Latest revision as of 22:13, 26 November 2023

Upon entering the room, the camera will follow Samus like normal until the left edge of the camera reaches the middle of the room. When that happens, the camera will lock into place and the Baby cutscene will start; invisible walls will impede Samus from going left or right.

When the Baby detaches from the Hopper, after a delay, the cutscene will end. At this point, the camera is no longer locked, Samus can freely move to the right or left, and the Baby AI is activated.

In all categories, the player should move left as quickly as possible in order to start the Metroid cutscene as soon as possible. For categories with Space Jump this will mean retaining jump speed through the door transition, then Space Jumping until the camera locks. For all other categories, the optimal strategy is to shoot the dust enemies, then mockball on the ground between the first and second pillars sticking out of the ground.

Baby Behavior

After the cutscene, the Baby will be in a "contemplate Samus" mode, where it will hover near the ceiling lazily following Samus horizontally.

A small lunge towards Samus can occur with a chance of 1/128 (once every 2 seconds on average), where the Baby will move a bit faster and go down from the ceiling a bit. This lasts only half a second, then the Baby will revert back to "contemplate" mode. The lunge can significantly alter the Baby's path.

If Samus is near the Baby's claw (center-bottom sprite) at any point, she will be grabbed. The exception is if Samus is in spin jump and is in the right half of the room (doing so will change the Baby's movement significantly but not change its mode by itself).

If Samus stays too long (80 frames out of the past 336 frames) underneath the Baby, it will go into an aggressive "eat Samus" mode, where it will rush towards Samus' position in an attempt to grab her.

When Samus crosses the middle line (where was the left invisble wall) towards the left, the Baby will immediately switch to "eat Samus" mode.

When Samus is grabbed by the Baby, she will be drastically slowed down and have her energy drained down until it reaches 01 (2+ seconds), after which Samus will be locked into place until the Baby is satisfied (~12 seconds) and leaves, so Samus can move again.

Metroid Skip

Skipping the Baby's grab is hard but possible and can save ~10 seconds in the room plus ~10 seconds not recharging energy. This involves doing careful jumps and manipulating the Baby Metroid's position to reach the door transition while avoiding getting grabbed.

Shooting or bombing the Baby have an effect in its movement and can alter the Baby's pathing.

Without Wave Beam, shooting the moss smoothly while avoiding the Baby can be challenging. In that case, a power bomb can be used near the door to clear the moss in one go (the player should be wary of the lag).

If the player cannot perform a Baby skip, damaging Samus on purpose on the Hopper in the cutscene saves a few seconds.

Non-Space Jump Method

Begin running after Baby rises all the way to the top and starts moving back downwards. You can delay the start quite a bit before Baby will come down and grab you. Jump as late as possible to maximize the horizontal distance traveled. You can jump as early as the first sandy floor tile and still make the jump past the next protruding floor tile. If you accidentally run into the floor tiles without jumping, turn around and run back under Baby and try again. You can usually fail this way twice before Baby will grab you. Aiming down throughout this first jump can grant you a bit more distance and put Baby in a more favorable position for the next jump.

The second jump will need to wait until Baby has passed by and begins changing direction back toward you. Run forward and jump over Baby rather than turning around to increase your distance traveled. Try not to jump too high and hit the Dust Geemer on the ceiling. If you choose to shoot out all of the dusty obstacles (which can cause around a second worth of lag frames), you can fire a horizontal shot after you start falling and Baby is in approximately the 2 o'clock position. You may need to shoot the Dust Ripper on the floor depending on how well you perform these first two jumps. Aiming down and firing just before landing on the Dust Ripper will make Baby swing further to the left, but may require tighter execution. An angle shot may be easier if you're not clearing as much distance on these two jumps.

The third jump is where the "jump-rope" movement comes into play. Immediately turn around upon landing and run about 1-2 tiles distance to the right and spin jump over Baby when it's coming toward you in the 8-7 o'clock position. Try not to jump too high (about 3/4 of the way to the ceiling) even if you cleared the way with your beam. Higher jumps will give you less overall distance and puts Baby in a higher position on the next jump. Focus on getting into a good position to jump-rope with Baby.

Take the time to become proficient at this jump-rope technique before incorporating the shots at the vines. You'll want to know how to correct Baby's movement if things get out of hand. If it goes too high, or starts circling in a tighter pattern, you may want to sacrifice some forward progress by running further backwards before jumping. Try to tune your jumps to be around a tile's distance (16px) over Baby. Any runner that is consistent at Baby Skip should be able to keep Baby in a loop for as long as they want.

Once you've mastered this technique, begin working on clearing out the vines with your beam. You'll want to clear out all or most of the vines that are at or above door height. Horizontal shots can be the easiest if you have cleared out the ceiling dust, but may require extra jumps if Baby circles too high. Angle shots are best for clearing the top portion, but requires releasing jump before Samus will break spin and aim diagonally. Be careful about breaking spin too early as Baby tends to close the distance quickly if you're too close.

Leaving at least one row of vines at the bottom can help you get into position when the time comes for the final jump. The single, top-left tile of vines can be ignored, but no other tiles in the top corner should be left in place. You'll want to manipulate Baby's pattern to be low and wide for the final positioning. Take the time and extra jumps to get Baby in a favorable position before committing. Try to get into position against the tiles (or on the foreground vines if you destroyed them all) quickly and wait for Baby to swing low, around the 7 o'clock position. Jump straight up as late as possible and mid-air morph immediately. Hold left to bounce into the door transition. It's possible to get in the door with a spin jump, but may require a closer starting position. On PAL, the final spin jump can be easier due to poor horizontal movement with air ball in that version.

Baby Skip Tutorial focusing mostly on the first, second, and last jumps of baby skip, along with some analysis on what went wrong when things go wrong during the tutorial.

Some runners lay bombs during the final jump, but this is not advised. The sound of the bomb explosion can cause processing delays before the door transition starts, during which the Baby will continue moving. This can drastically increase the chance of getting grabbed during the transition, causing the slowdown effect as described below.

Clockwise Method

In zoast's chat, unablevn inadvertently making a new name for the trick

First demonstrated by Stashiocat, this method has promise to be the fastest for Any%. As a bonus, it skips needing to unmorph in the next room.

This skip can be done in as few as 3 jumps.

ARealCutie has a bomb jump setup to normalize the timing for the first run and jump:

Zeni's tutorial for what's known so far about this trick:

Space Jump Method

A very basic explanation of the Space Jump variant's beginning is pictured below.

3 Jump and 4 Jump skips shown below:

Springball Method

Possibly the most inconsistent method of Baby Skip. Developed by Behemoth and Kottpower.

Low%

Due to the lack of movement items, Baby Skip in Low% has been , for a long time, considered too difficult to be done in a way to save significant time to balance its inconsistency.

In recent years, though, a few players have made strides to make it more consistent and have even performed it during runs.

But specially with the recent discovery of Clockwise Baby Skip, the technique for Low% Ice (and others without HiJump Boots or Speedbooster) can be considered not only viable but consistent.

Low% Speed

A TAS demonstration by Hotarubi shows how getting grabbed, avoiding, or sparking precisely, compare.

Randomizer

With Hi-Jump but no Speed Booster, the running cues will be slightly different than the Non-Space Jump method listed above.

Metroid Skip Skip

For runners who can't get the Metroid Skip, they would be faster damaging themselves as much as possible on the side hopper, before jumping straight into the Metroid's grasp. The side hopper damage can be sped up by pseudo screwing into it, since a pseudo screw resets the invulnerability period. This is done especially in 14% categories, since runners lack both Wave Beam and High Jump Boots, making the Baby Skip much more difficult and time-consuming.

If you fail the Baby Skip (or succeed at the Skip Skip), you should face right before you reach 1hp and get locked in the crouch position. When facing left, Samus goes through the animation of standing back up slowly. Facing right skips this animation and saves 35 frames.

Slowdown

If you go through the door transition while the Baby Metroid has a hold of you (including if it grabs you during the fadeout), you will be in a permanently slowed down state in terms of your horizontal velocity. You can complete the game like this, but the escape sequence will be significantly more difficult.

To remove the slowdown, you'll need to get to the save station, save, then reset your console.

If you reach 1 hp during the door transition, there's a decent chance you will be softlocked in the crouching position.

See also

• Individual rooms