[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Royal Raceway SC Flap 24.95 (New BOUNCE Shortcut!) 8K @weatherton

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Royal Raceway SC Flap 24.95 (New BOUNCE Shortcut!) 8K

Drew Weatherton 2021-07-24 | Full explanation video on how this works here: youtu.be/IZxdz3zGIzE

Forest's 3-lap TAS here: youtu.be/7Q4ce47fVwI

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - MMF GP SC, No Lakitu, No Pause Proof of Concept

Drew Weatherton 2022-02-13 | Sharing this because I've referred to it in a few chats. This was something Forest and I figured was possible but hadn't confirmed. I actually did this proof of concept back in August, about two months before we discovered pausing strats.

This works because I'm only within the out-of-bounds area on one frame (yes the grass I touch is coded a out-of-bounds), a physics frame where I'm on the ground. It's actually barely possible to do it, but it saves a lot of time (especially in one player) because you don't have to spend time getting stuck and put down by Lakitu or rapidly pausing.

Assuming good CPU timing at end of lap 1 or 2, this is faster for 3-lap. Though 2-player pausing would get faster in-game time than this. It's worth noting even the 58"58 2-player pausing TAS (which was done pretty quickly and could definitely be improved) is faster than the old TAS in real-time.
Also, note that the real-time could be improved by sacrificing in-game time. This is possible because normally each pause takes 3 frames (start, release, start) but each pause can actually be done in two frames (pause without A held, press A). So, especially in situations where you have a mushroom active, you can either not hold A at all (other than to un-pause) or you tap A every other frame (during the other player's pause). Thus, that would speed-up real-time by roughly 33%. One other thing to note, it's possible to spend less time off road on the last shortcut in that 58"58, I just basically didn't feel like doing it because it's a pain (involves a bounce off the fence, past the bridge).

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Sherbet Land 0.00 Glitch

Drew Weatherton 2022-02-11 | Details are explained in the video Bismuth, Forest and I collaborated on: youtu.be/-SuHSCkLD54

[TAS] NEW Shortcut! Mario Kart 64 - Moo Moo Farm SC Flap 16.06 in 8K

Drew Weatherton 2022-02-11 | The meme shortcut is finally real in time trials!

Details are explained in the video Bismuth, Forest and I collaborated on: youtu.be/-SuHSCkLD54

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Royal Raceway 0.00 Lap Glitch Recreation

Drew Weatherton 2022-02-11 | Details are explained in the video Bismuth, Forest and I collaborated on: youtu.be/-SuHSCkLD54

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Moo Moo Farm SC 3-Lap 58.58 (2-Player GP)

Drew Weatherton 2022-02-11 | This time abuses frame-perfect 2-player pausing. Details are explained in the video Bismuth, Forest and I collaborated on: youtu.be/-SuHSCkLD54

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Frappe Snowland SC 3-Lap 11.79 (2-Player GP)

Drew Weatherton 2022-02-11 | This time abuses frame-perfect 2-player pausing. Details are explained in the video Bismuth, Forest and I collaborated on: youtu.be/-SuHSCkLD54

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - DKJP SC Flap 1.58 (2-Player GP)

Drew Weatherton 2022-02-11 | This time abuses frame-perfect 2-player pausing. Details are explained in the video Bismuth, Forest and I collaborated on: youtu.be/-SuHSCkLD54

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Royal Raceway Shroomless Double Cut

Drew Weatherton 2022-02-11 | Made this on 6/5/2021. Didn't upload for some reason but figured I'd share. It may be faster to go over this whole section shroomless (TAS). As long as you get a few bounces and get 4x null tires (from height) while coming up on the top of the hill.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Yoshi Valley SC 3-Lap 2228

Drew Weatherton 2021-08-04 | Just two days ago I was able to hit a theoretical shortcut that Forest64 and I had been discussing for some time (youtu.be/_Gizu_QgJ3c). Forest was then able to hit it in Time Trials for a fast lap and I made a 3-lap version. The first two laps of this video are by Forest, he made those while I was working on lap 3 and then we synced up the inputs. Ironically while the prior 3-lap TAS was optimized by pushing further and further forward so that less time was lost when hitting the canyon wall, this new strategy needs positioning relatively close to the line so that we can slide at a good angle toward the fence.

Forest64's 2.91 fast lap TAS: youtu.be/Qyc0MmZNQHo

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Yoshi Valley - Play Around (150cc GP)

Drew Weatherton 2021-08-02 | Had some fun with the big bounces across the canyon. Surprised I was able to spinout through that one wall. Will have to look into that one more later.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - YV Flap 358 (150cc GP Mode)

Drew Weatherton 2021-08-01 | Forest64 and I have discussed this shortcut as being theoretically possible since last year. We looked closely at the level geometry with micro500 and understood the constraints. Basically, you're exiting the 1000 unit radius sphere surrounding the finish line and then hitting the wall high enough up so that you're behind the line but also hit at an angle that is back toward the line (which requires you to be quite high up on the wall). I decided to go to GP mode to prove it's possible. To do this, I got a star and timed it to run out near the wall so that I could use a mushroom during the large bounce. Looking back at my speed, I'm confident the star wasn't actually necessary as while I'd had sometimes hit the wall at ~8.2 units per frame, this particular hit was only 7.44 units per frame... a speed that may even be possible in *gasp* time trials.

This would be used on lap 3 of a GP TAS to avoid having to wait for Lakitu.

News Coverage: Mario Kart 64 Should Be In The Olympics

Drew Weatherton 2021-07-27 | For the record, I completely agree. Both four player versus and head to head 1-tries. Let's go!

Mario Kart 64 - The ULTRA Bounce

Drew Weatherton 2021-07-24 | Mario Kart 64 speedrunners have used bounces for years but only in limited situations. What if we could harness and maximize the power of the bounce and apply it to new locations?

Direct link to 24"95 flap TAS: youtu.be/LNEnBk7GCQc
Direct link to Forest's 1'24"87 3-lap TAS: youtu.be/7Q4ce47fVwI

Update, on 7/26/2021 Forest64 was able to get the KD lapskip (some people are humorously calling the "Desertenko") with tools, in time trials! youtu.be/i2a1gfSznIw

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Single Shroom No Bounce Up RTA Backup Strategy Demo

Drew Weatherton 2021-04-25 | I mentioned in my 45"25 TAS that there is another option to do the old double shroom cut with one shroom. If you don't get the bounce up the hill, you should shroom immediately and your mushroom then almost certainly won't last all the way to getting airborne into the grassy crevice. To extend the shroom into a floaty fall, you need to hit the wall before your shroom expires. DON'T jump, if you jump the next part won't work correctly. To get a favorable bounce after that, hit R right as you impact the grassy slope.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Royal Raceway Fast Lap - 4525

Drew Weatherton 2021-04-24 | Last week I found a way to save ~0.4 on Royal Raceway by bouncing over the hill near the end. This saves time on both fast lap and 3-lap. I had been interested in revising the old "double shroom" strategy from the early 2000's. I was just doing some experimentation the initial bowl turn against Dan Burbanks's 46"16 when I realized I could save time there by dropping down and bouncing back out of the bowl turn. From there I decided to just keep going through the level. So, because of the spontaneity with which this flap TAS began, the first straightaway and turn is actually Dan's inputs. You can see when the ghosts separate, that is when I took over. I had intended to start from the beginning but now this is a great ghost to race for a future version.

The bowl cut bounce is realistically TAS-only as it's hard to regain speed quickly enough to stay ahead.

The single-shroom approach to the old double shroom spot benefits from the bounce up the hill (It delays the use of the shroom so it can last longer). For RTA, players would likely want to just shroom as soon as they get on the grass. If you do that, you will likely have the mushroom run out too soon to stay in the air and get the bounce off the grass hill. To overcome this, just bump the wall right before the mushroom runs out to get a slow fall and hit the grass to get a bounce. (RTA backup strat example here: youtu.be/KolyG1XaF0M)

The hill at the end has several options for clearing, some faster than others (details in my continuum video youtu.be/n5EFDRmqLRA)

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - RRy Hill Cut Continuum Illustration

Drew Weatherton 2021-04-18 | There's been some debate over in the Mario Kart 64 community about whether to allow the new hill corner cutter (youtu.be/905pZqyCnjI) on Royal Raceway non-shortcut competition. Some people pointed to it being "binary" (you get it your you don't) others to one of the floor polygons being steep enough to be "slippery" (though still not a wall).

So, I took one approach (of many possible approaches) at the hill and with this nearly identical approach showed that this cut is not binary and both with and without bounces are effective, often equally so. In all three videos, I'm turning left, jump right as I get to the grass and, based on the frame spacing and angle I enter the grass end up being about as fast with and without bounces.

Regarding whether bounces should be allowed at all; they already are. The Mario Raceway fast-lap fastest ending is done using a bounce (Dan's current world record uses it youtu.be/p4tKQ9W3Xlk?t=28). Bounces have also been used in non-sc racing on the old double-shroom strategy on this very course and some have used it to clear the second large set of bumps on Wario Stadium. They're a built-in game mechanic that occur when you jump while encountering a sloped surface. I believe they're the reason we sometimes see exceptionally large jumps over the new Frappe Snowland corner cutter (though, in that context the bounce is not desirable as it's clearly slower there).

Regarding whether to allow driving on steep "slippery" floors. This is already done. You can't take the cave cut in DKJP without going over a steep, "slippery" floor and the very best cuts do so twice (and those even jump over a tumble polygon when done optimally). Slippery floors are also driven on when doing a transtyle on the beginning of Rainbow Road. These are simply normal floor polygons that have a Z normal lower than about 0.855. Nothing special, Moo Moo Farm has normal road polygons of this type on the sides as well.

Oh, also worth noting: on Jeff Gutierrez's 8/18/2004 Royal Raceway fastlap PR cut this very hill, going over the slippery polygon, getting a bounce and saving him time. The only difference is he used a mushroom and didn't hit R when he got the bounce (so he didn't clear the hill completely in his case): youtu.be/BW5E3cbozHg?t=42

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - RRy Hill Bounce Corner Cutter (~0.4 Savings) 4586 flap demo

Drew Weatherton 2021-04-16 | A few weeks ago, we got a new non-shortcut corner cutter on Frappe Snowland. Now we've got one on Royal Raceway. This saves about 0.40. It can be done in fast lap and 3-lap. I'm racing Dan Burbank's 46"19 fast lap ghost (originally 55"55 PAL) as it had a particularly strong ending section. I was able to beat his ghost in the section by 0"44 (I improved the ending by 0.11 and uploaded the full lap here if you'd like to see that youtu.be/CqdqSppX-Hc). This is particularly fast because I'm able to bounce off a specific polygon with a good angle to clear the corner. It's doable RTA but not easy.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 KTB - New Ramp Weaving Strat Demo

Drew Weatherton 2021-04-15 | I'm racing Dan Burbank's 30"78 flap ghost here (second place by 0.03). I'm playing on NTSC so the time here is 25"60. I manage to gain about NTSC 0.08 on his ghost here by weaving through the ramps. Better movement should allow for faster. Reasons this is faster include:
- I pick up a null back right tire off the first ramp (which reduces the drag of the sand) and I keep this until I'm even with the next ramp
- I drive on the wet sand (which is faster than the dry sand)
- I think this is a more direct path

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - LR 2X Null Tire Demo

Drew Weatherton 2021-04-11 | This is a quick demo showing that it is beneficial to get a second tire set to null and then taking a different angle back to the road. This demo loses probably ~2 frames due to poor execution of the first wall hit (you can see my mushroom ran out before I hit the wall).

Racing against Dan Burbank's world record 3-lap time (he played on PAL at 1'57"77 but I'm playing it back on NTSC which comes in at 1'37"94). Dan's run had a good wall hit mystery boost and did hit the wall a second time but I confirmed it did not get a second tire set to null. Getting the front left tire set to null is pretty simple to do by just bumping into the wall. Getting the back left tire is much more difficult and seems to require good timing and angle toward an open corner. The open corner here is pretty close to 180 degrees so it's hard to get close enough with the back tire without getting pushed away by the adjacent walls.

It's possible to get the front left tire set to null without hitting the wall. With that, it seems this should be even faster - perhaps substantially so.

For more on null tires, check out: youtu.be/ni9HMUYTU_Q

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - FS New Corner Cutter Shroomless ~0.3 Faster

Drew Weatherton 2021-04-01 | Dan Burbank said the last version (youtu.be/qQG6YU_vOOo) was too slow so I took a more direct path, cleaned up the precision and threw in an SSMT when landing. Beats the flap ghost I'm racing by 0.24 to the river.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - FS New Corner Cutter Shroomless Demo

Drew Weatherton 2021-03-31 | It turns out it's possible to hit this shroomless. I'm racing Dan Burbank's best available ghost hit with the original shroom strat (which he says is about 0.1 slower than his very best ever) and come just about even with him. This shows that a 3-lap would optimally still shroom on the original shroom spot (which should save about a second, if done on all three laps) while taking this shroomless. I've included input display here to show that this is RTA viable, I don't have to do anything too funky like null tires (though I thought that would be needed).

The key is to MT into the snow NOT jump (for some reason that slows you down when going uphill off road after releasing an MT) and then shift right and then left to give yourself lateral movement up the right lip. Since you're going up a slope, you can get a larger (and large enough) jump to clear the out of bounds section. I don't see this happening 3/3 RTA any time soon but it could be viable for the first lap of a 3-lap.

Mario Kart 64 - A New LARGE Non-Shortcut Strategy (Plus Explaining Some Smaller Ones)

Drew Weatherton 2021-03-25 | The last eight months have been a wild ride in Mario Kart 64. A revolution sparked by Forest64 has led to new or improved shortcuts on nearly every course in the game. It’s been an amazing experience to be involved in and I've enjoyed collaborating with Forest64. Lately I’ve been on a break from shortcut hunting and focused more on micro optimizations for non-shortcut strategies, where savings of even a frame due to new strategies can be significant. Check out a new major strategy that I found in this video. Thanks to Forest64 for suggesting that this corner may be interesting to look at for non-sc (because the WR strategy already jumps over an out of bounds section, how far could it be pushed?).

Here is the micro500 Twitch video I referenced that inspired Forest64 and the shortcut revolution that started in August of 2020.
twitch.tv/videos/282839026

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 Boost Ramp Meta

Drew Weatherton 2021-03-20 | Mario Kart 64 has two large boost ramps:

• Royal Raceway (Surface 254, “DASHMARK”)
• D.K.’s Jungle Parkway (Surface 252, “DASHMARK2”)

The “dashmarks” behave quite differently and the fastest strategy differs between them.

D.K.’s Jungle Parkway Boost Ramp
• Surface 252, “DASHMARK2” locks your speed to 60kph
• Sliding doesn’t increase your speed
• Jumping immediately allows your speed to increase
• Jump the frame you touch the dashmark and jump again on the top of the ramp
• Shroom and enter a slide when you land

Royal Raceway Boost Ramp
• Surface 254, “DASHMARK” acts like a shroom state while you’re on it
• Sliding DOES increase your speed
• If you slide off the end of the ramp, you will smash into the hill
• You want to slide as long as possible and straighten out at the end
• Jumping allows you to slide longer before straightening out
• Not jumping is still a bit faster but you have to stop sliding earlier

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - New Fastest Sharp Turn MT Strat (Jump MT)

Drew Weatherton 2021-03-15 | Quick demonstration showing that it's faster to jump once you release a mini-turbo when entering a sharp turn. I have the input visible on the top left of the screen.

Mario Kart 64 - The Mystery Boost Explained (Null Tires)

Drew Weatherton 2021-03-15 | Thanks to Forest64 for collaborating with me on this. Players have found odd, mysterious speed boosts in various parts of Mario Kart 64 over the years. The most prominent and well-known being the last turn on Luigi Raceway. In this video, Forest64 and I explain how the "mystery boost" works and a new, surprising application for it on Bowser's Castle.

This video also includes a new, faster strategy for the stairs section of Bowser's Castle and references a new approach to sharp mini-turbos, demonstrated here: youtu.be/hFrOyAKNGmI

For a full list of surface types, referenced in this video, check out github.com/micro500/mariokart64/wiki/Surface-Map

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - DKJP Outer Fence Miniturbo / Playaround

Drew Weatherton 2021-03-13 | Had to try to get an MT on the fence on the other side.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - DKJP Fence Miniturbo

Drew Weatherton 2021-03-13 | Thought this was kind of cool.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 Luigi Raceway SC flap 004 RTA Setup

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-21 | From this spot just hit Z and then at the wall turn left and shroom on the same frame for 0.04.

Mario Kart 64 Luigi Raceway SC flap 032 (004/5 setup fail)

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-21 | Missed turning left by one frame. From this spot just hit Z and then at the wall turn left and shroom on the same frame for 0.04.

[TAS] CM SC Flap 150cc, 181 Weathertenko Skip

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-18 | I was working on replicating a fast lap strategy I'd done a while back, aiming for time trials though. I went back to the old 150cc movie file (which was 2.18 seconds and you can see that version at youtu.be/V2ut3GIy8Us) to see the inputs and speed I'd used and ended up discovering that using a shroom when entering the wall at the top allows you to fall significantly faster. In fact, I actually cross back over the line before I even touch the ground again on this. I think RTA runners should try the shroom in time trials and see if they can get it to work for them. Nothing like adding an extra frame perfect trick to an already very challenging skip ;)

Mario Kart 64 - Luigi Raceway Shortcut Flap 0034 (WR) Japan-Only

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-13 | World record tie when set but this spot can go as low as 0"22 it's just really precise to get it to work. This was my first hit from this spot.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 Mario Raceway flap 967 in 8K

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-09 | Last year, Forest64 found that he was able to drive through certain corners of the KD fence in a different way that seemed to suggest Mario 64 style hit box orientations. As we discussed this, I suggested trying the Mario Raceway corner you see in this TAS and it worked. It's pretty precise to do in RTA but not nearly as precise as the Kalimari Desert clip (think a quarter unit with good frame spacing rather than floating point precision).

Full details about how this works and how these new "drive through walls" mechanic affects other courses are described in the new Bismuth video (youtu.be/2_uRIyAgtpE) that Forest64, micro500 and I collaborated on over the last couple months.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 Mario Raceway 3-lap 3275 in 8K

Mario Kart 64 - Luigi Raceway New Japan-Only Shortcut Flap 0040 Using Donkey Kong (WR)

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-09 | Initial world record progression video is here: youtu.be/e5IqSisti9Y

For the last several months, I've been collaborating with Forest64 on better understanding how wall collisions in Mario Kart 64. On 28-January 2021, Forest64 mentioned that he "found something interesting." We had been focused on going THROUGH walls but Forest64 noticed that if you're traveling fast enough you can go far enough into a wall to interact with the surface behind it. On the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64's Luigi Raceway, there is a surface behind the gray wall with a useful section designation that allows full lap skips.

This new trick does not have a known useful application on other courses but may ultimately help us achieve a time trials Moo Moo Farm shortcut. Check out more details on this and other "drive through walls" tricks in the new Bismuth video (youtu.be/2_uRIyAgtpE) that Forest64, micro500 and I collaborated on.

This time was set on Feb-8 2021 but not posted until our explanation video was published.

Setup is to hold A and shroom. You can hit A a bit early.

Mario Kart 64 - Luigi Raceway New Japan-Only Shortcut Flap 0048 Using Donkey Kong (WR When Set)

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-09 | Initial world record progression video is here: youtu.be/e5IqSisti9Y

This is the first Mario Kart 64 world record ever set with DK.

For the last several months, I've been collaborating with Forest64 on better understanding how wall collisions in Mario Kart 64. On 28-January 2021, Forest64 mentioned that he "found something interesting." We had been focused on going THROUGH walls but Forest64 noticed that if you're traveling fast enough you can go far enough into a wall to interact with the surface behind it. On the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64's Luigi Raceway, there is a surface behind the gray wall with a useful section designation that allows full lap skips.

This new trick does not have a known useful application on other courses but may ultimately help us achieve a time trials Moo Moo Farm shortcut. Check out more details on this and other "drive through walls" tricks in the new Bismuth video (youtu.be/2_uRIyAgtpE) that Forest64, micro500 and I collaborated on.

This time was set on Feb-8 2021 but not posted until our explanation video was published.

Note: sorry for the lack of audio, I was using a new HDMI capture card and the audio dropped out during the session.

Mario Kart 64 - Luigi Raceway New Japan-Only Shortcut Flap 0067 Using MARIO (WR When Set)

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-09 | Initial world record progression video is here: youtu.be/e5IqSisti9Y

This is the first Mario Kart 64 world record ever set with Mario.

For the last several months, I've been collaborating with Forest64 on better understanding how wall collisions in Mario Kart 64. On 28-January 2021, Forest64 mentioned that he "found something interesting." We had been focused on going THROUGH walls but Forest64 noticed that if you're traveling fast enough you can go far enough into a wall to interact with the surface behind it. On the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64's Luigi Raceway, there is a surface behind the gray wall with a useful section designation that allows full lap skips.

This new trick does not have a known useful application on other courses but may ultimately help us achieve a time trials Moo Moo Farm shortcut. Check out more details on this and other "drive through walls" tricks in the new Bismuth video (youtu.be/2_uRIyAgtpE) that Forest64, micro500 and I collaborated on.

This time was set on Feb-8 2021 but not posted until our explanation video was published.

Note: sorry for the lack of audio, I was using a new HDMI capture card and the audio dropped out during the session.

Mario Kart 64 - Luigi Raceway New Japan-Only Shortcut Flap 0081 Using LUIGI (WR When Set)

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-09 | Initial world record progression video is here: youtu.be/e5IqSisti9Y

This is the first Mario Kart 64 world record ever set with a middle-weight.

For the last several months, I've been collaborating with Forest64 on better understanding how wall collisions in Mario Kart 64. On 28-January 2021, Forest64 mentioned that he "found something interesting." We had been focused on going THROUGH walls but Forest64 noticed that if you're traveling fast enough you can go far enough into a wall to interact with the surface behind it. On the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64's Luigi Raceway, there is a surface behind the gray wall with a useful section designation that allows full lap skips.

This new trick does not have a known useful application on other courses but may ultimately help us achieve a time trials Moo Moo Farm shortcut. Check out more details on this and other "drive through walls" tricks in the new Bismuth video (youtu.be/2_uRIyAgtpE) that Forest64, micro500 and I collaborated on.

This time was set on Feb-1 2021 but not posted until our explanation video was published.

Note: sorry for the lack of audio, I was using a new HDMI capture card and the audio dropped out during the session.

Mario Kart 64 - Luigi Raceway New Japan-Only Shortcut 3-Lap 4547 (WR)

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-09 | Initial world record progression video is here: youtu.be/e5IqSisti9Y

For the last several months, I've been collaborating with Forest64 on better understanding how wall collisions in Mario Kart 64. On 28-January 2021, Forest64 mentioned that he "found something interesting." We had been focused on going THROUGH walls but Forest64 noticed that if you're traveling fast enough you can go far enough into a wall to interact with the surface behind it. On the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64's Luigi Raceway, there is a surface behind the gray wall with a useful section designation that allows full lap skips.

This new trick does not have a known useful application on other courses but may ultimately help us achieve a time trials Moo Moo Farm shortcut. Check out more details on this and other "drive through walls" tricks in the new Bismuth video (youtu.be/2_uRIyAgtpE) that Forest64, micro500 and I collaborated on.

This time was set on Feb-1 2021 but not posted until our explanation video was published.

Note: If you're trying to do this setup, be sure to hold B the whole time you're shrooming (you can start before).

Mario Kart 64 - Luigi Raceway New Japan-Only Shortcut WR Progression

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-09 | For the last several months, I've been collaborating with Forest64 on better understanding how wall collisions in Mario Kart 64. On 28-January 2021, Forest64 mentioned that he "found something interesting." We had been focused on going THROUGH walls but Forest64 noticed that if you're traveling fast enough you can go far enough into a wall to interact with the surface behind it. On the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64's Luigi Raceway, there is a surface behind the gray wall with a useful section designation that allows full lap skips.

This new trick does not have a known useful application on other courses but may ultimately help us achieve a time trials Moo Moo Farm shortcut. Check out more details on this and other "drive through walls" tricks in the new Bismuth video (youtu.be/2_uRIyAgtpE) that Forest64, micro500 and I collaborated on.

On January 29th and 30th I did two RTA sessions to see what I could get on console. Forest64 had already gotten a rough 3/3 on emulator playing with a keyboard so it seemed reasonable that I should be able to set some times on console. During those sessions I achieved the following records:

00:00 14"76 flap WR (first hit ever was a 2/3, I could have had 3-lap WR if I hadn't gone for 3/3)
02:10 13"75 flap WR
04:23 1'08"48 3-lap WR, accepting 2/2
06:17 13"61 flap WR
07:01 10"50 flap WR
09:00 1'03"38 3-lap + 8"94 flap double WR
10:30 54"30 3-lap WR, first 3/3

Note: sorry for the audio issues on some of the runs, I was using a new HDMI capture card and had some settings a bit off (OBS was still looking for the analog capture source I'd previously used).

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 Japan GP LR 1XXX Strat Start

Drew Weatherton 2021-02-07 | Sharing this work in progress from September 2020. Hoping I can do faster to catch Wario, then use one red shell for Japanese red shell skip.

Who wants to see an updated All Cups TAS?

Ho Ho Ho! - Mario Kart 64 Koopa Troopa Beach GP Shortcut Lap 2039

Drew Weatherton 2020-12-25 | This shortcut has teased Mario Kart 64 players for over a decade. It always seemed like it should be possible to jump over the rock, but if you land on the backside at all you tumble and lose all your speed (and thus also all of your saved time). So far, no one has ever cleared the rock cleanly and saved time with it (RTA or TAS).

We hit a point now that KTB was the only course without a shortcut. Well, I was finally able to clear the rock cleanly so that I could keep the speed (and the star) and prove once and for all that the KTB rock jump is possible and faster.

This was a quick proof of concept so not optimal driving and the water was in the way, but still beat the current WR (and the wall jump clearly saves time).

N64 Dinosaur Planet - E3 2000 Footage (Crash, Boot, Gameplay)

Drew Weatherton 2020-12-19 | I was looking through some old tapes I had and realized this may be of interest to some people. I recorded this at E3 2000 on the morning of May 13th. It captures a crash that occurred and then the full boot sequence and some initial gameplay.

I really wish the N64 version had come out, it just seemed to have more of that Rare magic that many of their N64 games had. Plus it seemed very far along.

Mario Kart 64 - Frappe Snowland SC Flap - 437 (WR When Set)

Drew Weatherton 2020-12-12 | New strategy by Forest64. RTA setup was a slight tweak by me from Forest's initial setup. This lap is actually very similar to the Toad's Turnpike 4"XX flap strat. You cross over the line and then on the same frame you cross back, you enter an FF section that with last section set to 17. A sub one second strat similar to Toad's Turnpike unfortunately seems to be impossible due to the shape of the out of bounds section.

The best TAS when I hit this was 4"34, which Forest64 improved to 4"33: youtube.com/watch?v=9ZffKZtJH2I

[TAS] NEW Shortcut Mario Kart 64 - Luigi Raceway Time Trials in ????

Drew Weatherton 2020-11-21 | This video shows a new shortcut strategy on Luigi Raceway. The Japanese version still has hit detection on the grass above the tunnel and that is required for the fast lap strategy shown at the end (in other versions you would lose and regain your lap doing this). All other versions are missing the grass hit detection so dropping to the tunnel is necessary on those versions. If you use the Japanese version to reverse onto the grass, Lakitu will put you in the tunnel which is still faster than driving around the first corner but is slower than the other two strategies shown here.

I initially thought it would be possible to turn while going over the road and fall back into the tunnel, but this did not seem to be possible. In desperation I ended up trying to tumble, bounce and reverse beyond the line. It seemed a bit crazy but, hey, it was worth a shot. And, it turned out it worked. When I showed this to Forest64 he noted that this could probably be used on the Japenese version for a very quick lap, similar to what he had done on Royal Raceway off the back of the stands. With some effort it proved to be possible. We think it is likely that, with an optimal bounce and placement, we could do this multiple times. Subsequent laps with this strat (on the same bounce) would be about 0"1 seconds. We think the optimal 3-lap strategy would be to turn around on lap 1 and do multiple lapskips in a single bounce.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Moo Moo Farm Shortcut flap 1735 (GP - Proof of Concept)

Drew Weatherton 2020-11-14 | Well, Moo Moo Farm now has a shortcut! This is only possible in GP mode, I used two player to make a proof of concept but it should be possible to do using a CPU player if you can get them in the right position. It's not clear for certain whether this would be faster for three lap as it requires the Lakitu effect (which takes about 5 seconds ).

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Yoshi Valley Canyon Jump

Drew Weatherton 2020-11-02 | Just for fun but thought this was cool

Mario Kart 64 - Sherbet Land Shortcut Explanation Video (Weatherton, Forest64, abney317)

Drew Weatherton 2020-10-21 | In early August, Forest64 discovered a lap skip on Sherbet Land. At first the lap skip was only possible with items (in Grand Prix mode) but he and I collaborated over the course of about a month and eventually found a way to perform it in Time Trials. How did we do it and how does it work? Check out this "quick" 71 minute video to get some insight.

Although micro500 wasn't able to join us for this video, his research and development efforts in Mario Kart 64 laid the groundwork for much of what we discuss. Check out his Twitch highlight that informed and motivated Forest64 to come up with several of the new Shortcuts: twitch.tv/videos/282839026 . And give him a subscribe over at youtube.com/user/pjgat09/videos where maybe he'll get back to his video series to describe exactly how this game works in impressive detail :)

Forest64 is the guy who came out of nowhere and started dismantling Mario Kart 64 by find shortcut after shortcut. His YouTube channel is youtube.com/channel/UCx3Cf9mDKUg6R8O90yDnBUw

abney317 regularly streams Mario Kart 64 speedruns. With nearly 20K followers, Beck holds most Mario Kart 64 shortcut records and has developed some key skips of his own (e.g. LR Japan shell skip). Give him a follow at twitch.tv/abney317 and youtube.com/user/abney317mk

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Rainbow Road - SC Flap 1339

Drew Weatherton 2020-10-11 | This was pretty simple to do, just drive straight at the line and jump into a hard spin. I tried quite a bit to save one more frame but I wasn't able to do it as although I could get over the wall, I couldn't turn enough before doing so to trigger the lap skip. I also tried doing this input at various times (i.e. 1'30, 2'00, 3'00) but got 13"39 consistently.

[TAS] Mario Kart 64 - Rainbow Road - SC 3-lap 4197

Drew Weatherton 2020-10-11 | Forest64 discovered this skip. There isn't much actual driving here so, without a significant additional breakthrough, I don't see more than a few frames coming off of this.