Transcription
This top 10 shortcuts list is not biased. In fact, I went out of my way to try to make it with science. Let me explain.
A long time ago, I made a video with the exact same premise, trying to answer the question of what are the top 10 best shortcuts in Mario Kart Wii. Admittedly, I didn't answer that question very well, and I didn't put much thought into it either. So, I'm redoing it now in a slightly better way.
But first, we have to answer the question: what makes one shortcut better than another? There are two things I factored while making this list. Number one, the amount of time the shortcut saves, and number two, its difficulty.
I came up with this formula: I took the amount of time the shortcut saved, divided by 1.22 raised to the difficulty score. So, what is the difficulty score? About a week ago, I put out a survey asking people to rank a whole bunch of shortcuts in Mario Kart Wii on a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of difficulty. The difficulty score is the average response for each track in the survey. That way, if the difficulty score is higher, the overall shortcut score will be lower.
You might be wondering how I came to this 1.22 number. Basically, it has to do with difficulty not being as important as how much time the shortcut saves, in my opinion. As you improve at the game, shortcuts that were difficult before aren't going to be as difficult later. That's why I didn't go with a linear approach. I'll explain it a little bit more in a comment below if you'd like to see.
I used this formula on each track and got a score that reflects pretty well what I expected, but with a couple twists that you probably didn't see coming. Shout outs to all you grass shortcut fans; you guys are going to love this!
Using this formula, I'm going to go over the top 10 shortcuts in Mario Kart Wii, along with some honorable mentions and the LVP. That's right, the worst shortcut in Mario Kart Wii is going to be revealed. I can't wait for you guys to see this!
All of the scores ended up ranging from about 0 to 4.5, with 4.5 being far and away really good and 0 being, well, terrible. Of course, nothing actually got a zero because a shortcut has to save some amount of time. The median score was a 1.423, which should give you a sense of scale for some of these shortcuts in the top 10.
One last thing: if the shortcut could be done shroomless, I gave it an additional 0.5. I think it's safe to say it's a bonus if a shortcut can be done shroomless, and overall, it just makes it a better shortcut.
Okay, I'm not going to spoil anything else. Let's just get into the top 10.
Number 10 is the DK Summit double. The DK Summit double had a score of 1.98, just barely not making it past the two mark. It saves about 2.1 seconds, can be done shroomless, and got an average difficulty rating of 3. This is not normal, by the way; the difficulty ratings were rounded to the nearest eighth decimal place, and it somehow just happened to be 3.
2.7 seconds is a reasonable amount of time to save for a shortcut. In case you're wondering, the DK Summit single also got considered for this list, and it actually fell slightly below average at 1.379, so it's definitely pulling its weight for how easy it is.
Anyway, that's the DK Summit double at number 10. Let's move on to number nine.
Number nine is the Mario Raceway shroom spot. It got a score of 2.045. Tiny little spoiler: this is not going to be the last grass shortcut we see on this list, but it's very easy to see why they would make it. They're super easy and save a ton of time.
Now, here's a slightly controversial part of the video. So, what do we consider shortcuts? Why don't we consider the entire golden route that you can take, including this shortcut, as a shortcut? Well, that's arbitrary. I chose not to, but if you would consider that a shortcut, that makes sense, I guess. If I did consider it for this list, it would probably be really high, but I didn't.
Number eight is the Delfino Square mud shortcut, with a score of 2.22. The mud shortcut saves about 3.1 seconds and got a difficulty score of 1.68. I don't know about y'all, but when I was just starting the game, I actually thought this was kind of difficult because you really have to hold right here. If you don't have a good drift on your vehicle, you might have to use two mushrooms.
Once you get the hang of it, though, you're probably never going to fail it. It's really not that hard, and considering how much time it saves, sometimes this shortcut is the difference between winning and losing. It's just a really impactful shortcut.
Going to number seven, we've got the Grumble Volcano respawn, with a score of 2.49. This one has a different difficulty score of 2.02 and saves about 3.6 seconds. Honestly, 2.02? Are you sure, guys? Are you sure it's not like 1? This shortcut is really easy. I'm pretty sure you can do it with every vehicle too, but with the Flame Runner, I mean, you can TF it, you can wheelie, you can hop, you can do a lot of things, and you'll make it.
It still does have a low difficulty score, though, so I can't say it's too far off my expectations. Very good shortcut. This one and the Rock Hop defined the way Grumble Volcano was played.
Just outside of the top five at number six, we have the Peach Gardens flower shortcut. We already saw one grass shortcut; this one is significantly easier and saves more time. It saves 3.1 seconds and has by far the lowest difficulty score at 1.06.
People will go backwards at the start of the race so that they can get mushrooms and take this shortcut. Sure, taking it on lap one isn't exactly going to make or break your race, but taking it on laps one, two, and potentially three? That's a pretty good race if you're saving 9 seconds over the course of the race, and it's pretty much free. Yeah, that's the recipe for a really good shortcut.
Jumping into the top five, we have the Grumble Volcano Rock Hop, with a score of 2.53. The Rock Hop saves the most time that we've seen on this list so far at 5.2 seconds, but has a difficulty rating of 3.62. It's easy to see the advantages that this shortcut has over the respawn, you know, because you don't have to respawn.
So, it's 100% worth it to learn how to go for this one instead of just settling to go for the respawn every time. Although keep in mind, the respawn does have a 2.49 score, so that's pretty close. But yeah, the Rock Hop is better, so I definitely recommend learning this one.
At number four is the Delfino Square double. Now, we talked about the mud shortcut earlier; we didn't talk about the dock because that didn't make the top 10. But if you combine the two, then you get the double, and it's pretty easy to see why this shortcut is a lot better than just the mud cut.
It got a score of 2.651, with a difficulty of 2.52. So, on average, the shortcut is a little harder than the mud cut, but if I'm going to be honest, I would disagree. The double shortcut kind of gives you a really good angle going into the mud cut, which makes that a little bit easier.
Considering you're using a mushroom to go over the water, that's pretty easy too. So, I would say this is a little easier than the difficulty score gives it credit for. It also saves 4.3 seconds, which is really good. It takes maybe 15 minutes to learn how to do this one if you've never played Mario Kart Wii before, so go pick it up. Great shortcut, super worthy of the top four.
Going into the top three, we've got a shortcut that might have been carried by the shroomless factor, and it's easy to see why. It got a difficulty score of 1.81 and saves about 3.1 seconds. This is a shortcut that's a necessity to do online. There are a whole bunch of methods to do it, the most obvious and easiest being to slow down and then hop to the right.
But there's a slightly better method: if it's blocked, you go up the hill like the old 28 World Records do. It will avoid a lot of traps if there are traps on the turn, and believe me, there will be a lot of traps on the turn. This might be the most trapped shortcut in the game, but assuming there's no one around you to bump you off the track and there's no traps, then it's pretty easy. It saves a lot of time, and you do it shroomless. Really good shortcut.
Now for our top two, which are far and away the best shortcuts on this list. Third place, DK Mountain, had a score of 2.663. Second place, the Bowser Castle 3 Ultra, has a score of 3.767. The Ultra saves by far the most time out of any shortcut on this list at 6.9 seconds, and you can do it shroomless. It got a 3.76 difficulty rating.
For reference, the highest difficulty rating was a 4.12 given to the Bowser's Castle glitch, and I believe the 3.76 given to the Ultra is the second highest. So, very difficult, but it saves so much time.
Number one is the regular Bowser Castle 3 shortcut. It got a score of 4.161, the only shortcut to get above four. It saves 6.3 seconds, can be done shroomless, and got a difficulty score of 2.72, which concludes our top 10 list.
Now, I want to talk about some honorable mentions and maybe some dishonorable mentions too. Let's start with honorable mentions. The five shortcuts that just barely didn't make the cut were the GV2 shroom, the Mushroom Gorge gap jump, the Waluigi Stadium mud cut, the Dry Dry Ruins Ultra, and the Bowser's Castle Wii glitch.
The Bowser's Castle Wii glitch just barely didn't make it into the top 10 by 0.077. Maybe if I got more accurate data on how much time each shortcut saves, Bowser's Castle Wii would be in the top 10, but I'm not entirely sure, so that's up to your speculation.
I was really expecting the Mushroom Gorge gap jump to make a push into the top 10. I think of this one as a poster child of shortcuts in Mario Kart Wii. It's a real shame it couldn't get up there, but still above average. I'll take it.
Side note: the Desert Hills Hills shortcut got a score of 1.423, and GCN Mario Circuit also got a score of 1.423. I thought that was really funny, and it turned out to be the median. I guess that would make 1.423 the median and the mode. Just thought it was a funny little fact to throw at y'all.
And for the great reveal, the worst shortcut on this list, unfortunately, is the Koopa Cape hippity hoppity strat. We got a score of 0.299, which is a real shame because this might be my favorite shortcut of all time. It saves 0.5 seconds and requires a mushroom. You might as well be saving 0.5 seconds by using a mushroom on a straightaway anyway, so I don't even know what the shortcut does, but it just looks so cool.
I'm honestly upset this made it to the bottom of the list. Free Koopa Cape hippity hoppity strat!
I know in my last shortcuts video, a lot of people got upset that I never showed the shortcuts that I was actually talking about, which makes a whole lot of sense. I guess I'm so used to knowing what the shortcuts are that when I talk about them, I don't have to think about what they are anymore.
But for the average new viewer, it can be confusing if you don't know what they are. So, don't worry, I showed all the shortcuts in action.
This is Stu. Stay safe, stay cute, stay loyal, 'cause I already know you are. Goodbye! [Music]