Dacvak
I wouldn't mind a more thorough breakdown of the Mario Kart ride. Let's say I'm very intriguid.
Here’s a really good write up of the basic strategies on reddit:
The other strategies come from figuring out the positions of each racer (they usually appear in the same place at the same time, but then can vary where they go from there). Each koopaling can be hit 3 times, with increasing coins each time. But they can be hit by your teammates in your car. So if you want to maximize your score, you either have to hit the koopaling all three times yourself, or wait until a teammate hits them once and quickly double-tap them for more coins. Kill-stealing is a big part of it.
Then, learning the timing on some of the bigger enemies (like the bone fish) so you’re min-maxing your hits and not wasting shells is a big deal.
Oh, I forgot to even mention, while all of this is going on, you also have to steer to “drift” during the whole ride. These red arrows pop up in your headset, and you have to steer in that direction. One thing the ride never tells you is that the longer you steer in that direction, the more coins you get (kind of like “charging” up your drift in normal MK). So one of the first things you have to do in order to get good is basically memorize all or most of the drift turns, and pre-turn into them. This way you’re not distracted from the main mechanic of shooting enemies.
Also it’s worth noting that your steering never actually affects what your car does, nor any of the visuals in the game. It’s literally just an extra thing to keep track of while you ride. But I like it, it keeps things frantic, and it’s rewarding once you memorize the turns.
Aiming is done with your head, so wherever your head is pointed is where the shells will shoot, and they can fly through the air or glide on the ground. It took me a LONG time before I got good at aiming. There’s no reticle or anything, so it really is just something you have to practice.
Another thing to note is apparently the inside track (the left one if you’re boarding the ride) is better for maxing out coins. It’s slightly easier to aim at some enemies, plus the outside track has a weird glitch where two koopalings can’t be hit at a certain part in the race, which is frustrating. To give you more context, the world record on the inside track is 313, but only 287 on the outside track.
Shell management is a big part of the game too. You get item blocks automatically throughout the race in various amounts, and you can always see your total at the bottom of your visor. Optimizing how many shells to have at any given point during the race turned out to be crucial.
So, overall, it’s mainly two things: memorization, and aiming skill, with a bit of strategy based off of who else is in your car (and if they’re a good shot, etc)
The guy who has the world record who helped me with strats said the theoretical maximum score is 355, with the current record being 313. And he’s a dude who rides the ride almost everyday or something, so there’s clearly a high skill ceiling. And a bit of RNG, depending on your teammates.
I suspect that most people who ride the ride will be disappointed, especially if they waited an hour and only rode it once. I was very underwhelmed like the first 2 or 3 times I rode it. But because the singles line was always immediate, I kept grinding, and eventually it clicked on my 6th or 7th try, and I was hooked after that.
It’s such a Nintendo thing to add basically hidden mechanics in an otherwise completely casual experience. And it’s a testament to how difficult the ride can be, since no one has gotten close to maxing out the score yet.
But I think for anyone who’d just ride it 1-3 times, it’s not really all that great.
The ARISEN: The CHOSEN ONE
