Hey

I have been attempting the Brick Skip with the Extra Mushroom and I have realized that it is impossible to do. Either that or stupidly hard. "Why" you may ask. Well...

I have experimented with this for a while. You see, the game checks if your hitbox is overlaping with another item's hitbox (mushroom, shield, brick) every time the timer increases. This means the game will check if you are hitting an object in small increments of time:

The timer only increases in increments of 0.034, or 0.023 if the timer is changing a number from the 0.X00, for example, 14.284 will increase to 14.320. It also increases or decreases the units in which you can gain or loose time every time you perform an action (say jumping, which makes you loose 0.001, or boosting, which makes you gain 0.003), and every time an object enters the screen. This means that you can only gain or loose time in increments of 0.034 and 0.023 + small variations.

This is not that important in this level run, but it is likely that most levels work like that. Also: the weather does not seem to affect the timer

This basically means that you can only skip a brick if you are going soo fast that when the game checks where your character is, you have already gone past the brick. Using the example from before, you have to enter the brick before 14.284 and exit before 14.320. It can be clearly seen in Video 2.

Video 2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OwUQgPG_0C1o4iVqNe2vkLjD5ioGHYZa/view?usp=drivesdk

By the way, I got it with 356 km/h. Which is a lot. The smallest I've been able to get so far is 300km/h, using BowserJR. I don't know if the characters have different hitboxes (which would make performing the glitch easier with BowserJR than with Bowser), but it would make sense since I've not seen other characters get that "glitchy" mushroom that you sometimes get randomly in some runs.

But if you want to get the Extra Mushroom and do the skip, things get complicated. You see, getting the mushroom is still too random, because the size or position of your hitbox changes somehow when you are going so fast. If it didn't you would be able to get the Extra Mushroom no matter the speed (you cannot get it when going slow, this means your hitbox is modified in some way). If we add the fact that you have to be under the mushroom in a very specific time so that you don't skip it and that you are going very fast to skip the brick, it becomes too hard. Understanding what's going on with the hitboxes may be the best step to follow. If you have any idea on how to make them visible, as you do in Mario Kart and SuperMarios, tell.

I could get the Extra Mushroom even at a Max Speed of 293 km/h (Bowser).

This can be also applied to other parts of the level by the way: The game only allows you to press A, B, or anything other than the Start button, once the timer has increased by these 20-30ish units. That means you can accidentally skip a part where you want to jump, even if you are going at a slow speed, EVEN if you slow the game speed in an Emulator and press A on every frame possible. See Video1. If you are going too fast, you will also be unable to jump where you should have. Then, going at 360 km/h, may suppose a problem, since you are skipping too much space before the game checks if you pressed A or before it lets you jump.

EDIT: Pausing the game (with the button start, which is not restricted to time increases and can be pressed in the first frame every time) makes the game start at the next time increase. For example, if you pause at the first frame the timer got to 14.284 and unpause, the game will start at 14.320. This could be used to TAS the event, since you could control the timer and prevent it from increasing in the middle of a brick, by forcing an increase prior to entering the brick, something out of your control during a normal game. But this has not been tested. I deleted a part of the comment that said that there was a delay of 3 time increases every time you pressed an input, but I realized that was probably the emulator taking a while to render the image.

Video 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kafhi4sG5Jzf9YmwJNS3jmWJAMLIbtKv/view?usp=drivesdk

By the way, going at 356 km/h and doing the Brick Skip, allowed me to do the Big Jump of Video1 propperly. I finished 0.100 seconds earlier than the current world record: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CTNYth9xARqd2nT3HjTCsVjUF134zDhQ/view?usp=drivesdk

I will be trying the ""TailsSkip""" and a nice run with only the Extra Mushroom. ATM the fastest way seems to be the Brick Skip. Getting both in a run could be possible. (The TailsSkip is supposed to allow you to fly past the block wall before the vertical wall, but so far Tails bumps into the last brick with a shield, which makes him decrease his speed and land before reaching the finish goal. If it was to be performed, maybe you could get out-of-bounce or prove that the goal as a programmed element extends vertically all the way up)

Looking for a specific speed and a sequence of actions that will get you under the mushroom at the right moment seems to be the easier way, doable by any player on a console. I advice you to attempt the Brick Skip without jumping at the start of the level, using the Extra Mushroom to skip the block. You only need to get the same speed, jump in the same places and boost in the same spots at a somewhat precise time.