I definitely got a kick out of the boost off Mario in MC3. That was great!
MC4 would consist of repeated wall bouncing around the finish line like in DP1.
Andreas
About the driver top speeds, of course the manual is right. I was actually thinking of that picture, and somehow mistakenly remembered the triangle symbol next to Princess / Yoshi. *slaps self*
Yes, I could see how 150cc. makes it difficult to corner like that. Match Race plays at 100cc., after all.
Andreas
Toad / Koopa do not have the slowest top speed.
Yoshi / Princess do.
I'm not sure Koopa can take the circular Ghost Valley 2 SC with a Mushroom, or the long finish line SC in Bowser Castle 2. Otherwise, I think it might be a good choice, since it makes for easier and possibly tighter cornering abilities in MC3, if you are planning on using infinite boosting.
Andreas
Boosting aside, which I know very little about despite being from the realtime competition site, this looks good.
I'm wondering though, if you instead of hitting the wall before your feather jump, couldn't simply jump sooner and land in the very same spot, but I'm sure you tested this.
It would quite likely also be faster to build up a boost as you slide around the wide turns.
MC2 should be a really interesting display of boosting. The most peculiar thing might be acquiring Mushrooms efficiently.
Andreas
The reason one lap was so much faster for DP1 (the 2nd course) is that the back of the kart hit the wall as he was hopping around (much like in GV1, the third course), allowing for a tighter turning circle. This changes the approach/angle for the upcoming lap, and it is slower as a result.
Andreas
Looks very good.
I'm wondering about the last lap in GV1 though. If you would be able to finish the 4th lap out of bounds, you won't need to turn back. I understand that the boost is tough to control. If it can't be done without boosting, I have an idea.
Something you could try that won't give you as fast of a 4th lap but perhaps could save time in achieving a faster last lap:
Instead of going for the boost in the 4th lap just to a normal shroom jump from that little bumper, and land directly on the last bumper, for two large jumps. You will be driving without a boost for the lap, and could perhaps finish it in such a way that you get a faster final lap.
Just and idea. I don't know if/how it would work.
Andreas
I've typed the track SCs once before in a different topic, and I didn't want to do it course by course again. It will all make sense eventually. I was just trying to shed some light on how frequently shortcuts will be used if you're aiming for the lowest race time.
Andreas
Everybody used to Super Mario Kart will understand these acronyms.
(I did write BC2 instead of BC at one place, though. ^_^;)
Just for future reference:
Track types
MC - Mario Circuit
DP - Donut Plains
GV - Ghost Valley
BC - Bowser Castle
CI - Choco Island
KB - Koopa Beach
VL - Vanilla Lake
RR - Rainbow Road
Other phrases/lingo and whatnot.
Lakitu - Tows you back on track.
SC is commonly used for "shortcut".
Bumper - Jumpbar
Shrooming - Activating a Mushroom
Everything can be found in the speedrun wiki for the Mario Kart series.
Andreas
Well, the DP1 type of SC exists for MC4, DP3 and KB2. The GV tracks and RR all have similar SCs. CI2(, VL1) and BC1 will be using feathers to go around or parallel to the finish line, and with the feather business used in other BC2 tracks, the water finish line tricks and infinite boosting in MC3, the tracks left without as much of recurring SCs are GV1, (I think it might be faster not to use the finish line SC here.) CI1 and VL1&2, (Since those might be faster to do without the SCs also. Again, I don't know.)
Andreas
I just thought I'd throw in that using a Mushroom for as long as possible before colliding with an object should be optimal. Just be careful not to trigger the boost too late, so that it weakens the boost in speed or duration.
I'm sure you know this already, but I didn't want to risk it slipping your attention.
Andreas
Excellent work. I'm really looking forward to you blazing through the rest of the tracks. (Particularly eager to see the double bounce shortcut in GV1 done 5/5, and what the greatest victory margin will be.)
The Mushrooom manipulation issue explains the wider cornering during the first-lap longboost, I suppose. Unfortunate that it looks like it can be improved. It's so close to being sub-42, though.
I'd really like to see VL1 without feather abuse, but that's for novelty reasons more than anything else.
Keep it up!
Andreas
Oh, and your small mario scenario wouldn't work. I think if anything it would take more time waiting for the mushroom to fall down than just grabbing the flower with the trick. And I'm convinced it's absolutely impossible to even hit that block without causing the koopa shell to go offscreen, let alone wait for a mushroom to come down and hit all the coin blocks.
It wasn't as clear as it could have been, but I was referring to stomping the Koopa, getting the coins+Mushroom and then kicking the shell. That's why I mentioned the possibility of the Koopa reviving if you take long to do it. (Like I said, I had not verified the possibility, but it's not a very convenient approach anyway.)
Andreas
Hmm. I'm wondering if it's possible to get more points if you do follow the koopa shell. You'd have to miss both the fire flower and the star and that's 2000 points right there. It's possible you can get the three coins without slowing down, so if you get more than 2000 points from the goombas, it would be worthwhile.
You could get the Star and then follow the shell, and get coins while you do it.
Or perhaps, I have not verified this, but perhaps you could die from Super Mario to get to small Mario, and retrieve the Mushroom from the top block, and get coins while you wait for it to fall, not wasting time getting it, and then follow the shell, but this would be more complicated/time-consuming and give you a worse net gain than the Star achieves, unless perhaps the Koopa revives and can be stomped again.
Oh well, just go with the Star/Shell combo perhaps.
Repeatedly stomping a ricocheting shell is to be avoided per request above, but killing it off with the star shouldn't fall into this category.
Andreas
This is exactly what you do in the Challenge Mode for SMB. DX. for GBC.
I posted a topic about this in the GB forums quite some time ago. It has subtle changes from the original scoring-wise, like the inclusion of Red Coins, the Yoshi Egg, and the fact that 1UPs are worth 2000 pts. (The 1UP at the end of a point string 100, 200, 400 is 10.000.)
Getting high scores would utilise shell-bouncing, preferably combined with the stairs-trick, which will give you 5.000 pts. for each shell kick.
That's enough off topic.
Andreas
Actually, I've heard this mentioned a few times. Could be real, perhaps.
I've also heard that the number of Shadow Zero's you've accumulated upto its occurrence affects the number showing up on the screen.
Andreas
Good run. Well-played and fun.
Question:
If capping enemies on the way up from a jump propels you faster and higher, shouldn't this be used more?
Also, for D-2, I think it's possible to do a long jump on the springboard, and walljump the brick the flagpole is fixed to. (Might be fun. Maybe I'm thinking of a different level. But it is possible to do somewhere.)
Andreas
*Revives horse*
I'm as much of a fan of clear, absolute rules as anyone, but much like JXQ says, one of the reasons, if not the main, is to watch this is to see what's possible to do with small Mario. You'd get the best effect by doing something that is (considered) difficult. If that means skipping 4 of the possible exits, none of which are very exciting, to be able to show off something that many didn't believe was possible, I wouldn't mind. The stunts are the fun part. (I know it's a "100%" speed run, but we all know that Mario can complete the Switch Palaces without powerups, and what they do to the levels that are affected by it. Not so many may know all of what can be done in the least helpful of circumstances. Surprises and cool stunts would take a blow worse than the poor horse. OK, maybe not, but still..)
This may be regurgitating previous arguments, but I thought I'd post my opinion.
Andreas
In an 11-exit run, you couldnt get over 99 even if you tried.
While it is entirely possible to collect a total 110 goal stars in the 3 levels where you cross the gate, it won't happen in a speed-run, which is what you're getting at, I'm sure.
Andreas
Beautiful, just beautiful.
I'm very excited to see more, and to know what the final score amounts to. Everytime I play this on console, I will compare myself to this movie, and realise I fall hopelessly short. ;-) But it's still fun to play, and see the potential the courses hold.
Keep up the good work, gocha!
Andreas
One of the things you need to do to trigger that type of boost, is release the gas after collision. (I'm not using them myself so I wouldn't be able to give any better advice, I'm afraid.)
Edit: Also, it would only be worthwhile after a speed increase from a boost pad/arrow or Mushroom.
Andreas