Get the popcorn ready :)

Saturn Maria Single-Segment Text Commentary
by wild mouse

* Slide: v + jump. Fastest movement, deals a little damage.
* Drop Kick: > > + kick. Deals damage. Can be shortened by pressing back. To kick through hitboxes instead of bouncing off them, hold kick.
* Jump Kick: v + jump after triple jump. Deals a little damage from Maria's foot. Causes a frontslide when jump kicking close to the ground.
* High Jump: v ^ + jump. Deals damage and gives Maria invincibility. Direction of high jump can be influenced.
* Summon Four Holy Beasts: ^ > v < ^ (hold for 1 second) v, fire. Gives Maria invincibility and her hitbox deals damage.
* Summon Byakko: ^ v > + fire. High damage fire attack.
* Summon Seiryuu: < > v < > + fire. Summons controllable dragon.

The Warg guarding the zombie room causes a lot of lag when it dies, so I double jump over him, then drop kick as soon as I land. Drop kicking through the zombie room and luckily not having any zombies spawn under me. In the Merman room, jump kicking onto the rock to frontslide over some it, then sliding over the rest. Front sliding into rooms with sloped floors is an easy way to transfer into ground based movement.

Drop kicking through more Wargs, using combinations of movement that put dying Wargs off screen fast to reduce lag. Continuing to the floor switch instead of taking the stairs, we eventually reach Alchemy Lab.

Drop kicking out of the door into a jump kick then high jump into a critical hit on a red skeleton on the next screen. That's gotta hurt. Continuing up and left to the blue door. Hold right and backdash during Maria's walk animation puts you in a good position to finish Alchemy Lab with two more drop kicks. Alchemy Lab is one of the shortest portions of the run, but requires the most precise movement.

Diagonally high jumping up the big staircase. Some fancy zig-zagging through a room with a giant sword. It's easy to accidentally turn around during the high jump input and bonk into a low ceiling during the first chapel tower climb, but I make it through without any issues. Getting revenge on birds was a nice bonus.

Drop kicking into the first long hallway, but buffering left during the screen transition so that I kill the first bat, but land in a good position to pick up the Good Book subweapon. Luckily, three drop kicks end up just barely being enough to hit the candle, which is the best position to be in to avoid getting hit by bats. I pick it up as I drop kick through the bats.

Some fancy drop kicks, high jumps and jump kick frontslides through more bat and skeleton rooms and into the Hippogryph fight.

Hippogryph's attack is based on his distance from the player. When the player is close enough to him (or in his hitbox), he will slowly fly up and towards the player, then come back down to the center of the room. I take advantage of this by casting Four Beasts for the invincibility and drop kicking into his hitbox then repeatedly high jumping into him as he flys on the ceiling. Since I was able to pick up the Good Book on my way to the fight without losing any time, I use it to do even more damage. The fight was amazingly short, even for the Good Book strat.

Finishing up the short remainder of the chapel with more dropkick-highjump-frontslide. Drop kicking through the first Axe Armor and getting in a good position to drop kick completely over the next Axe Armor to reduce lag. The last two aren't so lucky. I dash for a bit before the drop kick to get in a good position to high jump into the Castle Keep.

High jumping through a Flea Rider and into Dracula's throne room where I get some extra speed by zipping over the top of the staircase. After eight slides, I dash and jump onto the ledge, and drop kick as soon as I land, which zips me to the teleporter faster that dashing up the stairs. The zone to activate the teleporter is a few pixels wide and can cost time having to hunt it out, but I land on it perfectly and make my way to the second castle.

Kicking as I dash up the staircase to save some frames. The reverse Dracula chamber is a pain, but I slide through as much as I can. High jumping up and left, then right to the tombstone hallway where I just drop kick through them, carefully not bouncing off candles and waste time.

Entering Anti-Chapel with a dropkick-highjump-frontslide into a hallway and drop kicking over Balloon Pods and a Black Panther.

Medusa's hitbox takes somewhere over a second to activate, so I drop kick through her to place me closer to the exit. I cast Byakko when her hitbox activates and the fight is over. I dash towards to exit and drop kick out as the door opens.

I carefully avoid getting hit by Black Panthers in the next hall, and dash out the exit, releasing right as the screen transitions. This puts me in a good position to backdash, then hold right as I transition back into the hallway. This ends up causing Maria to drop through the floor and out of bounds. As soon as I know I'm out of bounds, I hold left to exploit a zip that sends me forward a bit, then I start to alternate jump kicks and high jumps, making my way past the rest of the Anti-Chapel, returning eventually to the sword room leading to the Reverse Colesseum.

Sliding to the first Minotaur and drop kicking him as fast as possible to damage boost through his enormous hitbox. I'm clenching left and kick, hoping I damage through him and not backwards towards the door, which happens rarely. It works out, putting me in a good position to high jump into the elk skull hall. Drop kicking as soon as I enter a room filled with Minotaurs and Werevolves. Holding left and kick as I fall to get a good damage boost through the room, and sliding out of further harm's way. Dropkick-frontsliding through the rest of the colessium and skipping a Life Vessel to save time. Taking a final damage boost taken to get past the last Werewolves. Can't get much better than that.

Drop kicking into Death Wing's Lair and getting a sweet zip on my high jump, then carefully timing a jump over the upside-down staircase. Perfect stair-sliding up the zig-zag room. Drop kicking through the Black Marble room and landing onto the clock trigger with a flashy movement combo. The clock takes what feels like an eternity to finish its chimes. Heart races faster.

Fast movement out the elevator and onto the Shaft fight room. I drop kick as soon as I land on top of it to avoid the game cutting my controls and dashing the rest of the way. Turn canceling the drop kick just before I lose control so I land on the edge and fall into the fight faster. Shaft "powers up" and I regain control. I carefully input the Summon Seiryuu spell and finish the perfect run.