Luigi Circuit
Luigi Circuit is the first course of the Mushroom Cup in Mario Kart Wii. It is notable for featuring the first known useful application of supergrinding.
Overview
| Type | Unrestricted | No Ultra | No Glitch |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3lap | 1:02.466 | 1:07.788 | |
| Flap | 11.635 | 18.174 | 21.325 |
Luigi Circuit has a 3lap viable ultra shortcut, and currently benefits from supergrinding, superhopping, and supersliding in both 3lap and flap categories. Hence, it has three 3lap categories and three flap categories. Currently, there is no existing 3lap run using an ultra shortcut, so the Unrestricted 3lap record is also technically the No Ultra 3lap record.
Unrestricted 3lap
The current strategy for UR 3lap is to perform two supergrinds on each lap. The first supergrind takes you down the back straight, and requires a mushroom. Performing the supergrind shroomless loses more than sacrificing the pipe shortcut on the last turn, so the pipe shortcut is never taken on any lap. The second supergrind takes you down the front straight and past the finish line, and can be performed shroomless each lap.
Unrestricted Flap
The current strategy for UR flap is to perform an ultra shortcut. Supersliding is useful in the flap, therefore Wario Bike is used. King Boo is used for his handling bonus.
The setup involves starting a supergrind on the long banked turn, gaining about 200 EV in the process. Then, the bike ejects from the supergrind, and lands on the slope of a decorative mushroom; this redirects its motion upwards and sideways due to the extreme EV. Enough height is obtained to perform an apex clip on the top of the invisible wall, to redirect motion sideways and clear the gap. The bike lands back on the exposed road seam, entering the superslide state. The lap is then completed from here, using the other mushrooms to stay at higher speed through the ending.
No Ultra Flap
- Video: 18.174 by Tactical (2025)
The current strategy for NU flap is to perform WBSS for the entire lap, and as such uses Wario Bike. King Boo and automatic transmission are used to increase the handling stat.
The setup involves using a mushroom to wallclip over the invisible wall, then landing on the seam. This is done between the first and second turn, where the wall is lowest. The WBSS state can be accessed from this seam. The setup continues by doing a lap in reverse, to allow for more time to build excess EV. The lap is started with almost 200 EV, ensuring that the speed cap of 120 u/f is maintained for the entire lap. The second and third mushrooms are not used.
No Glitch 3lap
Funky Kong + Spear is optimal; it's the fastest bike combo, and its low drift is sufficient for the track.
- First turn: Hard drift to the right. Minor optimizations include getting a small landing bounce, and doing a small spindrift with a couple neutral inputs, for a tighter drift. A quickhop is performed to align to the left after exiting the turn.
- Second turn: A chain happens right before the turn, so it's slightly faster to hop early and spend less time below 98.4 u/f. The drift starts with soft inputs briefly, before switching to hard right.
- Third turn: Taken suboptimally on purpose. In preparation of the ramp, the miniturbo must be released much further right than normal. The curb is used for greater hop airtime, and to gain roll rotation; the combination of rotation conversion from the curb, and the extended spindrift, allows for a very tight drift line. An extended quickhop is done exiting the turn, to align to the left.
- Ramp lowtrick: With the angle exiting the third turn, optimal wheelie turning, and a twist chain, it is possible to hold the wheelie through the air and land close to the ramp. The best airtime QM lands a bit short of the ramp, thus dropping to ~71 u/f from the offroad is forced. Aiming for the edge of the ramp precisely, using a short slipdrift, allows for a lowtrick, with STA to gain speed in the air. This strategy for the ramp lands much further left than other methods, eliminating the rehop before the shroom.
- Offroad cut: The mushroom is used here on every lap. It is delayed as much as possible, by hopping late from the curb, and doing a wallclip on the corner of the wall. Despite this wallclip gaining (a small amount of) height, its main purpose is to change the bike's alignment to the right, so it was allowed in No Glitch. The combination of the spinhop and wallclip allow for a tight landing angle. Small bounces upon landing are common, and prevented because they delay acceleration from the shroom. A low spindrift is done shortly after landing to set up a good drift through the shortcut. A small airtime pocket upon exiting allows for a better exit line.
- QM locks: The only QM lock is the ramp lowtrick. Landing further ahead decreases the window of positions which allow for a proper lowtrick, until it is no longer possible to perform. Small improvements were found on lap 3, but do not allow for a ramp lowtrick.
No Glitch Flap
- Video: 21.325 by Corvid (2024)
Like for the NG 3lap, Funky Kong + Spear are used for high top speed.
- Lap entry + first turn: The flap is entered on the right curb; this not only reduces distance driven, but also allows to reduce the airtime from the first turn hop with a spindrift, using TF physics.
- Second + third turn: The first mushroom is used here, to cut through the third turn tighter. It's faster than the first turn shroom by about a frame. Getting airtime out of the curb after the third turn is a small optimization.
- Ramp lowtrick: The second mushroom is used on the sand before the ramp, setting up for a RFH low trick with STA. The wheelie is dropped briefly to facilitate starting RFH. With good QM, low airtime can be gotten while touching the soft wall behind the ramp, allowing for one frame of direct position update (up to ~164 u/f). The shroom is used early to allow for optimal boost distribution with the following trick boost.
- Offroad cut: The third mushroom is used here. Very similar to the 3lap, although the wallclip is not necessary for a good line.
History
TODO: History of all strat developements. Section devoted to supergrinding as well as one for the ultra shortcut and all the theories that led to its discovery.
TAS Competitions
Luigi Circuit has featured in three tasks of the MKWii TAS Competition (Task 2 2020, Task 2 2023, Christmas Task 2023).
Future
Known timesaves
UR 3lap
- Implementing the ultra shortcut would bring the TAS well below the 50 seconds mark. A preliminary route involves performing SG and SH on lap 1, then doing two ultras to skip laps 2 and 3.
UR Flap
- Marth improved the flap to a 10.324, mostly by performing a tighter ultra and improving the superslide landing.
NU 3lap
- Monster and Marth have a 19.446 lap 1 using SG and SH. Were a full 3lap run finished, it would bring the TAS under 58 seconds.
NG Flap
- Starting the lap with different QM, to allow for the best soft wall interaction possible at the ramp.
- Delaying the hop on the first turn by a couple frames was a missed small optimization.
- At the cut, there is a 1 f bounce during shroom acceleration, which can likely be prevented.
Potential timesaves
NU 3lap
- A potential route using supersliding; shroom off the ramp for height, land on the road seam at the last turn and continue supersliding from there.
References