Hop

The hop is a basic driving mechanic in Mario Kart Wii. Hops are exclusive to the manual drift type.

Overview

Hops can be initiated on the ground at any time, by pressing B or R while holding A. Internally, the drift button is what actually triggers the hop, rather than the B/R input. Hops can only occur if IV is greater than 10 u/f, otherwise a stand-still miniturbo is initiated. Hops can also be performed if IV is negative, in particular while reversing using button switching; in this case, IV must be lower than -10 u/f.

Hopping causes the vehicle to gain a small amount of vertical EV, usually going airborne as a result. On flat ground, all vehicles go airborne for 13 frames. For bikes in a wheelie, the center point is lifted from the ground by varing amounts, causing the hop airtime out of a wheelie to change depending on bike length, from 14 to 17 frames. The bike's orientation relative to the ground is not updated for 2 frames when hopping.

Hops are generally used to initiate a drift, by pressing a directional input in the air and holding B/R when landing. After this directional input, the ability to turn during the hop is disabled; bikes still retain the ability to lean during the hop, however. Hopping automatically cancels wheelies which costs IV, so bikes want to reduce time spent hopping as much as possible.

Techniques

Vertical inputs

Vertical inputs have a small effect on pitch rotation, even during the small hop airtime. On bikes, due to rotation conversion, the yaw rotation changes slightly upon landing into a drift; holding up usually helps turn in the direction of the drift, and holding down has the opposite effect.

By holding down during the hop, it is possible to reduce airtime by 1 frame on flat ground with certain bikes, notably Spear and Mach Bike. This happens because the bike has pitch rotation due to the wheelie, rotates around its center point when hopping out of the wheelie, and holding down causes the bike to lean back very slightly, allowing the back wheel to make contact with the ground sooner. This airtime reduction is easier to perform with a delay drift, and with lower pitch rotation (both important to get 15 f hops on SNES Mario Circuit 3 NG).

Angle hop

On the frame that the hop is started, the vehicle is still considered grounded, and it can turn without slowdown with a directional input. The angle hop frame has no effect on committing to a drift; for example, it is possible to turn right with an angle hop, then wait until the last airtime frame to commit to a left drift.

Rehop

Rehopping simply refers to hopping out of a wheelie, realigning during the hop, then starting a wheelie again. Rehops cause a large speed drop, since the wheelie is cancelled and there is no boost to quickly accelerate. In certain situations, they are the best movement option for realignments too sharp for optimal wheelie turning, but too shallow for a drift.

Rehops are more effective for bikes with a 0.9 T2 acceleration stat, such as Spear or Sneakster. This is because their acceleration curve allows for much stronger acceleration at the start of the wheelie, while other bikes have slow acceleration for the entire wheelie.

Grounded hop

The term grounded hop refers to any hop with 0 frame airtime. Performing a grounded hop into a drift allows the miniturbo charge to start immediately, which is very fast for bikes. However, grounded hops are very situational as they can't be performed on flat ground. Common ways to get grounded hops include hopping into an uphill slope (it gets easier on steeper slopes, but with the right positioning it's possible on many shallow slopes too), or hopping with high roll rotation.

Quickhop

A quickhop is any grounded hop performed immediately after a miniturbo, to realign quickly. Quickhops are commonly performed on most inside-drift bikes, because they gain significant roll rotation during a drift (except Sneakster, which can't quickhop due to its hitbox). Outside-drift bikes gain much less roll rotation during a drift, so quickhops are only possible with a few large bikes such as the Shooting Star.

Quickhops usually last 3-5 frames so to not lose speed, although they can be extended for longer, as seen on Luigi Circuit NG 3lap. This is because it takes a few frames for IV to increase up to boost max speed, so the wheelie can be delayed without speed loss until the frame before max speed is reached.

Typical inputs for a quickhop are as follows; release B for one frame to stop drifting, then press B (with any directional input), and press D-pad up to wheelie as soon as the hop ends. If possible, releasing B for two frames (and turning) can save a very small amount of time. The quickhop follows the same mechanic as other hops, so the first frame is the angle hop frame, and from the second frame onwards, the first direction input commits to a drift.

Quickhops can result in airtime during boost acceleration, which loses significant time. This can happen due to low roll rotation, sloping in the ground (quickhops work best on flat ground), or other factors. Experimenting with the inputs may be necessary to get a grounded hop; in particular, using a ±1 input for the drift commit frame and the angle hop frame, or delaying the drift commit, can help in removing airtime.

Rapid fire hopping

Main article: Rapid fire hopping

Repeatedly performing grounded hops every other frame forces the vehicle's orientation relative to the ground to never update. Visually, this causes it to get stuck in the ground as it moves, not changing in rotation even over slope changes.

Supergrinding

Main article: Supergrinding

During RFH, the vehicle's wheels do not make proper contact with the ground, placing the vehicle in a low-traction state where wheel EV decay doesn't occur. Bikes are able to repeatedly lean during this state to gain EV, resulting in a major speed increase.

Unlike other major EV exploits, some of the speed during supergrinding comes from interactions with the terrain, too. All vehicles can gain a lot of EV by performing RFH through a downhill slope, including karts, which can't perform "proper" SGs due to their inability to lean.

Spinhop

Bikes retain the ability to lean in a hop, giving them some control over the trajectory of the hop even after committing to a drift. Starting a left drift, then leaning to the right (or vice-versa) is known as a spinhop. Spinhops are performed done as a rehop for realignment, but typically lead into a spindrift, allowing for tighter initial rotation than usual.

Superhopping

Main article: Superhopping

On outside-drift bikes only, it is possible to gain significant EV by drifting, which rotates the IV vector away from the facing direction, then repeatedly spinhopping. This causes the EV gained by leaning to not be dissipated fully by wheel decay and EV to IV conversion, which makes it possible to accumulate enough EV to move at 120 u/f for extended periods of time.