Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
$200
First half by Weatherton, second by me. Not super optimized, just a proof of concept.
Ghost is Weatherton's nonSC lap
Marty
$200
First half by Weatherton, second by me. Not super optimized, just a proof of concept.
Ghost is Weatherton's nonSC lap
Marty
![[TAS] Choco Mountain SC fast lap - 1.66](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Qd9EEjMOmu4/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Choco Mountain SC fast lap - 1.66
THIS HAS BEEN IMPROVED (1.47): https://youtu.be/83rblmp8eGE
Watertank
Decided to slam into the wall a bit and somehow this happened. I still dont really understand this SC but 1.66 seems fast. I do have another idea that has potential to save up to ~0.3, so maybe another improvement soon?
Exact time = 1.6650
Full race: https://youtu.be/SdFpljAR0dE")
![[TAS] Yoshi Valley SC fast lap - 2.91](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Qyc0MmZNQHo/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Yoshi Valley SC fast lap - 2.91
Old idea, but finally made it work. Thanks to Weatherton for proving it was possible in 150cc (https://youtu.be/_Gizu_QgJ3c) and showing me that you dont have to jump into the fence to get a large bounce off it. Also thanks to micro500 for helping us understand what was needed with 3D models of the course.
Exact time = 2.9158
Full race + input: https://youtu.be/oiYtURziEXM
With this confirmed possible, 11/16 courses have had at least one new time trials shortcut in under 1 year (August 4, 2020-August 3, 2021). Thats the same number of courses that had shortcuts found in the first 20 years after MK64s release. There are 3 courses which have no time trials shortcuts: Moo Moo Farm, Koopa Troopa Beach, and Banshee Boardwalk. Besides these 3, the only other 2 courses which have not had a new shortcut in the past year are Choco Mountain (which had its new shortcuts, including the Weathertenko, discovered in 2014), and DKs Jungle Parkway (the only course to have its original shortcuts still optimal). Wario Stadium 3lap also hasnt had any new shortcuts since the 90s, but the fast lap there does have a new strategy so I think that counts. Also, while Yoshi Valley fast lap did have a new strategy found in the past year (https://youtu.be/Db4yj5ozTFc), that only saved 2 frames and is arguably not even a new shortcut at all, so its nice to have something here that is undeniably a new shortcut. This one will also save time on the 3lap, which is something the previous discovery on Yoshi Valley didnt do.
So why did this take so long to be performed? In order to complete a lap, you MUST cross from behind the finish line to in front of it in some way (the finish line is an infinite vertical plane that passes through the visible finish line). However, you dont always gain/lose a lap when you cross this, otherwise you could complete laps when passing the finish line halfway around the track. There are a few different conditions that must be met for the finish line to be active, but the important one here is that you must be within 1000 units from the center of the road at the finish line. (You can imagine a sphere with radius 1000 centered on the middle of the road at the finish line, and the finish line is active only if you are in that sphere.) This sphere gets quite close to the far left path of the track (the wall bounced off here), but there is a small gap between the wall and the sphere. This is why the normal 3lap lapskip works - you hit the wall in front of the finish line, then tumble left so you land behind the finish line (which causes you to cross the line forwards as you get placed down, which completes a lap) but since you crossed backwards across the line close to the wall, you are outside of the sphere so the finish line is inactive and you dont lose a lap. This results in a lapskip since the finish line is active when you cross it forwards but not when you cross it backwards. But in the usual 3lap lapskip you must fall all the way to the bottom and get rescued by lakitu before finishing the lap. So if you could cross backwards across the line while outside of the sphere (just like in the 3lap), but then cross the line forwards while still in the air, it would be much faster. Unfortunately, as seen in the 3lap, hitting the wall near the finish line launches you left, so you cannot cross the finish line forwards in the air after hitting the wall. However, slightly right of the place you hit in the 3lap is a part of the wall that knocks you to the right after you hit it, which is the direction you need to cross the finish line midair. The problem is that before hitting the wall you must cross the finish line backwards (outside of the sphere), but the part of the wall that knocks you right is almost entirely in front of the finish line. Luckily there is a tiny part near the top that is both behind the finish line and knocks you right, which is what we need. However, that part of the wall is just barely behind the finish line, so after hitting it you usually cross the finish line forwards before re-entering the 1000-unit sphere, so the finish line is still inactive and you dont complete a lap midair. As you get closer to the top of the wall, the tiny section you must hit gets a little wider, allowing you to hit the wall a bit further behind the finish line, which lets you reactivate the finish line before crossing it. The problem here is that to hit the wall so close to the top, you need a LARGE bounce and high speed to cross the canyon quickly (this is why this SC is slightly easier in 150cc). With ideas from Weatherton on how to get the best speed/height possible and a lot of tiny adjustments, I crossed the finish line midair only 999.9978 units from center of the sphere. If I had been .003 units farther away, the finish line would have been inactive so no lapskip. Unless a consistent way to get more speed is found, this is extremely precise in time trials (worse than KD?) and will not be done RTA.")
![[TAS] Kalimari Desert SC fast lap - 7.33](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TWYMnSX_vfI/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Kalimari Desert SC fast lap - 7.33
THIS HAS BEEN IMPROVED (7.28): https://youtu.be/0vjVXdNU37o
Whats a desertenko?
Its a new skip on KD thats slightly
easier than the KD Fence Clip and
can get times of 7xx range for flap!!
Exact time = 7.3387
Full race: https://youtu.be/0_fG1sFUWMs
Input Display: https://youtu.be/tkvnYSgSVQ0
Previous TAS (7.58): https://youtu.be/i2a1gfSznIw")
![[TAS] Kalimari Desert SC 3lap - 27.73](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TmuL5Fh5w30/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Kalimari Desert SC 3lap - 27.73
Can probably save a bit each lap by turning backwards a bit less. Definitely turned out better than expected for the first attempt at a 3lap here, but obviously not perfect. Maybe a faster lineup possible?
Exact time = 27.7337
Previous TAS = none")
![[TAS] Rainbow Road SC 3lap - 41.66](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VJQIj0Jo__w/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Rainbow Road SC 3lap - 41.66
Much better than I thought was possible. Exactly 6 months since this SC was discovered.
With Input Display: https://youtu.be/Hw1DzvmobD8
Previous TAS (41.83) by Abney: https://youtu.be/0A1Gm-x9KPM")
![[TAS] Kalimari Desert SC fast lap - 17.23](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bHJcpkLR9Bk/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Kalimari Desert SC fast lap - 17.23
THIS HAS BEEN IMPROVED (17.19): https://youtu.be/dJ8_vJN9SNI
Thanks to Weatherton for the high quality recording (and saving 0.01 on the last turn)
Pretty much the same as the last one. Still a few frames to save, but seems very hard to get under 17 seconds.
Previous TAS (17.24): https://youtu.be/xLFm9dvDAQs")
![[TAS] Yoshi Valley NSC 3lap - 1:18.35](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bs7_dMngYLo/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Yoshi Valley NSC 3lap - 1:18.35
THIS HAS BEEN IMPROVED (1:18.24): https://youtu.be/bnQ2rYvmJ30
E G G
Didnt think it was ever going to be done, but here it is. The first non-shortcut 3lap TAS. Will it be the last as well? Im certainly never making another nonsc 3lap TAS again
Spent more time than I should have on the sidebar, but I think its nice (see below for explanation). Should I use it in future TAS videos?
Exact time = 1:18.3555
Game video only: https://youtu.be/x0_wHltT0Ok
Is this time perfect? Of course not. Lap 1 is significantly worse than the other two - it should be the fastest, but instead it is the slowest.
This wasnt meant to be a new year special, but I took so long that it ended up being one anyway. I suppose this is a nice way to end the year though. Now its time for a break...
Explanation of everything on the side, from top to bottom:
-Map: Shows current position and path taken in last second. Also shows locations of moving obstacles and their actual sizes.
-Wall bounce (purple circle): Shows when wall bounce state is active, which is a period of low acceleration after hitting a wall.
-Triple B (green circle): Shows when triple B state is active, which makes you slow down faster when braking
-Tires: Shows surface type under each tire, which is used to determine if you are off-road. Black means no surface (null tires)
-Tilt: When turning the kart becomes tilted, which is why it is important to briefly hold to opposite direction after turning to untilt. Less tilt generally means higher speed
-Pitch: Forward pitch increases speed, backwards decreases speed. The pitch angle is exaggerated in the side display, otherwise it would be hard to see (except when jumping the pitch only ranges from about -1700 to 2600, and a full circle is 65536)
-Engine speed (blue bar): The higher this value is, the faster the acceleration and top speed are
-Triple A (blue circle): shows when triple A state is active, which makes engine speed increase faster. However, it also makes engine speed decrease faster (such as when jumping from a steep slope) so it is not beneficial to always have this active
-MT boost (yellow bar): The higher this value is, the faster the top speed (and probably acceleration) are. Quickly fills up during the short glide after a MT, then slowly decreases
-MT glide (yellow circle): shows when MT glide is active, which is also shown by the E turning orange on the left side. You cannot start charging the next MT until the glide of the previous MT ends
-Shroom boost (red bar): The higher this value is, the faster the top speed (and probably acceleration) are. Quickly fills up after shrooming, then drops after shroom ends. Note that it stops decreasing slightly above zero
-Shroom timer (red circle): Shows when the strong part of the shroom is active (when the shroom boost is increasing). Note that the shroom state (which lets you drive offroad without slowing down) does not end as soon as this ends, but when the shroom boost stops decreasing (at which point the shroom on the left darkens)
-Inputs: At the bottom is the inputs that the game processes on the next frame (in other words, what you would need to hold while the current frame is on screen). Note that this is different than most TAS input displays (at least the ones Ive seen), which simply show what inputs the game processed on the current frame. The horizontal analog input ranges from -65 to 65, since anything beyond 65 is treated as 65 (normal controllers reach ~90, and the max possible input is 127). Gray is deadzone (-12 to 12). Vertical input (and other buttons) are unused in normal driving, so not shown. The next second of inputs is also shown above because I think its fun to watch.")
