Most of Mario's Vertical Movements (on the Y Axis) are completely independent from joystick movement. (The only exceptions are Swimming and Flying.) There are predetermined values of acceleration and deceleration, both of which depend on the action that's performed. For certain actions, Vertical Speed is directly proportional to the amount of Horizontal Speed that Mario obtains.

The difference between Horizontal Speed and Vertical Speed depend on whether Mario is Grounded or not. Regardless of how it may seem, Vertical Speed is only active when Mario is not Grounded.

Example - Horizontal Speed vs. Vertical Speed: Let's have Mario slide down an extremely steep slope. His vertical position drastically changes compared to his horizontal position, so surely he must have a large amount of negative vertical speed, right? Wrong. If Mario were to never leave the slope, regardless of his vertical movement, he will only have Horizontal Speed, albeit very little speed.

Factors that Affect Speed:

• Floor (Surface/Ground) Type: Non-Slippery Floors, Slippery Floors, Water, Lava, Ice (Regular, Burning), Sand (Regular, Sand Pit, Sinking Sand, Quicksand), etc.
• Floor Steepness
• Special Caps: Wing Cap (Flying), Metal Cap (Falling, Walking)
• Swimming: Slow, Fast, Shell, Holding Object
• Holding Object: Small Object, Big Object
• Predetermined Speeds for Certain Actions: Cannon Shots, Being Thrown, Wind, Knockback (Enemy, Bonk, Canceled Ledge Grab, Jumpkicking Wall), Etc.

The Mechanics of Speed:

Speed Cap

The minimum/maximum value of speed that Mario obtains when performing a certain action. There are Speed Caps for both Horizontal and Vertical Actions. Speed Caps can both be Positive or Negative.

Acceleration/Deceleration Cap

The minimum/maximum value of speed that Mario can accelerate/decelerate per frame when performing a certain action. Acceleration Caps are always positive. Deceleration Caps are always negative.

Predetermined Initial Speed

The predetermined initial value of speed that Mario's actions begin with.

Side Note: Speed Mechanics Certain Actions have No Theoretical Limit for the amount of Speed that can be obtained, which is discussed in the Hyperspeed section.

Example - Properties of a Speed Cap: This example features the Speed Cap for Crawling. Data of this can be viewed on this Imgur Post. Initiation of crawling movement begins with 0 Speed, however, data of initiation is not shown on the graph. Mario's crawling speeds oscillate with a predetermined difference of ~1 Unit for each Sub-Cycle. Several Sub-Cycles are repeated until a value near the Speed Cap is reached. You can see Mario's average speed increases in a linear-like fashion per Cycle. Once a Cycle has been completed, a new Cycle will begin. Cycles are repeated until the Speed Cap of that action has been reached. For crawling, 1 Full Cycle is equivalent to 4 Cycles. This process will continue in the same manner indefinitely, unless the action changes, or is stopped.

Two Types of Speed Caps:

Absolute Speed Cap

The absolute minimum/maximum value of speed that Mario obtains when performing a certain action. There are no conditions during this action that can exceed this value.

Convergent Speed Cap

The minimum/maximum value of speed that Mario's speed will converge to when performing an action.

Example - Two Types of Speed Caps:

• Absolute Speed Cap: While holding A, when Mario lands in water from a falling state, he will water-plunge (landing in water) for a certain number of frames (the amount of frames depend on the type of falling state in which enters the water) and then he enters his slow swimming (flutter kick) state. (Entering his fast-swimming state is possible with correct timing of A presses.) If Mario has speeds >= 134 just before the first frame of water-plunging, ~1/4th of his original speed is retained. Water-pluging will cause his speed to decrease by 1 Unit per frame. After the water-pluging state is over, he enters his slow swimming state. No matter how much speed was retained, his speed is set to 27.5 Units. This is the Absolute Speed Cap for slow swimming. It's not possible to obtain any value higher than that.
• Convergent Speed Cap: This example continues from the Water-Pluging example above. Once Mario begins to swim slowly, his speed will also begin to decelerate. That's just how the mechanics of slow swimming work. His speed will decelerate from 27.5 Units to 12 Units. 12 Units is the Convergent Speed Cap for slow swimming.

Both General Forward Movement & Long Jumping are two examples of certain actions that have no theoretical limit for the amount of obtainable speed. For these actions, Mario will reach their Convergent Speed Caps respectively, and can continue gaining speed beyond them. (Remember: General Forward Movement refers to movement while Mario is in mid-air. If Mario was able to maintain his vertical position while in mid-air, his horiztonal speed would continue to increase indefinitely. The best example that demonstrates this mechanic is the glitch called the Pedro Spot.

In General Forward Movement & Long Jumping, the Maximum Acceleration Value Per Frame is 1.15 Units prior to reaching the Convergent Speed Cap. Once the Speed Cap is reached, Mario's acceleration value changes from 1.15 Units to 0.15 Units.

Examples - All Possible Speed Caps:

• Horizontal - Absolute Positive: 48 Units (Running Om Steep Slopes After Dive Rolling With Speeds >= 48)
• Horizontal - Absolute Negative: -8 Units (Canceled Ledge Grab)
• Horizontal - Convergent Positive: 32 Units (Running While On Fire)
• Horizontal - Convergent Negative: -0.1 Units (Landing After Knockback From A Bonk)
• Vertical - Absolute Positive: 65 Units (Triple Jump)
• Vertical - Absolute Negative: -75 Units (Falling)
• Vertical - Convergent Positive: N/A (Doesn't Exist)
• Vertical - Convergent Negative: -75 Units (Falling)

Side Note - Absolute and Convergent Speed Caps for Vertical Velocity: Whenever Mario is not grounded, his vertical speed will naturally decelerate. This is done to mimic gravity within the game. Mario's Terminal Velocity for Falling is -75 Units. Falling is both an Absolute and Convergent Vertical Speed Cap. Mario will never fall faster than -75 Units Per Frame. This makes -75 Units an Absolute Vertical Speed Cap. If Mario was able to fall for an indefinite amount of time, and his initial vertical speed value was 0, his vertical speed would eventually converge to -75 Units. This makes -75 Units a Convergent Vertical Speed Cap. Gravity is also the reason behind there being no Convergent Vertical Positive Speed Cap. Mario will always decelerate when in mid-air, causing any positive vertical values of speed to decelerate into negative values.

To-Do: List All Possible Speed Caps. To-Do: List All Possible Acceleration Values.

Predetermined Initial Speed: For nearly every action Mario has, there is an initial speed for them. There are actions that Mario can perform regardless if his speed is < 0, = 0, or > 0. There are actions that can even be performed beyond their Speed Cap. It's rather redundant to refer to every possible starting value of speed as an Initial Speed, therefore, the primary focus of Initial Speeds will be on Predetermined Initial Speeds.

Example - Predetermined Initial Speed: Mario's Predetermined Initial Speed for a Ground Pound is -50 Units. In other words, no matter the conditions, he will always start a Ground Pound with that speed. (Although he floats in the air for several frames, his speed becomes -50 Units on the frame after Z is pressed.) Predetermined Speeds cannot be manipulated.

To-Do: List All Possible Predetermined Initial Speeds.

Here's how they work: With a precisely timed BLJ, Mario's vertical position snaps to the next highest stair, ultimately reducing Mario's vertical speed to 0 (allowing him to repeatedly BLJ on the ground). When this occurs, his negative horizontal speed is temporarily stored, allowing him to repeat the process which results in a greater amount of negative speed.

Here's how it works: When BLJing on a steep slope, Mario's jump is interrupted by the steep ground. With no negative horizontal velocity, Mario's long jumps behave just like the developers intended. However, on steeper slopes, with a negative horizontal velocity, and with ground located behind Mario, the game has no choice but to force Mario's position backwards along with an increased vertical position. This process is repeatable, allowing for Slope BLJs to be performed.

A common Slope to BLJ on would be the slopes on the Castle Roof or the tan-colored slopes located by the cannon in the castle grounds.

Here's how they work: BLJs are possible on rising elevators because an elevator's vertical velocity allows them to catch up to Mario as soon as he leaves the ground from a BLJ. This interrups the first jump and allows him to jump again, thus repeating the process of a BLJ.

The elevators in Hazy Maze Cave and Bob-omb Battlefield are good places to practice. Elevators that's move in a horizontal fashion, such as the ones located in the volcano of Lethal Lava Land do not have the properties to initiate Elevator BLJs because their vertical velocity isn't fast enough.

These types of BLJs demonstrate Mario's mechanics to their most basic properties. Mario has the capability of temporarily storing negative speed after a BLJ, and the speed can be increased with repeated BLJs.

The most common Low Ceiling BLJ is the one presented within the video (located in the Jolly Roger Bay room). It is literally a low ceiling. Either one of the Lobby BLJs in the main room of the castle are also Low Ceiling BLJs, but they utilize Invisible Wall Hitboxes which act as Low Ceilings.

Here's how it works: When Mario BLJs parallel to the stairs, Mario's vertical position snaps to the next highest stair (when the right angle is utilized). This also requires Mario's facing angle to be slightly askew with respect to the stairs, so that when he BLJs onto the next highest stair, his facing angle & negative speed allow him to drop back down to the original stair with which the Side BLJ was initiated with. As mentioned earlier, when Mario BLJs and snaps onto the next highest stair, his negative speed is temporarily stored, allowing him to repeat the process which results in a greater amount of negative speed.

Side BLJs can be performed on most stairs (due to some stairs having the appearance of stairs but are actually steep slopes) and on flat platforms which Mario can run directly over.

1. First Frame: (Start) + (Z) + (A)
2. Second Frame:
3. Third Frame: (Start)
4. Fourth Frame:
5. Fifth Frame: (Start) + (Z) + (A)
6. And so on!

Basically, the Start Menu acts like a frame buffer which allows more inputs to be performed within the game timer. These rules apply for BLJing as well. However, this only works on slopes, stairs, and elevators. It does not work with Side BLJs or (some) Low Ceiling BLJs.

• Game Resources ― we have resource pages for other games too!
• Common Tricks ― tricks common to many games
• Boss Fighting Guide ― tricks specific to boss fights