Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Mario takes flight off a large Goomba with the help of P2 to collect a Green Star in 1 A press.
P2 can hold A before and throughout the level, letting go of the Goomba by itself when it gets hit or goes off-screen.
P2 is used to prevent Mario from getting hit by the Goomba, to stop it moving, and to lower it enough for Mario to get on top without using up a spin.
It was also useful after getting the reverse gravity/axis float, as it stopped Mario kicking the stunned Goomba which would break the float.
Reverse gravity/axis float: We don't have a full technical explanation, but the general theory is that an NPC sphere (used for enemies, allies, crystals, signs) has a 'push' function - which is usually overridden by bounce or damage - that is supposed to push Mario off if he tries to land on top.
This action ends up messing with Mario's gravitational pull in some way, typically making him fall slowly, but with some precise interaction, it can completely flip Mario's reading of gravity (one theory is that it's reversing the reading of the 3D axes, considering you need backwards movement), making him float slowly upwards until something eventually brings him back down to earth (interacting with something like an enemy or wall, or just eventually over time).
Really should ask modders more about how the game works lol
#SuperMarioGalaxy2 #AButtonChallenge
Mario takes flight off a large Goomba with the help of P2 to collect a Green Star in 1 A press.
P2 can hold A before and throughout the level, letting go of the Goomba by itself when it gets hit or goes off-screen.
P2 is used to prevent Mario from getting hit by the Goomba, to stop it moving, and to lower it enough for Mario to get on top without using up a spin.
It was also useful after getting the reverse gravity/axis float, as it stopped Mario kicking the stunned Goomba which would break the float.
Reverse gravity/axis float: We don't have a full technical explanation, but the general theory is that an NPC sphere (used for enemies, allies, crystals, signs) has a 'push' function - which is usually overridden by bounce or damage - that is supposed to push Mario off if he tries to land on top.
This action ends up messing with Mario's gravitational pull in some way, typically making him fall slowly, but with some precise interaction, it can completely flip Mario's reading of gravity (one theory is that it's reversing the reading of the 3D axes, considering you need backwards movement), making him float slowly upwards until something eventually brings him back down to earth (interacting with something like an enemy or wall, or just eventually over time).
Really should ask modders more about how the game works lol
#SuperMarioGalaxy2 #AButtonChallenge
![[ABC TAS] SMG2: Cosmic Cove GS1 in 0.5xA (+ P2 0.5xA)
Mario and P2 attack a penguin and a fish for some flying miles to collect a Green Star in 0.5 A presses.
Both Mario and P2s 0.5 are only required for the Cheep Cheep, with P2 using it to freeze and spin the Cheep, and Mario needing it to clip inside without hitting or being hit.
This saves 4 A presses from the previous count, avoiding the ice waterfall walljumps by launching off the Cheep into the star.
Also in this video is a launch worthy of the title mega, somehow getting 129 XYZ initial speed (67 yspd, 110 hspd) off the penguin to go rocketing across the first stretch of the planet.
You can find more mega launches here: https://youtu.be/bcCLTZ1MykQ
#SuperMarioGalaxy #abuttonchallenge [ABC TAS] SMG2: Cosmic Cove GS1 in 0.5xA (+ P2 0.5xA)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nHFTmux0Ae4/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] SMG2: Bowsers Gravity Gauntlet 1 in 0xA (5xA) [Mario, w/ CM]
Mario swims up a castle and slingshots around meteors to defeat Bowsers Gravity Gauntlet in 0 A presses (with 5 dialogue A presses).
Despite being able to hold A from dialogue, I chose to complete the fight without that, in case dialogue has some magical skip in the future. Or a gameplay-specific run is done.
The castle OoB is used again, because the normal wheel route would have to die at the last checkpoint to have enough health for the fireboost into the Grand Star.
Attempt at the comet with the wheel way, if you wanted to see the movement: https://youtu.be/isYeFnmErXI
The tail grinding at 0:29 is actually faster than running, reaching up to 15hspd compared to 13 from running.
Getting the Comet Medal, I took advantage of a spin trick where you hit something with a ground spin just as you leave the ground, which gives some height while still letting you do an air spin.
With the lava boosting, I had to land on the Whomps foot to avoid dying due to being in fire/airtime state for too long (the little bounce before the foot is included in that state). So I decided to follow it up with some brief freerunning, clipping through the Whomp as it fell.
mkk (aka Lyric) found the Luma meteor strat. For some reason - possibly the jagged floor - I couldnt get the usual slippy slidey strat to work on the 2nd and 3rd meteors.
Avoiding Bowsers punch shockwaves was done by positioning Mario on the edge of the punch range so he gets clipped out without taking damage, which gives some airtime to spin over the shockwaves.
For the meteor waves, a very precise spin knockback was enough to dodge both at the same time (in one case, I bounced off a coin rock too).
To hit Bowser, standing on a meteor while Bowser destroys it keeps Mario in the air, and a well-timed and well-placed ground pound can swing around the gravity of the other meteor and still be registered as a pound even when Marios stance is changed.
UPDATE: Soon after this, I went back to retry lava boost skip without Life Mushroom and managed to get it, but only by grabbing a coin, so dying at a checkpoint would be needed to avoid a post-level coin textbox.
This could be useful for moving the first Life Mushroom textbox to a different level where holding A from the box would be useful (Melty Monster 1 or Lava Lair Comet): https://youtu.be/ylkAo0MPfXM
#SuperMarioGalaxy2 #AButtonChallenge [TAS] SMG2: Bowsers Gravity Gauntlet 1 in 0xA (5xA) [Mario, w/ CM]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nP3jOnwMYmk/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] SMG2: Clockwork Ruins GS2 in 29.65s (cutscenes run)
Wanted to show off the cutscenes run here because the moving wall cycle is so tight and the wheel cycle is all weird but cool to do fast.
The second half of the first planet looks slow but is oddly the fastest route for that ending - the final wheel only starts moving when you reach a certain point on the previous wheel (I never found out exactly where) but in the time it takes for the arm to come up so you can backflip or long jump off it, it is faster to just get to the middle and backflip and wallkick up (by ~0.75s).
And damn this choppy framerate garbage dolphin dump garbage pc
At the very start, I had tried to get an instant triple bounce off the Jack OGoomba, but it didnt work out at all despite various angles.
An instant triple bounce was possible off the one on the second planet thanks to the low ceiling bouncing Luigi back down onto the pumpkin. This was fast and necessary to be able to beat the cycle to the far right side.
#SuperMarioGalaxy2 #ToolAssistedSpeedrun [TAS] SMG2: Clockwork Ruins GS2 in 29.65s (cutscenes run)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nPBNwAWyQv8/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] SMG2: Boss Blitz Green Star 1 in 1:03.93
Luigi and P2 smash up a couple of bosses to collect a Green Star in 1 minutes 3.93 seconds [IGT, 3836 frames].
I had done everything up to Major Burrows a few months ago when testing for Burrows RNG between cutscenes and no cutscenes. This is why both cutscenes play (letting the second one play is also faster for IGT).
Compared to Boss Blitz GS2 (https://youtu.be/4XGkl4_N0Gk) this improved Dino and Kaliente fights:
- For Dinos 2nd and final hits, manipulating Dinos movements and changing angle hitting the tail so the tail whipped and hit Dino 1f earlier.
- For Kalientes 2nd phase, hitting the return shot right in front of Kaliente so it hit a few frames earlier and also skips the 5 frames of hitlag from spinning the coconut.
- For Kalientes 3rd phase, general optimisation of the long jump and spin to both defeat Kaliente and reach the launch star earlier, saving 7 frames.
I also tried hitting Dinos first hit in the same way as the 2nd and 3rd but could only match the 1P hit used.
For the star grab, jump cancel and camera cancel are both the same as the cutscene resets Luigis position.
An earlier long jump would be too floaty to be faster, as would pretty much any jump.
I landed on a slope on the tree and held neutral just before landing and then backwards when landing to get insane speed which happens because reasons.
#SuperMarioGalaxy2 #ToolAssistedSpeedrun [TAS] SMG2: Boss Blitz Green Star 1 in 1:03.93](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ndlfzuZORRs/mqdefault.jpg)


![[TAS] Flash Black mansion Yoshiless as Mario (megasideflip route)
Second possible Yoshiless route for Mario.
Luigi has been known for a while to be able to do this without Yoshi, as seen in Pottowws 2015 IL: https://youtu.be/ONF0Yhv8Nmk
For Mario, it was thought for a long time that he couldnt make the first platform, but goryuya managed to get it with a triple jump spin just a few days ago. The difference was in facing away from the wall. Somehow Mario decides to grab facing away but not facing towards: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/762731483189870623/902529710356066304/2021-10-26_20-26-24_Trim.mp4
jda7 wondered if neutral walljump strain would squeeze out enough height to make the triple jump walljump strat work for TAS. I couldnt make it work, but tried a couple of other ideas, first being angled wallkicks to get further up the outside wall (wallkick angled to the left off one side, strain back to wallkick off the wall Mario would be facing).
Then I wondered if a megasideflip was possible as the start has a fixed camera (XZ_PARA) angled perfectly diagonal to the level like in Flip-Swap.
That worked, and I managed to get to the first platform, and then up to the second storey. Then the route follows most of Luigis route.
#SuperMarioGalaxy2 [TAS] Flash Black mansion Yoshiless as Mario (megasideflip route)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/p5QpRP7TJeo/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] SMG: Beach Bowl Comet in 0.5xA presses [Mario]
This saves 0.5x over the previous count, using edge lifting (name pending) to be close enough to spin and grab the star with a weak spin.
This is a star grab that was known to be possible as Luigi but not Mario.
There may be an 0x strat using Tox Box flinging or displacement, but it hasnt been successful yet.
I decided to mess around with the geometry in this level, knowing it is very janky because of the curved edges and how the gravity works with them. Wasnt expecting the fast slide at 0:34 though.
The weakspin was necessary for the star grab with its extended hitbox, colliding with the slightly larger corner of the stars hitbox.
#SuperMarioGalaxy #AButtonChallenge [TAS] SMG: Beach Bowl Comet in 0.5xA presses [Mario]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pm6RCpKbAMQ/mqdefault.jpg)

![[TAS] SMG2: Space Storm Green Stars
Green Stars TAS WIP
Star order matters due to bubble cycles for GS3, where cutscene cycles are better by 9 frames, but also pull star cycles means GS2 would save 3 frames. So overall doing GS3 first is faster by 6 frames. Quick maths.
Green Star 1 - 5.88 IGT - 1:33:04.05 real-time split (1:03.57 segment)
The cycle of the ring of pull stars means grabbing a pull star immediately isnt necessarily faster.
After much testing, it was found to be marginally faster to do a land cancel before grabbing the pull star planet, as this leads to a slightly higher and faster first pull where the speed adds up later on, while also catching the cycle at a perfect time.
The rotation of Luigi in the bubble matters for star grab, and can make up to 4 frames of difference. In this case, it saved 3 frames to twist him around using the IR cursor.
Green Star 3 - 16.86 IGT - 1:34:16.10 real-time split (1:12.05 segment)
This is an improvement of 1.6s over my 2020 TAS: https://youtu.be/-KnxWlYubGA
The bubble cycle is either global or the shooter is simply close enough to stay active (you can see the bubbles firing from the first planet). This means hyper-optimisation of the whole level isnt necessary provided you get the fastest cycle.
Despite this, I did optimise the first section as best I could, including an early release from the bubble to save a couple of frames on the launch star.
The main improvement to get an earlier cycle was going around the wall and setting up a boosted triple jump.
Jumping over a void (or moving floor) from a moving floor will make you accelerate in the air even when falling forward. This - plus landing in neutral to conserve more speed - led to the double jump being as fast as a long jump, and the triple jump then almost reaching the speed cap of 32, all despite going the opposite way of the moving floor.
Green Star 2 - 14.80 IGT - 1:35:13.83 real-time split (57.73s segment)
This is an improvement of 19 frames over my 2020 TAS, despite no-cutscenes losing 3 frames on the pull stars: https://youtu.be/tT7OmwDp0vg
Interestingly for the second planet, I managed to get a 6f faster route by reloading the wrong savestate during playback. A setup for a different route idea ended up making the main route idea faster, thanks to landing on the edge of the wall in such a way to be able to long jump without a stuttering run, or just immediately falling off.
Backflip saved 1 frame.
#supermariogalaxy2 #toolassistedspeedrun [TAS] SMG2: Space Storm Green Stars](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qOEQi59gTmY/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] SMG2: Fiery Flotilla GS2 in 17.11 (RTA route)
This route is 0.7s faster in real time than the Thwomp jump route, as the Thwomp takes too long to rise when skipping cutscenes fast.
The spin I do at the end is done by shaking for 2 frames and pressing Z on the second frame. Normally this would result in a normal ground pound with spin attack properties still on it (used in Major Burrows fights, for instance), but when doing it too close to the ground to be able to ground pound, it instead results in a very short spin.
This was done to get a little bit further along with some of the remaining long jump speed without losing too much of it with a regular spin, which meant I was far enough along for the second lava boost to go directly up into the star, rather than slowly arching towards it. This saved 8 frames.
Thwomp jump is faster with full cutscene cycles, so it is still in the run, and doing GS1 first is 0.5s faster than doing GS2 first, because the Thwomp jump can go much further left - much closer to GS1 - than this ? block triple jump wallkick.
This doesnt seem like it makes sense but Im tired.
#SuperMarioGalaxy2 #ToolAssistedSpeedrun [TAS] SMG2: Fiery Flotilla GS2 in 17.11 (RTA route)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qmK9BPKPkCs/mqdefault.jpg)