Shippu Mahou Daisakusen/Racing

The racing aspect of Shippu Mahou Daisakusen is difficult and sometimes unfair, to the point that most players deliberately ignore it and go slow to make the game easier. However, successful racing is needed to reach the second loop (you must win the first loop tournament) and to see each character's 1st place ending. While the 1st place ending is the same across both loops, it's a little disappointing to get a bad ending after a successful 2-ALL, so you may want to race in the second loop as well. Plus, racing is fun!

Overview

Racing difficulty is not only highly variable per stage and character, but you are at the mercy of the random behavior of rival racers. For example, boosting at the start of the first stage will sometimes launch you ahead of all the other racers, but other times, a rival or two will quickly blast off the top of the screen at high speed and put you in 2nd or 3rd.

Furthermore, even if you boost for the entire race, you may not win if the dreaded "repeated pull-away" occurs. Every time a rival exits the top of the screen, they gain a burst of speed and it will take at least a few seconds to catch up to them. If you're unlucky, the moment you scroll the rival back onscreen, they will immediately pull away and exit the top of the screen again, getting another burst of speed. Sometimes this repeats for the entire race and you are forced to take 2nd place (or worse). The only way to counteract this is by bombing the rival during the brief window where they appear at the top of the screen, which may not always be possible.

Despite this, it's possible to consistently win the first loop tournament by a pretty wide margin. Races in the second loop tournament are more difficult, but you can often scrape together enough points to win with some luck and risky play.

Your main tools for winning races are boosting and bombing. It's also vital to manage your acceleration so that you remain at top speed when not boosting.

Boosting

Recall that if you hold down the fire button for a few seconds, you will stop shooting and get a burst of speed. You can't be slowed down in this state (even if you are bumped, or attempt to use the back or wall brake) and will exceed the normal maximum speed for the stage.

Your performance in races mostly depends on how much you boost. While rival racers can screw you over as described above, good boost routing will typically get you 1st or 2nd place in most races, at least in the first loop.

Speed while boosting is affected by four factors:

• The current stage (boosting has a stronger effect on slow stages like Outcast Castle or Deeply Dungeon)
• Your character choice (each character has different boost stats for each stage)
• Your bomb count (having less than 4 bombs gives a boost bonus, and having more than 4 gives a boost penalty)
• Your main shot power level (each power level grants a very slight increase to boost speed)

Boosting can increase speed by up to ~1.67x in the best case (slow stage and max strength boost); a more typical increase is 1.25x. There are extremely rare cases where it will have no effect on speed (weak character stats, minimum shot power, and 7 or more bombs).

For the most part, you don't need to know or worry about the details of boost speed mechanics to win races; the important thing is to boost as much as you can without sacrificing safety. However, understanding the mechanics helps explain why certain characters have a harder time winning certain stages, or why small variances in time can occur even when boosting through an entire stage. See the technical details section for the precise internal values related to speed and boosting.

Bombing

Hitting rival racers with a bomb will knock them off the bottom of the screen, and they'll typically take a while to make a comeback, if they do at all. (Though, annoyingly, in some cases they seem to appear back on screen immediately.)

An opening bomb can essentially guarantee a race win on certain courses. This is your main defense against the repeated pull-away problem; prevent them from pulling away in the first place.

Bombs can also prevent rivals from sneaking ahead mid-race, but using a bomb to take out one or two rivals may be a bit of a waste.

Since bombs are also very useful for survival, you may want to try to win races with boosting only at first, and save your bombs for if you start falling behind in points due to bad luck. On the other hand, you may prefer to build up a buffer of points by using bombs to guarantee wins on the easier courses.

Managing acceleration

When boosting, you will quickly accelerate to your top speed and remain there until you stop boosting. When not boosting (for example, to kill enemies for safety) it's important to manage your acceleration so you stay at the maximum unboosted speed. Rivals will quickly overtake you if you race at suboptimal speeds.

Recall that your character accelerates when in top half of the screen (see diagram). However, once your character reaches the maximum unboosted speed, you can position yourself anywhere on the screen and maintain your speed. So it's not necessary to stay in the top half at all times, you can just dip in there for long enough to reach the max.

If you get bumped, touch a wall, or touch the back of the screen while not boosting, you will lose speed. Some hazards also lower your speed (e.g. bubbles in Deeply Dungeon, pink wizard shots in Strato Storm). If you lose speed by accident, make sure to regain it as quickly as possible. If moving into the top half of the screen is unsafe, you can also stay where you are and charge a boost. Boosting causes you to accelerate very quickly, and you can release the boost as soon as you're at max speed again.

In general, if your goal is to win races, you almost never want to intentionally brake. Most parts of the first loop can be played comfortably at the max unboosted speed once you are familiar with stage layouts and enemy behavior. The second loop has a few sections that are extremely difficult without slowing down, so you may have to plan to lose those races and make up the points elsewhere.

Bumping

Bumping rival racers is sometimes useful, though not especially reliable. Ensure you are boosting while you bump rivals so you don't lose speed from the bumping.

At the start of each race, boost and bump the second-place racer downwards. If you're lucky, they'll fall behind and place poorly. This isn't really useful for winning individual races, but is helpful for winning the tournament, as it spreads out rival point gains.

When rivals are near the bottom of the screen, you can sometimes bump them off the bottom, which may cause them to lose speed and fall far behind (similar to how exiting the top of the screen gives them a burst of speed).

Character strengths and weaknesses

When not boosting, all characters share the same maximum speed, defined by which section of the current stage you're in. However, the maximum speed while boosting varies based on both the stage and character. Each character has stages they're "strong" at (good boost speed) and stages they're "weak" at (bad boost speed).

The raw values for each character are documented in the technical details section of this article, but they don't tell the full story, because boosting has a more significant effect on slower stages.

For example, Gain has a base boost speed of 32 (the worst possible) on Deeply Dungeon, while Bornnam has a base boost speed of 128 (the best possible). The max unboosted speed for the stage is 192, so this means (ignoring other factors) Gain will boost at 224 speed and Bornnam will boost at 320 speed. That means Gain's boost only increases speed by ~1.17x, while Bornnam's boost increases speed by ~1.67x. It is significantly harder to win the race with Gain than with Bornnam as a result.

By contrast, Chitta has 32 on Strato Storm, and Nirvana has 128. The max unboosted speed is 1280, so Chitta will boost at 1312 (1.025x) and Nirvana will boost at 1408 (1.10x). The difference in speed increase is much smaller and as a result Chitta doesn't really suffer much from her poor boost stat here.

For this reason, the tables below rank the character's strengths and weaknesses based on "boost efficiency": how close the character's boosted speed is to the optimal boost, expressed as a percentage. In the examples above, Bornnam and Nirvana have 100% efficiency, while Gain has 70% efficiency (224/320) and Chitta has ~93.2% efficiency (1312/1408).

The boost efficiency for the character is listed beside each stage name. Efficiency below 90% tends to make it noticeably harder to win the race.

Note: For speedrun purposes, the raw max boost speed may be a more useful metric than boost efficiency, which is meant to measure potential for taking 1st place in races.

Gain	Strong at	Weak at
	Air Circus (100%) Cross Fire (100%) Kingdom Grandprix (100%) Strato Storm (97.7%) Yashiki of Ninja (95.8%)	Deeply Dungeon (70%) Outcast Castle (87.5%) Cold Corridor (90%) Forest of Dead! (90.6%) Velmatic Ocean (92.5%) Kobolds Tower (93.8%)
Chitta	Strong at	Weak at
	Velmatic Ocean (100%) Cold Corridor (100%) Yashiki of Ninja (100%) Cross Fire (98.6%) Kobolds Tower (96.9%) Deeply Dungeon (95%)	Outcast Castle (83.3%) Forest of Dead! (87.5%) Air Circus (89.6%) Strato Storm (93.2%)
Miyamoto	Strong at	Weak at
	Outcast Castle (100%) Yashiki of Ninja (100%) Kobolds Tower (100%) Forest of Dead! (96.9%) Strato Storm (96.6%) Air Circus (95.8%)	Cold Corridor (87.5%) Deeply Dungeon (90%) Cross Fire (91.7%)
Bornnam	Strong at	Weak at
	Outcast Castle (100%) Deeply Dungeon (100%) Forest of Dead! (100%) Yashiki of Ninja (100%) Kobolds Tower (96.9%) Strato Storm (96.6%)	Air Circus (87.5%) Velmatic Ocean (90%)
Nirvana	Strong at	Weak at
	Velmatic Ocean (100%) Strato Storm (100%) Kobolds Tower (100%) Kingdom Grandprix (98.2%)	Deeply Dungeon (85%) Cold Corridor (85%) Outcast Castle (91.7%) Yashiki of Ninja (91.7%)
Kickle & Laycle	Strong at	Weak at
	Air Circus (100%) Deeply Dungeon (100%) Kingdom Grandprix (100%) Cross Fire (97.2%) Yashiki of Ninja (95.8%)	Outcast Castle (79.2%) Forest of Dead! (81.3%) Velmatic Ocean (87.5%) Cold Corridor (92.5%) Kobolds Tower (93.8%)
Honest John	Strong at	Weak at
	Cold Corridor (100%) Forest of Dead! (100%) Kingdom Grandprix (100%) Strato Storm (98.9%) Air Circus (97.9%) Outcast Castle (95.8%) Yashiki of Ninja (95.8%)	Deeply Dungeon (75%) Velmatic Ocean (85%) Kobolds Tower (93.8%)
Bul-Gin	Strong at	Weak at
	Cross Fire (100%) Strato Storm (100%) Kobolds Tower (100%) Kingdom Grandprix (98.2%) Cold Corridor (97.5%)	Outcast Castle (75%) Deeply Dungeon (80%) Forest of Dead (84.4%) Air Circus (91.7%) Yashiki of Ninja (91.7%) Velmatic Ocean (92.5%)

Individual stage strategy

This section describes strategies for placing 1st in each race. On easier courses, or courses where your character has a strong boost, some of the strategies may not be needed to win. Experiment with your character and incorporate the strategies you feel comfortable with. Videos of successful race wins and demonstrations of boosting strategies are included.

It's important to note that you cannot guarantee 1st place without spending bombs. There's always a chance that a rival will launch ahead of you at the start of the race and stay ahead the entire time. However, even in such unlucky cases, you'll usually at least be able to take 2nd or 3rd and pick up some points. 1st place can often be guaranteed with an opening bomb.

Unless otherwise stated, this section assumes you are always going at full speed when not boosting, i.e., no intentional braking to make stage sections easier (and recovering as soon as possible if you accidentally lose speed). Full speed play is the foundation on which you build race wins with boosts and bombs.

Basalna City (Stage 1)

Racing difficulty: Low Strong characters: None Weak characters: None (All characters have equal boost stats for this stage)

Demonstrations: Chitta, loop 1, boosting through entire stage Chitta, loop 2, slower strats, boss screen scroll manipulation Clips from runs: Chitta, loop 1, a fairly standard run with safe boosting

This is one of the easiest races to win. Once you get ahead of the rival racers, they generally won't be able to catch up as long as you're going at max speed (boosted or unboosted).

If you're lucky, you can get ahead of everyone by boosting at the start, then take it easy for the rest of the race. Sometimes a few racers will pass you at the start, though. You have two options to deal with this:

• Use an opening bomb to prevent it entirely. This all but guarantees a win, unless your bomb misses some racers and they pull ahead.
• Boost as much as possible, and hope you overtake everyone that passed you. Sometimes you won't manage 1st if your luck is bad, but this saves a bomb.

Boost Routing

The safest places to boost are:

• From the start of the stage, until the first dangerous enemies show up.
• Around when Carpet appears, until dangerous enemies appear again.
• Shortly before the insect-shaped ship shows up, until the boss. The insect ship is harmless, and the only other threat is a skull ship, which you can fly above (they can only shoot downwards).

However, the entire stage, including the boss, can be boosted through if needed. You'll need to learn where the enemies spawn and where they tend to shoot. If you stay at the top of the screen, the skull ships can only hurt you if they bump you downwards as they're spawning, so the main threat is the purple tanks that fire in your direction. The top left corner is safe most of the time, but not always.

The boss has two attacks: shoulder turrets that fire aimed bullets, and side turrets that shoot a dense spread of destructible bullets. To dodge the destructible bullets while boosting, position yourself either centered below the boss (on top of the dragon's tail) or on the wings by the shoulder turrets (most of the wing area doesn't have a hitbox).

On Loop 2

The behavior of rival racers is similar, so the race is still fairly easy to win, but boosting for the whole stage becomes more dangerous. It's harder to react to shots from the purple tanks, and the boss can corner you if the turrets use their fast-firing pattern. You may want to unboost and reboost before the boss to do the screen scrolling manipulation strategy for extra safety.

Air Circus (Stage 2A)

Racing difficulty: High Strong characters: Gain, Kickle & Laycle, Honest John Weak characters: Bornnam, Chitta, Bul-Gin

Demonstrations: Chitta, loop 1, kills boss Bornnam, loop 1, uses opening bomb, times out boss Chitta, loop 2, uses 3 bombs Clips from runs: Miyamoto, loop 1, uses opening bomb Gain, loop 2, gets 3rd place

This race can be tough to win. Once the scrolling slows down for the boss fight, rivals will start to catch up to you and there's not much you can do if they pass you. Boost aggressively to put distance between you and the rivals before the boss starts. Weak characters have a particularly hard time getting 1st, and might need to get a little lucky with enemy bullets taking out rival racers at the end.

Depending on your overall tournament routing, this may be a good stage to not worry about your placement and try to make up the points elsewhere.

Boost Routing

The safest places to boost are:

• From the start until enemies appear.
• Through the gem hallway near the start.
• Through the stop signs before the open-air section.
• At the end of the open-air section, up until the boss.
• After killing the boss, until enemies start spawning.

However, these are short boosts that may not be enough to get 1st place.

Less obviously, you can safely maintain boost through the entire open-air section. Sit in the top left corner; the wizards will circle you but rarely fire. When the turtles appear, their first volley of shots will contain one aimed directly at you, which you can tap-dodge downwards, then get back in position. You will need to dodge two shots from the turtles. After the second one, get out of the corner before the stage wall pushes you downwards.

There is a movement pattern (see demonstration videos) that allows you to maintain boost from the start of the stage, past the gem hallway, and up to the large formation of green wizards (where it's recommended you stop boosting and shoot the wizards for safety). After killing the last of the green wizards, you can boost again and carry it through the stop signs and open-air section, up to the boss.

There are two approaches to the boss:

• Maintain boost as much as possible until the boss times out. You'll need to briefly unboost and shoot when it fires the spread of destructible bullets.
• Kill the boss quickly, then try to find safe places to boost during the enemy rush afterwards.

In the enemy rush, the sections without any blue wizards are generally safe to boost in, since the turrets on the walls just shoot aimed bullets that can be misdirected. In the final section with the mix of green and blue wizards, it's reasonably safe just to stay still and let them fire around you. Even if you get bumped by something, it'll often happen after the end-of-stage invincibility has activated.

On Loop 2

Rivals catch up faster, and the boost strategy for the open-air section no longer works due to changes in wizard behavior. The boss is a nightmare and will probably force you to dump multiple bombs. Incidentally, dumping multiple bombs is the only real way to fend off rivals when they catch up at the end. It's probably a bad idea to play this stage in the second loop anyways.

Velmatic Ocean (Stage 2B)

Racing difficulty: Low Strong characters: Chitta, Nirvana Weak characters: Honest John, Kickle & Laycle, Bornnam

Demonstrations: Honest John, loop 1, uses opening bomb Chitta, loop 2 Clips from runs: Miyamoto, loop 2, uses opening bomb Bornnam, loop 2

A relatively easy race to win. Rivals will steadily catch up to you if you aren't boosting, but the pirate ship section provides an easy boosting opportunity. Even weak characters can typically win the race as long as nobody pulls ahead at the start, which can be guaranteed with a successful opening bomb.

Boost Routing

The pirate ship: The easiest and most important boost strategy for this stage. Around the middle, a pirate ship appears. As long as it is not fully destroyed, it will remain onscreen until the boss. Destroy all but one or two turrets, then boost while dodging the occasional aimed bullets. This alone is often enough to win the race.

Through the cliff section: This is a little trickier. Start boosting after you pass the huts on the beach, and move to the top left corner. It remains safe here for a while, up until the two large black ships switch sides and the green tanks start coming from the cliffs. At this point, move downwards and start shooting (or bomb for safer passage).

The boss: It's safe to boost for most of the fight, except for the arm-swinging attack that shoots a wide spread of destructible bullets. Switch to shooting when you see him wind up for it.

On Loop 2

The stage is harder, but the race is still fairly easy. Rivals are a bit faster, and tend to catch up around the start of the pirate ship section if you don't boost before then, but that's exactly the point where you can start boosting safely.

As with many bosses on the second loop, the arm-swinging attack now features a mix of destructible and normal bullets, so shooting through it no longer works. Instead, dodge it by flying close to the boss and staying directly centered under him. This is much harder, but on the plus side, it allows you to stay boosted for the entire fight.

Outcast Castle (Stage 3A)

Racing difficulty: Low Strong characters: Miyamoto, Bornnam, Honest John Weak characters: Bul-Gin, Kickle & Laycle, Chitta, Gain

Demonstrations: Bul-Gin, loop 1, uses bomb in worm section Chitta, loop 2 Clips from runs: Miyamoto, loop 1, uses opening bomb

This is perhaps the easiest race to place well in consistently, due to the closing gates near the start of the level. Once you pass these gates, any rival racers that are behind you will be unable to catch up until the boss fight starts. If you can make it through the gates without anyone passing you, you can play the rest of the level (up to the boss) as slowly and safely as you want.

If someone passes you at the start and you cross the gates in 2nd place or worse, you can attempt boost strategies to catch up, but you're probably better off using an opening bomb to avoid this altogether. You will only get a few chances to overtake rivals, and boosting through the worm section is very risky.

Boost Routing

Learning how to boost through the opening section is worthwhile, as it can save you an opening bomb if you're lucky. You will need to find a pattern that lets you dodge the coffins and their aimed shots consistently. The behavior of the coffins is slightly influenced by scroll speed, so the easiest route might differ slightly per character.

If you get past the gates in 1st, you don't need to boost for the remainder of the course, and can play it at whatever speed you're most comfortable with. Knowing how to boost through the course might be useful for catching up to rivals on unlucky runs, or for speedrunning.

After the gates: You can just stay at the top of the screen and boost, but there's a risk that one of the purple enemies decides to shoot you from close range. There's seemingly not much you can do to mitigate this risk, other than trying to overlap them as they spawn to seal their bullets.

The spinning buzzsaw: Boost down the right path, then stay at the top of the screen. On the first loop, the shots from the zombies generally don't go far enough up the screen to hit you, and if one does, they're slow enough to dodge easily.

The worm section: Boosting through here is dangerous. Be ready to bomb if needed. The idea is to stay in the upper right or upper left corner, and dodge the aimed shots from the coffins by moving up and down. Sometimes a worm will grab you, but they don't slow you down as much if boosting, so you can often pull away.

On Loop 2

The gates still work the same way, so you can easily place 1st as long as you don't get passed at the start. Boost strategies are similar, except the zombie hallway is slightly more dangerous, and the worm section is a lot more dangerous. Cross Fire is probably a better pick for Stage 2-3 though, even if the race there is harder to win.

Cross Fire (Stage 3B)

Racing difficulty: High Strong characters: Gain, Bul-Gin, Chitta, Kickle & Laycle Weak characters: Miyamoto, Nirvana

Demonstrations: Miyamoto, loop 1, uses two bombs to hinder rivals Chitta, loop 2 Clips from runs: Bornnam, loop 2, uses one bomb, gets 2nd place Chitta, loop 2, uses two bombs, gets 2nd place Gain, loop 2, uses two bombs, gets 3rd place

Winning this stage often comes down to luck, even with an opening bomb. It's difficult to find places to boost in the section where the battleships are firing from both sides, and as a result, rivals tend to catch up near the end of that section.

Fortunately, you can easily boost through the entire boss fight, but sometimes that's not enough to get past anyone who overtook you. If you do manage to make it to the boss in 1st place with no rivals onscreen, you're usually in the clear.

If anyone overtakes you at the start, you'll likely get very few chances to pass them until you reach the boss.

Boost Routing

The safest places to get in boosts are:

• At the start, until enemies show up.
• After the first set of turrets, until the second set. The enemies that appear in between are static and fire straight downwards, so they are easy to avoid.
• After destroying the first wing, until more turrets show up.
• After destroying the second wing, through the boss, to the end of the stage.

You can extend the starting boost for longer (all the way up until the second set of turrets) by doing some risky dodges around the flying enemies at the start, and then streaming the shots from the first set of turrets.

The boss is mostly harmless if you stay at the top of the screen and boost, although he has one attack where he backs up to do a charge, which can crush you. Try to move back and forth so that you're always in the opposite corner from the boss.

On Loop 2

Rivals catch up even faster, and if you play it safe around the turrets, you get fewer opportunities to boost. However, the boss still provides a good opportunity to overtake rivals, so even if you can't get 1st, you can often place reasonably well. The dueling battleships section is very difficult to play at full speed without using at least one bomb, but you get two in the stage.

Deeply Dungeon (Stage 4A)

Racing difficulty: Medium Strong characters: Bornnam, Kickle & Laycle Weak characters: Gain, Honest John, Bul-Gin, Nirvana

Demonstrations: Gain, loop 1, spinbomb racing to boost through entire stage except boss Chitta, loop 2, uses bomb on boss Clips from runs: Bornnam, loop 1 Miyamoto, loop 1, catches up from 3rd to 1st after boss Gain, loop 1, catches up from 7th to 2nd after boss

This is an odd stage to race in. Opportunities to boost are limited at the start, and rivals will sometimes overtake you in the mid-to-late portions, or during the boss. However, rivals seem to move slower in the section after the boss, and you can often climb many places by boosting there. Though there's always an element of luck in overtaking rivals, it seems to be easier at the end of Deeply Dungeon compared to most other stages.

Since this is a slow stage, the speed increase from boosting has a wider variance between characters, so the difficulty of placing well in the race also varies quite a bit. Weak characters may struggle even with an opening bomb.

Boost Routing

It is possible to boost through the entire stage using spinbomb racing. However, the opening section is very difficult due to the crushing walls and many enemies, and requires a precise route. The route will differ slightly between characters due to differences in boosting scroll speed.

The more standard, safer places to boost are:

• After the opening section, when the worms come out of the pipes. Finding a consistent pattern to misdirect the worms may take some practice, and will depend somewhat on your character's boost speed. Carry the boost until enemies show up, after the first rush of water.
• After the first rush of water, take out the enemies, then boost past the eels that suck you towards them. The boost can be carried to up the boss. After the second rush of water, stay in the lower corner of the screen to avoid the shots from the eye enemies. For some characters, a worm will spawn from the pipes before the boss, but faster characters can avoid this.
• After killing the boss, you can boost through the entire enemy rush. The main threat is the small squid enemies, who will shoot aimed bullets at you; try to stay on the opposite side of the screen so you can react to their shots.

You can maintain boost after the first rush of water and try to sneak past the group of enemies, but it's a bit risky.

On Loop 2

The spinbomb racing strategy no longer works due to increased enemy health. The other boost strategies work, and in particular, you can still gain a lot of ground by boosting during the post-boss enemy rush. However, the boss is one of the most dangerous in the game, and racing in this stage runs the risk of having rivals catch up to you during the fight and cause chaos.

If your goal is to win the loop 2 tournament, it's probably better to pick Cold Corridor as your Stage 2-4.

Cold Corridor (Stage 4B)

Racing difficulty: Low Strong characters: Chitta, Honest John, Bul-Gin Weak characters: Nirvana, Miyamoto

Demonstrations: Nirvana, loop 1, boosting through entire stage except boss Nirvana, loop 1, uses opening bomb, safer play Chitta, loop 2 Clips from runs: Miyamoto, loop 1, uses bomb on boss Bornnam, loop 2, uses two bombs on boss Miyamoto, loop 2, uses one bomb during stage, two on boss

In this stage, once you get ahead of your rivals, they're unlikely to catch up. The opposite is also true, though - if rivals pull ahead, you'll likely only get a few opportunities to overtake them. Still, the race here is on the easier side as long as you're comfortable boosting through the opening section. Even if you don't use an opening bomb, rivals will often get taken out by enemy bullets at the start.

The white orb monsters that spin and shoot a circular spread are the most dangerous part of the stage. Three appear at the start of the stage, and two appear shortly before the boss. You may want to intentionally slow down to deal with some of them. Boosting past them requires either good dodging reflexes or character-specific routing, since safespots are likely to depend on character boost speed.

Boost Routing

The key to winning this stage is boosting through the opening section, up until the scrolling speed-up ends and the ice golems appear, at which point you can play it safe and start shooting if you're in 1st. You will need to find a route that deals with the white orb monsters in the opening section safely, which may differ depending on which character you play.

Boosting through the entire section will work, but it's a bit risky. A slightly safer strategy is to boost past the first orb, then wall-brake to slow down before the next two orbs and kill them, then immediately resume boosting. If you start the race with an opening bomb, this brief slowdown probably won't be enough for rivals to catch up.

You can carry your opening boost all the way up to the boss, if you want. Stay at the top of the screen during the section with the ice golems and rock-spitting monsters. The top right is recommended over the top left, as it's easier to safely sneak past the enemies during the transition to the zombie section. The white orb monsters are once again the main threat; you may want to brake to take out the two near the end of the stage.

Killing the boss is recommended over boosting through it. The speed-up after killing the boss seems to make it significantly easier to overtake rivals.

During the post-boss enemy rush, you are generally safe boosting in the top left corner. However, in rare cases, your boost might go off just as an ice golem is spawning and change its acceleration, which may allow it to snipe you.

On Loop 2

Pretty similar racing-wise, and most strategies still work, but you might need to work out a new route for the opening section, due to the faster bullets and more durable enemies. Braking to take out the white orb monsters more safely may not work, depending on your character's weapon strength. Particularly, it seems hard to safely take out the two before the boss.

Strato Storm (Stage 5A)

Racing difficulty: Medium Strong characters: Nirvana, Bul-Gin, Honest John Weak characters: Chitta

Demonstrations: Chitta, loop 1, uses 3 bombs on boss Chitta, loop 1, uses opening bomb and two bombs on boss, no boosting Chitta, loop 2, two bombs and one death on boss Clips from runs: Miyamoto, loop 1, uses two bombs on boss Bornnam, loop 1, uses 3 bombs on boss Gain, loop 2, 4 bombs and one death, gets 2nd place

Due to the high base speed of this stage, boosting doesn't have much of an effect on racing results. The stage seems to be designed so you can win (often by a rather wide margin) without boosting, as long as you maintain full unboosted speed. Boosting is still useful for manipulating enemy positions, as any speed changes in this stage tend to scroll enemies offscreen rapidly.

However, this is one of the more difficult stages to maintain full speed in. The pink shots from the wizards will slow you down, and some enemies try to ram you later in the stage. If you accidentally get slowed, speeding back up can be dangerous due to the wild changes in enemy position that can occur.

Rivals appear to get a burst of speed near the start of the stage, allowing them to possibly overtake you, but then slow down for the rest.

Boost Routing

The wizards: After taking out the five planes near the start, boost as the first wizards appear. It will scroll the wizards offscreen, and counteract the effect of the pink shots a little. Stop boosting when the second set of wizards appears to take them out.

After the wizards: Beyond the third set of wizards, there are a number of bulky ships that shoot aimed shots. You can boost through this section, but it requires learning where the bulky ships spawn so you can circle them safely.

Boosting during the section with the ramming ships and the planes is not recommended. The planes are very dangerous if left alive.

After the boss: More ramming ships appear. It's a bit risky, but you can boost through here. Maintain distance from the ramming ships and lead them around the screen to give yourself space to dodge their downwards shots. If you just stay at the top of the screen and let yourself get bumped around, there's a chance you'll get bumped into some bullets.

On Loop 2

While you can still win by maintaining full speed throughout the stage, it's much more difficult and risky to do so, due to the tankier enemies and faster-firing wizards. This may be a good place to lose the race and take things slowly.

Forest of Dead! (Stage 5B)

Racing difficulty: Medium Strong characters: Bornnam, Honest John, Miyamoto Weak characters: Kickle & Laycle, Bul-Gin, Chitta

Demonstrations: Kickle & Laycle, loop 1, uses opening bomb Chitta, loop 2, uses opening bomb Clips from runs: Chitta, loop 1, uses bomb on boss, full speed play but places 2nd Miyamoto, loop 2, uses bomb on boss Bornnam, loop 2, multiple deaths and bombs but places 1st

This is another track where if you pull into 1st and maintain full unboosted speed, rivals are unlikely to catch up, but conversely, it's hard to overtake rivals who pull ahead of you. Safe boost opportunities are limited before the coffin section.

Like Cold Corridor and Deeply Dungeon, the scrolling speed increases after you beat the boss, but unlike those two tracks, this doesn't seem particularly useful for catching up with rivals. If you need to catch up, boosting through the boss fight seems to give you more chances.

Boost Routing

One can carry a boost from the start of the stage to the beginning of the eye section. If you stay at the top of the screen, the gun ghouls won't fire. After the third gun ghoul, move to the bottom to safely dodge the wizard shots.

The eye section: Boosting here is very risky, but can be done if you're willing to bomb when things go wrong. The idea is to lead the eyes in a circle around the screen, but their random spawn positions and erratic splitting behavior makes this difficult to set up. You also have to contend with the lantern ghosts. Stop boosting after the eye section ends, before the wizard trio shows up.

The coffin: The movement of the lantern ghosts is static, so you can follow a set path to boost through this section without getting trapped. Start boosting in the graveyard before the coffin shows up, and circle the screen with the right timing to avoid its shots. Alternatively, you can kill the lantern ghosts and open the coffin, then boost and dodge the vampire by circling it.

The boss: You can boost through the entire fight safely. The enemy section after killing the boss is tricky to boost through due to the lantern ghosts. There's a speed-up after the boss, but you have to slow down to shoot the boss, so whether this is any faster likely depends on how quickly your character can kill the boss, and is probably only relevant for speedrunning.

On Loop 2

The dynamic of the race is similar to the first loop: once you get ahead, rivals are unlikely to catch up as long as you maintain full unboosted speed. However, the eye section is very difficult and risky to play at full speed due to the random spawn positions of the eyes and their aggressive homing movement. Unless you're comfortable with this section at full speed, this is likely a race you'll want to play slow for safety reasons.

The bats in this stage shoot aimed bullets when destroyed. When boosting at the start, be careful not to bump into them too much or you'll bump-kill one and likely die. Rival racers can sometimes also bump-kill or shoot the bats, sending a bullet your way.

Kingdom Grandprix (Stage 6A)

Racing difficulty: High Strong characters: Gain, Kickle & Laycle, Honest John Weak characters: None really (but Chitta, Miyamoto, Bornnam have the lowest stats)

Demonstrations: Chitta, loop 1, kills boss, uses bomb on boss Chitta, loop 1, uses opening bomb, more aggressive boosting, boosts through boss Chitta, loop 2, uses two bombs on boss Clips from runs: Bornnam, loop 1, kills boss, uses two bombs on boss Chitta, loop 1, boosts through boss, uses bomb on boss Miyamoto, loop 1, kills boss, one death and three bombs on boss

There aren't many safe places to boost in this stage, and as a result, rivals will often overtake you partway through. The boss fight provides a lengthy boost opportunity though, as long as you're willing to sacrifice the huge point gains from killing Bashinet-R and his green goons. This dynamic of falling behind mid-race and catching up at the end makes it a bit random to place 1st. Hopefully the tournament is already decided in your favor at this point.

Boost Routing

Most parts before the boss are too tight and choked with enemies to boost in, but there are a handful of small boosting opportunities:

• At the start, you can carry your boost through the first set or two of enemies, although it's a bit risky.
• After the two sets of wizards, boost through the winding corridor while watching out for the side tanks. When the corridor opens up, kill the wizards and spinning ships that appear, then resume boosting. When another spinning ship appears, kill it, then resume boosting, up until the fork in the path.
• During the wide-open section with the orange background, after the two silver robots spawn, you can boost up until the end of the orange section. You may want to kill the small flying tank first, as if you leave it alive, there's a chance it will come back onscreen and shoot you.

The main place to get your boosts in is the boss fight. After the warning text, the fight opens with a rush of green mini-Bashinets. Boosting in the top corners of the screen is safe; you'll sometimes get bumped around but it shouldn't kill you. However, make sure you don't press against the walls, because you'll get caught in the gaps made by the mini-Bashinets and pushed off the screen.

Bashinet-R can be boosted through until he times out and flies away. If you're comfortable with Bashinet-R's attacks, this might even be easier than killing him, as you don't have to deal with the fireball spam desperation phase. However, you get a lot of points for killing him (as well as the green mini-Bashinets) so it might be hard to reach the 600,000 point extend if you choose to boost here.

On Loop 2

The stage doesn't seem significantly harder outside of the boss, but finding good boost spots is just as tough, and rivals will catch up faster. As in the first loop, the race is likely to come down to how many rivals you can overtake by boosting during the boss.

Yashiki of Ninja (Stage 6B)

Racing difficulty: Medium Strong characters: Chitta, Miyamoto, Bornnam Weak characters: None really (but Nirvana and Bul-Gin have the lowest stats)

Demonstrations: Nirvana, loop 1, one death on boss Chitta, loop 2, one death and four bombs on boss Clips from runs: Kickle & Laycle, loop 1, one bomb during stage, one death and four bombs on boss, gets 2nd Bornnam, loop 2, one bomb during stage, one death and four bombs on boss

While this memorization gauntlet is one of the more difficult stages to learn, and has a ridiculous boss, the racing side of things isn't too bad. It's similar to Forest of Dead! or Cold Corridor, where it's easy to stay ahead of rivals once you pull into 1st, but hard to catch up with anyone who overtakes you. If you're willing to spend an opening bomb to knock everyone out at the start, you can probably take 1st just by maintaining full speed whenever you aren't boosting.

Rivals will start to catch up with you during the boss fight, and may overtake you if you get slowed down for too long (from forgetting to reaccelerate after a death, for example). If anyone passes you, the post-boss escape section gives you one last chance to catch up.

Boost Routing

Many sections of this stage are arguably easier to boost through than to play normally. You can boost through:

• The bridge section near the start, by staying at the top.
• The section after the treasure chests with the jumping ninjas, by staying in the top right corner.
• The section with the spinning pole enemies. There is a safespot, roughly centered inside the speedometer. Experiment with your character to find a visual cue for the right positioning.
• The section before the boss with the large ninja statues, by staying at the top.
• The escape section after beating the boss.

Most other sections are dangerous, usually due to the little doll enemies that shoot aimed bullets, and stay onscreen for quite a while if you don't kill them. There's also the section where enemies jump out of the floorboards, which seems easier if you stop to kill some of the enemies.

On Loop 2

The boost routing and racing dynamics are basically the same, but several parts of the stage are much harder.

Kobolds Tower (Stage 6C)

Racing difficulty: Medium Strong characters: Miyamoto, Nirvana, Bul-Gin Weak characters: None really (but Gain, Kickle & Laycle, and Honest John have the lowest stats)

Demonstrations: Kickle & Laycle, loop 1, uses opening bomb Chitta, loop 2, rock despawn glitch Nirvana, loop 2, uses bomb in rock section Clips from runs: Miyamoto, loop 1, uses two bombs Gain, loop 2, two deaths and four bombs Chitta, loop 2, two deaths and five bombs

This is another stage where it's fairly easy to stay ahead of rivals, but hard to catch up to rivals that overtake you. That's assuming you can stay at full speed, which may be difficult during the section with the falling rocks and homing missiles. Boosting through this section is very difficult and chaotic, and using at least one bomb is recommended if you attempt it. If going unboosted, watch your speed and reaccelerate after you get bumped.

It is sometimes possible to despawn the rock generator, which makes the rock section significantly easier to do while boosting. The conditions for this are unconfirmed, but it seems more likely to occur if you avoid collecting the Homing powerup that appears shortly before the rocks begin spawning.^?

After the opening section, the scrolling slows down slightly, and rivals will steadily catch up to you if you don't boost. Fortunately, if you use an opening bomb, you'll usually be able to gain enough distance to avoid anyone making a comeback.

Boost Routing

One can boost through the entire opening section by dancing around the various streams of aimed bullets, and this is recommended to put as much distance as possible between you and your opponents before the slower middle section. The boost can be carried up until the rocks start falling.

The falling rock section can be boosted through, but it's hard to consistently dodge the homing missiles while being bumped around by rocks. Typically, it is not too bad to dodge the first set of missiles, but the second and third sets come in quick succession and may pin you in a corner; this is a good place to bomb, which will take out the fourth missle launcher, leaving only the fifth and final one to dodge.

The ramming ship section is a bit safer, but still tricky due to the two enemies that fire streams of aimed bullets. Stay on one side of the screen, around the middle vertically, to lure the ramming ships to the side while giving you some free space below. When the aimed bullets start, you should be able to circle the screen without getting blocked by a ramming ship. After the aimed bullet enemies leave, start shooting so you can clear out the screen before the next section.

The final section before the boss with the two airships is dangerous to boost through. Kill the airships as quickly as possible.

For the boss, take out the upper side turrets, which fire the boss's only dangerous attack, then boost for the rest of the fight. The missiles can be avoided by circling the screen, and the fireballs and laser can be avoided by going above them.

On Loop 2

The racing dynamics are similar, except rivals catch up faster, so more aggressive boosting may be needed to stay in 1st.

Technical details

The table below shows the maximum and minimum unboosted speed values for each section of each stage. Some short sections are omitted (for example, when the wave of water comes in Deeply Dungeon, max and min speed are both briefly set to 1024).

Stage	Min	Max
Basalna City	256	512
Air Circus	384	640
Air Circus (Boss)	256	512
Velmatic Ocean	256	512
Outcast Castle	128	256
Outcast Castle (Worms)	64	192
Outcast Castle (After Boss)	256	512
Cross Fire	512	1024
Deeply Dungeon	96	192
Deeply Dungeon (Boss)	160	224
Deeply Dungeon (After Boss)	160	320
Cold Corridor	256	512
Cold Corridor (Boss)	192	256
Cold Corridor (After Boss)	192	512
Strato Storm	640	1280
Forest of Dead!	192	384
Forest of Dead! (After Boss)	256	512
Kingdom Grandprix	512	768
Yashiki of Ninja	128	256
Yashiki of Ninja (After Boss)	256	512
Kobolds Tower	192	384
Kobolds Tower (Rocks)	128	256

Boosting increases your speed beyond the unboosted maximum by up to 128 units, regardless of stage. This is why boosting has a more significant effect on slow stages.

Whether the maximum boost of +128 is actually reachable depends on three factors:

• Per-character per-stage base boost speed (see table below)
• Main shot power bonus (grants a small bonus for each power level)
• Bomb count modifier (grants a bonus for less than 4 bombs, or a penalty for more than 4 bombs)

The extra speed from boosting is calculated by adding together the values from the following tables. If the value exceeds 128, it is capped at 128.

Base Boost Speed

Stage	Gain	Chitta	Miyamoto	Bornnam	Nirvana	Kickle & Laycle	Honest John	Bul-Gin
Basalna City	96	96	96	96	96	96	96	96
Air Circus	128	48	96	32	80	128	112	64
Velmatic Ocean	80	128	96	64	128	48	32	80
Outcast Castle	80	64	128	128	96	48	112	32
Cross Fire	128	112	32	80	48	96	64	128
Deeply Dungeon	32	112	96	128	80	128	48	64
Cold Corridor	64	128	48	96	32	80	128	112
Strato Storm	96	32	80	80	128	64	112	128
Forest of Dead!	80	64	112	128	96	32	128	48
Kingdom Grandprix	128	96	96	96	112	128	128	112
Yashiki of Ninja	112	128	128	128	96	112	112	96
Kobolds Tower	96	112	128	112	128	96	96	128

Main Shot Power Bonus

Level 0	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
0	+2	+4	+6

Bomb Count Modifier

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
+32	+24	+16	+8	0	-8	-16	-32