Any%
Route options and benchmark times: base: ~3:13 base + jumps jump: ~2:53 keyjump: ~2:11
It is recommended not to attempt a faster route until your time is close to the benchmark time for the current strats you are using. If you are using faster strats and your time is still slower than the benchmark for a route with worse strats, it is recommended that you simplify your route.
There's a few ways to do this level because some strats are very hard and very much optional unless you're going for a top time.
Route 1: The easy way -Kill a hyena, play as it to kill the other hyena -grab the gold key in the cave -head to the gorillas, kill them, play as one -grab the bronze key on top of the tree stump -take either path to the silver key (fall down and use the platforms to get up OR swing on vines and take the high road - harder but faster) -get silver key and beat the level
Route 2: Key jumping Basically the same thing, but you do the key jump, so instead of getting the cutscene after the silver key, you get it after the bronze key. As a result, its faster to fall down from the bronze key stump and use the platforms to get up to the teleporter due to cutscene movement.
Route 3: Hyena jumping and key jumping (optimal) -Kill a hyena, play as it to kill the other hyena -perform the hyena jump to grab the bronze key -kill the gorillas, DONT play as one -grab the gold key -key jump to the silver key -head to the exit
Notes on the hyena fight: Screw this fight. Seriously. The only thing I'll say is that if you are doing route 3, then make sure you kill the second hyena as close to the cave entrance as possible. This is easy to do because the hyena will always run away from you if you are close to it, so the movement is easy to control, and because you are killing it as the first hyena, so you are playing as a good combat animal. Other than that, screw this fight. You can watch some fights from Crackerbean's or Mcill's runs (any category since you have to do this fight in all of them) and try to copy what they do, but mostly you'll have to figure out what works for you.
Notes on the gorilla fight: The easy way to do the fight is to move close to the gorillas to aggro them, then run away and blast 'em when they jump off their platform. If you run far enough back from the way you approached the gorillas, you will deaggro them and can blast them from safety. Usually you will kill one gorilla as you run out of energy, so you'll have to do a fast recharge or maybe a slow fast recharge to kill the second one (up to you because the hyena recharges its missiles pretty quickly actually). However, it is possible to group up the gorillas so that each missile will hit both of them. This is known as the double gorilla (HYPE!). Setting this up is more of an art than a science at this point. One strat is to approach the gorillas aiming just to the left of the dark line down the side of the gorilla. After getting up the initial hump of the gorilla platform, wait for a bit, then run away to deaggro the gorillas. The basic idea is that the gorillas get aggro'd and start moving toward you. The closer one reaches you first but moves a bit past you when it jumps off the platform, so it turns around (the reason you wait for a bit is to allow this to happen). Having it turn around allows the farther gorilla to catch up so that they are side-by-side when they get deaggro'd. It's hard to do, but if you're looking for video footage of attempts (not necessarily successes), any of Mcill's or Crackerbean's runs in any category should have attempts at double gorillas.
Notes on movement during the key cutscene: You CAN cutscene skip this cutscene by jumping out of your animal, getting the last key as Evo, and jumping back into your animal. Its a 1-2 frame trick and, honestly, isn't worth going for. In the optimal (hyena jump) route, it is actually slower than not cutscene skipping. If you're doing any other route, you're better off trying to upgrade to the hyena jump route rather than trying to optimize with cutscene skips. The cutscene is separated into two parts: one where the camera moves to the elevator and one where it shows the elevator moving up and down. Once the camera stops moving, it enters the second part of the cutscene. This is important because when it switches to the second half, you regain control of your character. This is one of the main reasons why cutscene skipping here is not recommended; you don't save as much time as you think because you're regaining control sooner than you think. Like with cutscene skipping, you want to optimize your movement during the cutscene. Movement depends on which key you grabbed last. First, if you grabbed the gold key last (the one in the cave), you're doing it wrong and should uninstall this game. On a more serious note, grabbing this key last results in the longest possible cutscene since the camera has to move the farthest to get to the elevator. If you are grabbing the bronze key last (the one on the tree trunk), You want to hold up/up-right until the thing ends. As a side-note, don't jump during the cutscene because you'll risk taking fall damage. If you are grabbing the silver key last (the key jump one), then you want to start by holding up-left. Do this until you see yourself on the camera (you should be sliding up against the wall). Once you see yourself, you can easily navigate down the elevator then continue moving to the right (ish) to get close to, but not on top of, the teleporter. If you get on the teleporter before the cutscene ends, you have to watch the level end cutscene twice, just like in Smashing Start. Because you can make it all the way to the teleporter during the second part of the cutscene, a cutscene skip does not allow you to progress any farther and so cutscene skipping can only lose time from having to swap out and into the animal. The movement in this cutscene is the same for the gorilla and the biker hyena but the gorilla cannot make it all the way to the teleporter because it is slow. However, as the gorilla you can use your ground-pound ability to see where you are during the cutscene. The shockwaves from the attack will appear in the teleporter area that is visible during the cutscene.
Techniques
Key jump: The optimal and probably easiest key jump method is to approach the key jump ramp head-on and start boosting just after you pass the plant to your left. Wait until you are completely airborne, then turn to the left and fire 3/4 missiles. This should recoil you straight into the key. If you aren't getting high enough from the jump, then you are either not moving fast enough or you are rotating to the left too quickly. If you are missing the key, then you need to start shooting missiles sooner/later.
As the biker hyena, approach the key jump ramp head-on, but not directly centered; you want to hit the right side of the ramp. Move toward the ramp and start boosting just a bit after you pass the massive plant on your left. Right before you hit the ramp, switch from holding up to holding up-right and continue holding up-right until you've made it onto the tree. When you get airborne, stop boosting. Boosting in the air doesn't help (I don't think it does anyway). When you land on the tree, you will probably need to boost again if you landed on the sloping part. Then you've made it! You need to have full boosting energy when you start this trick, but you also need to boost to make the jump over the log just beforehand, so don't move too quickly or you'll start the key jump without enough energy. Also, don't boost too much before the log jump. Basically what I'm saying is use bombs wisel.... I mean use boost to get throu... I mean use boosts wisely. The method described above is Mcill's key jump strategy. It is by no means the only way to do the key jump. If you don't like it, experiment, explore, and invent. If you are low on health (anything less than 50%) and are worried about missing the key jump, it may be a good idea to grab some health. The box near the platforms that lead to the center tree is the most convenient for healing. If you miss key jump there is a good chance you will lose 49% of your health from fall damage. It is recommended that you heal above 50% before doing the key jump unless the small time loss from healing is enough to prevent a PB.
Hyena Jump: Position a biker hyena against the tree trunk that has the bronze key on it and exit the hyena such that it is facing the trunk. Walk back to the second biker hyena as Evo and bring it toward the tree trunk. Position the second hyena behind the first hyena and swap into the first hyena, then back into the second hyena. This pushes the first hyena further into the tree. If you push it too far, it will pop out. If you don't push it far enough, you won't gain enough height from the jump. Position the second hyena on top of the first hyena and as far into the tree as possible, then swap rapidly between the two animals. If done correctly, you will gain enough height to land on top of the tree trunk. If done incorrectly, try again until you succeed or until you die. Typically, you will only take fall damage if you start holding forward on a failed attempt. This trick is analogous to the hippo jump on Jungle Doldrums but is harder because the biker hyena has a smaller hitbox than the hippo.
Fast recharging: Jumping out of an animal to play as Evo for a little bit before jumping back into the animal can recharge your ability energy faster than simply waiting. A normal fast recharge involves swapping out and immediately back in to recover ~70% of your energy. A "slow" fast recharge involves swapping out and then delaying the swap back in briefly to recover 100% of your energy.
Cutscene skipping: Don't actually do this on this level.
