Mario Kart 64 Shortcuts!!

Luigi Raceway
-------------------------------------
After coming out of the tunnel in Luigi Raceway, head toward the part where the gray wall 
meets the brick wall off to your left.Ê Look for the sixth brick from the left, and use a 
mushroom to blast toward it (right behind a tree).Ê Now jump with the R button as soon as 
you hit the wall.Ê If all goes well, you'll jump over the wall and skip the final curve of 
the course, saving you some precious seconds.Ê Note: This trick is hard to do consistently.

This one works really well in 1P GP mode, and it will work in any mode except Time Trial.Ê 
Get the Blue Spiny Shell on the second lap and hold on to it until you reach the end of the 
lap.Ê Also make sure that you are in 1st place as you approach the final lap.Ê At the very 
beginning of the final lap, fire the Blue Shell straight ahead, and then make a quick turn 
to the left.Ê If all goes well, the shell will knock you over the wall, and you'll land 
inside the tunnel, skipping half of the course! 
=======================================
Koopa Troopa Beach
-------------------------------------
Use the ramp just before the tunnel and jump just before you reach the end of the ramp. A 
mushroom is helpful, but not required. The other one is just a matter of driving through a 
narrow sandbar by veering off to the right just after the archway. ItÕs not as effective as 
the other one.
=======================================
Calimari Desert
-------------------------------------
If you manage to get a Star on either of the first two laps, head toward the tunnel by 
taking a left at the second railroad crossing. Just before you enter the tunnel, activate 
the Star and the lap counter will increase at a certain point inside the tunnel.

This trick requires a Shell, so it cannot be done in Time Trial. After getting a Blue 
Shell, take a left at the first railroad crossing and travel through the cave. Shortly 
after exiting, fire the shell and head directly toward it. This impact of the shell should 
send you over the guardrail and shorten the course significantly. Unlike my trick in Luigi 
Raceway, you donÕt have to be in first place to make this trick work. 
=======================================
Toad's Turnpike
-------------------------------------
Select any driver and make sure to have the map selected on your screen.Ê Drive along the 
regular course until you come to the part where the map overlaps itself.Ê Now make a sharp 
90 degree turn to the right, and head for the guardrail, but keep jumping with the R button 
until your kart lands on top of the guardrail.Ê At this point Lakitu will tow you back onto 
the course as usual.Ê As soon as Lakitu sets you down, hold both the A and B buttons down 
and hold the analog stick to the right, so that your driver will do a spin turn.Ê Do the 
spin turn until your kart is facing 90 degrees to the right, and release the analog stick 
and the B button.Ê At this point, you will see your kart driver from a profile view.Ê Now 
jump with the R button before you make contact with the guardrail.Ê If all goes well, you 
will jump through the wall and off the course into a lake.Ê Depending on where you land, 
Lakitu may tow you onto a later section of the course! If you don't end up going through 
the wall and end up on the guardrail instead, then repeat the process beginning with the 
spin turn to right.Ê You should eventually get this to work, but it takes a LOT of 
practice.Ê Lakitu always tows you to whichever part of the track is closest, so make sure 
to aim for someplace near the later section of the track.Ê If your jump is really precise, 
you may end up landing on the track below instead of in the water.Ê Sometimes Lakitu will 
tow you ahead even if you just land on the guardrail, but this is quite rare.Ê With this 
trick, I have managed to improve my overall score to 1'48"40 and my lap score to 32"86 
[those were my scores back in March 1997!], both with Yoshi.Ê Don't be surprised if it 
takes a long time before you get it to work the first time.Ê It is possible to get this 
trick to work on a semi-regular basis if you are really good at it.
=======================================
Frappe Snowland
-------------------------------------
I have discovered a shortcut which can reduce your total score to less than the length of a 
single lap!Ê Unlike my Toad's Turnpike and Yoshi Valley shortcuts, this one is actually 
easy to pull off.Ê At the very end of the course drive across the bridge, but do not touch 
any part of the track between the bridge and the finish line.Ê Instead, veer off to the 
right after you reach the end of the bridge and drive off the course into the snow until 
you reach the finish line. At this point, drive further off the course so that Lakitu will 
pick you up.Ê If everything is done correctly, Lakitu will tow you back to the bridge, and 
you will skip an entire lap!Ê If you do this on all three laps (go backwards in the first 
lap), your score will be reduced significantly. 

This shortcut is based on a glitch that I found back in March 1997.Ê It's not as effective 
as my other Frappe Snowland shortcut, but it is more fun to try out.Ê Go to the ramp which 
takes you over the stream of water and veer off to the left (or to the right) so that you 
land in some snow, and make sure that you never touch the track.Ê Continue to drive in the 
snow until you are roughly halfway around the course.Ê Now drive outside the limits so that 
Lakitu will pick you up.Ê Depending on where you do this, some very strange results could 
happen: 1. Lakitu takes you in the air for a while and then you "warp" to the finish line, 
gaining half a lap. 2. Lakitu drops you in some water for a couple seconds, and then you 
"warp" to the finish line as above. 3. Lakitu takes you to the finish line, but you lose 
half a lap instead. 4. Lakitu drops you in the water and just lets you drown. These are 
only a few possibilities, so try it in many different locations to get different results.
=======================================
Choco Mountain
-------------------------------------
Drive through Choco Mountain as usual until you come to the part where you can see the 
overpass on your left.Ê In the time trial mode you can see a guardrail to your left.Ê Go to 
the part just before it starts going downhill and then turn 90 degrees to your left.Ê Drive 
into the wall and press the R button to jump at about the moment you hit it, and you will 
jump right over the wall!Ê You will not only save some precious seconds but also avoid the 
risk of becoming a smear on the road by one of those boulders.

If you have fast fingers or a turbo controller, you may want to try this alternative 
instead of jumping over the guardrail.Ê After completing seven-sixteenths of a lap, go 
immediately to the left and "jump-scale" the mountain.Ê By this I mean to rapidly jump with 
R button while driving into the mountain.Ê If you do this in the right place, you will 
completely clear the mountain, and your kart will flip for a few seconds and land just 
behind the three hills immediately behind the finish line.Ê This shortcut can get you to 
the finish line just as quickly as the one where you jump over the guardrail.

This shortcut is a more difficult alternative, but it is the best shortcut of the 4 that 
are in this course.Ê Just before you reach the big hill prior to the overpass area, go 
directly into the wall on your left.Ê Drive into it at full speed and jump as you hit it.Ê 
If you do this in the right place, you will clear the wall and land in the same area as in 
shortcut #2.Ê This will save you quite a few more seconds per lap than the previous two.

Last and certainly least is one that is loosely inspired by my Toad's Turnpike shortcut, 
but this one isn't as effective.Ê At the very beginning of the course, just drive about one 
kart length forward from the start line and drive into the wall on your left with the aid 
of a mushroom.Ê Jump with the R button as you hit it, and you might land on top of the 
mountain.Ê If you do it properly, Lakitu will pick you up and place you right at the 
tunnel.Ê This works pretty well in the 150cc, especially if you have a Gold Mushroom, but 
it doesnÕt appear to work in Time Trial mode.Ê One nice thing about it though is that you 
can use it in conjunction with any one of the three previous shortcuts to really smoke the 
competition. 
=======================================
Mario Raceway
-------------------------------------
Drive through Mario Raceway until you reach the part where the track starts going uphill. 
This is just shortly before you come across the big mushroom. To your right, you will see 
off in the distance two walls which meet and form an upside-down T-shape. Ordinarily if you 
were following the track, youÕd be just about to turn left. Instead, use a mushroom when 
you get to the corner of the turn and turn right. You will need to jump using the R button 
and try to aim so that you land on the right side of the wall.. If all goes well, youÕll 
fly over the wall and cut out a large portion of the track, and end up just shortly before 
the large pipe tunnel. 
=======================================
Wario Stadium
-------------------------------------
The first part is easy; just drive into the wall at the beginning of the course at full 
speed and jump just before you hit the wall. It is recommended to use any of the four hills 
at the beginning to increase your chances of jumping the wall. The next step is trickier 
and will require some practice. Head back toward the wall which you just jumped over, but 
look at the part where the finish line is. Drive at full speed toward the spot where the 
finish line intersects the wall, and jump just before you hit the wall. If your timing is 
right, you will jump over the wall. Be sure that you land behind the finish line, or the 
trick won't work. Now drive past the finish line to get a very fast lap. If you manage to 
take both shortcuts on all three laps, you can finish the entire course in less than half a 
minute. It is possible to do both shortcuts without using any mushrooms.

Nearly every wall in the stadium is jumpable in at least one spot, so it would be virtually 
impossible to list every shortcut. There are some fairly significant ones before and after 
the big ramp, but the ones near the finish line are the only ones youÕll need if youÕre 
going for the fastest possible time, at least for nowÉ
=======================================
Royal Raceway
-------------------------------------
In Royal Raceway, you would normally take the big ramp to get across the water.Ê However, 
if you have mushrooms, then you can skip a large portion of the course.Ê At the start of 
the course, drive past the first few turns, and drive roughly halfway across the stretch of 
track which is parallel to the stream of water.Ê At this point, turn 90 degrees to the 
left, use a mushroom, and press the R button to try to jump over the water.Ê You will hit 
the land on the other side and fall into the water.Ê If this is done in the right place, 
Lakitu will tow you onto the ramp itself, and you'll skip a significant portion of the 
course. 

When you reach the big ramp, power-slide to the left and try to take off from the left-most 
corner of the ramp. You will want to aim between the mountain and where the item boxes are 
located in GP mode. If this shortcut is done properly, Lakitu will place you right where 
the item boxes are located. 

The shortcut from the ramp can be done in Time Trial as well the one where you jump across 
the river, but it is difficult.Ê First use a lightweight and do the shortcut across the 
river, so that Lakitu takes you to the ramp.Ê As soon as Lakitu sets you down, start a 
power-slide to the left.Ê Make the smoke turn red and try to get close to the leftmost 
corner of the ramp.Ê Turn approximately 45 degrees to the left, but DON'T execute the 
mini-turbo.Ê Hold the R button for the duration of the jump.Ê Ideally you will want to 
travel as far as possible, but land on some dirt.Ê When you land, you'll hear your 
character make a sound as if a mini-turbo had just been executed (e.g. Toad will say 
"Yahoo").Ê If you did this in the right place, Lakitu you place you where the last set of 
item boxes are normally located in GP mode.Ê This shortcut doesn't really save you as much 
time as you would think, but if you are REALLY lucky, Lakitu might hold you high in the air 
for a couple seconds, and then you'll "warp" to the finish line, just like he does in one 
of my Frappe Snowland shortcuts.Ê You may want to practice this in 150cc mode before you 
attempt to try it in Time Trial mode.Ê Good luck! 
=======================================
Donkey Kong's Jungle Parkway
-------------------------------------
At the beginning of the course, go backwards to get into the cave, and then start heading 
back in the right direction until you approach the very end of the cave.Ê Drive straight 
into the part where the left wall of the cave meets the ground and jump with the R button.Ê 
If you did it correctly, you will fall off the course and land in some hidden lake.Ê If you 
did this with the correct angle, Lakitu will put you back into the cave, but you will have 
skipped almost an entire lap.Ê If the angle is wrong, Lakitu will not place you inside the 
cave, so you may need to keep trying the trick until you've figured out precisely which 
angle you should use before you jump off the course.Ê I have found out that it is possible 
to land inside the cave instead of the water, but you have to land at the rightmost edge of 
the cave to pull that one off.Ê It is possible to achieve scores which are less than a 
minute if you do this on every lap.

Near the beginning, drive to the part where you can see a small island on your left and the 
bridge to your right. Instead of turning right to go in a loop to reach the bridge, turn 
left and jump in order to land on the small island. A mushroom or mini-turbo is highly 
recommended here. Lakitu will then place you at the bridge, but it wonÕt save a whole lot 
of time. 

When you reach the part where you can see the bridge off to your right, try to jump over 
the guardrail. This will save a couple seconds of time.
 
This is really just a corner-cutter, and itÕs well known to everyone. When you get to the 
bridge, veer off to the left and try to see how far you can veer without falling into the 
water

This one is a little bit tricky and seems to work better in 150cc GP mode on the second and 
third laps. After landing from the bridge, go toward the left as usual and continue down 
the path until you come to the part where you'd normally turn right. Instead of turning 
right, try to go straight ahead but veer outside the course and try to get to the narrow 
ledge outside of the course. Even if you don't make it, sometimes Lakitu will put you ahead 
on a further section of the track. It's difficult to pull off, so practice it in the 150cc 
mode first.

When you get to the next section where you can see the river off to the left (right where 
you'd land from shortcut 5, which is the next section beyond), go off the track as in 
shortcut 5 and onto a narrow ledge. Now just before you have no place left to drive, jump 
off and try to aim for the bridge off in the distance. This shortcut is also tricky, but if 
successful, you can land directly on the bridge and save a little time. 

This is really just a corner-cutter and nearly everyone knows about this one. At the 
hairpin turn inside the cave, you can drive up the wall sooner by cutting the corner much 
sooner. Why would anyone want to take the longer route anyway? 
=======================================
Yoshi Valley
-------------------------------------
Who says you have to go around the track in Yoshi Valley?Ê With this shortcut, you can cut 
the entire track out of consideration. First picture an imaginary line extended from the 
finish line out to the left, and look at the spot where this line meets with another 
section of track (it's right about where the guardrail ends).Ê This is the spot you will 
want to aim for. At the start of the course, go forward just a little bit until the very 
first tree on the left is directly to your left.Ê Now turn around so that you are facing 
the spot that I mentioned above.Ê Note: these locations are only approximate, but with LOTS 
of practice you'll figure it out.Ê Now use a mushroom and jump just before you start to go 
down a steep hill.Ê If everything is done correctly, you will jump over the fence and hit 
the side of the remote track, and then you will fall down into the valley.Ê At this point, 
Lakitu will tow you back to the finish line.Ê If everything is done with perfect precision, 
you will skip an entire lap! Don't expect this to work the first time you try it.Ê With 
lots of practice and near-perfect precision, you can get a lap score in less than 10 
seconds. 

Just beyond the section where you come across the porcupines, you'll see a hairpin turn on 
the map. This hairpin can be skipped by powersliding off to the left and jumping before you 
leave the track. Watch your speed! It's easy to jump too far, which could be a disaster. 
Practice is the key to perfecting this corner-cutter. 
=======================================
Rainbow Road
-------------------------------------
At the start, before you get air on the big, long hill, take a wide turn left off the 
course and into midair. If you've got the correct angle and speed, you'll fly through the 
air for nearly 10 seconds, and will land on the same course below. This shortcut will save 
you time immensely. Be careful though as it's easy to overshoot the track. 
******************************************************************
All of these were gotten from "David Wonn's Unique Video Game Glitches," at 
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Maze/7751/. Many of these shortcuts were invented by 
him, and have been invaluable to me. Thanks David!

--Cranium7