In the first cave, you can skip through the Ropes by front flipping. It’s a little tight though. An easy trick is to flip a bit before Croc’s nose hits the edge you are jumping off of (diagram)
In Any%, you can kill the Thief as early as here. This was demonstrated in this 2011-04-20 YouTube video by TheCrypticJacknife
The Thief can also be killed early here
Believe it or not, you can simply jump these gaps around the huge trees. You can even grind up against the tree a little bit and it’s OK. It’s a bit easier (though slower) if you do a stomp jump (video). (ooo someone should time going around the tree vs yolo jumping vs stomp jumping!!)
In this cave, you can get back to the upper section without using a Balloon. If you jump inside a crate as it spawns, you will Upwarp on top (video) (find on discord when this was discovered)
In the same cave, when doubling back here in Max% you can skip waiting for the crate to respawn with a tricky front flip. Similarly, when doubling back for the last Crystal you can skip waiting for the box like so. it aint easy, but there is a Balloon right near by for easy recovery. additionally, you can try to Hazard Jump the boxes, so they don’t break in the first place
The green Gummi Jump up to the Clockwork Gobbo here can be skipped by:
- doing a Cage Skip
- using a blue gummi jump
- using a orange jelly (proven here on JP)
- (btw, this same skip can be done in Crow)
The Clockwork Gobbo has a Heart Pot at the end (I believe this is the only level with a heart pot..? apart from the simon says game in Sailor Hub)