Controls and Moveset

## Overview

The controls of the game, while looking very simple, actually open up dozens of options for Baaren to traverse the various different levels. They consist of a joystick on the left and an A- and B-Button on the right. The camera can be moved by swiping across the upper right part of the screen, and can be centered by double tapping. There was an older version of this control scheme, which features an older font named Amble and no animated buttons. The player can hide the inputs and change their sensitivity in the Settings.

As the game also has a speedrunning feature, some moves are very useful to help you reach places faster and more efficiently.

## Platforming Moves

**Note**: Moves commonly used in speedrunning will be marked with a star.

### Walking / Running (left joystick)

The most important move in the game. When pulling the joystick slightly, Baaren will walk slowly, which is better for making slight adjustments. When pulling the joystick fully, Baaren will run full force, which is better for getting a faster jump or evading enemies.

### Jumping (A)

The second most important move in the game. It is used to jump over obstacles, jump on enemies, cross gaps, and travel across platforms. Baaren can move while being in the air. He has a few more options he can do while in air.

### Double Jumping (A + A)

Essentially just a better jump. Allows Baaren to reach higher places or make platforming easier. Sometimes even needed to make certain jumps.

### Long Jump (B + A)

While just as high as a normal Jump, it allows Baaren to jump further and faster in a straight line than normal. However, he can not move much while in the air, can not do any other things while long jumping and when coming in contact with a wall he will bump his body and lose his momentum. One less known piece of info is that when you long jump, and then right before landing press B, land and then press A, you can trigger a long jump without landing and Baaren not punching beforehand. The punching sound will not be heard if done correctly.

### Dive (A + B)

This move was added in game update 1.6.5. When pressing B in the air, Baaren will dive, which can open cages, pick up objects and also attack enemies. If Baaren lands in diving mode, he will slide on the floor and if he goes down a slope, he can get lots of speed. When sliding, Baaren can jump again, and then dive again, meaning that he can infinitely do this combo until he either bumps into a wall or stops.

### Air Attack (A + B) (scrapped)

This move existed before the dive was added, it's basically the same controls, you punch in mid-air after jumping. This was scrapped after the dive was added. While doing this, you slightly go forward.

### Double Dive (A + B + A + B)

A bit more complicated than the normal Dive, it can make Baaren dive and reach even further, while also being faster than usual. Pressing A or moving the stick backwards after doing a Double Dive makes you abort a dive. This move is best used when jumping using a launcher or after using a...

### Stomp Boost (A + hold and release B)

When releasing B right as Baaren hits the ground with a belly stomp, he can jump just as high as a double jump, with an added benefit of being able to jump in the air again! Doing this incorrectly will result in a short stomp. Using this method allows Baaren to gain the highest amount of height, while also being able to combine it with several other moves.

### Climbing

Baaren can climb vines and rocky walls, seen in The Hub, Turtletown and Snow Valley. Pushing the joystick forward makes Baaren climb upwards, while pushing it downwards makes him climb down. Pressing A makes him jump off the wall. You can not punch during a climb, as pressing the B button also makes Baaren jump off the wall.

### NPC Head Bounce

This move isn't included in the tutorial, but this feature is very useful, especially while speedrunning. Like the name states, you can bounce up in the air by either landing on a NPC's head or an enemy's head. The useful part is that you can dive on the NPC/enemy and you can gain very rapid speed as you bounce and pulling the controller towards the direction fully. Some speedrunners such as Alfa777 have used this feature to its advantage when speedrunning bears.

## Attacking Moves

### Punch (B)

The standard move to attack. While fine to use, other methods are faster and more efficient. Can be used to hurt enemies, open cages, and grab stone blocks and bottle caps. Stone blocks can smash fences and other breakable objects.

### Belly stomp (A + Hold B)

This moves makes Baaren slam himself against the ground, which can hurt multiple enemies at once, squashes NPCs like bears in The Hub (resulting in comical Photo Mode pictures) and tree stumps. You can abort a belly stomp by simply releasing the B button while in air.

## Water moves

### Swimming (left joystick)

Much like real life bears, Baaren can swim. There's slow swimming and fast swimming, depending on how hard you pull the joystick. You can move underwater as well.

### Jumping from water (A)

This is a bit more complicated. Pressing A will allow Baaren to jump from the water surface, and from that point he can either dive or stomp, as usual. But if he lands in water again (doesn't have to be the same body of water), he cannot jump again for 2 seconds, *unless* he isn't moving in the water at all. This makes it so that Baaren can jump in and out of water without a cooldown.

### Diving (B from the surface or belly stomping)

When at the water surface, pressing B will make Baaren sink slowly into the water. But if he belly stomps into the water from above instead, he will sink with full force down onto the bottom of the pool of water. He cannot Belly Stomp Cancel while in water, but when cancelling right before landing, the animation will play out and Baaren will still sink down (not fully).

Belly stomping also works when underwater, and works just like when on the ground, with short and high belly stomps. Baaren needs to do a belly stomp in order to open the drains in the bathroom in Giant House.

### Swimming Up (A)

Pressing A will make Baaren swim upwards, which he needs to do often because he sinks in water until he hits the floor. Repeatedly pressing A will not make Baaren any faster at doing so, it just makes him do it more often.

## Environment

There are a few spots or surroundings that can impact how you traverse a place.

### Ice

Only found in Snow Valley and The Hub, it makes Baaren's running very slippery, but sliding is much, much longer. To be as fast as possible, it is recommended to make continuous single jumps, infinite dive jumps or long jumps. Long jumping is especially useful because the speed of Baaren's jump translates into the sliding speed of Baaren.

### Purple Honey

Found in all levels, stepping on it will make Baaren move much slower, and is thus very vulnurable to enemy attacks in this state. Doing any form of jumping is the best way to get out of Purple Honey.

## Vehicle Controls

### Quad Bike

The whole control scheme changes when using a Quad Bike; There's a new "Exit" Button, the joystick is replaced with a forward (gas) and backward (brake) button, with left and right keys replacing the A- and B-Buttons. As expected, the left and right keys move the Quad Bike in said directions, but they are reversed if Baaren is driving backwards. The gas and brake buttons accelerate and reverse accordingly. The gas button makes the Quad lean forward in the air, while the brake button makes it rotate backwards. If the player is flying with the Quad Bike with a high amount of speed, the player can press the "Exit" Button to launch Baaren! If the quad bike turns left and right for a few seconds, tire marks will start to appear, and you will get a temporary speed boost, as shown by fire appearing from the pipes.

The player can switch the positions of these buttons in the Settings. If the player feels like playing Mario Kart Wii, they can activate the Gyroscope option, which makes the player rotate their phone left and right to move the Quad. This gyroscope option does not work with the...

### Paper Plane

Exclusive to Giant House and some Daily Missions, it allows Baaren to fly around the level! The controls are the same as normal, but the left joystick controls the direction of the plane. It accelerates if Baaren is aiming it downwards, and gains height when pointed upwards. Meaning, combining up and down movements is the best way to traverse this aircraft. Pressing A or B will make Baaren jump off the airplane, speed does not impact the launch in this case.

### Go-Kart

The go-kart is exclusive only to Arcade World. It works a lot like the quad bike, only that the designs are different. You have the same controls as the quad bike, even with the speed boost mechanic.

## Using a controller

When booting the game up, the game recommends the player to use a controller. Both Xinput (Xbox) and Non-Xinput (like Dualshock 4) controllers work for the game. Changing keybinds is possible within the pause menu. The left joystick and D-Pad controls Baaren, while the right joystick moves the camera around. The bottom and left face button acts as the A-Button, while the right and up face button acts the B-Button. The player can use the left and right trigger to accelerate and reverse on a Quad Bike.