Super Ninja Adventure: Advanced Techniques & Speedrun Tips

At some point — and you'll know when it happens — Super Ninja Adventure stops being a game you're figuring out and starts being a game you're optimising. The moment the controls feel like extensions of your own hands rather than things you have to think about, you enter a different phase of play entirely. This guide is for that phase. We're going past the basics here. If you haven't yet cleared all six levels cleanly, go read the Beginner's Guide and Level Guide first. If you have — welcome to the deep end.

The Core of Advanced Play: Frame Economy

Everything at the advanced level comes down to one concept: frame economy. Every animation, every cooldown, every moment your character is on the ground versus in the air — these all take time. Advanced play is about eliminating wasted frames. Not just being fast in the conventional sense, but never doing anything that isn't directly productive.

Concretely, this means:

• Never landing on a platform if you can pass through the level using a sequence of jumps and air slashes instead
• Initiating your jump before you reach the edge of a platform rather than at it (saves roughly 4–6 frames per jump)
• Cancelling slash animation recovery with a jump input — this is the most important technique in the game and I'll explain it fully below
• Using double-jump as a directional correction tool, not just an altitude booster

Slash Cancel: The Technique That Changes Everything

When your ninja performs a ground slash, there's a recovery animation of about 12 frames before you can do anything else. Most players just wait it out. But if you input a jump at frame 8 of that recovery animation — right when the slash effect is starting to fade but before the idle frame kicks in — the game allows the jump to register, completely skipping the remaining 4 frames of recovery. This is the slash cancel.

It sounds small. It isn't. In combat sequences where you're hitting three or four enemies in a row, slash cancelling every recovery window saves roughly 30–50 frames per enemy cluster. Over a full run that compounds into seconds of saved time — and in a speedrun context, seconds are everything.

How to practise it: find a section with a single Patrol Guard that you can safely approach. Slash him, then immediately input jump. If your ninja's jump animation starts before his feet fully reset to idle stance, you've got it. If you see the idle stance even briefly, you were a frame or two late. Keep adjusting until the transition is seamless.

Air Slash Drift: Extended Horizontal Movement

Here's a technique that took me embarrassingly long to discover. When you slash while airborne, the attack animation gives your character a small but meaningful horizontal velocity boost — roughly 1.2x your normal air speed for about 8 frames. This isn't documented anywhere in the game. I found it by accident when I slashed at an enemy and sailed right over a platform I expected to land on.

The application is in level transitions and wide platform gaps. On any gap where a standard jump barely reaches, a jump followed by an air slash at peak height will cross it comfortably. On some wider gaps that seemed designed to require specific platform usage, you can actually skip the platform entirely using double-jump + air slash. Level 4's notorious gap section has two such skips.

Speedrun Route Overview

Here's my current fastest route through the full game, level by level. These are the choices I've made after probably 200+ runs and will continue to refine.

Level 1 — Village Path (Target: Under 45 seconds)

Standard route, no major skips available. The time save here is pure execution: slash cancel on every ground enemy, use air slash to cross the second gap without touching the lower platform, and don't stop moving for the final stretch. The upper path around the tree section is two seconds slower than the lower path, contrary to what it looks like — avoid it.

Level 2 — Bamboo Forest (Target: Under 55 seconds)

There's a route through the upper canopy that skips the ground enemy cluster entirely. After the first bamboo wall, jump-slash upward twice to reach the elevated path. It's harder to execute but saves 8–10 seconds compared to fighting through. The area also has a secret collectible directly above the canopy entry point, which gives a score bonus but costs 3 seconds — skip it in speedruns.

Level 3 — The Rooftops (Target: Under 1 minute)

The moving platform section has an interesting skip. At the second moving platform, if you time your jump to land at the platform's extreme right position, you can use the momentum transfer to reach the next static platform without waiting for the third moving platform at all. The timing window is about 4 frames, so it's strict, but it's consistent once you have it down. Saves 12 seconds in ideal execution.

Level 4 — Waterfall Cliffs (Target: Under 1:10)

Two air slash skips as mentioned. The rocky outcrop shortcut from the beginner guide is actually slightly slower for speedruns because of the collectible animation — pass it entirely and use the air slash gaps instead. Boss Iron Guard: slash cancel turns the standard 4-hit pattern into a 4-hit pattern executed in roughly 60% of the time. The window for slash cancel on this boss is generous.

Level 5 — Shadow Fortress (Target: Under 1:30)

The enemy density here makes routing complex. My current approach skips 7 of the 11 optional enemies using a combination of air slashes for elevation and sprint timing. The three-platform section at the end has a route where you use air slash drift on the second platform to skip the diagonal third platform entirely — this requires precise positioning but is extremely consistent once learned.

Level 6 + Final Boss (Target: Under 2:00 combined)

Level 6 is almost entirely vertical, which means air slash drift is the dominant technique. Chain double-jump + air slash + double-jump in alternating rhythm to climb faster than the game likely intends. The speed bonus at the end of Level 6 requires finishing under a threshold that's actually quite achievable with this technique.

The final boss, the Storm Master, has an important speedrun consideration in Phase 2: his projectiles can be deflected back with a slash. Deflected projectiles deal roughly 1.5x damage compared to your standard slash. This means Phase 2 with deflects is actually faster than standard damage — don't dodge the projectiles, slash them all back. Phase 3: the descending hitbox issue I mentioned in the Level Guide. Don't fight this, just time your attacks to his descent phase. With clean execution the entire final boss fight takes under 90 seconds.

Combo Extensions for Score Runs

If you're not chasing time but going for maximum score, the priority shifts. Air slashes score higher than ground slashes. Chaining air slashes — jump, slash, land, immediately slash cancel into another jump, slash again — creates a score multiplier chain. The multiplier tops out at x5 and resets if you touch the ground without attacking. Sustained air combat is the core of high score play.

The enemy cluster on Level 5 that speedrunners skip? In score runs, this is your best friend. Seven enemies in close proximity means a potential x5 multiplier chain. The key is positioning: approach from elevated ground so you can initiate the chain with an aerial approach rather than a ground slash.

Mental Approach to Advanced Play

Something I've noticed over hundreds of runs: the mental side of advanced play is as important as the technical side. When you're going for a personal best, there's a temptation to "protect the run" as it gets further — to play more conservatively as the stakes feel higher. Resist this. Conservative play in the late levels is slower than aggressive play, and the risk of playing aggressively is lower once you've internalised the mechanics. Trust your muscle memory.

Also: failed runs are not wasted time. Every run where something goes wrong teaches you something specific about a technique's timing or a route's viability. The runs that feel most painful — dying on the final boss with a PB-pace run — are actually the most instructive. You now know exactly how far you can get executing at that level. Identify the one thing that went wrong. Fix just that thing. Run again.

What's Left to Find

Honest answer: probably more than any of us have discovered. Super Ninja Adventure has surprises that keep revealing themselves even to experienced players. The five secret areas I've documented are almost certainly not all of them — there are sections of Level 5 and the final boss room that I suspect have hidden content I haven't found yet. If you find something new, genuinely: the community wants to know. Share it. The game rewards exploration at every level of play.

Keep running. Keep experimenting. The game has more depth than it looks.