Contents
The Jump
Jumping is a faster form of movement than walking. There are two types of jumps: Neutral jumps and Forward jumps.
- Neutral jumps are done by simply jumping without holding a direction. They have no momentum and go straight up, but allow for one ajdustment of the trajectory by pressing a direction in mid-air: this makes Richter go in said direction at a low speed.
- Forward jumps are done by holding a direction before the jump. This makes Richter go in the direction at full speed, and don't allow to change the trajectory.
The Backflip
Backflips are done by intitiating a Neutral jump and then repressing B within an 11 frame window.
- The later the repress, the higher the backflip. A good backflip is higher than a jump.
- An 11 frame delay on the B repress is called a max height backflip. A 2 frame delay on the B repress is called a min height backflip
Min height backflips are theoretically a faster form of movement than jumps, but due to how hard it is to perform them consistently in real time they are not really used. Backflips make you slide at the end of the move. You can whip just before landing to cancel this skid animation.
Falling
- When walking off a ledge, Richter goes straight down without being able to readjust his trajectory. You can however whip and turn him around.
- When falling from a great height, Richter will go into a crouching animation when landing. You can prevent this animation by whipping just before landing. At the moment of landing, the later in the whip animation, the sooner you can regain control.
Stairs
You can jump on stairs and hold up on the dpad to grab onto them.
- Some stairs will automatically put you in a climbing state even if you aren't holding up on the dpad (two sets like this ins stage 2, on in stage 3, one in stage 7).
- You also can't drop down these stairs.
You can drop down most stairs by pressing down+B. You can jump and backflip from stairs. By whipping just before landing on stairs, you can cancel some of the animation you'd normally get by landing on a step.
Moonwalking
By holding Y you can lock Richter's facing direction and move in the other, resulting in a moonwalk.
Lock
By holding B you can lock Richter in place.
Subweapons
There are 6 subweapons in total: Dagger, Axe, Cross, Holy Water, Stopwatch, Key.
- Each use of a Dagger/Axe/Cross costs 1 heart.
- Each use of the Holy Water costs 3 hearts.
- Each use of the Stopwatch costs 5 hearts.
- Each use of the Key costs 0 hearts.
Item crashing
Pressing X will result in an item crash which consumes a set number of hearts in exchange for a powerful attack.
- Item Crashes with the Dagger/Axe costs 10 hearts.
- Item Crashes with the Cross/Stopwatch costs 15 hearts.
- Item Crashes with the Holy Water costs 20 hearts.
- Item Crashes with the Key costs 0 hearts.
You can item crash without any subweapons, which sets Richter's whip on fire and performs a more powerful attack with it. This costs 15 hearts.
You cannot item crash in mid-air, but you can buffer one which will get performed on the first frame you land.
Mid-air turnaround backflip
This consists or initiating a Neutral jump, then tapping the opposite direction you're facing and repressing B within 11 frames of the initial jump. It's great for backflipping in the same direction you're trying to walk towards.
Knockback
By crouching you can cancel most knockbacks. If you are in the middle on an attack while you are crouching though, you will still take knockback as normal.
Damage Boosting
Damage boosting off of enemies can get you to places you normally wouldn't be able to reach.
Armor Knight Boost in Stage 2
Medusa Boost in Stage 7
Hearts
Remaining hearts carry over to the next stage. On top of that, they determine how many of a given subweapon can be present on screen at the same time when used (19 hearts or less allow for 1 subweapon on screen, 20 to 29 hearts allow for 2 subweapons, 30 hearts or more allow for 3 subweapons).
- These two factors make heart routing and usage extremely important throughout the entire run.
End-stage results screen
The results screen at the end of most stages counts how much health you have left and how many hearts you prossess to award you points. Having less health and fewer hearts at the end of a stage saves time on the results screen.
- It's not recommended to end a stage with a low heart count, as it's just more important to have hearts available for skips involving item crashes and being able to use more subweapons.
- On the other hand, damage is usually taken intentionally where possible to get a faster results screen.