Backflip
Backflips, also known as Backward Somersaults, are jumps Mario can do that causes him to move upwards and backward. You can perform a backflip by pressing and holding Z and pressing A. Holding forwards during the backflip can cause Mario to have a net forwards movement. The Vertical Speed (VS) value that a backflip starts with is 62. With all of the vertical speed combined, you can get 512 units up from where you started the backflip.
| Backflip | |
| Properties | |
| Hex | 0x01000883 |
| Action Flags | Air, Allow Vertical Wind Action |
| Action Group | Airborne |
| ID | 0x083 |
| Other | |
| Animation | 0x04 |
Behavior
Certain things here are more explained on their individual pages. If something lacks detail, check the link for more information.
As with all airborne actions, a variety of "cancels" are checked prior to actually performing the jump action. These checks are as follows:
- Water - If Mario's height is lower than 100 units below the water height, the action is transitioned into the water plunge action.
- Squish - If Mario is supposed to be squished, his action is changed to the squished action.
- Vertical Wind- If Mario is above a vertical wind floor, his action is changed to the vertical wind action. (This is due to the jump action having the "Allow Vertical Wind Action" flag.)
At this point, two more things happen prior to the backflip action:
- Mario's quicksand depth is set to 0.
- Mario plays a falling noise if he has fallen more than 1150 units from his peak.
With the backflip action occurring now, the following happens:
- If the Z button is pressed, Mario will enter the Ground Pound action. This stops the backflip action.
- Mario performs his noise for the backflip.
- Now, Mario performs the quarter-frame movement via a full common air step. The landing action is a jump land action. Both the check for hanging and ledge grabbing are not present for this step.
- The backflip swoosh sounds are played last.
C^ Backflip
The C^ Backflip trick allows you to backflip facing any direction without having to turn first, saving a few frames in some TASes.