Spinpound
A spinpound, also sometimes written as spin pound and known to some players as a hipdrop, is a move that is performed by pressing the crouch button during a spin jump.
Unlike a regular ground pound, a spinpound does not stall in midair; Mario will immediately accelerate toward the ground.
To make Mario spin, the joystick must be rotated in two full circles; however, spins can be buffered, meaning the two rotations can be performed during another animation so that Mario is spinning immediately upon returning to his normal state.
Buffered spinpounds, also occasionally called bumps, are a very effective way of performing a ground pound quickly, since the action of spinning, jumping and ground pounding can all be performed in rapid succession. Additionally, they can be used to reach maximum roll speed quickly if a roll action is added to the end of the input sequence, or used to execute a fast ground pound jump. All of these movement sequences are used extremely often in all types of speedruns.
Reproduction steps
To perform a spinpound
- Spin the left analog stick so that it completes two full rotations;
- Press the jump button (A/B);
- Ground pound (ZL/ZR)
- Press the capthrow button (X/Y) or shake.
A spinpound is the same speed if the player shakes their controller when executing it. Spinpounds differ in speed depending on how fast they are executed. A perfect spinpound can be performed in only 4 frames.
Uses
Spinpounds have all the same uses as regular ground pounds - that is rolling, jumping, killing enemies and breaking boxes, amongst other things. This section will focus on places where spinpounds are most optimal and most frequently used.
In most speedruns, spinpounds are most commonly used to get ontop of low standing walls or to scale a wall. This is because spinpounds are faster than a regular ground pound and give more height than a backflip.
It is possible to buffer the two stick rotations in most cutscenes or out of dives, jumps or rolling.
A well executed buffered spinpound is slightly faster than initiating a roll regularly. This time save is most noticeable if you want to roll into a direction different from the one Mario is facing because the spinpound completely gets rid of the slow turning animation.
Aside from movement, most ledge clip setups feature spinpounds at some points, though the setups are usually very unreliable.
Silent spinpounds
A silent spinpound is when a spinpound does not generate the usual sound accompanied by a spinpound. Many players will encounter a silent spinpound at some point whilst playing the game and may be confused as to what caused it. According to current knowledge, a silent spinpound occurs when the player releases zl/zr just before the spinpound is completed.