New Skip BREAKS Mario Kart DS After 18 Years

After 18 years, new skips have been discovered in Mario Kart DS, challenging the game's mechanics and speedrunning tactics. A new player, Zumo de papaya, found these skips by persistently exploring the game's physics, leading to the discovery of Super bounces on Luigi's Mansion and Waluigi's Pinball. Skilled speedrunners like Guan and Robert 'imath' McKinnon refined these techniques, making them more accessible for human players. The breakthroughs resulted in significant time saves and new records, with the Waluigi's Pinball skip breaking a 2-year-old record by 6 seconds. The Delino Square skip was also achieved, with the potential for further optimizations. The community continues to push the limits of Mario Kart DS, with the possibility of achieving even faster times on multiple laps.

Takeaways

• 🏎️ **New Skips Discovered**: After 18 years, three tracks in Mario Kart DS, previously thought to be unbreakable, had new skips found within a week.
• 🎮 **Unconventional Discovery**: The new skips were found not by seasoned players but by a new player, Zumo de papaya, exploring the game's mechanics.
• 🕹️ **Exploration of Luigi's Mansion**: Zumo de papaya's initial exploration involved bouncing over a guardrail in Luigi's Mansion, leading to the discovery of the Super bounce mechanic.
• 🤔 **Physics and Persistence**: Guan, a Tasser, investigated the Super bounce further, noting the importance of steering during the bounce, which was not well understood.
• 📚 **Educational Sponsor**: The video features a sponsor, Brilliant, which offers interactive lessons in AI, math, data analysis, and programming to help understand complex topics.
• 🔍 **Bounce Mechanics**: A bounce in Mario Kart DS is achieved by falling a certain distance and pressing the Hop button upon landing to convert extra height into a jump.
• 🚫 **Steering and Super Bounce**: Steering input during a Super bounce is crucial, although the exact reasons were not initially clear and required further investigation.
• 🏁 **Checkpoint System**: Mario Kart DS uses a simple checkpoint system for lap progression, with only certain checkpoints (key checkpoints) being necessary for a lap to count.
• 🛤️ **Shortcuts and Track Design**: Skips or shortcuts can only be effective if they do not skip any key checkpoints, which limits the areas where they can be used.
• 🏆 **Record Breaking**: The discovery of the skips led to significant improvements in speedrun times, with several runners competing to lower the records.
• 🔄 **Human vs. Tool-Assisted Speedruns (TAS)**: While some of the skips were proven possible through TAS, replicating them in real-time attack (RTA) conditions proved more challenging.
• 🌟 **Notable Speedrunners**: Prominent speedrunners like Robert imath McKinnon and MK Dasher played crucial roles in understanding and executing the new skips in real-time.

Q & A

How long has it been since the discovery of new skips in Mario Kart DS?

It has been 18 years since the discovery of new skips in Mario Kart DS.

What is the role of tool-assisted speedrunners in finding skips?

Tool-assisted speedrunners, who are skilled players that know the game inside out, typically find skips by exploring game mechanics and using tools to perform precise actions.

What was Zumo de papaya's initial attempt in Luigi's Mansion?

Zumo de papaya was trying to bounce over the guard rail to get out of bounds, as the walls surrounding the area have no collision.

Which game mode did Zumo use to successfully perform a similar bounce in the past?

Zumo had successfully performed a similar bounce in 300cc, a hacked game mode with increased speed.

What was the name of the Tasser who investigated the Super bounce on Luigi's Mansion?

The Tasser who investigated the Super bounce on Luigi's Mansion was named Guan.

How does the bounce mechanic work in Mario Kart DS?

To get a bounce, you need to fall for a certain distance and hold down to tilt your cart, then press the Hop button on the same frame you hit the ground to convert the extra height into a jump.

What is the significance of the invisible checkpoints in Mario Kart DS?

Invisible checkpoints in Mario Kart DS are important for lap progression, but only a few of them are required for a lap to count towards game progress.

What was the first track where Zumo discovered a new skip?

The first track where Zumo discovered a new skip was Luigi's Mansion.

What is the difference between a single bounce and a double bounce strategy?

A single bounce strategy involves using a mushroom after driving off a ramp to gain extra speed and height for a single, higher bounce. A double bounce strategy involves hopping off the boost ramp and then jumping on the second bounce.

Who was the first person to land the Super bounce on all three laps?

Stefan Marissa Abel was the first person to land the Super bounce on all three laps.

What is the current status of achieving a three-lap run using the Super bounce on Delino Square and Luigi's Mansion?

It is considered just on the cusp of being faster than the non-sh shortcut method for a two-lap run, but a three-lap run with a slower cart due to the item stat trade-off is highly unlikely to be faster.

Outlines

00:00

🕹️ Mario Kart DS Skips Discovery

This paragraph discusses the discovery of new skips in Mario Kart DS after 18 years, typically found by skilled players or speedrunners. The new skips were found by a new player, Zumo de papaya, who was exploring out-of-bounds areas in Luigi's Mansion. The player's persistence led to the discovery of a Super bounce technique, which was further investigated by a speedrunner named Guan. The paragraph delves into the physics of Mario Kart DS, the role of赞助商 (sponsor) Brilliant in learning complex mechanics, and the specific mechanics of performing a Super bounce. It concludes with Zumo successfully performing a difficult skip, which was later confirmed by task tools and other speedrunners.

05:01

🏎️ Humanly Possible Skips and Shortcuts

The second paragraph details the challenges and methods to perform skips in Mario Kart DS, focusing on the precision required to hit invisible walls and maintain in-bounds status. It discusses various attempts and strategies, including the use of mushrooms to gain speed and height for Super bounces. The paragraph also highlights the input from speedrunner Robert imath McKinnon on the advantages of faster carts for higher bounces. It outlines the investigation into the Waluigi's Pinball track and the discovery of a skip there. The narrative then shifts to the mechanics of lap progression in Mario Kart DS and how shortcuts must interact with key checkpoints. The paragraph concludes with the discovery of multiple shortcuts and the competitive nature of speedrunning records, including the achievements of imath, Stefan, Marissa, Abel, and MK Dasher.

10:02

🏆 Record-Breaking Speedruns and The Future of Shortcuts

The final paragraph covers the rapid progression of speedrun records following the discovery of new shortcuts in Mario Kart DS. It mentions the achievements of Marissa, who became the first to land the Super bounce on all three laps, and MK Dasher, who shocked the community by hitting the Luigi's Mansion shortcut. The paragraph explores the feasibility of performing the Super bounce on multiple laps and the strategic choice of carts that balance mushroom quantity with other stat trade-offs. It concludes with anticipation for future speedruns that may achieve two-shortcut runs and the ongoing competition among speedrunners, with a nod to a documentary by Abel on MK Dasher's career.

Keywords

💡Skips

In the context of the video, 'skips' refer to shortcuts or exploits in the game Mario Kart DS that allow players to bypass certain sections of the track, thus saving time. These skips are significant as they were previously thought to be unbreakable and their discovery marks a milestone in the game's speedrunning community.

💡Speedrunning

Speedrunning is the practice of completing a video game as quickly as possible. It involves using various strategies, shortcuts, and sometimes glitches to minimize the time taken to finish the game. In this video, speedrunners are exploring new skips in Mario Kart DS to improve their times.

💡Super bounce

A 'Super bounce' is a specific technique used in Mario Kart DS where players make their character's kart bounce higher than usual by performing a series of actions, such as falling from a certain distance and pressing the hop button at the right time. It is a crucial mechanic that enables the discovery of new skips.

💡Tool-assisted speedrunning (TAS)

TAS involves using tools or software to manipulate the game at a level not possible by human players, allowing for frame-perfect precision. It's a method used by some speedrunners to discover new strategies and shortcuts, as mentioned in the video when a TAS was requested to confirm a bounce mechanic.

💡Key checkpoints

In Mario Kart DS, 'key checkpoints' are invisible points on the track that a player must pass to progress in the race. They are crucial for any shortcut to be valid as the game will only count a lap if all key checkpoints are hit. The video discusses how new skips were found between these key checkpoints.

💡Zumo de papaya

Zumo de papaya is a player and contributor to the Mario Kart DS community who is highlighted in the video for his persistence and curiosity in finding new skips. His experimentation with the game's mechanics led to the discovery of several new shortcuts.

💡Luigi's Mansion

Luigi's Mansion is a level in Mario Kart DS where one of the new skips was discovered. The video describes how Zumo de papaya experimented with bouncing over the guardrail in this level, which eventually led to the discovery of a new skip.

💡Waluigi's Pinball

Waluigi's Pinball is another track in Mario Kart DS that was investigated for potential skips. The video discusses attempts to find a Super bounce off the second boost pad in this level, which involved overcoming an invisible wall to achieve the skip.

💡Delino Square

Delino Square is a map in Mario Kart DS where a skip was theorized and later executed by Zumo. The skip involved a Super bounce over a guardrail and signs, skipping an entire loop in the track, and was found to be viable between two key checkpoints.

💡Mushroom

In Mario Kart DS, using a 'mushroom' provides an immediate boost of speed. The video explains that the timing of using a mushroom in relation to performing a Super bounce is critical for achieving the necessary height and speed to execute skips.

💡RTA (Real-Time Attack)

RTA refers to a speedrunning method where human players attempt to achieve the best possible time without the use of tools or software. The video mentions several RTA records being broken as a result of the new skips discovered in Mario Kart DS.

Highlights

After 18 years, three tracks in Mario Kart DS previously thought unbreakable were found to have skips.

The first new skips for Mario Kart DS in over a decade were discovered by a new player, not a skilled speedrunner.

Zumo de papaya, a new player, started the discovery process by trying to bounce over the guard rail in Luigi's Mansion.

The Tyrant cart, typically not used for time trials, was theorized to bounce higher due to its weight, but this was proven incorrect.

Guan, a Tasser, discovered that lighter carts actually achieve higher bounces in Mario Kart DS.

The steering during a bounce significantly affects the outcome, a detail noticed by Guan.

Brilliant.org is highlighted as a learning resource for complex topics like physics in gaming.

The Super bounce mechanic in Mario Kart DS involves falling a certain distance and pressing the Hop button upon landing.

Zumo achieved the impossible by hitting a skip with task tools, which was initially thought to be impossible.

The game counts a lap if the skip is used, confirmed by Guan after completing a full task of the Skip.

Waluigi's Pinball was investigated for a potential Super bounce off the second boost pad, but an invisible wall proved problematic.

Robert 'iMath' McKinnon suggested that carts with higher top speed receive more speed from mushrooms, leading to higher bounces.

The Super bounce on Delino Square was theorized to skip an entire loop, confirmed by Zumo.

The lap progression in Mario Kart DS is based on a checkpoint system with only a few required for progression.

Zumo's curiosity led to the discovery of three new shortcuts within a week.

The single bounce strategy on Luigi's Mansion proved to be more effective and RTA viable than the double bounce method.

Imath replicated the Luigi's Mansion skip and improved understanding of the steering requirements.

MK Dasher shocked the world by hitting the Luigi's Mansion shortcut using the difficult two bound strategy.

Marissa became the first person to land the Super bounce on all three laps, beating the previous record by almost 20 seconds.

The potential for a two-shortcut run on Delino Square and Luigi's Mansion is on the cusp of being faster than the non-SH shortcut method.