Bubble Mountain

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Bubble Mountain
Zone Norfair
Subzone Norfair/East
Subsubzone
Hazard
Utility
Theme [[]]
Items
Visible 1
Chozo
Hidden


   
Green Bubbles Missile Room
Bubble Mountain Save Room
Rising Tide
Upper Norfair Farming Room
Adjacent rooms Bat Cave
Single Chamber
  Purple Shaft  

BubbleMountain.png BubbleMountainSmile.png

Stationed here, the most evil mini-boss of the game. King Cacatac and his machine gun!

Any%

Left Side Climb

The left side ascent for KPDR involves a running jump across into wall jumps. Getting up and over cleanly is an important part of speed runs, due to the time loss incurred by falling down.

Cac Snipe

The Cac Snipe strat uses a charged angle shot to kill King Cac and leaves the drop for collection after wall jumping up.

Starting the charge in the previous room is helpful, as it allows for fully charged spin jumps after entry. It is also important to run and jump immediately after firing your beam so that the shot remains on-screen the entire time.

Pseudoscrew

The Pseudoscrew strat involves charging a shot fully before making the jump across from the save room door. Like any pseudoscrew, it is necessary to release the shot input in order to remain spinning after a wall jump.

NOTE: While a pseudoscrew provides immunity from projectiles and destroys weaker enemies, unspinning briefly after a wall jump can leave Samus vulnerable. Wall jumping low and spinning high over the top is a safer play.

Right Side Climb

The standard ascent goes up the left side, but the right side is slightly faster. It's much more difficult, but in PRKD this is helped by Ice Beam allowing you to backup by freezing the Waver to use as a platform.

Revisits

Leaving Bat Cave to Single Chamber

Aim down fixes the transition but the bottom waver near the Last Norfair Missile of 100% causes extra lag, so it isn't advised.

After Wave Beam (KPDR)

Entering with a charged beam, a single shot is used to kill King Cac and collect the drop before falling into the morph maze below. This strat can also be performed with a moonfall or a much more difficult bomb spread.

Final Visit (KPDR)

Returning from Lower Norfair this time, a power bomb is used to avoid travelling through the morph ball maze. This introduces lag, which can be reduced or eliminated by killing wavers on the way down. There are 2-farm and 3-farm variants, depending on where the power bomb is placed and how the bottom Sova is killed.

100%

This strat will kill King Cac so he can't knock you down.

This variation can give you an extra drop:

Randomizer

Without Hi-Jump, the easiest way to climb Bubble Mountain is a running jump from the Bubble Mountain Save Room. Note that if you have Speed Booster, it should be turned off so that you get maximum jump height.

To get to the Green Bubbles Missile Room, the fastest method from the Bat Cave is a damage boost from the waver.

You can also do an Infinite Bomb Jump, or a delayed walljump, as shown here.

Technically it's also possible to jump from the right side to the left, but the window for this jump is small, so it's likely TAS-only.

Handling King Cac

There are various methods for dealing with King Cacatac when ascending Bubble Mountain. Because the time loss for falling down is significant, some precautions may be necessary to avoid being knocked down.

  1. Kill The Pest!
    1. Use a beam from the left side platform, such as the diagonal hero shot shown in the Cac Snipe strat
    2. Shoot a missile on the way up from the final wall jump
  2. Morph - On the final wall jump, morph and hold right, so that any damage knocks Samus up to safety rather than back down to the bottom
  3. Pseudoscrew - Charge a shot fully before wall jumping, as used in the Pseudoscrew strat above

NOTES:

  • CAC PUFFS - Watch for a "puff" visual. If King Cac puffs up, it may be necessary to perform additional wall jumps to avoid taking a spike hit
  • CONGESTION - The speed of the entry & climb can make a notable difference in where wavers are located. Certain timings can lead to "congestion" between King Cac, waver(s), and spike projectiles, which can make the ascension difficult to complete without falling back down

Items