Hello, and welcome to the Forums for Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour on Speedrun.com!

This is the thread for discussing optimal strategies for speedrunning Ring Attack (especially 1-player Ring Attack, but multiplayer is open for discussion as well). This game mode is featured in the "Ring Attack", "Unlock Characters", "100% Ring Attack", and "100%" categories, and it can offer significant time-save if you can practice and execute effective strategies.

Please feel free to discuss and ask about anything from the easy to the difficult. Your input on holes such as "Donuts, No Ponds!", "Hunkering Bunkers", "Phunky Pharoah", "Dolphin Dreams", "Chain-Chomp Caution!", "Mushroom Doom", "Star Light, Star Bright", "Bowser Jr's Breath", and "This is a Volcano!" are especially welcome, as those can prove to be tricky to do quickly and consistently.

This video compiles my best strats in one "Theory Run", so hopefully it gets things started.

Also, I recently put this comparison video together. Daisy, DK, and Bowser are also strong contenders for a Ring Attack speedrun, and I outlined their strengths and weaknesses as best as I could. I would likely still recommend Mario since he's the easiest to use and the most adaptable (and best at Lakitu Valley and Cheep Cheep Falls), but DK excels at Shifting Sands and Blooper Bay while Bowser and Daisy excel at Peach's Castle and Bowser Badlands.

Here is a new idea for a 100% route. This may not be faster, but it's an excellent easy/safety route: Do the Bonus Games (to unlock Petey) or an Unlock Match with Nokonoko (aka Koopa) to get an extra Star Character, then begin Ring Attacks. You can use either (or both) to save lots of time in all four Ring Attacks, especially 1P. Star Shadow Mario is very helpful, so Star Nokonoko or Star Petey would be extra helpful, depending on how much loss of Control (for Petey) you can handle. You can always use regular Petey if you prefer.

@PrincessRescuer, check the latest 100% guides and/or runs to see the optimal route for speed throughout all modes (not necessarily for consistency).

star characters are not needed for 1P ring attack, they are slower due to the necessity of adjusting your shot more often

for multiplayer ring attacks, they make things more difficult overall on some holes as they require frame precision due to less control + impact stats