Trickjump

A trickjump refers to a difficult sequence of moves used to reach one platform or ledge from another without touching the ground in between, and often without relying on external objects. Certain trickjumps have applications for speedrunning, Low%, or other objectives, while others serve no larger purpose and are purely done as isolated challenges.

Classifications

While there is a large variety of trickjumps and many of them blur the lines between categories, trickjumpers often distinguish between loose categories of trickjumps.

Vertical trickjumps

Vertical trickjumps involve climbing a very tall ledge all in one sequence of moves. The optimal sequence of moves generally consists of starting with a triple jump, cap throwing and diving into a cap bounce, cap throwing again to stall against the wall, wall jumping, and then finally cap throwing and diving onto the top. For very precise vertical trickjumps, it is often advantageous to perform a down-oriented motion throw against the wall, since these curve very slightly upward and then back downward during their trajectory, which the wall can intercept at its highest point.

Horizontal trickjumps

In contrast to vertical trickjumps, horizontal trickjumps generally involve crossing a gap of some sort. The optimal sequence generally involves performing a vectored triple jump with momentum, cap throwing and diving into a vectored cap bounce, performing a homing cap throw followed by a vectored cap return spin, and finally cap throwing and diving onto the target platform. The cap bounce sequence and cap return spin sequence can often swap places.

For certain precise horizontal trickjumps, triple throw mechanics can be used to ensure that a triple throw is used as the homing cap throw, since triple throws can be homed faster. This often involves intricate setups such as performing a roll cancel jump to initiate the triple jump at the start of the trickjump, in order to ensure Cappy does not return to Mario until the moment Mario is ready to throw him again.

For extremely precise horizontal trickjumps where using a triple throw is not possible, such as those initiated with a vault rather than a triple jump, players may opt to use "relax tech" for the homing throw, named after its discoverer relaxmas. This involves letting go of the control stick while homing Cappy, which causes Cappy to home directly down rather than down and out, allowing him to return to Mario slightly faster.

Extremely long-distance horizontal trickjumps are often done with a vectored roll cancel off the edge of the platform instead of a triple jump, and the longest distance trickjumps in the entire game may utilize speedflips.

Restricted trickjumps

Some trickjumps will specifically disallow using certain moves in Mario's repertoire, simply for the purpose of making them more challenging. These include horizontal trickjumps that must be done with a vault rather than a triple jump, or more obscure categories such as "yellow drams", which must be initiated with a long jump.

Capless trickjumps

Certain trickjumps must be done without the use of Cappy, whether this be due to an artificially imposed restriction or due to the trickjump being done in a circumstance where Cappy is unavailable, such as certain sub-worlds. While horizontal capless trickjumps simply involve a well-vectored triple jump followed by a single dive, vertical capless trickjumps involve using a specific technique to turn Mario around as quickly as possible during a wall jump, in order to dive onto the target platform. This technique relies on the fact that Mario will turn fastest when the control stick is pointed in nearly opposite the direction Mario is facing, and involves rotating the control stick in a swift circle with precise timing such that the angle between the control stick and Mario's facing direction is continuously slightly less than 180 degrees. Due to the difficulty of this motion, most players opt to employ pause buffering.