Sometimes, you start wondering how would it be if the items weren’t constantly screwing with your driving and how it’d be to do all tracks with just pure skill and driving as best as you can. After all, the purpose of a speed run is to go as fast as you can, right?
For that reason, categories with no items have become rather popular in Mario Kart games recently. These categories have managed to have more active people than the normal ones over time, especially in the Deluxe version of MK8 since the 2 items per driver mechanic has really wrecked the item balance and it’s too easy for the game to mess your run badly at any given moment. In normal runs you spend more time offering prayers to the gods than actually focusing on your driving lines and some people don’t really enjoy that. Also, another completely different factor is that runs with no items let you get better at driving by putting all focus on it and that helps runs with items eventually.
This is the first submission I did of this category to SDA and I went with my best time before I took a break. Sometimes you need breaks to not let the game get the better of you. For this run I added several new shortcuts and route changes after going through all the tracks in Time Trial looking at the top times and picking some consistent tips from them. Rewatching the run after the submission to write the commentary let me notice some errors I didn’t notice when I did it back in September. Usually, you feel like you played pretty good and had maybe one mistake or 2 in the whole thing, but then you rewatch the run and notice other little things.
I do plan to improve eventually but that’s a maybe. I fell on a few spots like in SNES RR and failed the Big Blue shortcut but Lakitu’s pick up is pretty fast in this game and in the BB fail I still saved time compared to driving normally (or broke even at least). I feel like I could have cut at least 30 more seconds but that will have to wait.
Something that is different from previous runs is starting in N64 RR instead of the start of a cup. This is because N64 RR is one of the few tracks where you can’t get 10 coins in a normal lap because there’s too few of them in the road. That’s true if the track appears at any point in the run but, if it’s the first track, you’ll start with 5 coins due to starting on last place and this lets you get to 10 coins.
Regarding the character choice, the Pipe Frame kart seems to be one of the most optimal vehicles for long runs. It’s a good all around kart and has the right attributes like good anti-gravity speed and good acceleration and handling. One of the hidden stats is the Mini Turbo length stat but it is directly connected to the acceleration stat so you can look at your acceleration stat to see how much MT length you have since it will coincide always in this game. Character choice is a bit influenced in ease to drive since there’s other characters like DK or Waluigi that give a bit more acceleration but have less handling and that can make some tracks a lot harder. I find Pink Gold Peach is right for how I drive.
Regarding other technical things, I use a Pro controller because it’s easier to drive due to the better control sticks and I use the digital version because load times are faster, especially if the game is in the internal memory of the console.
I didn’t do track-by-track explanations because it’d be either “this track went well” or “I fell here” in most of them. Item runs do have some variety in that area.
I hope you enjoy the run and I hope it shows that MK8D has some potential as a game where you drive fast. These days, with no more F-Zero games, people dismiss Mario Kart too easily as a replacement but 200cc is the closest we’ll ever get to a new F-Zero. It’s faster than most of the older F-Zero games since only F-Zero X and GX are faster overall. I hope the next Mario Kart is designed around 200cc speed since this game wasn’t originally designed for this speed, which is why some tracks feel awkward to play in 200cc.
Just like the previous runs I’ve done, you can catch them in my Youtube Channel ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SceITxxLk8 ) and leave a comment if you liked it or you can leave a comment on Twitter (https://twitter.com/JK_UchihaSDA ).
As usual and to close off, thanks to the SDA staff for keeping the site running and providing a site with some high quality videos for so long. |