First Moon Skip
First Moon Skip, often abbreviated as FMS, is a speedrun technique that involves skipping Our First Power Moon in the Cascade Kingdom and proceeding directly to the Madame Broode boss fight. First Moon Skip saves around 26 seconds if performed optimally, since the cutscenes associated with the first Power Moon are quite long.
While it is possible to reach the next area before collecting Our First Power Moon on every game version, the trick is only useful for most speedruns on version 1.0.0, since the game was later patched to prevent the boss fight from triggering until Our First Power Moon is collected. However, since version 1.3.0 is now the fastest version, this trick has been made obsolete as runners on the newest version are now forced to collect the first moon.
Explanation
Before collecting Our First Power Moon, the bridge across the waterfall is in the upright position, meaning Mario cannot traverse past the moon normally. Although it appears that it would be relatively simple to skip the first Power Moon by simply climbing onto the wall where the bridge would land, there is actually an invisible barrier surrounding this wall that attempts to prevent progression by blocking access to the area past the bridge.
It is possible to bypass this invisible wall in multiple ways, in order to make one's way up to the boss fight. However, the boss fight will only trigger if one is playing on version 1.0.0 of the game, making the trick useless for modern speedruns that utilize version 1.3.0. If one uses this trick in a speedrun, they must collect an additional moon after the boss fight to replace Our First Power Moon.
It is a common misconception that the invisible wall can only be bypassed on version 1.0.0, but it can in fact be bypassed on any version; however, it is only useful for progression on version 1.0.0 since that is the only version in which the boss fight will trigger. It is to be noted that the invisible wall has different collision properties on versions 1.0.1 onward compared to version 1.0.0, meaning that some of the methods of bypassing it only work on specific versions.
History
While players figured out early on that it was possible to bypass the invisible wall and reach Madame Broode early, the vast majority of players were running version 1.0.1 and the boss fight would not trigger. One of these players was Undr, who pointed it out in an early Speedrun.com forum thread[1] about Minimum Captures runs with the intention of using the skip to collect an extra Power Moon in Any% Minimum Captures.
Later, a player by the name of Rhythm_Raccoon managed to trigger the boss fight without collecting Our First Power Moon[2], but the reason was unknown at the time. After discussion and testing, glitch hunter Syrkl identified the reason as being a difference in game versions[3], with the boss fight only triggering early on version 1.0.0.
Methods
Rock FMS
Rock FMS was the first method of First Moon Skip to be discovered. It is widely considered the more difficult of the two and saves slightly less time, so it is rarely still used. As the name implies, Rock FMS involves performing a vault from the top of the rock containing Our First Power Moon. This trick is inconsistent for most runners since the rock has unpredictable collision properties, making it difficult to line up the vault.
The Rock FMS trickjump can be used to bypass the invisible wall on all versions, but the boss fight will only activate on version 1.0.0.
While Rock FMS is normally performed with a vault, it is technically possible with a long jump,[4] though this serves no real purpose.
Wet FMS (version 1.0.0)
Wet FMS is an easier and marginally faster variant of First Moon Skip that was not discovered until well after Rock FMS was first found. This method involves jumping out of the water to slip past a small gap in the invisible barrier. To perform Wet FMS:
- Enter the water and swim to the leftmost side of the invisible barrier, near the Treasure of the Waterfall Basin moon;
- Throw Cappy and perform a cap return jump to exit the water;
- Throw Cappy toward the spot where the two walls meet and dive into a cap bounce to slip under the barrier;
- Wall jump off of the back wall and dive onto the platform to the right.
This method only works on version 1.0.0, since the invisible wall's collision properties are different on later versions.
Wet FMS (later versions)
There is an alternative method of bypassing the invisible wall from the water that works only on versions 1.0.1 and onward. On these game versions, there is a gap in the invisible wall closer to where the bridge lands, and the player can simply jump out of the water using a cap return jump and walk through this gap.
Behavior
After performing First Moon Skip and defeating Madame Broode, attempting to collect Our First Power Moon will cause the game to crash, since the reference to the Multi Moon Atop the Falls cutscene is invalid. Upon rebooting the game, Our First Power Moon will still not register as collected, rendering it impossible to collect it on a save file in which First Moon Skip was performed.
Other uses
The First Moon Skip trickjump can also be used to softlock the game. This is done by activating the On Top of the Big Stump checkpoint before obtaining Our First Power Moon. If the player collects the first Power Moon and then warps back up to the checkpoint before activating the Odyssey cutscene, the game will attempt to play the cutscene, but instead of Cappy talking to Mario, the game will softlock. Since it is impossible to pause the game to open the file select screen, this is a full game softlock. This softlock works on all game versions.
This softlock was previously used in Softlock%, but it has since been replaced by a file softlock in Cap Kingdom. However, this remains to be the fastest way to initiate a full game softlock on a fresh save file.