Pedro Spot

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Pedro spots are geometric configurations in which a floor is vertically aligned and within 160 units of a ceiling. They must also be at least 1-2 units apart, depending on their position relative to the origin. Pedro spots have the unique property that by landing in one while in an air action, Mario's Quarter step is cancelled, yet he still technically "lands". This property leads to the fact that from a Pedro spot, Mario can both jump and Ground Pound, a property that is not shared by other spots in the game. Pedro spots have found two important applications in the A Button Challenge.

When Mario lands in a Pedro spot, he never physically enters it. Instead, he stays positioned in the air next to it. This allows a form of subframe grinding, allowing Mario to continue taking air steps while staying fixed in place. This can be used to build forward speed until Mario breaks out of the spot.

The other main application of Pedro spots is Remote Lava Boost (RLB). When Mario lands while in the lava boost action, the game checks whether he is above a lava floor, and if so, boosts him again. If Mario lands in a Pedro spot while in the lava boost action, the game will consider him to have landed, and so will check the floor beneath Mario. However, because Mario is next to the Pedro spot and not in it, this floor may be far below Mario. This causes the game to trigger another lava boost without Mario touching lava.

Pedro spots are very closely related to Squish Cancel spots.

List of Pedro Spots

Location How to enter Applicability
The Castle There are two parallel spots on the main floor located in between the upstairs door and the 8-star door/PSS door. Both have no practical purpose.
Cool, Cool Mountain Inside the cabin, just above the slide exit. This has no practical purpose, although it was the very first Pedro spot discovered.[1]
Inside the cabin, between the top and bottom of the shortcut tunnel. It is only reachable if Mario has enough speed to completely bypass the cabin wall. This was used to collect the Impossible 1-up without dying[2], although a much faster and simpler method has been found since then[3].
Tick Tock Clock In between the cogs shortly after the platform above the red coins. This can only be entered using a bob-omb. This was used for the 6xA and 5xA strategies for Stomp on the Thwomp in the ABC, but it was retired once a similar Pedro spot, also in TTC, was discovered[4].
In between the pendulum box and the ceiling near the blue coin switch. This can only be entered using pendulum manipulation and a bob-omb. This was used for the 3xA, 2xA, and 1xA strategies for Stomp on the Thwomp in the ABC, but it was retired when a method for climbing the clock 0xA was discovered[5][6].
On the spinners, if they are rotated perfectly. It requires perfect RNG to work, as the spinner must stay still at a perfect angle. It was theorized that this could save A presses for several stars, but the extremely unlikely RNG made it impossible[7].
On the second pendulum when the clock parts are stopped. It was theorized that it could be used in the A Button Challenge to climb higher up the clock with the clock parts stopped, but it could not be used since the floor ran out before the ceiling did[8].
Vanish Cap under the Moat At the very top of the sloped wall separating the giant slope from the rest of the course. It can be used to press the Vanish Cap Switch in 0 A presses, but the misalignment strategy was already known and was faster[9]. This was also considered for building up speed to enter the Secret Aquarium in 0 A presses, but it was impossible to exit the stage while still retaining the speed[10].
Underneath the tilting platform on the back wall of the course. Used to significantly lower the time needed to enter the Secret Aquarium in 0 A presses.
Bowser in the Fire Sea Between the sloped grate and the platform with the spinning heart on the bottom level. This spot can be used for Remote Lava Boost[11].
Between the collapsing ramps between the second and third levels. This spot can be used for Remote Lava Boost[11].