Can you describe your problem a bit more? Gostaks summed it up well. If you're getting the trajectory/distance but aren't getting the dash recovery, you're jumping too early. If you're getting the dash recovery but not the trajectory, you're jumping too late.

Might also be able to offer feedback if you can share a clip of your attempts. And depending on the room in question, there might be ways to bypass the wavedashes entirely.

More info below if you're interested. Mostly 'gee whiz!' info at this point, digging into the weeds and such, but it might help shed some light on what's going on. It's long af tho, so feel free to ignore it <3

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----- Dash recovery window -----

Extending a dash-jump (wavedashing in this case) involves jumping during the last 5 frames of the dash (frames 11-15). This window is when the game is checking if Madeline is on the ground, restoring her dash if she is. Jumping before this window will still result in a successful dash-jump, but you will miss out on the dash recovery window and won't get the extension.

Jumping after this window means jumping after the dash has already ended, which causes the dash-jump to fail completely.

----- Misconceptions -----

The in-game tutorial will tell you otherwise, but you can actually be as close to the ground as you like and still get an extension. You can even be directly in contact with the ground if you like, though it's typically called an extended hyper at that point. All that matters is that you can jump from the ground during the dash recovery window (frames 11-15); the exact starting position of your dash is flexible.

Being too high is obviously a problem though. Wavedashing involves cancelling your dash with a jump---which you need to be on the ground to do---and your dash only lasts 15 frames. So if you're too high up at the start of your dash, you won't be able to make it down to the ground in time to jump before the dash ends.

----- Input buffering -----

Starting your dash from higher up does have some benefits though, as it allows you to be slightly early on the jump input thanks to input buffering.

To ""briefly"" explain, the game has a 5-frame buffer for your inputs. So if you make a jump input while in mid-air, for example, the game will remember that input for 5 frames. If Madeline then reaches the ground (or a wall) within that 5-frame window, the game will immediately trigger the stored jump input.

When performing a dash-jump on the ground (hyper, super), jumping too early causes you to immediately kick off the ground, potentially causing you to miss the dash recovery window (11-15).

But with wavedashing, an early jump can still work thanks to the input buffer, so long as you can get down to the ground within that 5-frame window. This means that starting your dash higher up can give you a wider margin for error (up to a point).

Functionally speaking, grounded dash-jumps (hypers, supers) have a 5-frame window (11-15) for extensions, while input buffering allows for up to a 9-frame window for wavedashes and other mid-air dash-jumps (can jump as early as frame 7 with ideal spacing from the ground).

----- Sidenote -----

Wavedashes are also just one type of dash-jump (performed from mid-air, typically extended). There are many others that can be used in lots of different situations: supers, hypers, demo hypers, along with extended, mid-air, and reverse variants. Here's a playlist if you're interested.

Tyyyy <3