Goals
- 100% Completion. Therefore, we complete the totals screen, then beat the game.
- All jiggies
- All Notes
- All jinjos
- All Mumbo Tokens
- All Empty Honeycombs
- All Moves
- heavy glitch abuse
- heavy luck manipulation
- Best ending (a different ending plays when you 100% the game)
- Speed/Entertainment trade-off
- Takes damage to save time
- Takes a death to save time
- Heavy glitches
- Heavy luck manipulation
- Major Skips
Around a million rerecords from RNG manip brute-forcing with scripts is not included in the final rerecord count.
Ran on BizHawk 2.9.0 with the mGBA core, as recommended by TiKevin83 for maximum accuracy. I haven't really tried to resync the movie onto GBAHawk, since my computer can barely run GBAHawk at half speed, and the input as-is desyncs shortly after I gain control of Banjo.
The PAL version loses one second compared to the North-American version from the extra second for the pirate boss in Breegull Beach to appear in the last phase of the fight. The PAL version also loses time from the language select menu that pops up everytime you launch the game. English is the fastest language of the 3 available languages on PAL, so the PAL version wouldn’t benefit from extra translations anyway.
Overview
Individual Level Comparison
This table shows an overview of the time save compared to my previous TAS, submitted in 2019.
| Level | Old TAS | New TAS | Improvement (f) | Improvement (s) | Notable changes |
|---|
| Spiral Mountain* | 37441 | 24722 | 12719 | 3 m 32 | We clip into the last 4 levels. Skipping the last 4 level opening cutscenes saves at least 3 minutes by itself. |
| Cliff Farm | 26509 | 25409 | 1100 | 18 | We no longer deathwarp in Farm Heights. |
| Breegull Beach | 31247 | 30744 | 503 | 8 | There's nothing major that's different about this level. |
| Bad Magic Bayou | 25030 | 21964 | 3066 | 51 | We get to skip the tank. As a result of that, this level is done in 1 trip. |
| Spiller's Harbour | 31845 | 28968 | 2877 | 48 | A lot of cutscene skips are chained together. |
| Freezing Furnace | 31260 | 27312 | 3948 | 1 m 6 | The candle is now skipped, which allows for a big reroute. |
| Grunty's Castle + Epilogue | 27577 | 26304 | 1273 | 21 | I mastered the power of RNG brute-forcing with Lua scripting. |
- : The time spent in Spiral Mountain is considered as the time not spent in any level.
Short Explanation of the time save
Shortly after the No Levels Early TAS was finished, speedwalking was discovered, and this glitch itself is what allowed over 90% of the time save present in this TAS.
A glitch that, just like superjumps, can give extra speed past the normal speed cap. However, due its more efficient acceleration, it allows for faster speed, which can be sometimes be used to clip through walls. This made some pretty important skips possible.
More notably, enabling the ability to enter the last 4 levels opening them.
Game Mechanics
Speeds
Note: in pixels per frame (ppf).
Knockback: 2.0
Moving after turning in the air: 1.3
Banjo
- Swimming: 1.2
- Walking: 1.6
- Rolling: 2.0
- Talon Trot: 2.5
Mouse
Candle
- Walking: 1.6
- Rolling: 2.0
Octopus
- Walking: 1.6
- Swimming: 1.8
Tank
Superjumps, Speedwalking, and Speed Conservation
When walking along the side of a platform above swimmable water or lava, if the player switches direction, they will gain 0.2ppf for the next 4 frames (for some reasons, 6 frames if they're the mouse), this can be repeated as long as the player is moving and that they are still moving.
Superjumps is the original way of gaining speed. If the player changes direction or rolls, then immediately jumps, they will gain frames for the next 5 frames. This method has the downside that once you jump, it is very hard to come back on land quickly.
Note: speedwalking does not work when using talon trot. As such, at many points during the making of the TAS, it was important to consider the option of losing talon trot to save time with speedwalking, instead of doing superjumps with a limited acceleration.
When the player is going above the speed that they're intended to be at, the game tries to decelerate the player after a few frames. After 4 frames in the air, 5 frames on the ground, and 11 frames above or in water.
Changing direction on the D-pad, landing on the ground, rolling, or doing an air attack resets that frame counter, and delays the deceleration.
"Flying"
If a player is in the air, is holding A, is holding a direction on the D-pad and is going at above ~5.5 ppf, the game stops applying gravity on the player, which allows them to "fly". Changing direction on the D-pad applies 1 frame worth of gravity on the player.
Egg Knockbacks
The way that the game decides to see if you should receive a knockback after attacking them is that you get a knockback if you're not in the egg firing mode and the enemy does not die from the attack. However, if you shoot an enemy with an egg then quickly backflip, the game will incorrectly give the player a knockback when the egg hits the enemy, as it thinks that a melee attack was used to hit the enemy.
RNG manipulation
Here are the actions which can be done to manipulate the RNG in the game.
- Jumping as Banjo (does not work in talon trot);
- Shooting an egg;
- There are random zones in the game where standing in them advances the RNG each frame if you're inside them;
- Collecting an item, such as a note or a nest;
- Delaying the event from happening.
Climbing Vines
This mechanic is certainly a weird one, with a few obscure mechanics and tricks to make it faster.
Running into a vine allows you to keep your full speed until you change D-pad inputs (even vertically), in which case, the game will try to slow you down until you reach a speed of 1.2 ppf. This deceleration can be slowed down using speed conservation techniques.
When going vertically, it is faster to periodically jump off the vine, as the first few frames of a jump have a faster acension than climbing vines normally.
This TAS uses more efficient jump patterns than the old TAS when climbing vines.
Bozzeye Frame Rules
When talking to Bozzeye, the game will only consider showing up the first textboxes every 5 frames. As such, it can be advantageous to do more movement before talking to Bozzeye if the framerule is badly alligned.
Jinjo Jiggy Dialogue Skip
Upon touching a jinjo jiggy, the oracle normally gives tips about the game. However, if the jiggy is collected in the air, the dialogue is skipped.
Walking Off Ledges
Walking off of a ledge makes you lose control of your character and makes you decelerate until you touch the ground. It must be avoided at all cost when optimising gameplay.
Rare's Anti-Cheat
In this game, if you go in a section that is considered out of bounds for about 5 frames, the game will freeze Banjo in place, with no way of going back inbounds. This limits the way that out of bounds glitches can be used in this game.
Mid-Air Jumps out of Loading Zones
If a loading zone spawns you in the air, you have 1 frame to jump to avoid falling straight down.
Shortening Camera Movement In Cutscenes
In this game, the camera moves at a set speed during cutscenes. As such, minimising the distance that the camera needs to travel during a cutscene saves time.
Saving and Quitting
Saving and Quitting takes around 30s to do, and puts the player at the last loading zone they entered. As such, they cannot be effectively used to save travel in this game.
Detailed List of Changes
Overall Changes
A script was used to automatise text skipping, which saved a few frames over the run due to errors in the previous run.
Speedwalking is used everywhere in the run.
Many smaller optimisations are omitted to not clutter the text.
Spiral Mountain 1 - To Cliff Farm
The game requires an save file to exist in order to skip the intro cutscene. As a result of the fact that this TAS is done on a clean save RAM, the intro cannot be skipped.
This first part of the run involves opening and entering the first level, getting all the notes along the way.
The text speed is switched to fast before learning Pack Whack. Fast text saves 2 frames per textbox, and pausing the game resets Banjo's speed.
The previous route got the 5 notes near the Breegull Beach entrance to get enough notes for ice eggs, but reroutes made getting these notes early not necessary anymore.
Damage boosting off of enemies makes Banjo go at rolling speed until he touches the ground, as such, damage boosts are done as often as possible until Banjo get to learn how to roll. Damage boosting are done in a more optimal way in this TAS, by getting hit at the peak of Banjo's jump.
Cliff Farm
The route of this level stayed mostly the same, apart from a few things in Farm Heights.
The Climb to Farm Heights
The main map of Cliff Farm is routed clockwise, so that no backtracking is needed.
A bit of time is lost due a detour to get one extra note before learning how to climb, due to being a few notes short entering the level.
After getting the slide minigame jiggy, a damage boost through the gruntling is done. This saves time over dodging the gruntling, which is what the old TAS did.
A damage boost is done to avoid killing the tendril enemies.
After diving in the Cliff Springs, a speedwalk is done off of the pond to reach the entrance of Farm Heights faster.
Farm Heights
Learning to roll is the first thing that is done, so that the speed gain from rolling is used as much as possible.
1 second was saved from the sheep minigame, by getting luckier last spawns.
In the middle of collecting the river notes, a speedwalk is used to swim much faster.
At the end of the river, a speedwalk into a superjump is done to escape the river and to get the silo honeycomb quicker. The old TAS had to deathwarp out of the river, and had to take a big detour to the honeycomb later.
You may get a feeling of dejà vu with the Klungo fight. It was taken from the no levels early TAS.
A few notes got their time at which they get collected changed, to minimise detours.
From Exiting Farm Heights to the Exit
Touching the last jinjo later by touching the bottom of its hitbox allowed for a faster collection, as it lets the player go at rolling speed for longer.
Spiral Mountain 2 - To Breegull Beach
After opening Breegull Beach, we take the shortest path to Breegull Beach, collecting a jinjo on the way. This is the last time that we visit Jiggywiggy in this run.
The old TAS collected a bunch of collectable in Spiral Rise, as jiggies were required to open Bad Magic Bayou and Spiller's Harbour at the same time.
Breegull Beach
The route is identical to the route of the old TAS. As such, barely any time was saved in this level. Here's what changed.
Before Freeing Kazooie
During the underwater swim, we do one more damage boost compared to the old TAS. This forces the Grunty fight to be done with 1 fewer damage boost, which loses a couple of frames during the fight.The net time save is around 22 frames.
The Grunty fight strategies are all about letting Grunty do as little as possible while ending the fight at the top of the arena. As such, we make her ram into the wall for the phases where she runs towards Banjo, and let her pound down as early as possible. Due to the fact that Grunty sometimes won't register as hitting a wall, we have to alternate between different parts of geometry.
From Kazooie to the Slide
When leaving the quarry to go learn how to shoot blue eggs, the buzzeye frame rule is so lenient that Banjo can get the seashell before learning the eggs without losing time. This was done for entertainment.
Turns are taken more tightly during the mouse section, due to a better understanding of the chain hitboxes.
The cutscene for spawning the bregull rescue jiggy is skipped.
While climbing the vines to the slide minigame, we walk from the head of a breegull (which is hidden from glitchy graphics) to the vines, allowing for faster movement on the vines.
From the Slide to the Exit
Many speedwalks and superjumps allow for a faster collection of items, on the right half of the map.
Spiral Mountain 3 - From Breegull Beach to Bad Magic Bayou
In this section, the collectables on the right half of Spiral Rise are gotten, as notes are needed for the moves in Bad Magic Bayou.
After this, a speedwalk through a bridge allows Banjo to gain around 13 ppf worth of speed, which can be redirected to the left to clip into Bad Magic Bayou. This trick is incredibly precise, and took around 40 hours of TASing to get the first time.
There was an idea of an alternate route where you would save the right half of Spiral Rise for the very end of the run, to reduce the detour to get these collectibles.
However, the alternate route involved getting the jinjo near the entrance to Grunty's castle, which would be the last jinjo of Spiral Mountain, during the timer jiggy.
As it was learned through testing, the cutscene of the jinjo jiggy spawning would cancel the timer, which made the route not work.
Bad Magic Bayou
This level is done in 1 visit, due to the fact that the tank is skipped. However, the route remains similar to the old TAS.
The swamp theme of this level allows for a lot of speedwalking to be done, due to the quantity of water.
From the Beginning to Leaving the Manor
The level starts with a dialogue skip of the Rat-a-Tat Rap tutorial, followed by a superjump which skips parts of the climb to the manor.
For the battery egg tutorial honeycomhb, a different strategy is used, and we enter talon trot before the gate opening cutscene starts.
The RNG with the movement of the gruntlings in the old TAS was attrocious, so we save time on that here.
For the damage boosts before and after the Klungo fight, being in the air avoid a slowdown upon landing after the damage boost.
During the Klungo fight, we lure him to the top of the arena. This skips Klungo walking around, which saves around 4 seconds for the whole fight, and gives more time to goof around.
From Leaving the Manor to Mumbo's Skull
When getting the notes on the wooded path on the way to the right, we squeeze between the gruntling and the wall, unlike the old TAS, which took a wide turn around the gruntling.
During the fight against the gruntling army, a new strat is done, where a bill drill is used to kill the last gruntling, instead of shooting 4 battery eggs.
A clip to go out of bounds, barely close enough to the inbounds sections so that the anti-cheat does not catch Banjo, is used to enter the tile puzzle without the tank.
From Mumbo's Skull to the Exit
The candle puzzle is now done clockwise. It's half a second faster.
A second is saved from better fishing RNG.
Spiral Mountain 4 - From Bad Magic Bayou to Spiller's Harbor
Due to the fact that we are ahead by about 30 notes from clearing Bad Magic Bayou, collecting the Spiral Mere notes before Spiller's Harbor is no longer required.
As such, the right half of Spiral Mere is saved for after Spiller's Harbor.
We enter Spiller's Harbor by going over the wall that has the entrance, then falling into the loading zone from above.
Spiller's Harbour
Apart from the Bilge Haven spring pad jiggy, the route is mostly the same.
Obligatory joke: This level is so good, you won't believe what you see, and even what you don't see!
From The entrance to the end of the First Visit of Spillerston
Around 20-25 seconds are saved from using many dialogue skips in the first half of the level. In order, the dialogues that are skipped are: learning wonderwing, learning shock spring pad, giving the UFO toy to the squitters, and learning ice eggs. Fighting Grunty fixes the camera, but graphics aren't fully fixed until the ice cream is handed to the squitter.
Superjumps are used to get the spring pad jiggy during the first visit of Bilge Haven, saving time from not having to watch the cutscenes of the spring pads activating. This trick is what allowed the route to save the 5 notes near Breegull Beach for the end of the run, as getting this jiggy early made us get 6 extra notes before learning Ice Eggs.
A new route in Seaman's Lodge is used, saving 6 frames.
The last notes in Spillerston are gotten on the way back.
From the First Visit of Spillerston to End of the Level
A superjump is used to reach the top of the lighthouse to activate the warp pad to the Grunty fight, instead of using shock spring pads.
The jinjo in the Tip-Tup Suite is gotten without killing the enemy that blocks the Shock Spring Pad.
The mouse garden in Spillerston is done counter-clockwise to better take advantage of invincibility frames after the damage boost.
Spiral Mountain 5 - From Spiller's Harbor to Freezing Furnace
The right half of Spiral Mere is done here, in reverse compared to the route of the old TAS.
A deathwarp needs to be done at the beginning of Furnace Fun, so a hit is taken from an enemy to lose 1 HP.
A clip through the geometry of the ice platform in front of Freezing Furnace allows Banjo to enter the level without opening it.
Freezing Furnace
Due to the fact that it is now possible to get the jinjo in the ice scupture without the candle, Freezing Furnace has been completely re-routed to make Grunty Industries completable in 1 visit.
From the Level Entrance to Entering Grunty Industries
The first part of the new route involves getting all the jinjos that are outside before going in Grunty Industries. As such, a superjump is done to start the level by clearing the top-middle section of the level. 2 damage points are taken from the tornado before the snowflake the minigame, to finish the health set-up for the deathwarp.
After the snowflake minigame, a rail is used to clip through the front-right corner of the ice structure with the candle jinjo. Due to the fact that the majority needs to be lost to be able to collect the jinjo, dying is the option to get out, returning Banjo in front of the snowflake minigame cave.
After which, a few notes and the jinjo on the far right is gotten, before entering Grunty Industries.
Grunty Industries
The route of this section mostly follows the route of the old TAS, with a few changes.
After getting the gold nugget in the water bucket, a damage into the lava is taken to have invincibility frames to get the jinjo in the green goo. The green goo deals 4 HP worth of damage per hit, which would kill Banjo in 1 hit, but iframes from the lava last just long enough for Banjo to get the goop jinjo without dying.
A superjump is used to skip the climb of the left side of Grunty Industries, and the collectibles in that section on the way down instead.
Health must be gotten during the Blistering Buttons section, so that Banjo does not die from the poisonous air.
After getting the golden nugget jiggy, instead of leaving Grunty Indutries like the old route, the right side of Grunty Industries and the Furnace Stores are cleared.
From Leaving Grunty Industries to Leaving the Level
The bottom of Freezing Furnace is clear, except for one note, which is more convenient to get as the octopus later.
During the transformation section, the tank has fewer things to get in Grunty Industries. The octopus gets the note that was saved.
The level ends on the fishing minigame, which was done 2 seconds faster, due to better RNG.
Spiral Mountain 6 - From Freezing Furnace to Grunty's Castle
The left side of Spiral Mere, Spiral Rise and Spiral Mountain are cleaned up. The 5 notes near Breegull Beach are finally gotten. The jinjo jiggy is collected, and a clip is used to clip into Grunty's Castle.
Grunty's Castle
The First 2 Phases - The Quiz
A lot of time was saved from prioritising picture questions and sound questions over picture questions and music questions, which are slower.
The Final Phase
A lot of time was saved on the first hits by getting the pink ghost stuck in the walls, which prevented it from going to the other side of the arena.
The last phases, where Grunty's movement is random, also saved time, due to brute-forced RNG manip, which gave better results.
Afterthoughts
This TAS was started in April of 2023, and took around a year to get to the final boss fight.
However, in April 2024, I had to take a break due to school. With it being already done and it being at the most brutal RNG section of the game, it wasn't until November 2024 that I found the motivation to finish it. And for some more lack of motivation, it wasn't until March 2025 that I found motivation to write this text for the submission.
Morale of the story: do not take breaks of projects that are almost done. You'll have a hard time coming back to them!
Special Thanks
Mannix86, Lightmopp, NicoPlaysThings, Moliman, Deln: For keeping me motivated by being in a call with me when working on the TAS;
GarageDoorOpener: for hosting the reveal on the Banjorace Twitch Channel;
Mardiman641: For indirectly reminding me to finish this TAS.
