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Techniques
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Basic techniques
A for acceleration, B for brake
In principle, you just hold A the whole time. You never need to slow down for corners or whatever as you usually would for other racing games. Only A-tech involves releasing A, but that's an advanced technique and you shouldn't bother with that for now. For the rest I can think of no practical reason for letting go of A, except for a specific technique on Donkey Kong Mountain (see strats).B is for braking, and reversing when standing still. Once again, this is something that is rarely done, except for the braking technique explained below, which again is something for advanced players. For the rest, releasing A and pressing B would only be handy when you're going straight for a ditch or something, but then you'd be doing something wrong, and you'd probably be better off doing a restart. ;-)
Sliding
When pressing L or R (the so-called shoulderbuttons) and left or right you slide: this means that you go sideways, like a drift or powerslide. This enables sharp cornering. It is also the basis of mini-turboing (see below), and thus very important. If you press L or R and left, you initiate a left facing slide. At the start, your kart goes off slightly to the right. If you hold right, your kart will be going sideways in a straight line. If you keep the stick neutral, your kart veers to the left. When pressing left, your kart goes left sharply. While steering during a slide, the color of the sparks (made by the wheels) can change color: see the mini-turbos section below. When releasing L or R, the slide is over and your kart goes straight into the direction of your kart's alignment.There is no difference between L and R. You can even use L for left facing slides and R for right, it doesn't matter. Most karters use R, to reserve the left hand to steer. Indeed, the names of L-tech and R-tech (see below) are derived from this preference. From now on, I will refer to R standardly (but L would be just the same), and when I say L, I mean "the other shoulderbutton".
LR-spin (not very relevant for TTing)
When you're standing still (or almost), you can press both L and R, in combination with A and left/right, to make a fast U-turn (while staying in place). Not very useful in time trial mode, but nice to mention for the sake of completeness.Mushrooms
In time trial mode, you get two mushrooms. You can activate them by pressing either X or Y. These mushrooms give you top speed for a limited amount of time. You get top speed even on grass, sand, or whatever ground on which you'd normally be going slow. Therefore they are usually best served for cutting corners or even parts of the track. In absence of cutting abilities they are commonly used on parts where MTing is impossible or not very profitable, for example along long sharp bends or small paths. They also enable you to turn more sharply when sliding, making them useful in spirals and at the corners in Baby Park.More often than not, a mini-turbo (see below) is done right after the shroom is over. Don't release a mini-turbo while the shroom is still active, since that actually slows you down.
The act of using a mushroom is called shrooming, and the period over which a mushroom is active is a shroom. The place where this is done is called a shroomspot.
Turbo start
At the start, press A just as the lights turn green; this will give you a start boost that is essential for fast times. The timing may be tricky to grasp at first, but with practice you'll be able to hit it practically everytime. For the turbo start there is a small time window, starting from the point when the lights turn green. Note that at the countdown, the time difference between '1' and 'start' is actually slightly longer than between '3', '2' and '1'. A good reference point to focus on (I used that in the beginning) is Lakitu's arm, which goes down during the start.In spite of this boost, the first lap is slower than the other two. Depending on the course, and the way you cross the finish line after laps 1 and 2, the difference is approximately half a second.
Lakitu retrieval boost (not very relevant for TTing)
When Lakitu picks you up after you've fallen off the course or something, and drops you back on track, hit A just as you land. This will give a slight boost, similar to the turbo start, but smaller. Of course, falling off the track is not a very smart move in time trialing, so this knowledge is not very useful. It can serve you well though when playing Grand Prix, or going for the WS short-cut (although not allowed). | Back to top |
Mini-turbos
Mini-turbos (sometimes also known as power slides) are the key to those fast times. It's impossible to get good times without them, so listen up.How to do a mini-turbo
Mini-turbos (MTs) are a slight boost in speed after a slide. Here's how you do a left facing MT (for right facing simply swap left and right (duh)): start a left facing slide by holding R (or L) and pressing left. You'll see yellow sparks at the wheels of your kart. During the slide, press right and return the joystick to the center again. This will make the sparks orange. This in itself doesn't do a thing. Repeat the procedure to get blue sparks. Now if you release R, your speed will become maximum (70 mph / 100 kph; no the conversion rate is not correct) for a short period of time.Some pointers:
Your speed will be maximal, whatever your speed is. Thus MTs are great for getting up to speed if you're going slow. However, your speed doesn't become maximum if you're in the grass or sand or whatever slows you down.
The pressing right need not be done immediately after initiating the slide, nor do they need to be done consecutively. Just do it twice during the slide and that's it. Note that the sparks do not change color until you return the joystick to the middle again. Note also that you do not need to go all the way back to the left; the center is enough.
Unlike at MK64 for instance, the sparks do not go back to yellow (or orange) after some period of time, or hitting an object of some sort. An MT (the blue sparks) is only cancelled if you come to a standstill, e.g. if you get stuck against a wall, or on some big jumps. It's also cancelled if you press L during the slide (see also L-tech). So if you want to cancel an MT (for whatever reason), you can do it with L. Note however that this does slightly affect your driving line (see L-tech).
An MT can save anything from 1 tenth to several tenths, depending on the location.
An MT should not be released while a shroom or boost is still active; that would actually harm your speed.
When discussing strats, the direction of the MTs are often written down as L and R (not to be confused with the shoulderbuttons) for respectively left and right facing MTs.
In the above vid, you'll see Benoit pressing left/right three times during his faster MTs. The last push is not relevant for the MT itself, but is meant to simply steer the kart into the correct driving line.
Straight stretch mini-turbos (SSMTs)
When you've mastered MTs, the next step is to do them on straightaways. You'll want to be preparing the MTs as quickly as possible. So slide, press to the side twice and release. Remember that you have to return the joystick to the middle in order to get the orange and blue sparks. You need not go further, but you cannot go shorter either. This may require some practice and may lead to many missed MTs at the beginning. Top players are able to pull off an MT within half a second or so.Consecutive MTs are best done alternating left and right facing MTs. If you have a preference for a certain side (i.e. you can do the MTs more successfully) you may be tempted to do only MTs to that side. Don't! It's not the way to go, so simply practice both left and right facing MTs.
Very important: space MTs out! An MT gives you top speed for a short amount of time. However, if you initiate a new slide, that speed is immediately lost. Give your MTs some time to work. A good time to start a new slide is when your speed is just about to drop. When using the Barrel Train you can look at the smoke coming from the pipe: with every MT a burst of smoke (or fire, whatever) comes out of it. When it starts to fade is roughly the time to start your next MT.
On a long straight stretch, such as the beach on Peach Beach, you'll find that 4 spaced out MTs are better than 5 rushed ones. Top players may be doing 5, but then that's because they can MT very fast and thus they can still make their MTs work. So: quality above quantity!
Here's roughly the driving line when doing SSMTs on a straight stretch:
Slide Normal
Just as in the MT vid, you'll find Benoit pressing left/right three times during each MT. Again, the last push serves to pull the kart back straight.
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Advanced techniques
Here are some techs that are interesting for Intermediate / Advanced players or higher.Sideways boost
I thought this name up. I don't believe there's an official name for it, so whatever.When you release an MT, you go in the direction of your kart's alignment. You can also get the boost to work sideways. For instance, if you are in a left facing slide, then that means that you're going to the right (compared to the alignment of your kart). If you want to let your MT work to the right, you have to press left when releasing it. This might seem a bit contradicting, but it works. ;-) Note that this only works with an MT, not if you get out of a slide without blue sparks. Also, you'd be going sideways, but it's not a slide and it only works temporarily.
This technique does wonders on the long turn at Luigi Circuit for example. You can do multiple MTs around this bend. If you're not using this tech, then you have to slightly break free from the bend, release your MT, and quickly get into a slide again as you shoot forward (toward the sand). With this tech, you need not get so far away from the inside of the turn, ánd you can let your MTs work longer. There are many other places where this can be used very effectively as well.
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Here you see Gregor Fran in his LC-3lap, at the moment he releases an MT. Normally this would send him straight into the sand. But by pressing left, his kart roughly follows the bend.
Dropping faster
When you're flying in the air, and you press R in combination with left/right (for example when preparing an MT), you drop faster. Don't ask me why, it just happens. Since air is bad, you'll want to be on the ground again as soon as possible and therefore this tech is generally preferable. Most of the time you want to land with an MT anyway (see also midair MTing below).Also a warning, as you can overdo it on some places. The most striking example is the last jump on Bowser's Castle, just before the finish. You can only start preparing an MT when you're about halfway. If you do it earlier, you don't make it to the other side. This is also possible on the last jump of Waluigi Stadium, although you'd need to be pressing R and left/right right from take-off to not make it. Another example is the second jump on again WS. If you want to do an MT on touchdown, you have to wait quite a while with preparing it, otherwise you'll be bouncing off on the plateau, which is bad.
Pressing up in midair
This technique doesn't have many applications. One is the cannon at Donkey Kong Mountain. You'll notice that with pressing up/down you can tilt your kart. If you press up, the front of your kart goes down. You'll want it to be as low as possible when you reach the top of the mountain. You can start pressing up as soon as you get shot out of the cannon, but you can also wait a bit. The effect is that you'll be landing earlier, so you can resume your karting more quickly. Quite an easy way to gain time.This tech is also used at the tunnel in Rainbow Road. If you don't do anything, you'll find that your kart often bounces when it hits the zipper. You can minimize this effect by pressing and holding up as soon as you start to drop. This makes your kart level when you hit the zipper, which reduces the chances of bouncing considerably. You can also press up in the tunnel, which again makes you land earlier. But be careful: if you overdo it, you'll be landing before the zipper, which is not what you want. So the best way is to press up slightly in the tunnel, and when you get out, hold up all the way to the ground.
This tech can also be used on the zippers at Luigi Circuit (especially the first one), to again reduce the risk of bouncing, but this is hard to combine with preparing an MT and doesn't save very much to worry anyone who's not a top player.
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More advanced techniques
These techs should only start to concern you when you're Expert or higher.
Midair MTs
In some cases, involving big jumps or drops, an MT you prepared in midair turns out to be cancelled when you touchdown. This is for example the case for the last jump at Bowser's Castle, or the drop after the sharp right-hand turn in Wario Colosseum. In these cases you should release this MT just before you land. This will make your touchdown more smoothly. In general, an MT is best done right on touchdown, or just before.
The following three techniques (L-tech, R-tech and braking) all apply to the three sharp spirals in the game: the big one in Wario Colosseum, a smaller one to the right on the same course, and the one at the very end of Rainbow Road. These techs have the power to save seconds on these small parts of the courses. L-tech and R-tech are also sometimes applicable on (sharp) turns where MT'ing is not possible or profitable. One example is shrooming around the corners in Baby Park.
L-tech (L-tapping)
While holding R, tap L as fast as you can (press and release L in rapid succession). This is an easy way of saving time, and the effect simply gets better the faster you tap. Note: you can of course also hold L and tap R. Note 2: tapping L cancels an MT (orange or blue sparks will become yellow again).
R-tech (R-tapping)
For this, tap L or R without holding the other shoulderbutton. This however requires a certain timing which is still fast tapping (a few times per second or so), but is quite critical. It is, however, better than L-tech.
Braking
This works best in combination with one of the two techs described above. The idea is that you slow down, so you can turn more sharply. Of course you still want to keep a nice speed. You'll want to stay roughly in the middle of the road, slightly more to the inside than on the outside. So hold B a bit if you tend to go outward. The players who have mastered R-tech are capable of keeping a nice driving line without using B at all. This ultimate strat is several seconds faster than doing nothing at all!Note: do hold A while pressing B!
A-tech (Straight MTs; SMTs)
This tech is very fundamental and tricky at the same time. Its discovery changed karting considerably, since it can save a lot of time on every course. However, it's tricky because it changes the very basis of fast times: straight stretch mini-turbos (SSMTs).The idea is to release A between two MTs. You could release A together with R at the first MT, and then press A again when pressing R again for the second one. Or you could release A just briefly right before starting the second MT. The amount of time that you release A affects how "straight" the second MT will be. Normally when you start a left facing MT, you will go off quite a bit to the right. If you release A briefly before starting the slide, your kart will go much less to the right much. If you release A quite long, it will even go to the left! It all depends though on the circumstances, and the time in between the MTs. You just need to get a feel for it.
Here's a rough impression of the behavior of your kart when using A-tech on a left facing MT:
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Normal Release A briefly Release A a while |
For practice, the paved road on Peach Beach is very nice. The bridge on Mushroom Bridge is also suitable, if you want to perfect your control by dodging the cars. With near-perfect A-tech you'll be able to stay between the left-border of the bridge and the cars driving on the left-side lane (this is indeed the preferred route if you can do A-tech). Yet another way to practice is the following challenge, once issued on the message board: get a fastest lap as possible on Baby Park without using A! You'll need to shroom around the corners, and MT on the straights to keep your speed up. Without holding A at all, this gives rise to "extreme" A-tech, and can serve as a nice introduction to A-tech.
A major issue is when you should start using A-tech. It will improve your times, but you shouldn't start too early. There's something to be said for "learning young", but there are problems with that: first of all, A-tech is only best used if you can MT fast. If you're still a bit slow, the effect of A-tech on your slide will blur. You need to have full control over SSMTs first before you should indulge yourself into A-tech. Also, consistency is important. If you're driving all over the place, and combine that with A-tech, you'll get a real mess. Therefore I share the opinion with most karters that you should wait until you're Hero, or Expert at least. That's proof that you've mastered MTing, and have consistency.
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