Boosts, New Boosting Techniques and Non-NBT Site: A Retrospect, by Simon Laflamme

 

Introduction: The intent of this page is to present to new members of the SMK community some of the events that have contributed the most to the advent and evolution of the boosts, New Boosting Techniques and Non-NBT site within the community. The way I summarize the events is under the perspective of an active member of this community, and under this perspective only. It is both possible and plausible that individuals outside of this community have found about boosts and New Boosting Techniques much before we did.

 

Although I have not included in the visual presentation any such distinction, this page could be separated into three core sections: Boosts, which is most relevant within this community in the years 2000 and 2001, only has the first paragraph entirely devoted to it; New Boosting Techniques, which has its content stretching essentially from the end of 2002 to the present; and Non-NBT site, which finds all of its entries from the end of the summer of 2003 to the present.

 

Historical events are presented in two different manners, depending roughly on their nature. Orange writing denotes entries referring to events that were extended or had a very broad momentum in time, whereas red-written entries refer to specific events to which dates can be assigned. Please feel free to share suggestions regarding the content of the page, or comments on its level of objectiveness. Have a good read!

 

 

2000-2001: First strategic uses of boost, and driving on the borderline of the NBT (mostly in NTSC)

The boost having for long been recognized as a sudden shift in the kart engine’s tone, some players start to unveil and understand its potential. New racing techniques are developed accordingly throughout the months and years, namely one involving the release of a boost through the CI2 mud lake in NTSC and another one the creation of a boost around the last curve of MC1, also in NTSC (both of which remain now widely used).

There is not yet any trace presaging the ascent of off road boosts and other NBT’s, but certain driving manoeuvres today recognized as NBT are occasionally encountered, more often than not in an accidental manner or with little control over what’s happening. Among the non-accidental instances is the technique that consisted into holding a boost prior to the jumping of the GV2 gap, making it easier to cross. This technique would indeed originate from as far back as early 2001, however it would have been used by very few players, and here again exclusively in NTSC. We also note that MC2, with its double jump, was then a course highly subject to the appearance of exotic driving possibilities (occurring accidentally or not) that would now unequivocally belong to the NBT category. Other NBT’s that we can imagine have been exploited relatively early in the players’ site history, are F-lap boosts, that is boosts held over the finish line (we shall note in fact that the MC1 boost around last curve is a derivative of the F-lap boosts, even though today still considered Non-NBT).

Of course, there was no line drawn between such distinct racing categories at the time, and thus records achieved with these techniques were treated on the players’ site as fully legit and of nature alike to others achieved with more classical racing strategies.

 

~April 5, 2002: Jamie White looks for a way to get the DP1 F-lap WR, and in the process brings his kart through the grass inside the last corner, by simultaneously releasing a boost. Surprisingly, there is no slow down at the moment of release, and the technique allows him to push the course WR’s much lower. This event has quite a significant impact upon the community, in that it allows us to acquire for the first time authentic awareness and comprehension of off road boosts, and makes it clear that these can be exploited to one’s advantage where envisaged possible.

Jamie will also set a MC4 lap time below the 19 seconds with an off road boost a few weeks later, but will refuse to post it, being reluctant to consider it as a legit new PR.

The concept of off road boosts will remain marginal for the upcoming months.

 

September 2002 up to the beginning of 2003: A flow of new techniques involving off road boosts in PAL; NTSC side is temporarily spared

            The DP1 off road boost technique is attempted for the first time in the PAL version by the very end of August, incorporating a little driving variant to make it doable there, resulting in the first PAL lap below 15 seconds, set by Sami Çetin. Soon after, a burst of new discoveries is initiated. The main actors during what we could literally call the invasion of the community by off road boost techniques are the Holmière brothers, at first principally Julien, however several other PAL players will take on to the movement and also try them out on their own. Practically every course and their respective WR’s that are judged as improvable with off road boosts, that is Mario Circuits, Donut Plains and Choco Islands, are victims of the relentless quest for new optimal techniques; not even Sami’s symbolical MC1 WR’s will stand against players’ efforts to make advantageous use of the new strategies, with the lap being brought into the 11 seconds at first by Julien Holmière.

The movement reaches its peak more or less in December 2002, as fresh discoveries become more seldom in subsequent weeks and months.

 

~January 13, 2003: Finally, one boosting technique consisting into something else than an off road or F-lap boost bursts into the scene, with Archibald Lefèvre figuring out that the speed provided by a boost can help cross the gap to the platform bridge in GV1. The margin of error on the jump timing is thereby found to be considerably reduced indeed, and in a matter of a few weeks, Sami Çetin manages to complete the first PAL GV1 race with the platform jump succeeded on all five laps.

            Note that, as we’ve stated in the first paragraph on this page, one or possibly a few players had been using a similar strategy for GV2 in NTSC, however it has to be understood that it had then remained essentially marginal, with only a handful of players being even aware of its existence and handiness. To put it simply, the impact the technique had onto the competition, in a course like GV1 in PAL, in 2003, was by far greater and more concrete than for a course like GV2 in NTSC, 2 years earlier.

 

First few months of 2003: Looking back at the events; first interrogations arisen

            Up to now (2003), very few players have explicitly shown to be reluctant towards the newborn that we now refer to as off road boosts, along with the thought that it would conquer the high ranks in practically a majority of courses. Clearly, these boosts have not quite made the strong effect they would later make upon Non-NBT driving “advocates”.

Gradually however, in January and February of the new year, a few reactions of annoyance are being felt particularly on the Yahoo group. Attempts to give fastest Non-NBT times an equal recognition than that given to times with off road boosts are initiated, earning support from a reasonable group of players; however, nothing is quite coherently organized, and the project soon dies off.

Also, on an unrelated note, it is quite plausible that it is during these first few weeks of 2003 that the appellation “New Boosting Techniques” is first coined in, though at the time, the term had no official significance, and was essentially used for indication purpose.

By February, in NTSC, some of the first off road boosts strategies (apart from the one located in the last corner of DP1) are being tried by a restricted group of players. Their expansion won’t be quite as imposing as it was in PAL, and in fact it will mostly consist of a gradual evolution in some players’ driving habits, evolution that won’t quite near its culminating point before 2004, or 2005 even for zig-zag boosts, when NBT’s are being quickly integrated, even in the new players’ vocabulary.

By the end of the month, I (Simon Laflamme) create a web page whose objective is to give basic pointers and explanations to joining players who are not familiar with the off road boost strategies, their origin and the debate surrounding them. The page will remain the only English-written one of its kind until this one ends its writing stage.

Finally, as a few additional months go by, some players, who had been essentially accustomed to playing prior to the NBT discoveries, start to lose interest into the competitive side of the game; this ultimately leads to a few of them retiring.

 

February-March 2003: New standards created in NTSC

            As a sign of disagreement with the way fast times driven without off road boosts are disregarded, Jamie White and I create brand new standards which we aim to be accurate for times set without NBT. For commodity as well as fancy purpose, an upper-GOD title is integrated: “Ultimate”. The new unofficial standards will later be unpretentiously (or… maybe a little) referred to as “KIPR”, acronym for “Keep it Pure Racing”. The role of the standards is to keep our own self motivated to play without NBT, and only one or two other players will take on to them.

 

June-July 2003: Looking for major changes on the SMK players’ site

The summer of 2003 is a crucial historical moment for the creation of the Non-NBT site, as a group of players led by myself finally engage in a concrete plan which pursues the recognition of Non-NBT times on the players’ site itself, as well as certain changes having to do with the organization of certain sections of the site. The plan reaches support from a little over a dozen players before being introduced to Sami Çetin, who will share its content on the players’ site’s updates, and invite players to discuss.

 

Beginning of August 2003: Project of a new site introduced on the French forum

As developments of the plan start to stagnate a little, on the SMK French forum, certain players are beginning to envisage the project of a new site that will contain Non-NBT times and standards. No serious step has been taken yet, but the intent is indeed real.

 

August 18-25, 2003: Sharing of the project on the Yahoo group triggering a heated discussion

After a few days have gone by, Cédric Leutwyler shares on the Yahoo group the idea that he and other French players have been juggling with. This instantaneously generates varied reactions coming from players who will express themselves publicly on the matter. Sami soon highlights the fact that around 40 players that he has contacted preferred the players’ site not to leave prominent room for Non-NBT times; this makes the earlier thought up project of the inclusion of Non-NBT times on the players’ site a little more delicate. In light of this, he rather brings up his own idea, one that is reminiscent of the French project, in which he also suggests to start a separate site that will be dedicated to Non-NBT driving, and have a structure similar to that of the players’ site. I am designated to handle the project, with which a majority of the Non-NBT proponents seem to be in agreement. The project of the Non-NBT site is officially born.

 

September to December 2003: Non-NBT site in works

The greatest part of the following months will be dedicated to the development of the Non-NBT site. It is decided at first that the site will disallow, in addition to off road boosts, F-lap boosts and platform jump boosts. Martin Morissette is being assigned the role of creating a web design for the main page, while I’m working on new standards that will use a format similar to those of the players’ site, except they won’t exceed the “Pro” status. The NTSC standards will thus more or less become a revised version of the KIPR standards previously created by Jamie and me, minus the upper-GOD category, whereas PAL standards will be selected with the help of Michael Jongerius. By the end of the year, the standards, the introduction and rules page that will be used for the site, as well as the URL we will be settling for, are announced, but the site still is not created.

 

January 11, 2004: The main page design is finally ready, the web site is functional, and the first update is written. At the time of launching, the site only contains these features: standards, introduction and rules pages.

 

January 23, 2004: As a technique of a new kind, is being exploited on KB2, what is known today as zig-zag boosts, an announce is written on the site to declare the zig-zag boost part of the NBT’s.

 

February 10, 2004: The NTSC and PAL players’ lists are added as a new central feature of the site. On its initial version, the players’ lists contain SR score, average finish and 5-lap and F-lap total times statistics for every player, and the SR score is used to determine players’ rank. There are respectively 17 and 13 players at the first update of the NTSC and PAL list. From March 1st onwards, the players’ lists are updated on a weekly basis, and written news on the players’ activity accompany them. The PAL and NTSC news will soon be distinctively split into NTSC news, written by me, and PAL news, which were either written by Michael Jongerius or me during the first year of the site.

 

March 2004: Japanese community unveiled

When we thought we had found every major technique that could be derived from the boosts in the game, a structured community of Japanese players who also share SMK time trialing as a passion demonstrates how certain NBT WR’s can be pushed seconds further than what we thought was possible. As it appears, some of these players have pushed the freshly introduced concept of a zig-zag boost to a much deeper extent than we did, using it in combination with other NBT’s or even alone. They use in MC2 as well a technique that was thus far unheard of: long boosting. Long boosting, which will later find echoes in more subtle strategies such as pipe hits, will be defined as a NBT.

 

March 18, 2004: The PAL and NTSC World Records pages are created. These pages will be updated, in chronological order, by me, Michael Jongerius, Jamie White, and then in alternation between Pierre L’Hoëst and Gerard Roodhorst.

 

April 2004-January 2005: Never ending hassle caused by the top times tables

For a couple of weeks until May, I try to grant the site with an automated system that will keep top times listing for every course updated as times are added to the Excel database. Meeting rather little success in doing so, the project of automated top times charts and players’ profiles is handed over to Ray Bergstrom, who will work during the following months on an excel file. Although nearing completion ultimately by the start of the next year, the project will more or less be aborted, in part due to the fact that we will ultimately get around to implementing top times charts to the site, which will after all be updated manually.

 

April 7, 2004: To be consistent with the way BC1 is played in PAL, a decision is taken to withdraw BC1 from the list of exceptions to the “F-lap boost” NBT rule. Only DP2 therefore remains in PAL Non-NBT where you are allowed to hold a boost over the finish line to achieve a F-lap PR.

 

April 11, 2004: The “Weekly improvement rate” (Wir) statistic is added to the players’ lists. This statistic plays the role of an indicator of how active a player is for a given week. In February 2005, the “Overall Wir”, an indicator of the respective level of competition in PAL and NTSC, is split into two categories: a total Wir, which is the sum of every player’s Wir, and a calibrated Wir, which takes into consideration factors such as the total number of players on the ranking, and the number of weeks for which each of them has been inactive.

 

July 4, 2004: Following from exchanges with Christophe Paquin, a new thread is started on the Message Board to determine whether players should be allowed to join both the PAL and the NTSC rankings on the players’ site and the Non-NBT site. After numerous inputs from players in favour of the proposal, both sites decided to allow players to be double-ranked. Guillaume Leviach became the first player to be simultaneously ranked in PAL and NTSC.

 

October 2004: Cooperation yields a new ranking formula

As we try to substitute the SR score with a more accurate mean of rank determination, Chris Balch and I work out a new ranking system that takes into account the difference between a player’s PR and the WR, and the rank of that PR. The ranking formula is used for testing purpose for a couple of weeks, before being officially implemented on the players’ lists on November 21st.

 

January 11, 2005: Karel van Duijvenboden substitutes Michael Jongerius for the PAL news. From this update onwards, Karel will be writing PAL news for the Non-NBT site on a weekly basis.

 

February 6, 2005: The boost held over the series of bump after the first corner in CI1, has is use forbidden for Non-NBT driving, being recognized as a NBT instead. This decision has a direct impact upon the top times on that course, a few of which had previously been driven with this boost. The relevance of this rule upon its PAL equivalent in MC2, over the double jump at the end of the lap, remains as yet unsettled.

 

February 17, 2005: After days of manual hard work, Pierre L’Hoëst provides the site with top times charts displaying all players’ records, for every course in PAL and NTSC. I will, a few days later, take on to the task of maintaining those charts with incoming PR’s.

 

March 7, 2005: Pierre L’Hoëst writes a “guide of the boost” on the French forum in his mother language. This guide explains in details how to generate a boost, describes ways that a boost can be exploited, and lists several known places where NBT’s can be used.

 

June 2005: GOD standards proving to have become deficient with time; changes required

After some discussion on the difficulty of the Non-NBT standards and their symbolism, a procedure takes place to modify, for the first time since their creation, some of the standards that have become most inaccurate due to the progression of players and the discovery of new strategies. Standards affected by this change will be limited to the GOD and Legend status, which will be replaced with faster standards on MC1, BC1, KB1, BC3, DP3, KB2, GV3 and VL2 in PAL, as well as MC1, GV2, KB1, DP3, KB2, VL2 and RR in NTSC, officially on July 3rd.

 

August 12, 2005: I pass Jamie White for the NTSC Non-NBT #1 position. This title had been held by Jamie for over three years.

 

August 21, 2005: From this date onwards, players have the possibility to submit individual Non-NBT times to the site. These times will be added to the top times charts, however a complete set of 40 Non-NBT will still be required for the player to be included on the players’ site. The first player jumping on this new opportunity is Joe Bernier.

 

September-October 2005: Troubled waters in the recognition of NBT’s

A coincidental convergence of events having to do with the Non-NBT rules forces players to ponder on the NBT nature of certain techniques that they had previously never or rarely envisaged.

The first issue arises when Pierre L’Hoëst achieves a BC1 F-lap PR in which he tries to put an end to a boost shortly before the finish line, thus making the Non-NBT nature of his lap uncertain. It is deduced, from tests made on a hacked ROM version of the game, that it takes a certain time which is far from negligible for the boost speed up effect to vanish, from the moment you stop hearing the engine upper tone typical to a boost. As a result, Pierre’s lap had plausibly gained slight advantage from the boost, which justified its “F-lap boost” categorization. This particular event makes the definition of a F-lap boost a more relative one, and may have foreseeable repercussions on other courses such as CI2, or DP1 in NTSC, in the future.

The second issue arises when Joe Bernier explains how the “gas release” technique can be used to one’s advantage on CI2, namely to come out of the lake at nearly full speed, and suggests that it could be allowed as a Non-NBT strategy. Experiments with this strategy, along with reflections on how it can be put in perspective, eventually leads to the opposite stance being taken, with the gas release becoming another addition to the list of NBT’s.

The third issue is brought up by Pierre L’Hoëst and Christophe Paquin, when they figure out that the boost through the lake in CI2, one of the cornerstone in the early discovery of boosts in NTSC, can also be used in PAL without the intervention of other NBT’s. To keep the NTSC and PAL sides mutually coherent, the boost is allowed as a Non-NBT, but only if the boost is not released in such a way that it allows to reach for the other side of the lake before it wears off.

A few other rules’ issues than these listed above are being brought on the table as well during that time span, however they consist essentially of techniques that had made appearances in older rules’ discussions, and which have never been fully resolved, such as the exact definition of a zig-zag boost.

 

October 21, 2005: Pierre L’Hoëst passes Sami Çetin for the #1 position in Non-NBT PAL. Sami had remained undisputed Non-NBT PAL champion for well over six years.

 

October 30, 2005: This page reaches its writing completion, and should be added to the links of the Non-NBT site in a few days from now.

 

December 4, 2005: The "monthly improvement rates" graph first appears on the Non-NBT site. This large-sized graph, updated monthly, reflects the overall level of activity in NTSC and PAL during a given month by using the WR's as reference.

 

December 15, 2005: Two new pages created by Pierre L'Hoëst, reflecting the evolution of the PAL and NTSC Non-NBT WR's over the years, are added to the "extras" section of the site. The pages will undergo refinements and WR additions during the following few weeks.

 

January-February 2006: The role of the controller in NBT success unveiled

            As certain players gradually realize how vital it is to own a controller that has a good joypad, in order to succeed NBT techniques (notably zig-zag boosts), Pierre L'Hoëst comes up with a solution that should give all players an equal opportunity to make their controllers a NBT ally. The trick is to dismantle the controller and reduce the size, by rubbing it, of the inner sphere that holds the middle of the joypad cross. By thus allowing the joypad to move freely and instantaneously from left to right without using the sphere as a lever, the encountered success rate of zig-zag boosts increases to a considerable degree, depending on how favourable your controller already was to this NBT manoeuvre, prior to its modification.

            The ethical aspect of such a modification of the inner structure of the controller is disputed by some, though many agree that this discovery will give NBT competition a new burst of energy by putting all players potentially on even grounds.

 

March-April 2006: Guest appearances at the Non-NBT news

            Chris Clark (PAL) and David Smith (NTSC) contribute to their first Non-NBT news in Spring 2006. During many of the following months, the task of news writing will be evenly shared between Chris and Karel van Duijvenboden in PAL, and David and Simon Laflamme in NTSC.

 

May 2006: Revitalization of the sites

            May 2006 proves to be a turning point for the community, as both the players' site and the Non-NBT site undergo major changes (while being relocated on www.mariokart64.com (from geocities)).

            The players' site fully adopts the database template used by the MKDD, MKDS and MKSC players' sites. This results in a drastic change of the site's features, as well as his structure, including an automation of the updating process. Furthermore, the site standards, which had originally been written in 2000, are entirely revamped.

            On its own, the Non-NBT site maintains the same core database, but implements players' profiles to it, a feature that had forever been absent! Suggestions are also brought forward regarding the accurateness of certain GOD times, and for a moment it looks as though a new standards system may be introduced for upper-legend standards, but the project is soon aborted, lacking strong support.

 

June 18, 2006: From this day onwards, a head paragraph is included on every players' list update, which provides information in regards to the level of activity witnessed during the covered week, in comparison with that of other weeks in the history of the site.

 

July 26-August 2006: Pushing the capacities of boosting (towards infinite)

            Following emulator tests carried out by "Polo", the latest NBT breakthrough to date is revealed: the Infinite Boost! First exploited only in GP mode, in a matter of days, a cooperation between French players Nicolas Hauffman and Julien Holmière will make the IB viable in time trial mode, but only for MC2 F-lap. The IB is somewhat a derivative of the Long Boost, but which can only be achieved under particular circumstances, by releasing the gas when driving over turbo arrows; then, for as long as no other buttons than the directions are pressed, and no obstacle is hit, a full-speed boost lasts.

            The legitimacy of IB PR's for inclusion on the players' site is disputed at first, due to the awkward kart handling that the strategy imposes, but ultimately those PR's are accepted on equal footings with any other PR that involves NBT's.

            Thus, following weeks of IB training and mastering, the MC2 NBT F-lap WR's will have been shattered by 1 to 1,5 seconds, both in PAL and NTSC. In this regard, the Infinite Boost might be, bar Long Boosting, the single most significant NBT breakthrough witnessed in the community.

           

August 20, 2006: "The activity corner" section is added under "Extras". The activity corner gathers a few charts and graphs, which reflect various information on every player's activity habits (number of weeks of activity on the site, most consecutive weeks playing, etc.) The activity corner is updated weekly.

 

October 22, 2006: Following talks on the Message Board, a new ranking system is developed for the site. Used since November 2004, the former total score worked on a linear scale, meaning that, on any track, a PR improvement of "x" seconds was about as worthy of score improvement at a high level of competition, than at a lower level. Instead, the proposed ranking system, working on a logarithmic scale, suggests that score improvements should take into account how close to the WR a PR already is. With the implementation of the new system, players' suffer less from having weaker times, while benefiting more from stronger times.