Ultradashes

Ultradashes are an untaught technique that's commonly used by speedrunners. It allows the player to gain a speed boost that can be chained without any hard limit. A successful Ultradash rewards the player with an 1.2x increase in speed.

Performing an Ultradash

Ultradashes can be performed by doing a down-diagonal after gaining a large amount of momentum which can be done through various circumstances:

• Starting with a Wavedash or Extended Hyper, followed by a down-diagonal shortly after, before the Wavedash/Hyper momentum runs out.
• Holding on to a moving platform such as a Zip Mover, Move Block, Swap Block or Kevin Block to gain a lot of speed. If the player jumps and dashes within 10 frames, they will go even further due to activating a "double block boost".
• Pufferfish/Bumper/Seeker shockwave boosts are big enough to get the ultra speed boost.

Other variants

Grounded Ultras or gultras

It's possible to chain Ultradashes off of the ground by starting with a Wavedash or Extended Hyper, and then consecutively jumping and doing down-diagonals in a similar matter to a Wavedash. If done quick enough, Madeline will keep regaining her dash, while also maintaining the 1.2x speed boost. This is a common trick used by speedrunners, allowing them to pass through flat areas faster than a regular Hyperdash. It is generally interesting for grabbing items right after the ultra, like the Theo crystal or a jelly.

Chained Ultras

Chained Ultras are done in a very similar to chaining Wavedashes, however the player needs to keep dashing as soon as possible, while also jumping very quickly off of the ground as soon as they land on the floor. The timing is very difficult to master, however if done properly, a player can chain momentum without any limits. There's however a few issues a player has to take care of:

• The longer the player slides off of the floor, the more speed they lose. In order to do optimal chained ultras, they have to jump as soon as possible.
• Buffering the jump is very risky, as it has a high chance (3/8) of completely breaking the speed chain and doing a regular jump instead if you jump the same frame you touch the floor. This is sometimes called an ultrafuck.

Heart Ultras

An Ultradash can be performed using a Crystal Heart or a Mini Heart by dashing down-diagonally from a heart, in the opposite direction of where the heart is, during the few frames between when Madeline touches the heart and when the heart bounces her off. Heart Ultras are generally only really done for show.

Differences between chained Ultras and Wavedashes

There's a few factors that determine the difference between chained Ultras and Wavedashes:

• Ultras have no hard velocity limit unlike Wavedashes, which will always jump with a specific amount of speed.
• The player can do a full jump with Ultras, unlike Wavedashes which cut the height in half.
• Most dash-related techniques leave ring particles behind the player, with the exception of Ultras.

Trivia

• Ultras were originally a side effect from early development, when the devs were creating movement tech. Despite that, the unintentional effect has been embraced and it was kept for speedrunners or experienced players to play around with.