mountain Range, but there will be at least one more after this.
8 EX-08, Sliding Bars, I found exceptionally difficult, but it seems other people didn’t. I think there was something about this I was not understanding. There are 9 such sliding bars, by the way, each moving faster than the last. The final ones move fast enough that the Spin Dash is highly recommended to get through here in time without the bars slipping underneath your character’s ball, even though it doesn’t look like it needs the Spin Dash at all.
Is there a way to the goal in 8 EX-09, Dangerous Swamp, without hitting the minuscule Golden Banana platform? I haven’t found one yet, at least. (Fall Out Count: 23)
The hardest part of 8 EX-10, Twin Snakes, is transitioning from the first “snake” platform set to the second one, considering the speed that their tips move and their small size. The goal also does not move with the tip of the second set, so you’ll have to time it right to pass through the goal at the tip’s highest point. Not to mention the length of this stage meaning a Time Over is always a concern. (Fall Out Count: 22)
The OOParts worlds are finished, and we move on to the Legendary Banana worlds. The EX stages cover all ten worlds, so next up is Oceanus EX. Remember how in the ending cutscene for Oceanus, the weather cleared up and AiAi found a note from Easel saying he’s already a step ahead? That’s how conditions are like in Oceanus EX: a change of pace from the previous EX worlds, where day turned to night (or sunset in some cases) or night turned to dawn/dusk, in Oceanus EX, the rainstorm has let up, though it is still pretty cloudy and gloomy in the area. Befitting an EX world though, the stages here manage to be way tougher than regular Oceanus. You’ll see I really struggled here too.
The character I chose is Palette, in part because she was abducted by Easel around this point in the story (well, a little bit earlier). She gets an Easel outfit too, based on the artwork of her and Easel together as phantom thieves prior to meeting up with AiAi.
00:00 - 8 EX-01 Conveyor Climb
02:04 - 8 EX-02 Acrobatics
02:57 - 8 EX-03 Rainfall
04:13 - 8 EX-04 Curvy Current
05:19 - 8 EX-05 Sweeper
06:32 - 8 EX-06 Punishing Seesaws
09:14 - 8 EX-07 High Waves
10:22 - 8 EX-08 Sliding Bars
12:08 - 8 EX-09 Dangerous Swamp
15:08 - 8 EX-10 Twin Snakes
For 8 EX-02 Acrobatics, I highly recommend picking the normal platforms towards the end rather than the ones with the hopper pads on them. It can be cleard in that way, and it’s required for the Golden Banana, but if you just want to get to the goal, you want to not overcomplicate things.
I never figured out how you’re supposed to clear 8 EX-03 Rainfall normally. Do you dodge the bumpers as they race around the stage?
8 EX-04 Curvy Current looks straightforward, a wide path with no moving parts except for the incline here and there, and a gentle chute-like terrain that protects you from falling off, but it’s here because the path is too long to clear normally. You can see I skipped some parts and STILL nearly ran out of time.
8 EX-06, Punishing Seesaws, is considered one of the hardest stages in this game (and, as has been made clear by now, this is a hard game) because the sesaws not only have holes in them, they priodically turn invisible, meaning you have to rely on memorization and/or instinct to avoid the holes. It didn’t take that long for me to do the first time around, so I don’t know what I did then where I struggled with it so much here. (Fall Out Count: 25)
8 EX-07, High Waves, is the next of the “undulating hills and valleys” stages. We hadn’t had one of these since 1 EX-06, Mountain Range, but there will be at least one more after this.
8 EX-08, Sliding Bars, I found exceptionally difficult, but it seems other people didn’t. I think there was something about this I was not understanding. There are 9 such sliding bars, by the way, each moving faster than the last. The final ones move fast enough that the Spin Dash is highly recommended to get through here in time without the bars slipping underneath your character’s ball, even though it doesn’t look like it needs the Spin Dash at all.
Is there a way to the goal in 8 EX-09, Dangerous Swamp, without hitting the minuscule Golden Banana platform? I haven’t found one yet, at least. (Fall Out Count: 23)
The hardest part of 8 EX-10, Twin Snakes, is transitioning from the first “snake” platform set to the second one, considering the speed that their tips move and their small size. The goal also does not move with the tip of the second set, so you’ll have to time it right to pass through the goal at the tip’s highest point. Not to mention the length of this stage meaning a Time Over is always a concern. (Fall Out Count: 22)
