RTA Guide/70 Star

The goal of 70 star is to beat the game without any sequence breaking (skipping star door requirements) or using any of the tech which allows the sequence breaking (e.g. BLJ or MIPS clip).

Category Rules

• Circumventing star door requirements (e.g. MIPS Clip) is banned.
• All forms of BLJ are banned.

Suggested Routes

It is recommended that regardless of your skill level that you do some variation of the HMC late route, which is based around getting the second MIPS star and doing HMC on your second trip to the basement.

• Beginner - HMC Late (CCM 18) without TTC 100c
  • Same as intermediate, except replaces TTC 100 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 100c with slide instead of penguin race in CCM.
  • Can also opt to do "island hop" to skip backtracking to BOB with wingcap.

HMC Late (CCM 18)

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 (every star)
5. Castle Stars
   • The Princess's Secret Slide (Second Star)
   • Tower of the Wing Cap
6. Bowser in the Dark World (Reds)
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
10. MIPS
11. Shifting Sand Land
    • Inside the Ancient Pyramid
    • In the Talons of the Big Bird
    • Shining atop the Pyramid
12. 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
13. Dire Dire Docks
    • Chests in the Current
    • Board Bowser's Sub
    • The Manta Ray's Reward
14. Bowser in the Fire Sea (Reds)
15. Wet Dry World
    • Secrets in the Shallows & Sky + 100 Coins
    • Express Elevator--Hurry Up!
    • Shocking Arrow Lifts!
    • Top o' the Town
16. Tiny Huge Island
    • Five Itty Bitty Secrets
    • Pluck the Piranha Flower
    • The Tip Top of the Huge Island
17. Upstairs Toad (near TTM)
18. Tall Tall Mountain
    • Scale the Mountain
    • Breathtaking View from Bridge
    • Blast to the Lonely Mushroom
    • Scary 'Shrooms, Red Coins
    • Mysterious Mountainside
19. Snowman's Land
    • Snowman's Big Head
    • In the Deep Freeze
    • Whirl from the Freezing Pond
    • Chill with the Bully
    • Enter Snowman's Land and exit course. Then head to basement for MIPS 2.
20. MIPS
    • Go to HMC after MIPS, and get the Toad star before entering HMC
21. HMC Toad
22. Hazy Maze Cave
    • Swimming Beast in the Cavern
    • Metal-Head Mario Can Move!
    • A-maze-ing Emergency Exit
    • Watch for Rolling Rocks
    • Enter HMC and exit course, then head to tippy.
23. Rainbow Ride
    • Cruiser Crossing the Rainbow
    • Tricky Triangles!
    • Coins Amassed in a Maze
    • Swingin' in the Breeze
24. Tippy Toad (near TTC)
25. Tick Tock Clock (every star)
26. Bowser in the Sky (No Reds)

HMC Late (CCM 17)

In CCM, rather than doing 100 coin with the 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.

HMC Early

The easiest HMC early route does HMC after LLL instead of after SL. The differences between this route and the HMC Late - Easy route above 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 MIPS2. Once finished with SL, go to tippy as normal instead of exiting course.

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

Beginner

One way to make the Main Route easier is to substitute the TTC 100 Coin star with either RTA Guide/Navigating the Toxic Maze or Wiggler's Red Coins. Instead of Stomp on the Thwomp + 100 Coins you will need to do Stomp on the Thwomp. As a rule of thumb, if you cannot do TTC 100 in less than 1:10 this route will be faster for you than the Main Route.

Intermediate

A few alternatives exist to the Main Route listed above where instead of Big Penguin Race + 100 Coins and Slip Slidin' Away you can do any of the following combinations

• Slip Slidin' Away + 100 Coins and Navigating the Toxic Maze (approximately same time as HMC Late Easy)
• Slip Slidin' Away + 100 Coins and Wiggler's Red Coins (saves approximately 2-3 seconds)

Advanced

Rather than doing Shoot to the Island in the Sky after Dark World Reds, you can save time by getting this star without the wingcap 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.

Additionally, like the Intermediate routes, you can substitute Big Penguin Race + 100 Coins with the following stars to save more time:

• Slip Slidin' Away, Wiggler's Red Coins and Pyramid Puzzle (saves approximately 2-3 seconds)
• Slip Slidin' Away + 100 Coins and Pyramid Puzzle (saves approximately 4-5 seconds)

These routes require doing Pillarless twice in the run.