Basic Movement

Movement in StarTropics is less straightforward than many games released in the same timeframe as it. Movement is different between the dungeons and the overworld. Overworld movement will be handled with other Overworld Mechanics.

Moving
A quick tap of a direction on the D-Pad causes Mike to face that direction. Mike can face any of the four cardinal directions (Up, Down, Left, and Right). Pressing a direction will cause Mike move in that direction. Once Mike starts moving, he can change the direction he is facing. This is useful for attacking enemies to the side of Mike's path, as well as for buffering a new direction for movement. Changing directions, and then resuming the original direction, introduces 16 frames of movement lag. See Dungeon Lag Cancellation for more information.

Jumping
Pressing the A button will cause Mike to jump. If there is no jumpable obstacle in Mike's path, or if the D-Pad is neutral, he will jump in place. This can be useful for avoiding attacks or certain enemy patterns. If there is a jumpable obstacle in Mike's path, and you are holding the D-Pad in that direction, Mike will jump over the obstacle. He can clear 1 tile normally, or 2 tiles of water when wearing the Anklet. Similarly to movement on the ground, Mike can face and attack in different directions as he is in the air. This can be used to avoid the 8-16 frames of lag from using a Yo-yo (or any weapon's delay), allowing certain enemies to be killed with no cost in time (for free). Each jump starts with 5 frames of lag, and the duration of the jump is [GET THIS NUMBER] frames. Under certain circumstances, the 5 frames of jump lag can be avoided (see: Dungeon Lag Cancellation).