RTA Guide/70 Star

The goal of the 70 Star category is to beat the game as fast as possible without bypassing star door requirements, or using techniques that may allow for it (e.g. BLJ or MIPS Clip).

Category Rules

• All forms of BLJ are banned.
• All forms of MIPS Clip are banned.
• Any other means of bypassing star door requirements is banned.

Suggested Routes

It is recommended, regardless of your skill level, to do some variation of the HMC Late route, which involves initially skipping HMC during basement and returning to it later to collect the second MIPS star.
The HMC Early routes refer to any route which does HMC on the first (and only) trip to the basement, and does not collect the second MIPS star.

• Beginner: HMC Late (CCM 18) without TTC100
  • Same as intermediate, except replaces TTC100 with SL Reds and Stomp on the Thwomp.
  • Shell Shreddin' for Red Coins
  • Stomp on the Thwomp
• Intermediate: HMC Late (CCM 18)
  • The de facto "standard" route, most similar to 120 Star.
• Advanced: HMC Late (CCM 17)
  • Does pillarless twice, does CCM100 with Slip Slidin' Away instead of Big Penguin Race.
  • Can also opt to do Island Hop to skip backtracking to BOB with wingcap.

HMC Late

Standard Route (CCM 18)

Lobby

1. Lakitu Skip
2. Bob-omb Battlefield
   • Behind Chain Chomp's Gate
3. 1st Slide
   • The Princess's Secret Slide (first star)
4. Whomp's Fortress (all stars)
5. Castle Stars
   • The Princess's Secret Slide (second star)
   • Tower of the Wing Cap
6. Bowser in the Dark World
   • Bowser in the Dark World (Reds)
   • Bowser Battle 1
7. Bob-omb Battlefield
   • Shoot to the Island in the Sky
8. Cool, Cool Mountain
   • Wall Kicks Will Work
   • Li'l Penguin Lost
   • Slip Slidin' Away
   • Big Penguin Race + 100 Coins
9. Big Boo's Haunt
   • Big Boo's Balcony
   • Secret of the Haunted Books

Basement

1. MIPS (first star)
2. Shifting Sand Land
   • Inside the Ancient Pyramid
   • In the Talons of the Big Bird
   • Shining Atop the Pyramid
3. Lethal Lava Land
   • Red-Hot Log Rolling
   • 8-Coin Puzzle with 15 Pieces
   • Boil the Big Bully
   • Bully the Bullies
   • Hot-Foot-It into the Volcano
   • Elevator Tour in the Volcano
4. Dire, Dire Docks
   • Chests in the Current
   • Board Bowser's Sub
   • The Manta Ray's Reward
5. Bowser in the Fire Sea
   • Bowser in the Fire Sea (Reds)
   • Bowser Battle 2

Upstairs

1. Wet-Dry World
   • Secrets in the Shallows & Sky + 100 Coins
   • Express Elevator--Hurry Up!
   • Shocking Arrow Lifts!
   • Top o' the Town
2. Tiny-Huge Island
   • Five Itty Bitty Secrets
   • Pluck the Piranha Flower
   • The Tip Top of the Huge Island
3. Upstairs Toad (near TTM)
4. Tall, Tall Mountain
   • Scale the Mountain
   • Breathtaking View from Bridge
   • Blast to the Lonely Mushroom
   • Scary 'Shrooms, Red Coins
   • Mysterious Mountainside
5. Snowman's Land
   • Snowman's Big Head
   • In the Deep Freeze
   • Whirl from the Freezing Pond
   • Chill with the Bully
   • Re-enter Snowman's Land and exit via the pause menu. Then, head to basement for the second MIPS star.

Basement 2

1. MIPS (second star)
   • Go to HMC after MIPS, and get the Toad star before entering HMC.
2. HMC Toad
3. Hazy Maze Cave
   • Swimming Beast in the Cavern
   • Metal-Head Mario Can Move!
   • A-Maze-ing Emergency Exit
   • Watch for Rolling Rocks
   • Re-enter HMC and exit course, then head to tippy.

Tippy

1. Rainbow Ride
   • Cruiser Crossing the Rainbow
   • Tricky Triangles!
   • Coins Amassed in a Maze
   • Swingin' in the Breeze
2. Tippy Toad (near TTC)
3. Tick Tock Clock (all stars)
4. Bowser in the Sky
   • Bowser in the Sky (No Reds)
   • Bowser Battle 3

Advanced (CCM 17)

In CCM, rather than doing the 100-coin star with Big Penguin Race, do Slip Slidin' Away + 100 Coins. Then replace the penguin race star with Pyramid Puzzle. This way you'll have 30 stars when finishing LLL, which allows you to enter DDD past the 30 star door. Additionally, one can opt for Island Hop to skip visiting BOB twice.

HMC Early

The HMC Early routes do not make a second trip to the basement in order to get the second MIPS star, and thus do HMC along with the rest of the basement. Optimally, these routes are comparable to the standard HMC late route, however they are generally considered harder to optimize. They may be preferable in some situations, since they allow more flexibility in routing from not being bound as tightly to the 30 star door requirement before DDD.

Differences from HMC Late

The differences between this route and the standard HMC Late route are as follows:

• After LLL, go directly to HMC. Get all of the HMC stars, then HMC Toad, and then proceed to DDD as normal.
• In SL, you'll have to get Shell Shreddin' for Red Coins to replace the second MIPS star. Once finished with SL, go to Tippy as normal instead of exiting the course.

The route above is the most common HMC early route, but a few modifications can be made to make the route faster and/or more consistent.

Replacing CCM100

Since meeting the 30 star door requirement is not an issue with HMC Early, you are allowed more flexibility in early-game routing. Typically, people will replace Big Penguin Race + 100 Coins and Slip Slidin' Away with Slip Slidin' Away + 100 Coins and one alternative star. Also, since SL Reds already replaces the second MIPS star, you will need to add in another alternative star if you decide to skip TTC100.

• Easy/Slowest: Navigating the Toxic Maze without BLJ
• Intermediate: Wiggler's Red Coins
• Hard/Fastest: Pyramid Puzzle

General Route Variations

The following route variations apply to both the HMC early and HMC late routes.

TTC100

Instead of Stomp on the Thwomp + 100 Coins, you can do Stomp on the Thwomp on its own along with an additional alternative star:

• Easy: Shell Shreddin' for Red Coins
• Easy: Navigating the Toxic Maze without BLJ
• Intermediate: Wiggler's Red Coins
• Hard: Pyramid Puzzle

Note: if you do HMC Early, SL Reds is already in the route; thus, you will have to choose a different star to replace TTC100.

Island Hop

Rather than doing Shoot to the Island in the Sky after Dark World Reds, you can save time by getting this star without the Wing Cap in the first split by doing Island Hop. This saves approximately 5-6 seconds in castle movement, as you only have to enter Bob-omb Battlefield once.