Wario's Gold Mine

Wario's Gold Mine is the fourth and final course of the Flower Cup in Mario Kart Wii.

Overview

Current BKTs

Type	Unrestricted	No Ultra	No Glitch
3lap	29.641	1:47.192
Flap	7.218	34.734

Wario's Gold Mine has a 3lap viable ultra shortcut, and currently benefits from delayed lap counts, wallclips, superhopping, and supersliding in both 3lap and flap categories. Hence, it has three 3lap and three flap categories. However, neither a NU 3lap nor NU flap TAS exist, so the NG 3lap and NG flap are those records respectively for the time being.

Unrestricted 3lap

Video: 29.641 by Monster and Marth (2021)

The current strategy for UR 3lap is to perform the ultra shortcut. This is done with a mushroom each lap to hop off the track and OOB hop off the nearest warp pipe up under the bridge. From there, you drive into the tunnel to hit the last KCP, then perform a wall bonk SSMT to turn around and accelerate. While accelerating, wiggle strat is used. Finally, a slip drift is done to charge a miniturbo, which allows for a spin hop over the last turn that itself turns into another miniturbo, followed by another wall bonk SSMT (this time off the right side finish pole). These strategies are repeated on laps 2 and 3, with the exception of lap 3 not featuring the slip drift, and simply just having a single drift into the last turn.

Unrestricted Flap

Video: 7.218 by Monster (2023)

The current strategy for the UR flap is to perform the ultra shortcut. The premise of the route is to get into a superslide state in the second half of the lap, build up enough EV to perform a delayed lap count shroomless, get into another superslide state in the first half of the lap, build up enough EV to enter the lap and perform the pole clip variant of the ultra with 1 mushroom, hit the last KCP, and then use two mushrooms to reach the finish line.

Although it would seem like the choice for this is Wario Bike for WBSS, the Wario Bike cannot get past the last turn in a superslide state. Even though Spear has a method to perform the delayed lap count shroomless which avoids the unstable last turn level drop in a superslide, and it can get past the unstable first turn level drop in a superslide, it cannot do so without sacrificing the approach angle and EV necessary to perform the pole clip with 1 mushroom. So, Dolphin Dasher is used as the fastest vehicle able to do so (the only other being Jet Bubble, which has the same speed but worse drift).

In order to get into a superslide state, you must trick off the zipper behind the finish line and RFH towards the edge of the track, aiming underneath the bridge onto the nearest pipe. As with the UR 3lap, an OOB hop is sufficient to get up to the bridge, and the superslide state is entered. From here, you build EV and reverse to navigate around the last turn, ejecting around the finish line onto the outside of the gray fence. From here, you can seam ride until starting the second superslide from the top of the hill all the way backwards to the finish line, where the pole clip is performed with 1 mushroom as planned. The rest of the lap is basically a lap of the UR 3lap with an extra 2 mushrooms for faster acceleration and higher top speed.

No Glitch 3lap

Video: 1:47.192 by DashQC (2022)

The current strategy for the NG 3lap is to drive 3 laps normally, taking the right path each lap.

To begin the race, a custom start slide is performed which allows you to move further horizontally than usual (typical start slides optimize for forward movement). Being further to the right sets up a good angle for a clip drift off the right fence, which chains into another drift. Exiting the second drift, a quick hop is used to realign towards the bottom of the downhill, as you fall off the track, skipping the turn. You land from the turnskip on the boost panel, which lets you extend your wheelie time on the uphill slightly (while also giving you a speed boost). Before the wheelie drops, the first mushroom is used, which prevents you from driving this section under wheelie speed.

A miniturbo is charged during the drift around the next turn, and released when the boost runs out. On the following turn, the trickable track edge is used to cut the turn, and upon landing from the trick, a hop trick is used to get even more boost. When entering the cave, a bat clip is performed to rehop while retaining top speed. The following turn is skipped similarly to the first downhill. For the boost ramp, a drift trick is performed which lands you directly on the minecart track.

An edge drift is used on the very soft next turn. Then, instead of taking the shortcut path (which is faster under normal circumstances), a sliver of non-sticky road is used to detach from the sticky road and avoid the long downhill/uphill path, making it faster. A spin hop is used to get onto the sliver, a wheelie is used during the detach, and a slip drift is used upon landing to realign for the last turn.

Exactly the same strategies are used on laps 2 and 3, except for the lap 3 bat clip, where a slip drift is used due to the position of the bats making a rehop impossible/slower.

No Glitch Flap

Video: 34.734 by Akari, Marth, Luke, and Ejay (2020)

The current strategy for the NG flap is to drive 1 lap normally.

Just prior to finishing lap 1, a trick is performed off the halfpipe; its boost carrying into the next lap. From here, many incorrect or outdated strategies are used. On the first turn, a mushroom is used to perform the turnskip instead of it being done shroomless. At the main shroomspot, a mushroom is not even used. At the bats, a mushroom is used to charge a miniturbo during a drift instead of performing a bat clip. Most notably, the shortcut path is not taken, and the third mushroom is used to charge another miniturbo during a drift leading into that turn.

History

TODO: History of all strat developements. Section devoted to the ultra shortcut and its many variations over time, specifically recent ones, and the plethora of NG strats, most importantly bat clip and detach.

TAS Competitions

Wario's Gold Mine has featured in six tasks of the MKWii TAS Competition (Task 8 2020, Task 1 2021, Task 19 2021, Task 4 2023, Task 13 2023, Christmas Task 2023).

Future

Future categories

NU 3lap

• Using an ODB to perform superhopping is faster. This would create a new category, no longer making the current NG 3lap also the current NU 3lap.

NU Flap

• Using an ODB to perform superhopping is faster. This would create a new category, no longer making the current NG Flap also the current NU Flap.
• In addition, using the Wario Bike to perform WBSS upon entering the lap and until the first downhill may be faster.

Known timesaves

UR 3lap

• Using an ODB to perform superhopping is faster.
• Using an ODB to ODB supergrind and then ODB clip the right finish pole is faster than the traditional pipe bounce, and Bit Bike is the best vehicle to use.

NG 3lap

• The start slide and clip drift sequence can be improved by about a frame (proven by Citrinitas).
• The lap 1 double trick can be improved by several frames (proven by CampbellMop).
• The lap 3 last turn can be improved by 0.001s (proven by CampbellMop).
• As a result, the entire TAS can be improved with better optimization.

UR Flap

• Performing the delayed lap count pole clip with a supergrind ejection and 2 mushrooms is faster than doing the same with a superslide ejection and 1 mushroom.
• Additionally, using an ODB SG to clip the right finish pole (as described above), but using 2 mushrooms, and then perform superhopping on the last turn is faster than the delayed lap count strategies altogether.

NG Flap

• Using one of the three mushrooms on the first uphill (as done in the NG 3lap) is faster than all three shroomspots used in the current TAS.
• Performing a bat clip at the bats section (as done in the NG 3lap) is faster, whether or not a mushroom is used there.
• Performing the detach strategy on the main path (as done in the NG 3lap) is faster than taking the shortcut path.

Potential timesaves

NG 3lap

• It is unclear whether or not drifting left upon landing from the detach strategy is slower.
• It is unclear whether or not performing the double miniturbo strategy on the last turn of laps 1 and 2 is slower.

UR Flap

• Using the Wario Bike to perform the superslide delayed lap count and superslide ejection clip strategy to clip the right finish pole using 1 mushroom has neither been proven possible nor proven faster (as described above, the superslide needed to perform the delayed lap count has been proven possible using a wall squeeze to get over the last turn, but the delayed lap count itself and the superslide to get over the first turn have not).

NG Flap

• It is currently unknown exactly which two shroomspots would be next fastest after the 3lap shroomspot out of the first downhill turnskip (as done in the NG flap), the bats section turn (as done in the NG flap), the edge drift turn, the turn after the edge drift (as done in a former NG flap), the turn leading into the detach strategy, and the landing from the detach.