Trick
The trick is a speed boost technique in Mario Kart Wii.
Overview
Tricks can be initiated after colliding with trickable road, by pressing any direction on the D-pad (or flicking in any direction with Wii Wheel or Nunchuk). The D-pad input can be pressed up to the 10th frame of airtime leaving the trickable road; additionally, the D-pad input can be buffered up to 13 frames before leaving the trickable surface.
For a trick to actually be triggered, the magnitude of the IV vector must be at least 50% of its regular max base speed. (It is possible to trick while moving backwards with sufficient negative IV.) Additionally, the vehicle must get airtime from the trickable road, and be airborne on the 3rd frame after leaving it. Internally, the game uses a value called trickable timer, which is set to 3 while the vehicle is touching trickable road, and counts down each frame in the air; the trick can only be initiated once the trickable timer is 0, if the vehicle is airborne on the frame the timer hits 0.
After being triggered, tricks play an animation according to the D-pad direction and the trick type. There are two types of tricks: stunt tricks and flip tricks (single or double flip). The trick type is determined by the collision and can't be changed: flip tricks come from boost ramps, and stunt tricks come from any other trickable road. Whether a boost ramp results in a single flip trick or double flip trick depends on the ramp's height and angle.
Tricking redirects the IV vector upwards at an angle dependent on the trick type and the weight class of the vehicle, as detailed in the table below. Vehicles in heavier weight classes trick lower, resulting in lower trajectories. The IV angle relative to the XZ-plane is also capped at the values in the table below; thus, for tricks on very steep ramps, the IV vector will not be redirected much or at all.
| Stunt tricks | Flip tricks | |
|---|---|---|
| Lightweights | 15° (40°) | 20° (45°) |
| Mediumweights | 13° (36°) | 18° (42°) |
| Heavyweights | 11° (32°) | 16° (39°) |
If bikes are in a wheelie when the trick animation starts, the wheelie is canceled. As soon as the trick is triggered, the trick cooldown value is set to 5, and begins counting down. The vehicle receives a trick boost when the trick cooldown value is zero and the vehicle is grounded. All trick boosts increase max speed by 30%, and IV accelerates at a rate of 6 u/f^2. Trick boosts have priority over all other boost types, including mushrooms which are otherwise stronger. The length of the boost depends on the trick type, as well as the vehicle type. Stunt trick boosts last 45 frames for bikes and 40 frames for karts, single flip trick boosts for 80 and 70 frames respectively, and double flip tricks for 95 and 85 frames respectively.
Techniques
Trick boosts are long and powerful, but performing tricks is slow because of the forced wheelie cancel (for bikes) and airtime. Tricks are generally optimized by reducing airtime as much as possible, through many different techniques. The term low trick refers to the act of reducing trick airtime in general.
Delay trick
Waiting as long as possible to trick (10th airtime frame) delays the vertical speed, reducing height. Delay tricks on the last frame are almost always fastest. However, in sections with long stretches of trickable road, delaying the trick fully may cause the next trick to occur on the first possible frame (3rd airtime frame), due to the 13 frame buffer; in this case, it's better to trick slightly early, so that the second trick can also be delayed.
It is possible to delay the trick further by leaving the trickable surface for 1 frame, landing for 1 frame, then going airborne again. In this case, the first airtime frame is a necessary condition for tricking; the grounded frame happens while the trickable timer is 1, thus only resets airtime; the first frame of the new airtime coincides trickable timer hitting 0. All conditions for tricking are satisfied, and the trick can be started anywhere between the 1st and 10th frame of the new airtime. This is currently used on SNES Ghost Valley 2 NG, on the yellow ramp trick, to simultaneously remove the slow ramp's speed lock and delay the trick to the 11th frame after touching the ramp.
Hop trick
Hopping off of a trickable surface counts as leaving it, so it can be used to start a trick early (useful for getting double tricks). A hop trick often leads to increased airtime compared to driving or drifting off a trickable ramp, so it is usually slower unless the extra height is needed or beneficial.
The most notable use of hop tricking is for slow ramp low tricks. Hopping on the first frame of touching the slow ramp replaces the ramp's vertical speed with the hop's, which is much lower. Hop tricks are the most effective way to reduce slow ramp airtime.
Drift trick
Drifting off of a trickable surface allows for reduced airtime, by using TF physics. This is mostly useful for inside-drift bikes, as they gain much more roll rotation by drifting. In general, it is best to start the drift such that the first drift frame happens right before going airborne.
Karts can't use drift tricks to reduce height, because they can't lean like bikes. However, drift tricks are still useful on karts to realign in the air.
Wall trick
Wall tricks are performed on flip trick ramps with bikes. Clipping a wall during a trick updates the vehicle's movement direction to match its pitch rotation, without any speed loss. For bikes, the animation of down flip tricks causes them to quickly rotate to face downwards. Thus, performing a wall clip during the trick animation causes the bike's vertical speed to be directed down, reducing airtime.
Bikes change their orientation very quickly during flip tricks. Many different trajectories are possible, depending on the exact frame that the wall clip occurs. The optimal clip frame depends on the situation, and is typically a compromise between facing down (reduced airtime) and facing forwards (better horizontal speed).
RFH trick
Rapid fire hopping locks the vehicle's angle relative to the ground. When driving off a trickable ramp with RFH, the lower pitch rotation results in the vehicle's IV pointing lower, reducing airtime significantly. This is generally the best way to reduce airtime after steep trick ramps. RFH tricks can also be combined with drift tricks (simply hold B at the end of the ramp) and wall tricks to reduce airtime even more.
On the other hand, ending the RFH right before the end of the trickable ramp causes an ejection, as well as reset the bike's rotation. This leads to much higher airtime than normal. RFH high tricks are slower for regular driving, but can be useful for shortcuts, for example on Bowser's Castle.
Double trick
Double tricks can be performed on sufficiently long trickable ramps. Tricking early on a long ramp and then landing back on the ramp to perform a second trick allows the vehicle to maintain trick boost (and higher IV) in the air. There are many methods to perform double tricks, but one common strategy is to drive along the very edge of a long ramp to ensure that you get early airtime and a low trick that lands instantly back on the ramp.
Side trick abuse
Side trick abuse, or STA, is a bike-exclusive technique involving leaning. STA can be performed with any type of left or right trick.
During side stunt tricks, the bike rotates about 90° sideways during the animation. Side flip tricks are similar, with the bike quickly rotating clockwise or counterclockwise. In both cases, the IV vector is unaffected, even though the bike is rotated sideways. Leaning during this animation causes EV to directed forwards or backwards, and converts to IV.
Leaning forwards is known as STA. This corresponds to holding in the direction of the bike's back wheel during the trick. For stunt tricks, hold left for left tricks, and right for right tricks; for flip tricks, hold left for right tricks, and left for right tricks. For double flip tricks specifically, bikes rotate fast enough that they begin facing the other direction before the 20th frame of airtime, so the direction to hold switches along with the bike's orientation.
STA can increase IV in the air by up to ~7 u/f. Additionally, during stunt tricks, the bike gains a small amount of roll rotation, so STA also slightly increases airtime due to TF physics.
Leaning backwards is known as reverse side trick abuse, or RSTA. The inputs are the opposite of STA for each trick type. RSTA causes IV to decrease by up to ~7 u/f, and also slightly decreases airtime during stunt tricks. RSTA is almost always worse than a regular trick, the main exception being reducing airtime from slow ramps.
Jammed trick
Landing on the ground while the trick cooldown timer has not yet expired causes the trick boost to be delayed until the cooldown hits zero. Going airborne again, before the cooldown expires, causes the boost to be delayed until landing a second time. Any trick which is delayed this way is known as a jammed trick.
While the vehicle is grounded, it is able to gain IV if a (previous) boost is active, and it can perform any ground action, such as hopping, drifting, or wheelieing. Wheelie tricks (or wheelie triggers) involve starting a wheelie during a jammed trick. Wheelie tricks allow bike to enter the wheelie state, using a (previous) boost to quickly reach max speed, then move in the air at high speed while "storing" a trick, and trigger the boost upon landing again. This is particularly useful in sections with lots of trickable terrain, to wheelie in-between tricks and better space out trick boosts.
Another notable application of jammed tricks is slow ramp abuse. Touching the ground removes the slow ramp's speed lock, allowing the vehicle to drive at much higher speed through the air while tricking.
Tilt lock
On bikes only, performing any side stunt trick decreases the amount the player can rotate when taildiving. Internally, this occurs because the game adds 0.4 to the player's vertical (Y-joystick) input represented as a number between -1 and 1. (The output is then clamped again to be within this range.) This effectively means that the player can only input between -0.6 and 1 during side tricks, thus reducing taildiving rotation to 60% of its usual value.
Notably, up/down stunt tricks do not reset the "trick type" flag, so any up/down stunt trick performed after a side stunt trick will continue to have this decreased taildiving rotation. (The bike will also rotate to face down more than usual during trick animations.) This state is known as tilt lock. It can be cleared by initiating any flip trick, which resets the trick type flag and sets rotation back to normal.
In most situations, nosediving during up/down stunt tricks is optimal, making tilt lock inconsequential. However, if taildiving is better, tilt lock prevents the bike to face up as much, affecting its rotation upon landing. For example, on SNES Ghost Valley 2 NG 3lap, tilt lock causes the bike to not drift as tight upon landing from the trick ramp, so it's better to only perform a side trick on the slow ramp on lap 3, despite it being faster due to STA.
Rotation conversion
Due to rotation conversion, the pitch rotation upon landing affects how quickly yaw rotation changes upon landing. If the bike needs to drift immediately upon landing, landing while the bike is facing in the opposite direction due to the trick animation causes it to drift more sharply, as the bike quickly corrects to its proper rotation upon landing. As such, it is better to perform a left trick when landing into a left drift, and vice-versa.
Nosediving during tricks is generally optimal; not only it reduce airtime, but landing on the nose of the bike causes it to turn more sharply upon landing too, due to rotation conversion. However, landing in a full nosedive usually causes the bike to bounce upon landing, due to the tire being pushed too far into the ground and suspension forcing a rebound. This can be prevented by nosediving for most of the trick, and taildiving shortly before landing.
For the same reason, down flip tricks often allow bikes to turn the most out of any trick direction upon landing.
Zipper tricks
TO DO: unfinished
Zipper tricks behave differently from regular tricks. Zipper tricks can only be initiated if the IV vector is sufficiently angled up relative to the zipper surface. When driving off a zipper, the game immediately predicts the zipper trick airtime, based on the angle and magnitude of the IV vector; a zipper trick can only be initiated if the calculated airtime is 51 or greater. However, zipper tricks below 51 airtime are possible if the animation of the vehicle causes it to hit collision early, such as on Rainbow Road.
Trick directions can affect movement upon landing, but have no effect during the zipper trick itself. Stick inputs also have no effect while the vehicle is on a zipper, whether it is tricking or not.
Like regular trick boosts, zipper trick boosts increase maximum speed by 30%, and IV at a rate of 6 u/f^2. They have priority over other boost types, even if faster. Zipper trick boost length is not dependent by vehicle type; a zipper trick lasts 100 frames, while driving off a zipper without tricking gives 50 frames of boost. Both types of zipper boosts provide offroad immunity, and double handling and automatic drift tightness, as long as they are active.
When tricking off a zipper, the vehicle does not properly go airborne, but rather drives on wall collision while the trick animation plays out. Under the right conditions, it is possible to stick to the walls and wrap around a corner during a zipper trick.
Double tricks are possible by getting landing bounces.