Here's my first full-feature speed run for SDA. Some people might know me from the individual level runs of the F-Zero X Expansion Kit but this is the first full-scale run i've made for the site and i made it a Single Segment run for more impact. i finally made big use of the DVD equipment i had got a few years back to record my vids and replace the video capture card i used to use.

First, i'd like to thank everyone in the SDA team because the site has been great for inspiration to make speed runs and to improve the methods used to record them. I didn't want to list individuals because of the risk of forgetting someone important hehe.
I've been checking the site since it hosted the very first Metroid Prime run and later, i contributed to add F-Zero X to the site with individual level runs from the standalone game and also included the Expansion Kit-only courses that were unknown for 99% of the people who played it.
It was just a few months ago (may) that I got into the idea of doing a new run for the site and i checked out which games that I played a lot didn't have runs listed and Mario Kart Wii was the most prominent one. At first I thought about individual level runs like with F-Zero X and Mario Kart 64 but then I remembered that the game itself lets you watch ghost replays from the top players, so it would be a waste to collect those vids since they would be outdated within hours. Then, I remembered the All-Cup Tour from Mario Kart DD and how it was my favorite feature from that game. MKWii doesn't have the option like MKDD but it has VS mode in 1 player mode which lets you replicate the All-Cup Tour setup quite accurately by setting some rules. I used the default rules to keep things simple since upping the difficulty only resulted in slower and much harder to complete runs (this was my plan originally but I never got 32/32 wins) and lowering the difficulty defeats the purpose of the run.
Another reason I chose to do all 32 tracks in 1 shot was that I like SS runs a lot. They test the endurance of the runner and show you the whole run in just 1 vid. Sure, they contain more mistakes but that's the price of going SS.

Now, I'd like to get some general things concerning the game out of the way. First, I picked Daisy and Mach Bike because it is the fastest middleweight combo and overall it is 2nd or 3rd behind Funky Kong/Rosalina + Flame Runner (Bowser Bike). I didn't use the fastest bike because there's several tracks where the Mach performs much better due to its tighter cornering and lower weight and the speed difference is about 2 km/h at most. I also feel more comfortable with the Mach Bike (I had one attempt with Rosalina + Bowser Bike that was about 45 seconds slower but I lost time in about every track where Mach had an advantage).
There's also a few tricks to minimize time loss when you get hit by items like Blue Shells/Lightning/etc. they're track specific so I'll mention them in tracks where I use them but a general trick that works anywhere as long as the road is flat is that with a mushroom you can evade the Blue Shell. I did it in my 2nd best attempt but not on this run since you need luck to keep a mushroom that long.

Okay, I think that's enough rambling and people want to know what went behind the controller in each track. Through the course order was random, I got the very first track as the first one just like in MKDD and that made me chuckle. Also, note that MT = Mini Turbo and shroomspot = place where the mushroom is used in regular time trialing.

Luigi Circuit: This is one of my least favorite tracks and for me it is one of the big 3 run killers because, if the CPU goes crazy with items, they can make you lose quite easily. I got lucky it was the first track and I had a good start and was lucky enough to get a mushroom to use the shroomspot on lap 1. On lap 3, I messed up the MT and went off-road but it wasn't a big deal.

GBA Shy Guy Beach: this was a good race. The CPU cooperated and I only touched slightly the bomb.

N64 Mario Raceway: this was okay. I messed up on the POW evading trick because the d-pad sometimes doesn't register the input properly but I was hit by a blue shell anyway so it didn't make a difference. I don't use the pipe trick because it saves like 0.5 seconds if done perfectly. Good for time trialing but here it would end up wasting time if I mess up just slightly.

SNES Mario Circuit 3: another good race. I messed up the MT in lap 1 but I recovered quickly and everything else was fine. I even got a lucky mushroom on lap 3 to cut a bit of road.

GC DK Mountain: this track is full of random bounces and they made me mess up the MT before the ramps since I ended up going towards the ramp. Outside that it had some close calls and no major mistakes.

Maple Treeway: ok, that crash with the wiggler was a real bad mistake because I completely forgot about it when I was taking the corner and remembered as soon as I saw it. At least I got some mushrooms to make up for that.

DS Peach Gardens: I didn't do zig-zag between the walls because you gain speed the longer you stay in a wheelie and I think that the time gain would be like 0.1-0.2 and that's not enough. Also, I got lucky the lightning hit me when I was evading the POW because I had just 1 spin out. Outside that, it was good overall and one of my better attempts in this track.

Moonview Highway: laps 1 and 2 were quite good but lap 3 was bad at the beginning. I don't really know why I tried that trick in front of the car. It was one of those moments where you "disconnect" and try weird stuff. Also, crashing at the bridge didn't help. It was a side effect of the previous mistake. At least I didn't crash with the very last car in front of the finish line like in some earlier attempts.

GC Mario Circuit: this track was quite average. I did the trick in lap 1 in such a way I would skip the hump to gain time but the plant messed me up bad. Then I get hit by stuff and catch up and manage to do the double trick at the end of lap 2 (this saves time). Lap 3 was bad with those mistakes but at least I got another double trick at the end.

Dry Dry Ruins: this is one of those tracks where you can leave the CPU very far behind but that doesn't mean you have room to mess up and lose time. I got some things good and others bad and my luck even turned against me but it ended up being a good race overall. I got the low tricks correctly right before the pyramid and landed the final trick good 2 times but I think I pressed up too early on lap 2 and that's why I tricked on the first ramp where you don't trick normally. Going over the old shroomspot was average on lap 1, good on lap 2 but lap 3 was a slap since there was a mushroom there but I happened to land on a red shell.

GBA Bowser Castle 3: this race was good overall. I ran into the thwomp because it was either go straight into the lava, brake or hit it to evade that POW since it popped up in a very awkward place. I messed up the ramp jump on lap 3 but the pause was because I was being called by people at home and had to pause to attend (all 3 long pauses in the run are because of that. It's not easy to be home alone). I didn't use the shortcut because it is quite hard without a mushroom and even then, it is not a sure thing.

Coconut Mall: there was no problem here outside that Blue shell that caused a very embarrassing moment on lap 3. First, I crash because I get nervous, get hit by shell and then get hit by a green shell I released earlier. I played it safe with the cars and only hit zippers that were easy to reach.

DS Yoshi Falls: not much to say here. Oval track. Short track. 1 mistake that costed more due to the place but nothing major. I don't like this track very much but it was easy.

N64 Sherbet Land: it seems I just looove the walls here. Anyway, this track is the only track in the game that is entirely off-road. That's why you see Toadette + Magikruiser used for the WR here but it is suicide to use that combo in a 32 race run so I have to adapt with Mach to the weird slipping when taking corners. The race was average overall since I didn't get hit by blue shells and only 1 lightning, although it was a combo with that red shell that came later.

Mushroom Gorge: this track was a mixed bag. I forgot for some reason to hold onto items and used a lot of them (I only use them a lot in lap 3 since I won't be doing another lap normally). In lap 3 I went very wide after the first mushroom because I was pressing the stick incorrectly when I pressed R and skipping one mushroom after that ended up costing me time since I landed off road but I think this was actually good because if I had gone a bit faster, the blue shell that hit me later would have put me in the hole instead of landing on top of the mushroom. Sometimes bad luck becomes good luck.

Daisy Circuit: this one is the first truly bad race I had in the run. Once I reached the statues part in lap 2, the barrage of blue shells and stuff began. I even get hit by a green one after the second blue one. Then I hit a banana that causes me to lose my protection and get hit by a red shell and to close with golden brooch, I get hit by lightning at the end of the race. The only thing that was missing was a bullet.

Mario Circuit: the second run-killing track of the bunch since I've had many attempts where I lost here and only here. Surprisingly, it was one of the quietest races of the run since the CPU decided to just chill and stay behind. I played it safe and went around the chomp and some items blocked my path but nothing major.

Moo Moo Meadows: this race was pretty good. Only random stuff got in the way and I had just 1 crash and it was minor. I almost went between the cows but that was very risky and I think there wasn't space this time. I didn't try the low trick because if you mess it up, you land on the grass and that's a big time loss and it's quite hard to get right.

N64 Bowser's Castle: this track was average. Many of the things I tried failed like the shortcut on lap 1 and taking the corner after the first lava bridge but at least that one was because of lightning bolts. I did the shortcut well on lap 3 but crashed after that.

Rainbow Road: Good race overall, except for the lol worthy fall after the cannon. I missed that by a hair literally and I paused out of surprise because I thought the game glitched. Then I pass over a zipper without getting the speed boost but that's more common. Luckily at the end I avoid a fall just before the finish line.

SNES Ghost Valley 2: this is one of the simplest races of the run. My time is just 4 seconds slower than my time trial record and could have been better if I didn't miss that MT at the end of lap 2 or if I didn't crash at the start. Also, it is one of the few tracks where you can lap easily the CPU and seems that they didn't like that at all...

Toad's Factory: this race went pretty well. No major mess ups and the blue shell/lightning hit at points where they didn't cause extra trouble. I go a bit wide at the first corner to check the stompers' positions to not run into them.

GC Waluigi Stadium: another good race. If you've seen the WR runs, you'll know that doing a trick into the wall makes the bike go down really fast. This reduces air time by a lot and air time is bad in this game because you have the lowest speed while in the air. I get it right only in lap 3 but it was worth it. I also trick accidentally in the humps section because trying to do a wheelie there triggers a trick instantly.

Koopa Cape: I don't like this track very much. There's something about it that I don't like but I can't quite tell what it is. Regardless, I got a good run here and only had bad mistakes at the start of lap 2 by crashing on the wall while adjusting my course and a bad trick off the wood ramp in lap 3.

Grumble Volcano: concerning the glitch shortcut, I'm against those shortcuts and that's why I didn't use them in either this track, MG or WGM. I want my run to be labeled as a Non-SC run in the event of someone beating it by the use of those glitches. This track doesn't really have a polished strat since it was abandoned very early into the game's lifespan because the glitch was discovered 1 month after the game was out. I used a pretty basic strat overall and didn't try odd or risky things since it is easy to fall off here. I got lucky because the CPU was tame this time.

DS Desert Hills: this track is rather simple and the race itself was simple too. I do a double trick at the hill but I'm not sure if it saves time but it looks cool at least. At the end I mess up a bit and go off road but it's a minor mistake.

Bowser's Castle: this race went very well. I got almost all the tricks decent/good. I only missed a trick at the start because I jumped too early and then I hit a wall but didn't lose much speed. I got lucky because the CPU barely used items.

DK Summit: this race was rather good but I had unfortunate hits with the shy guys and that costed me the trick at the last corner in laps 1 and 3. outside that, no mess ups and I took the corner cutter after the cannon well on all laps but I had too much airtime on lap 3.

N64 DK's Jungle Parkway: another good race overall. I hit the bridge because of the ink but the rest was quite good. Also, there were lots of lightning here.

GC Peach Beach: this is the 3rd run-killing track for me. I was a bit scared because it popped up so late into the run but out of the 3, this one has been the least problematic but when I had that bad crash at the end of lap 1, I got nervous. Good thing the CPU stayed passive for most of the race.

DS Delfino Square: another good race. CPU was calm and the track was easy enough to avoid any big mistakes. Still, I had an unfortunate crash in lap 2. At this point you can see my skills are wearing down...

Wario's Gold Mine: the final race at last and... daaaaamn it was a really bad one also. I made some completely dumb mistakes here like that fall on lap 1 (at least I evaded 1 lightning) but then I crashed with the mine cart, the bats got in my way, I fell with my own bananas and a blue shell turned around and came back for me. This was usually an easy race for me but bad luck piled up here.

Well, that's it. I managed 32/32 wins and most of the races were good. I had a number of average races because of mistakes/bad luck and 2 horrid ones but more than half were rather good because the CPU cooperated and I didn't mess up too much.

There's plenty of room for improvement but, due to the nature of the game, you'll need a good chunk of luck for that. I had better attempts crash and burn halfway because of one of the 3 run-killing tracks struck or because something unexpected happened in another track that I didn't see coming like a barrage of blue shells/red shells and I lost a lot of time or didn't finish 1st. my run could have been about a minute faster if it wasn't for the 2 tracks where I lost like 40 seconds combined compared to my best attempts and several others where I was far behind my best attempts (N64 BC and N64 SL were 2 tracks were I lost more than 10+ seconds each due to dumb mistakes/bad luck)

I hope the run is good enough to entertain and to motivate other players to try to beat it. I know I could have got a better time but luck wasn't being generous after this attempt and I get worse luck when I drive with Rosalina + Flame Runner for some reason.