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Mario Kart 64 / Advanced Strategy / Page 1

This guide was written by William Lacey, and is perfect for those beginning their time trial competition journey. I suggest visiting MarioKart64.com and becoming a part of their community if you are really into Time Trials. Enjoy the guide!

Key: MT = Mini Turbo
SSMT = Straight Stretch Mini Turbo

Luigi Raceway
The standards are really tough on this track, but the track itself is easy enough to master. There are 2 basic strats I use to drive this course. A 0-3-0 strat which got me a time of 1'59"31 (1'39"23) and the one I switched to which I'm pretty sure is quicker; a 1-2-0. Well here we go:

Jump into an SSMT from the start and don't let it go until the shroom is about to wear off. Then you should get 2 more SSMTS before the first corner which you obviously take as tightly as you can. I get 4MT's around this corner, the last one I let go almost before the corner is over and should barely miss the sand on the left. I then SSMT to the right side of the track before the tunnel. Then get a quick MT into the tunnel staying close to the righthand side. At this point I almost always hit the tunnel wall. This really doesn't slow you down at all though and then MT out of the tunnel, again staying close to the right.....

0shroomer lap: Then get an SSMT before the next corner and hug this bend with 3 MT's. This bend is a lot turnier (is that a word?) then the first one, so it's important not to drift wide here..a lot of time can be gained and lost on this corner. When you've let go of the 3rd MT you should still be in the leftmost lane maybe heading into the middle one. Do one SSMT before the line.

1shroomer lap: Head slightly to the left and SSMT into the grass (let the MT go when still on the road) and aim directly for where the wall turns. Wait roughly the same amount of time you wait between MT's and then shroomslide+MT around the bend (this means you jump into the start of an MT and then hit the shroom...shrooming and then trying to jump into an MT would just be a bit of a mess)....hug the wall as tightly as you can without hitting it of course. I guess you can always go quicker by taking this wall hugging to the extreme, but you don't need anything especially heroic for the WR. If you've seen Steven's run which is basically as quick as mine, you'll see his wall isn't that great. Of course if you can see his run then what are you reading this for? :) You can see that it's very important to remain straight between MT's....if you come out of an MT and drive straight until you jump into the next, then that's perfect. Any twitching loses time! Anyways..let the MT go just as the shroom is about to wear off and drive straight for the road...get an MT out of the sand and one more before the finish line. (maybe you'll start a second one)

2shroomer lap: Head slightly to the left and SSMT into the grass exactly like in the 1shroomer version. The only difference between this lap and that one is that you hit another shroom directly after the first wears off and shroom back onto the road, letting go an MT when you reach it. You might want to start an SSMT before reaching the line.

3shroomer lap: (The flap strat) Head for the same point as mentioned in the 1shroom and 2shroom laps but start your first shroom before hitting the sand/grass. Then just hug the wall tight and let go your other 2 shrooms as they wear off. For flap (or on last lap), don't SSMT before the line, otherwise you might want to start into another one. You'll get a feel for this yourself.

Moo Moo Farm
Welcome, to the course I avoid until I need to play it. This, as anyone will tell you, is a pain of a course but thankfully the standards reflect this and they're not too difficult to meet with a little bit of patience. It's the random mole element that's the real killer to a good time. And believe me, those moles are random..completely. I used drive safe laps around here which got me a time under 1'30"00 (1'14"85). A safe lap meaning one that doesn't require risking driving over mole holes. I'll describe that in a bit. First my current strat: Jump into an SSMT from the start and let it go just before the shroom wears off. Then drive straight and MT around the first corner, then MT around the next going to the left of the mole field (Going over it would be quicker but well..good luck trying it...maybe worth risking it for a fast lap or if you have nothing to lose) Also, it might be worth using your shroom here on each lap, and just doing regular MTing around the mole fields at the end. Then I MT around the next big hill corner (when I say that, I mean I pull off an MT just before the base of the hill and drive up it) and MT around the next one on the left. Then one more MT leaving you pointed towards the right hand side long corner. I then slide and shroom and MT over the first set of moles keeping to the right-hand side and praying and then hitting start and the retry button and occasionally I get to leave the MT go and drive straight and close to the fence on the right over the next set of moles and drive between the fence and the outer column before MTing just before the line. How's that for a long sentence? Basically this is what I do on all three laps, but in reality I spend more time retrying than driving and it just..it just frustrates me.

The 'safe' strat uses the shroom on each lap on the hill on the right after the first set of moles. Then MT around the next hill to the left...and MT again down the slope. Then it's a bit tricky and requires practice...you basically do a right facing MT so that you end up driving to the right of the 4 leftmost moles in the first patch..and then another right facing MT to the right of the leftmost mole of the second group. YOu can play around with stuff like this yourself. Try finding the quickest route that avoids the holes lap after lap.

Flap Strat: I use one shroom on the hill after the first mole patch and 2 sliding around the second group of moles hugging the fence pretty tight on lap 2. Full of info on that aren't I? :) To go faster, use your first shroom over the first set of moles.

Koopa Troopa Beach
This is a nice course with nice standards once you master entering the cave, and work out the end of the lap, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Immediately jump into a slide MT from the start and let it go once you're around the first corner. If you don't know by now, going to the left of the rock is much quicker than going to the right. Then MT around the next corner, then I hop a little to the left before jumping into an MT and then I get 2 more MTs around the long left turn before the first ramp. This is a good checkpoint. You're not doing anything and you can look at your clock when you're passing the ramp to the left. (My splits here will follow) Drive straight from the last MT and do an SSMT near the tree. Sometimes you can end up at the left of the tree, it doesn't matter.. just SSMT wherever you happen to end up, the rock, the sea.. whatever. Just have fun kids. Then get an MT around the next set of ramps and end up slightly to the left facing the ramp into the tunnel. This will make the next MT easier to get. However for the quickest time, go for the straightest line...MT tight around the previous ramp and aim right for the ramp. This will mean you're on the righthand side of the track on the runup to the ramp. Start a left facing MT on the approach to the ramp and finish it inside the tunnel (This is the hardest part of the strat but gains you valuable time and time means land near the end) My PR was 1'38"02 (1'21"52) without MTing into the tunnel. Nowadays, that time could be a lot faster without the MT....the tunnel MT gains you maybe .1 of a second per lap Mt out of the tunnel between the rock and the tree and shroom+MT around the last bend. Remember, as long as a shroom is active, it's quicker to be diagonal than straight, so hold on to that MT til the shroom wears off. Let the MT go making sure not to get slowed down by the receeding water. The water will only be a problem right here, if you're on GOD pace. I do a left facing SSMT and then do a right facing MT near the finish line so that you're sliding away from the water which should be coming back to slow you down again. The quicker you are, the straighter you'll be able to stay from the last corner of the first lap to the first corner of the second. Repeat this on all three laps, making sure to adjust your strat for the water. With 3 good laps, you should have minimal contact or trouble with it. When I say "good", I do mean GOD pace. With normal pace, you'll have to alter your strat to compensate. Don't drive in the water, don't hit a crab and don't lose your nerve on the last lap of a PR race.

Flap strat: I wait until the second lap to do this. I haven't gotten the timing right yet though. You want to time your run up to the lap so that you won't have to worry about the water for the whole lap. Anyway, I start the lap with an MT just before the line and head for the corner, MT around this one and then next and then I use my first shroom to slide+MT around the rock to the left. I let the MT go for a split second and drive straight and then hop into another shroom+MT slide. It should wear off around about the same time you reach the first ramp. Then complete the lap in the normal way as stated above using your last shroom on the last corner.

Kalimari Desert
There are a lot of different strategies you can use here depending on how quickly you can drive and they're all based around the trains! One of the most popular strats is a 3-0-0 one that I used when I was elite to try and beat last train on the 3rd lap. I used 1 over the hills to the left at the start of the lap and 2 over the sand after the second set of train tracks. I think I used this strat until the first train on the 3rd lap got in the way and then I played around with a 2-0-1 (2 on the first to beat that damned train on the second lap) and eventually settled on a 1-1-1 for the time above. I'm going to describe how I drive my 1-1-1 but it should be helpful for other strats you might drive instead. Right, well the first major debate is whether it's faster to go to the hills at the start of a lap or to stay on the road. The truth of the matter (in my opinion) is that the hills are slightly quicker, but you really need to time your jumps well, otherwise you should stick to the road. My old PR above was gotten through staying on the road on all 3 laps.

Anyways, now I'll describe both routes to the first set of train tracks.

Road: Jump into a slide+MT boost start as usual and let go the MT and straighten up as it's about to wear off. Next is a long corner to the left. Keep close to the edge but make sure not to hit the sand (duh). I get about 4 MT's around this corner and tend to time it so that I jump at the top of a rise on the corner into the last MT (I don't know why I do it, but it feels faster). I then SSMT before the train tracks. SSMTing on this course is extremely hard to do correctly and I think I was high King before I could manage it.

Over the hills: Jump into a slide+MT boost start but don't go straight into the sand...instead wait til the shroom is about to wear off before MTing into the sand (leaving the MT go while still on the road). You can shroom slide straight into the sand from the start and get roughly the same times but I've had more success waiting a little before going in there. Anyways, aim for the corner and start hopping...you want to time your hops so that when you reach the top of the corner you 'launch' yourself a little distance in the air and a little to the left. If you time it right, this will save you precious tenths of seconds and might mean you can beat your road counterpart. You'll know you hit the jump right if you're racing your ghost because you'll visibly pull away. Keep hopping along the hill to the next turn and hop to the left when you reach the next corner. After the hop you should immediately jump into a right facing MT (It's easier to do a left facing one but also slower) and let it go quickly and left face MT onto the track before the tracks. Set a ghost that drives on the road and practice this strat until you can beat the ghost. It's not _too_ important. I'd say a GOD time is certainly possible without going near the hills at all.

Over the hills and far away: Another strat that I used recently is to use your 1st shroom on the very first lap over the hills after your initial starting boost wears off. And then continue the lap as normal, but instead of boosting over the sand after the second train tracks, just MT 5 times out onto the road.

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Now, after you choose one of the above routes:

I SSMT once more after the train tracks. Then I MT around the next corner and pull another SSMT before the next train tracks. (Right facing/Left facing..whatever is easier. I right face SSMT). Next I MT into the sand. Now this is important. It is quicker to leave your MT go when you're still on the road than to drive into the sand and let it go there. Also, when I go into the sand, I'm actually coming from the road after the tracks. I don't come from the tracks to the sand..it's road to sand. I do this..I have the world record..do this! There's a movie of this strat coming.....so watch it. After this MT I drive straight for a short while and then jump into another MT, drive straight for the same short while and then jump into a Slide+shroom+mt that takes me back onto the road. I then MT twice around the next corner and perform one left facing SSMT on this straight. Then I MT around the next corner and the last one.

If your first lap time is under 42'80 (35"60) you might just be able to make it in front of the first train on the second lap. If not, you might want to take the hills track and use an shroom either over the hills, or from the hills back onto the road. If you can't make this time yet, then use 2 shrooms or even 3 on the first lap. Possible spots for 2 shrooms are, near the start of the lap over the hills or use 2 in the sand after the 2nd train tracks. I'm not sure what combination is quickest.

Now, finally, the quickest strat of them all is 1-0-2, unless somebody can seriously beat the 1st train on the second lap without using any shrooms on the first. Ideally, and if the trains didn't exist, a 1-1-1 strat would always be the quickest, because there would be a definite place for a shroom that was quicker than the others and you could exploit that place times 3. However, the trains can and will get in the way, and if you're using a 3-0-0 eventually the 1st train on the 3rd lap will get in the way. Cut down to a 1-1-1 and the same will happen when you reach GOD level. 1-0-2 is the only way to go, but there's a gap in speed that you have to make up between these 2 strats because of the 2nd train on the 3rd lap. You'll hit a 2'06"40 (1'45"12) with a 1-1-1, but the 1st train will just get in your way if you go any faster, so you swap to a 1-0-2 but now you're not quite quick enough for that 2nd train and you have to drive around it..so you hit laps of 2'06"80 (1'45"46), but the point is that you can improve this far beyond what 1-1-1 can do and eventually you'll go sub 2'06"00 (1'44"79)

Flap strat: I go for this on my first lap, although I have heard the 2nd lap is quicker. I start with a slideshroom straight into the sand and just as the shroom is wearing off, I hit another one which launches me over the hill (so you'll need to go to the left during the shroom and stay close to the rock). Then basically do the same as I described above until the second set of train tracks. Here I jump straight into a shroomslide to the left as I reach the tracks and let go an MT for a split second at the end of it. Then I use my last shroom to slide back onto the track. Actually nowadays, I don't leave go the MT between shrooms and just have 1 long double shroom slide.

If you're not going to use any shrooms across the sand after the second train tracks on a lap, I tend to MT 4-5 times before getting back onto the track. This is much quicker than hopping across the sand. So, don't do that hopping thing. I read about hopping years ago and it's a crock Since writing this, I've been practicing with characters like Mario,Luigi,Bowser,Dk and Wario and I find that it's actually quicker for them to stay on the road after the second train tracks than to cut across the sand. This does not apply to Peach, Toad and Yoshi though, but it's worth keeping in mind if you ever do Grand Prix or Vs mode with the slower players.

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