Thumper

Due to the generous checkpoint system this isn't too difficult since you can reload the sub-level you are currently on and the one before. Since the sub-levels rage from approximately 30 seconds to 2 minutes your looking at small sections of muscle memory and trial and error. If you had to do the levels in one go this would be a monumental task. Thanks Drool.

One important thing to mention is that the way it saves the check points. If you finish a sub-level with anything under an S rank reload the sub-level and log out of the game for whatever reason the game records the sub-level as completed with the last score you got. So when you log back in you'll have the unwanted score AND you won't be able to reload that sub-level forcing you to restart the whole level. So don't exit the game until you get an S rank before beginning the next sub-level. Because of work and my son wanting to play Banjo-Kazooie this happened to me twice.

I decided to go for the s ranks after a complete playthrough of the game. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, I really enjoyed the game and second I wanted the practice. When the s ranking time came I felt like I had the timing and speed under better control and really had fun time time blazing through the ranks. I think if I would have gone for the s ranks immediately after an initial run of a level I would have unnecessarily frustrated myself. This is obviously totally up to the player.

How to get enough points to S rank:

Hit A on every node and not get hit at all. This is the first thing you want to concentrate on when first attempting a level.. then you start implementing the extras.

Break the orange barriers. Try not to miss any of these. If I missed too many I wouldn't get the s rank. There will be some levels later on with multiple lanes you need to be quick and get all the orange barriers in order to get the S.

Perfect turns: Making the turn right before you hit the barrier nets you a perfect turn bonus. I personally didn't find the window of time you have to be too strict. When you successfully complete one the game makes a sound effect that's pretty noticeable.

Aerial gameplay: You wanna get accustomed to doing this. When hitting a node you want to hit up to go airborne. This allows you grab those blue rings and your going to need a lot of them for S ranks. If I had to estimate you need to grab about 80% of the rings. You remain airborne by hitting nodes or performing perfect turns. Your going to want to practice aerial perfect turns since a lot of the later levels require to get blue rings only attainable using aerial perfect turns.

Thumping: When you see two consecutive nodes you go airborne on the first then press down on the second one for a thump. When you chain a few of these and thump down on a glowing node you get a cool little slow down effect that looks like it could give some serious extra points plus its pretty awesome to execute. I never tested this though. I think the players with the insane scores on the leaderboards abuse this.

Final boss: This guy is a little bit of a pain. It introduces a slow down mechanic that really throws off your timing. The internet made him out to seem horrible but I didn't find him to be too bad. Just keep practicing and you'll be fine. One thing to be mindful of is DO NOT finish the boss unless you perfectly hit every node and take no damage. If you miss a node and finish the boss you'll be awarded a rank below the S and be forced to play the whole level again. The internet says that some perfect turns are required for the s rank. I did not concentrate on those at all, I just aimed for not missing a node and not crashing and the S was mine.

Music: The music is an important part of the game play since hit helps you nail certain turns and nodes. That being being said some hard levels I felt the music kinda distracted me and I took off my head set and completed the level easier. So that might be something you could try if your having difficulty on certain levels.

Here are S rank videos of each level, a special thanks goes to Pricey 403 for creating these.










Hope this information proves useful, please let me know if I can add/change anything.