Doors
Doors are everywhere in this game. Entering them optimally is very important, but easy to understand!
RTA stands for Real-Time Attack, and refers to speedruns done in real time. IL stands for Individual Level. IGT refers to the In-Game Timer that appears in the top right corner of your screen while in a level.
RTA Doors
Again, these are the entrances we will be going for in real time runs. Essentially, we always want to enter doors as early as possible without making Mario turn to the side during his door entry animation.
This game has big and small doors but this rule applies to them both.
Here’s an RTA tower door (2-Tower). Notice how Mario goes straight in.
Optimal RTA door entries into small doors will move Mario at an angle towards the center which does not lose time (3-Ghost House).
IL Doors
For the most part, save these for ILs! Enter the door as early as possible. It can be helpful to buffer an up input as you approach a door to enter it as soon as possible.
IL door example in 2-Tower. IL doors have a greater difference on big doors because the center is further from either edge.
Tower and Castle boss doors behave the same and are the same size. The same is true for ghost house doors and yellow dpad doors.
IL doors with sliding penguin Mario look a little ridiculous (3-Ghost House).
Let’s get a little more complex now! We’ll next take a closer look at how moving platforms affect Mario’s speed.