You might think 14 years on from its launch, not many people are still playing Mario Kart Wii. Especially since two new consoles with Mario Kart games of their own have launched since. Well, as with pretty much every major game from the past, Mario Kart Wii has a dedicated base of fans still attempting to unearth all of its tricks and secrets. What might well be one of the final ones left to discover has just been found.
The secret in question is a shortcut on the Mushroom Cup's Luigi's Circuit. This isn't your average shortcut, though. Unlike the sort of thing you can find on the original Rainbow Road where driving off the track at the exact right moment results in a significant chunk of time being shaved off each lap, this new trick requires some very precise driving with a big old side of glitches.
In fact, Jellopuff, the player responsible for this shortcut's discovery, highlights to the uninitiated that their discovery was tool-assisted. The shortcut is what's referred to in the Mario Kart speedrunning community as an ultra. An ultra is where a massive portion of the track is skipped but the game still records that a lap has been completed. In this instance, that can only happen after the player has performed a full lap while clipped through a wall.
After doing so, they pass entirely through the wall which triggers Lakitu to come pick them up and return their car to the track. Jellopuff then turns around, goes the wrong way for a short distance, then makes a second u-turn and crosses the finish line despite not having completed a whole other lap. While it isn't the sort of trick that will result in a new world record for the track, it will likely lead to a new fastest lap being set. However, since that lap will be part of a TAS, it won't make the cut in any official rankings.
Mario Kart Wii rarely makes speedrunning headlines. Mario Kart 64, on the other hand, is in the news on a semi-regular basis. Last year, one speedrunner managed to lay claim to every single course record in the game following an eight-year battle with some of their closest rivals. The controversy surrounding that achievement resulted in one of those rivals calling it quits.