The Final-Final Test: Badge Marathon does have checkpoints, and lets you bring powerups in, although i find it more difficult to manage this time. What puts it in the running for me despite these niceties is the Spring Feet Badge sub-area. I've technically gotten through it, but only with two damage boosts or multiplayer mechanics. It is impossible to control this with the precision this room expects. You really can't sync the rate of your bounces with the Fire Bars whatsoever, so every attempt expects a new timing and i never get a sense of things between attempts. It feels more like cheating to have to sneak a stored powerup this deep into the course. Some players find it mean to put the Invisibility Badge area at the very end, but i actually think it's a pretty fair challenge, testing you on how well you've internalized the physics throughout the whole game. You get tells, and there are extra particle effects built into your leaps and Midair Spins, so i just keep calm and play it through. But i couldn't tell you why i'm so much better at these bounces than the Badge-tied ones.
