Swimming
Swimming is annoying in platformers, we know this. Let’s learn how to make it as pain-free as possible.
Swimming Without Penguin
Swimming X-speed without penguin is ` ... so very slow. Jumping out of the water when possible is fast. You'll accelerate to 3 speed as long as you're holding 1`.
Jumping out of water can be awkward. To maximize jump height and time out of the water, swim towards the surface until mario’s hat is breaching the surface, then hold 2. You should get a max-height jump out of the water.
If you are small Mario, you can jump 0.5 blocks higher out of the water. This makes skipping the 5-1 rotating platform in Low% possible!
When underwater, you can hold 2 to flutter kick. At the time there is no application for this technique.
Swimming With Penguin
When swimming with penguin, press 2 to propell Mario in the direction he is facing. He will swim directly left or right depending on which direction you pressed last; there is no need to hold a direction on the d-pad.
You have to hold UP or DOWN to swim up/down, you only have to press LEFT or RIGHT to swim left/right.
The key to swimming with penguin is a good rhythm. In swimming-heavy levels like 4-4 timing your 2 presses with the music is helpful to some. It really is a technique you have to get a “feel” for.
Pressing 2 too quickly will result in you skipping a beat and will slow Mario down, so it may be helpful to use a slower rhythm to practice at first.
TAS Swimming
There is a technique that the community recently picked up from MGR’s TASes that makes swimming up and down faster. It essentially makes Mario move diagonally instead of horizontal then vertical.
It can be done by alternating between UP/DOWN and 2 rhythmically. Take note of the input display in the example below to get an idea of how it’s done.
This swimming tech was used to achieve a new IL world record in 4-4.
Now that we’re finally done here, let’s move on to power-up specific tech. First, the most fun!