Speedrunning has developed quite substantially over the years, with games like Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and GoldenEye 007 becoming some of the most notorious games to complete as quickly as possible. However, it’s not too often that racing games make it big in the speedrunning scene, but Mario Kart 64 has been a major exception to this trend.
It goes without saying that many older games tend to be targeted for speedruns as they cannot be digitally updated via patches and bug-fixes, and their long lifespans have given players a decent amount of time to discover certain exploits as well. In fact, even 25 years after its initial release, Mario Kart 64 players continue to find exploits to utilize in speedrunning, as skilled Mario Kart 64 speedrunner Back Abney has used to set an incredible new world record in the game.
Although Mario Kart 64 was released in 1997, its legacy seems to live on in speedruns. In a video uploaded yesterday, Abney, also known by his screen name abney317, set a new world record on the game’s Luigi Raceway course. Actually, Abney set several world records, consistently beating his own record multiple times during a livestream the other day. After learning of a new shortcut that involved repeatedly crashing into a wall, Abney set a 21-second world record on the course.
In a recent video, Abney explained that the shortcut was covered in a video made by speedrunning historian Bismuth, who documented a plethora of new Mario Kart 64 shortcuts discovered by speedrunners Weatherton, micro500, and Forest64. The Luigi Raceway shortcut was discovered by Forest64, and the exploit has become known as a “half clip.” The technique of clipping has long been utilized in video game speedruns, and while some Mario Kart courses allow players to fully clip through walls and fences, a half clip essentially makes the game think that players have crossed over to the other side of the course and made their way back around. Thus, players are able to cross the finish line, making the game think that they have completed a full lap.
While playing a game by crashing into a wall seems strange, it isn’t too out of the realm of speedrunning, which sees some bizarre methods from time to time, like a Breath of the Wild speedrun focused on bread. Apart from this new world record, Abney has been a long-time record holder in Mario Kart 64 for runs that have both included and excluded exploits, so it goes without saying that he is still quite the skilled player.
Mario Kart continues to be as popular ever, with Mario Kart 8: Deluxe on then Switch continuing to be one of the platform’s highest selling titles since its release. But older Mario Kart games certainly still hold popularity, especially with fans hoping that Mario Kart 64 will come to Nintendo Switch Online in the future. But for now, fans of the Nintendo 64 game continue to make their own fun.
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