Basic Tricks

Many of the speedrunning tricks from the original Yoshi's Island (SNES) have carried over into this game. While some have not, new and different ones have been discovered.

Eggs
Making eggs without losing speed is the same process as tonguing. Simply jump, release forward direction, and press down. If done correctly, Yoshi will finish swallowing before returning to the ground and speed will not be affected.

An important change in YNI is the ability to change the controls and egg toss style before starting a run. It is recommended to use any setting besides Patient. Hasty requires holding the Throw button while the cursor rotates, and releasing to throw. Gyro is similar, except the egg is aimed by tilting the 3DS. Theoretically, Gyro controls may be faster if the player has practice and knows how far to tilt the 3DS for each shot, thus needing to only tap A.

Another consideration for throwing eggs is the "getting an egg" animation. While standing still and pressing Throw, Yoshi spends a moment grabbing an egg before the aiming cursor appears. If Yoshi is moving, even slightly, the cursor appears instantly, allowing for much faster shots. It is then recommended to always be moving when an egg needs to be thrown.

Extended Flutter
Under normal conditions, when the Jump button is held, Yoshi will flutter and gain a few pixels of height. An extended flutter happens when the Jump button is held after bouncing on an enemy. The resulting flutter will take Yoshi much higher than normal, making it easier to access high platforms.

Jumping
It seems that jumping maybe be slower than running by a very small amount. However, it can add up, so try to minimize jumping as much as possible.

Level Completion
Upon completing a level by entering the Goal Ring, the score is tallied on the bottom screen (Amount of flowers, red coins, and stars collected). This can be completed faster by mashing A, B, X, or Y.

Slopes/Ledges
Unlike the SNES version, early testing seems to show that running on slopes is actually faster than jumping over them. This may only occur on certain slopes.

Falling off a ledge sometimes appears to be very slightly slower than jumping off/over it. The speed loss, if any, is negligible and should probably not be worried about until confirmed.

Tonguing
If Yoshi is running and the Tongue button is pressed, the speed will be roughly cut in half for a moment. This can be avoided by jumping, releasing the forward direction on the d-pad/circle pad, then pressing Tongue while in the air. The technique can take a bit of practice, but is great for eating an enemy while maintaining top speed. Unlike the previous Yoshi's Island games, this strategy seems to be only possible when the enemy is somewhat higher than Yoshi; it is much more difficult (maybe impossible) to optimally eat an enemy at the same height as Yoshi.