Mushroom City

1'40"125 ---> 1'39"378
225th ---> 172nd
Expert B ---> Expert A

Pretty good, I hit a BS on first lap (33"35x) and got close on the second lap. Last lap was rough with a couple of bad wall hits and a missed mt near the end, but alright under the circumstances.

Mid 1'38 is WELL within my reach but I've had enough of that track for this month. Waluigi Stadium now (stream in some minutes). [Edit : nevermind, way too tired for this]

Just found back the memory card with my old save after looking randomly at my old Gamecube library !... <___<

At least I found it before I replayed most of the tracks, and I'll have a back-up memory card if one of them craps out (I do not trust much the one I was recently using).

So yeah just a heads-up so you're not surprised if you don't see the times I made this month


Oh, on another note and I'll be streaming a lot today too ! I should be there all afternoon and sometimes tonight.



Edit :

Waluigi Stadium

3lap :
1'49"260 ---> 1'43"384
427th ---> 175th
Advanced A ---> Expert A

Flap :
35"818 -----> 32"376
484th -----> 126th
Advanced B -----> Hero C

Very good session, the strat was difficult (though I beat my old PR's within 2-3 tries) but eventually as I got the feeling of the wavy terrain, chunks of tenths were progressively taken down.

The 3lap is probably my most consistent run so far. I completely destroyed my flap with a great run that grants me not only the first Hero C time, but also the first top 100 in 60Hz (at 80th !!). The rough beginning, with almost certainly a very unoptimal strategy, makes me hope I can crack a 31" in the future. Probably a matter of weeks before I get my first top 100, on DKM on RR most likely as I'll play these tracks like a madman.

Until then, I am now for sure Expert C and in the top 300 !

Peach Beach

3lap :
1'13"875 ---> 1'11"192
470th ---> 192nd
Advanced B ---> Hero D

Flap :
23"697 ---> 22"771
440th ---> 183rd
Advanced A ---> Hero D

Double Hero already, bringing my total to 5. 3lap was alright, though didn't try to push harder when I got top 200. Flap hit the grass a bit and probably could have been a 22"6... oh well.

Theorical AF rank : 294th ---> 275th (292.4065)

Dry Dry Desert

3lap :
1'39"700 ---> 1'35"270
365th ---> 167th
Advanced A ---> Expert A

Flap :

32"459 -----> 29"514
467th -----> 133rd
Advanced A -----> Hero C


This all-nighter session started off very well : I hit a good 3lap within ~30-40mn of playing (1'35"687 iirc), so I decided to put my focus on a sub 30 flap.

It was harder than I thought, though, as the shrooms were difficult to pull off properly and I couldn't find an efficient way to clear the second hald of the track as fast as possible. To add to the challenge, Tommy wasn't happy that I was threatening one of his wins over me and initiated a battle for the sub. [Around that time a lot of people came discussing in the chat and I finally got double-digit viewers, that was really cool ]

Eventually I won the race and cracked the sub 30 after pulling off my strat successfully with a 29"8xx, but shortly after Tommy beat my time by a few hundredths. This + the relatively bad ending of my run pushed me to keep trying harder despite the late time and my evident tiredness.

I ended up getting another PR about 2 hours later with a 29"686, followed by the final time you can see above, by bruteforcing (read : SMT'ing a bit randomly) the hilly section. 2nd best time so far right behind WS flap.

Before saying goodbye to DDD I gave the 3lap some more tries, but I hit a ceiling at low 1'35. It was clear by that point that my brain reached saturation and I couldn't drive as well as in my flap attempts. Anyway, I feel this is one of tracks where a better mt speed and mastery of the BT handling will help a lot cutting large chunks of time, so it's for the best if I come back only a few weeks later.

Now I feel like I'm getting really invested in the game like with a certain other handheld kart game


Theorical AF rank : 265th ---> 252nd (260.68775)

You have done some nice improvments last days.

I have managed to cut 4 places in AF 148 -> 144 with my three new PRs in total at the moment.

Gyara wrote on 01/29/13 at 12:30:55:

Not trying until I have at least reached my goal, probably next year when my improvements will stop being significant.


Edit :

Baby Park

7lap :
1'08"331 ---> 1'06"492
464th ---> 158th
Advanced A ---> Hero D

Flap :
9"014 ---> 8"707
303rd ---> 90th
Expert B ---> Titan D

The only thing noteworthy about the 7lap is the opener (9"770). None of my other runs even came close to it yet. However the other laps were in the mid 9"5 range and I concluded with a 9"154 two-shroomer :/

As for the flap... yeah I definitely didn't expect to hit top 100 already considering how much competition there is on short flaps... yet both shrooms were definitely improvable

More to come tonight.


Re-edited : I got a chuckle with the post below
Keep trying, come backs are never easy at first !

Mick wrote on 01/30/13 at 06:55:14:


OK now I'm already afraid for my rank But then again BP is my worst course, so this is to be expected. But I did spend a lot of time getting to just 8"769 on the flap, and my 9"905 best opener seems unbeatable! Mick just barely beat my 7lap, but mine was really lucky on the middle laps so I don't expect to beat it soon.

But when I come back I might try for Titan on the flap instead of my old goal of Hero A, but this flap was so confusing the last time I tried it

Baby Park

1'06"464 -> 1'06"328
151st -> 129th
Hero D -> Hero C

I failed to reach my goal yet, I probably aimed a bit too far this time, although one of my fails came close to hit the top 100 if I didn't crash the last turn. Even though I got the PR above in like 5 minutes, I couldn't get any consistent run later on. I still like the stamina and the experience as to how to handle the shrooms. Anyway since it's already my best track by far I can't really complain about my actual records

Luigi Circuit

3lap :
1'19"910 ---> 1'18"419
344th ---> 192nd
Expert D ---> Expert A

Flap :
26"355 ---> 25"127
444th ---> 125th
Advanced B ---> Hero B

Clean flap, no significant mistakes. With better sideboosting and a slightly better ending I could edge a 24"9, but lower seems out of reach for now. Still working on the 3lap, best splits give 1 second faster so I hope I can get the Hero next time, but still, another top 200 already !


Theorical AF rank : 232nd ---> 219th (228.844)

4 PR's today.

Luigi Circuit

3lap :
1'18"419 ---> 1'17"776
192nd ---> 135th
Expert A -> Hero D

Flap :
25"127 ---> 24"943
125th ---> 91st
Hero B ---> Titan D

Not only did I get the Hero on the 3lap, but I also got a second Titan time on the flap ! It was a nice run but I still didn't expect to score the sub 25 already. A great bonus !

Bowser's Castle

3lap :
2'31"907 -----> 2'24"850
379th ---> 194th
Expert D ---> Expert A

Flap :
49"871 -----> 47"547
388th ---> 200th
Advanced A ---> Expert A

The 3lap is the only run I have finished without stupid crashes
Fortunately it wasn't too bad, but I still have to learn a proper strategy with all the moving hazards.
Flap uses a sub-optimal strategy as well so it's rather weak for now (I have already got under 48" with only one-shroom.


Theorical AF rank : 219th ---> 205th (214.344)


Edit : Damn, the footage of my LC PR's completely disappeared for no reason

Very short DDJ stream (1 hour) : http://www.twitch.tv/spearmick

Edited : re-streaming again DDJ right, and possibly WC or some Grand Chelem GP later.

Re-edited :

Dino Dino Jungle

1'51"631 ---> 1'48"535
306th ---> 179th
Expert C ---> Hero D

36"632 ---> 34"531
368th -----> 113th
Advanced A ---> Hero B

I hit both Hero times within 30mn, that 3lap after 20mn and a 34"997 flap a bit later. Funniy enough I have only been able to finish one 3lap run, so I'm glad it was actually quite solid. Flap was alright except for the very end when I bounced over the geysers... not a big deal though, may have lost like 0"1.

Wario Colosseum

2'09"040 -----> 2'04"072
334th -----> 128th
Expert C ---> Hero C

1'04"262 -----> 1'01"280
350th -----> 121st
Expert D -----> Hero B

Massive improvements since I could use extensively all of the advanced techniques I didn't know about back then, but it's quite difficult to relearn the track with Barrel Train after being used to the Parade Kart. Both PR's were on the same run, but both laps are largely improvable. Opener had a relatively weak beginning and I butchered the last 15 seconds of the flap costing me both subs. If they weren't already well ranked I'd probably keep trying, but it is very hard to be consistent there, so I decided to leave them as that for now.

AF improvement : 202nd -----> 175th (~183.5). Passed MJ, Shaun and Utter !

Congrats Mick ! I didn't think that you'd improve your times so fast !

I'm actually waiting for a new controller from a friend as my L button seems to be tired...

We're finishing the Grand Track Tour this night with DKM. You know the link yadda yadda.

To give an indication of what to expect, I set a sub 37 opener during a playaround/practice/strategy test session earlier, with Toad Kart.


Edit : Back this afternoon, with a proper internet this time hopefully


Edit 2 : And here we are, I beat all of my old PR's

1'53"379 ---> 1'49"685
223th ---> 120th
Expert B ---> Hero D

37"109 ---> 35"628
250th ---> 118th
Expert D ---> Hero C

Well ranked times, and I got some of the most difficult Heroes... but I haven't really had a clean run for either the 3lap or the flap.

Notably, I failed a 35"2xx - 35"3xx flap near the final bridge. Also my 3lap was done during a failed flap attempt, so the opener is below average (at least I avoided the boulders that way...). I guess that's inherent to the nature of the track and that it will take longer than usual to polish my driving here.

For the record, both runs were with the barrel train. Couldn't finish a single run with Toad Kart... go figure


AF improvement : 163th ---> 156th (163.53)
I passed a total of 241 people after doing all the 32 tracks !

Going back to MC and YC now, as those times here are outside the top 200.

Congrats for the 60Hz top 100 Mick !
And you have also already beaten one of my PR (DKM course) !

I am still waiting for another controller, I have just got 23"046 PB flap and 27"376 MB flap with missed MTs.

The more I play 60Hz, the more I find it much harder than 50Hz...