Ultimate Speedrun Guide

In this guide you will learn all you need to know to complete a speedrun of *Der Magische Hexenkreis*, among other things the basics of the game, the different types of enemies, the speedrun route and more. Shout-out to BlloodySunday for bringing this game to the page and laying the foundation for the route described in this guide. If you have any feedback, corrections or suggestions for this guide feel free to send me a message or make a post in the game's forum.

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# Story Summary

The city of Neustadt has been bewitched so inanimate objects as well as animals are behaving strangely. After rescuing her dad and two of her friends from dangerous situations caused by this mess, Bibi is called to see auntie Mania who is trapped inside a witch circle together with Bibi's mother Barbara. Mania explains the witch circle as well as the mess in the city is the doing of adult witch Malicia who wants to prevent being punished by the witch congress for crimes she has committed against the witch code of honor. In order to free her mother and auntie Mania from the witch circle Bibi obtains several items. With the help of fellow teenage witches Schubia and Flowipowi Bibi is able to cast the spell to end the mess and free Barbara and Mania.

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# Game Basics

## **The HUD**

- In the top left corner you can see your health. Bibi has 10 HP and once it reaches zero Bibi will faint and respawn at the beginning of the level. When Bibi faints her star count is always set to 20. When getting hit Bibi will flash and be invincible for a short time.
- The top right corner shows your Magic Power, represented by a yellow star. In each walking level you need to cast at least one spell from your spellbook to progress which consumes a certain amount of stars. You can also use the stars to cast common spells to stun enemies for several seconds. Your star count carries over from one level to the next.
. In the flying levels there is an inidcator in the top middle of the screen which shows you how far you have flown.

## Difficulty

This guide – especially the speedrun route – focuses on normal difficulty and will only really be suitable for this difficulty. On hard difficulty certain things change, for example Bibi starts the first level with 15 instead of 20 stars, red stars give 3 Magic Power instead of 5 and the spells in your spellbook require more stars to be cast beginning at 45 stars instead of 30 for the spell in Level 1. This is why the route described in this guide will not work for hard difficulty.

# **Items**

There are several items in the game which all respawn after a certain amount of time after being collected.

- Yellow Star: Gives you one Magic Power.
- Red Star: Gives you five Magic Power.
- Banana: Restores one health.
- Pear: Restores three health.
- Strawberry: Restores full health.

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# Walking Levels

## **Basics**

In each walking level you need to complete a task with a spell from your spellbook. Each spell requires a certain amount of Magic Power and several ingredients to be cast. You need to interact with the level's objective first to be able to collect the ingredients. In every walking level you will find a big yellow star which lets you start a minigame in which you can earn Magic Power. Each level has a different minigame.

## **Enemies**

There are stationary enemies who can't move and will shoot projectlies which can damage you. Examples are fire hydrants, manholes or mailboxes. This type of enemy is not very common. Then there are moving enemies who make up the majority of the enemies you will encounter. They move around in certain patterns and enemies like trash cans, hedgehogs or rats will not actively attack you. Foxes, raccoons and bats however will approach you if you come close to them. Other than most enemies like trash cans or hedgehogs who deal one point of damage, some opponents like the plastic alligators deal two points of damage and others like the foxes deal three.

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# Flying Levels

## **Basics**

Inbetween the walking levels there are flying levels. Those are autoscrollers which means the screen moves automatically. You need to navigate Bibi on her broom to avoid enemies like birds and bats as well as obstacles like trees, kites or balloons. All the stars you collect in one level are transferred to the next so it is advisable to collect as many stars as you can in the flying levels so you don't need to worry about your Magic Power in the walking levels.

## **Enemies**

Just like in the walking levels some enemies deal more damage than others. A rule of thumb is the bigger the bird the higher the damage. Since you should try to collect as many stars as possible it is advisable sometimes to take damage from enemies in order to not waste those precious stars. If at any point a stork –who deals two points of damage – is blocking your way you can purposefully fly through obstacles or smaller enemies to only take one damage.

## **Hazards**

There are some hazards which affect your flight. Whirls winds speed you up and push you forward for a short period of time while fireflies – which are only to be found in the last flying level – slow you down and make it harder to move.

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# Hidden Items

In the flying levels you can shoot balloons and umbrellas to get yellow stars, red stars, bananas and pears. The items you can find are not random so if you remember where the red stars are you can collect even more stars in the flying levels. Shooting an obstacle with a yellow star inside is obviously not worth it because you use one star to shoot it and get one star back but if you're low on health it can be good to know where the health items are hidden.

### **Level 2: Flight to Neustadt**

- Blue Balloon: No Item
- Red Balloon: Banana
- Yellow Balloon: Yellow Star
- Red Balloon: Red Star

### **Level 4: Flight to City Park**

Beginning:

- Blue Balloon: No Item

3 balloons at once:

- Red Balloon: No Item
- Yellow Balloon: Yellow Star
- Green Balloon: No Item

Mid-level:

- Green Balloon: Banana
- Blue Balloon: No Item
- Yellow Balloon: Yellow Star
- Green Balloon: No Item
- Yellow Balloon: No Item
- Blue Balloon: No Item
- Yellow Balloon: No Ite m
- Red Balloon: No Item

4 balloons at once:

- Yellow Balloon: No Item
- Blue Balloon: No Item
- Red Balloon: No Item
- Green Balloon: Banana

### **Level 6: Flight to Mania's House**

2 umbrellas at once:

- Yellow Star
- Red Star

Mid-level:

- Yellow Star
- No Item

After the strawberry:

- Red Star
- Red Star

### **Level 8: Flight to the Caves**

Beginning and middle:

- Red Star
- Red Star
- No Item
- Yellow Star
- Yellow Star 
- No Item
- Banana
- No Item

After the srawberry::

- Banana
- Red Star
- No Item
- Yellow Star
- Red Star

Rest of the leveL

- Yellow Star
- Pear

### **Level 10: Flight ot the Lido**

Beginning:

- Yellow Balloon: Yellow Star
- Blue Balloon: Banana
- Red Balloon: Red Star

Near the tower:

- Green Balloon: No Item
- Blue Balloon: Yellow Star
- Red Balloon: Red Star

Mid-level:

- Red Balloon: Red Star
- Yellow Balloon: Yellow Star
- Green Balloon: No Item
- Green Balloon: Banana

After the strawberry:

- Green Balloon: No Item
- Red Balloon: Red Star

Rest of the level:

- Red Balloon: Red Star
- Blue Balloon: No Item
- Yellow Balloon: Red Star
- Green Balloon: Banana
- Red Balloon: No Item
- Yellow Balloon: Yellow Star

### **Level 12: Flight to Mania's House**

Beginning:

- Moon: Banana
- Star: Yellow Star
- Moon: No Item
- Moon: Yellow Star
- Star: No Item

After the strawberry:

- Star: Red Star
- Moon: Red Star

5 balloons in short succession:

- Moon: Banana
- Star:  Red Star
- Star: Yellow Star
- Moon: No Item
- Star: Yellow Star

Rest of the level:

- Star: Red Star
- Moon: Pear
- Star: Yellow Star

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# Speedrun Route

## **Introduction**

This route will only cover the walking levels since the flying levels are pretty self-explanatory. The only small time save you can implement in the flying levels is remembering when each level ends (hint: at the top of the screen you can see how far you have progressed already) so you can be on the right of the screen to end the level as early as possible. If you collect enough stars in the flying levels you shouldn't need to worry too much about having enough Magic Power in the walking levels. To collect even more stars please look at the section above listing the locations of hidden items.

## **Level 1: Bibi's Garden**

Interact with the pond. Collect the three cranberries on the sidewalk to the right, in the top left of the garden and on the right side of the garden. Make sure to collect enough stars to reach 30 Magic Power. Cast the spell at the pond to finish the level.

## **Level 3: Marketplace**

Interact with the car of Bibi's dad to the left of the fountain. Talk to Mister Pichler at the town hall above the fountain, then talk to the herbalist near the spawn point. Then collect the parcel for Mister Pichler from the van below the car of Bibi's dad. Head to the fountain, stun the herb bag and pick it up. Bring the bag to the herbalist, then deliver the parcel to Pichler. Make sure to collect enough stars so you'll be able to cast the spell. Near the fountain there is a red star you can collect multiple times since – like all stars in the walking levels – it respawns after a certain amount of time. To end the level, cast the spell at the car.

## **Level 5: City Park**

Head to the teahouse in the middle of the park and talk to Bibi's friends. Then head to the restaurant at the top of the park and talk to the chef. Now you have to stun all seven milk cans and interact with them. The order in which you do that does not matter. Their locations are: in front of the restaurant, to the right of the restaurant, in the lower part of the park on the grass, left of the playground, in the top left corner of the park, between the pillars and to the  right of the pond. Make sure to collect honey from the beehive on the tree near the pillars while doing the milk cans. When you're done you can cast the spell at the teahouse to rescue Bibi's friends.

## **Level 7: Forest**

Talk to Mania and Barbara who are trapped inside the witch circle. Head to the top of the forest and interact with the tree containing the piece of paper with the spell. Go to the right to collect the first mushroom, then gather the second one on the left. Return to the tree to cast the spell and collect the note. Talk to Mania again to finish the level.

## **Level 9: Caves**

Talk to Schubia who's in the lower left of the forest. Head up to enter the cave and interact with the crystal. Collect two charcoal left of and at the top of the lake. Return to the crystal, cast the spell and collect the crystal.

## **Level 11: Lido**

Head to the lower right corner of the lido to interact with the jetty. Talk to Flowipowi who is on the meadow to the left of the concrete area and collect the flower next to her. The other two flowers are in the concrete area and at the upper right edge of the lake. Now you can cast the spell to fix the jetty and collect the duckweed.

## **Level 13: Forest**

First you need to go to the tunnel leading to the eagle feather. To get there cross the bridge, go down and turn right after passing the moving boulders. After interacting with the tunnel, pass the boulders again and keep to the right to collect the first flint herb. The second herb is located at the top end of the little river. After collecting both plants you need to return to the tunnel and cast the spell. You can then cross the tunnel and collect the eagle feather. Now you have two options: a safer strat that's slower or a faster strat that might kill the run. I'll explain both.

### *The Faster Strat*

Let yourself get damaged by the bats until Bibi faints. She will respawn at Mania's house with 20 stars. Go to the right then down and play the minigame by interacting with the big yellow star. The minigame is a clone of *Snake* and you need to wager 5 stars to play. Since you had 20 stars after respawning and payed 5 stars to play the minigame you need to get 50 stars to have the 65 Magic Power required for the last spell. This can cause problems because the placement of the stars you collect in the minigame is random as well as which type of stars you get. Yellow stars give one star, green ones give two and blue stars give you three stars. If the RNG is not gracious you won't get enough stars to cast the last spell and you will have to do the minigame again. To avoid this issue you can go for the safer strategy. It will make the run more consistent at the cost of losing time.

### *The Safer Strat*

This strategy only makes sense if you have roughly 30 stars or more so if you want to go for it make sure to collect as many stars as possible before entering the last level. Instead of fainting on purpose after collecting the feather walk back over the bridge and go down to play the minigame. Compared to the faster strategy this will be approximately 20 seconds slower but on the flip side you will have more stars so the RNG has less of an impact since you need to collect less stars compared to the faster strat.

Regardless of which strategy you choose if you only end up with 60 stars after finishing the minigame you can still head to the spot where the last spell is being cast because there is a red star right next to it. To get to the location cross the bridge again, walk up and turn right at the stacked logs next to the tree stump. Approach Schubia and Flowipowi and cast the spell to finish the run.

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# Spellbook

**Unfreeze the pond**

- Required Magic Power: 30 stars 
- Required ingredients: 3 cranberries

**Calm down the car**

- Required Magic Power: 35 stars 
- Required ingredients: 2 valerian blossoms

**Chase the bees away**

- Required Magic Power: 40 stars 
- Required ingredients: 2 honey

**Make the tree younger**

- Required Magic Power: 45 stars 
- Required ingredients: 2 parasol mushrooms

**Loosen the crystal**

- Required Magic Power: 50 stars 
- Required ingredients: 2 charcoal

**Fix the jetty**

- Required Magic Power: 55 stars 
- Required ingredients: 3 bellflowers

**Cast light**

- Required Magic Power: 60 stars 
- Required ingredients: 2 flint herbs

**Banish the witch circle**

- Required Magic Power: 65 stars 
- Required ingredients: duckweed, glowing crystal, eagle feather

Laika_the_Spacedog

Bibi Blocksberg: Der Magische Hexenkreis

Game Boy Advance

Normal

Hard

Difficulty

The rules have been adjusted to make time start and stop on specific frames to ensure each run is timed properly. The new rules are as follows:

- Time starts on the first frame the screen starts fading to black upon selecting the difficulty.
- Time ends on the first frame the screen starts fadin

New Timing Rules

Bibi Blocksberg

BlloodySunday