Georgia, USANew checkpoint manipulation shortcuts have been found. Credit to m3g4t0nerr for discovery and research. Additional credit to garbi on the MSUSA Discord for spotting a delayed lap trigger.
Videos with more context on recent discoveries below:
And some recent WRs using new shortcuts:
For video submissions, please include the results screen that occurs after the run. For clarity, the results screen is the screen that shows the course leaderboard for times and the fastest lap (for non-Reverse courses).
From Famimaga 64 (ファミマガ64) - Issue 7 8 - October 4th 18th 1996 https://imgur.com/a/sJyQEg0
Sources: https://twitter.com/GamingAlexandri/status/1671152590351138816 https://archive.org/details/famimaga-64-issue-7-8-october-4th-18th-1996
Requesting PS4 and PS5 be added as platforms for the game, as the game was released as a title for PS+ Premium on those platforms (and is a very good version of the game to boot): https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0700-CUSA33740_00-RIDGERACER200000
Also requesting to add fastest lap categories! Please and thank you!
Since some of the records are offsite, I've created a spreadsheet for tracking all known WRs. There's an added bonus in the form of the Other ILs sheet which tracks best known times without using specific shortcuts that are not categorized as Skips on a few courses.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1smQBE8lgMRj5ozIFz86JqXKJlPBXhyOj3PBg1g77w8s/edit?usp=sharing
I'll be attempting to keep this up-to-date as long as possible, but it should have a timestamp showing the last update if I get behind at some point.
You can get the latest version of the mod on the VB Stars Discord!
Not sure if this could ever be useful for speedrunning, but there's definitely something weird about certain bits of geometry. More investigation needed.
I determined how to accurately re-time runs, so I figured I'd put an explainer here.
I use Avidemux to re-time runs, as it is a very simple and straightforward program that allows you to set an A and a B point, then determine the elapsed time between them exactly.
For RTA runs in Excitebike 64, the timer starts when the player presses A on the Rounds preview screen, but the game takes a moment to acknowledge this press on-screen. Therefore, simply timing from the first visible change (the right side of the screen begins darkening) to the final frame (the frame the "Press START to Continue" dialog pops up at the end of the last race) is not correct.
I used Bizhawk's N64 emulator with frame advance to determine how long between when the A press occurs and the first darkening frame, and came up with 6 frames, or about 100ms.
Therefore, to accurately re-time a run, measure the time from the first darkening frame on the Rounds preview screen to the "Press START to Continue" text appears, then add 0.100 to the final time.
Reference timing frames:
(The above frame takes place 0.100 seconds after pressing A)
NTSC
Valid: 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 8
Invalid: 2, 4, 7, 9
PAL
Valid: 0, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8
Invalid: 1, 3, 7, 9
These are the values the game may award for the final digit in the decimal (centiseconds) for in-game times. The game will never give a time ending in 7 or 9, on any version. Times ending in 1 or 3 only occur on NTSC, while times ending in 2 or 4 only occur on PAL.
Excitebike 64 bug?
It happened by accident when I was playing properly at the beginning of the release. It was interesting, and it didn't seem to be on Niconico yet, so I gave it a try. Here's how I found it:
- Choose the special course Excitebike 3D
- Change the rider to Nigel (didn't happen with other riders)
- Make all 3 other riders fall right after the start (It might be easier to do it like a video) That's
it. There may be other ways, but this is what I found.
I wonder how many people have found this to happen...
Developer interview: https://web.archive.org/web/20181022194752/http://www.gamestm.co.uk/features/behind-the-scenes-of-excitebike-64/
Article about N64/early 3D gaming with quotes by Matt Furniss (Music & SFX on Excitebike 64) regarding Excitebike 64: https://www.gamesradar.com/how-the-n64-confidently-signposted-our-way-into-the-3d-future/
Video interview with Mike Lamb (Left Field Studios founder and CEO):
Pre-release footage: https://archive.org/details/014094
Observed differences from retail (not all differences present in all videos):
- in-race UI uses different font
- temperature gauge UI uses different graphic
- title screen has different logo
- opening demo uses different camera angles
- riders have different livery textures
- character select screen is different
- riders have different names ("Duke of Dirt", "Fatboy", "Lightweight", "Trickster", "Standard")
- best course time defaults to 4:00 on every track
North American television commercials:
Another NA commercial, though this video has been deleted now. The Youtube URL is /watch?v=o9LtScRa2iA in case there are any archives.
Japanese television commercial:
UK television review:
Uncompressed version of Excitebike 64 title music from composer Matt Furniss: https://soundcloud.com/matt-furniss/excitebike-64-title
Uncompressed title screen announcer sample ("Excitebike 64!"): https://soundcloud.com/matt-furniss/eb64speech
Historical N64 high score site featuring Excitebike 64 times: http://n64hs.speedrunwiki.com/ http://n64hs.speedrunwiki.com/e64laptime.html http://n64hs.speedrunwiki.com/e64total.html http://n64hs.speedrunwiki.com/e64special.html
Cyberscore page for Excitebike 64: https://cyberscore.me.uk/game/142
Video Games Records page for Excitebike 64: https://www.video-games-records.com/en/excitebike-64-game-g2774/index
Nintendo Power Issue 132 (May 2000), Excitebike 64 strategies: https://archive.org/download/NintendoPower1988-2004/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20132%20%28May%202000%29.pdf (pp. 16-24)
Excitebike 64 (USA) manual: https://cdn02.nintendo-europe.com/media/downloads/games_8/emanuals/nintendo_8/Manual_Nintendo64_Excitebike64_EN.pdf
Excitebike 64 (エキサイトバイク64) (Japan) manual: https://m1.nintendo.net/docvc/NUS/JPN/NMXJ/NMXJ_J.pdf
Excitebike 64 (越野摩托) (iQue) manual: https://archive.org/download/iQuePlayerManuals/11%20Excitebike%2064_text.pdf
Looks like this occurs when you impact a slope while the nose of your bike is facing close to straight down. More investigation needed.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpTMya-uU8NFl8Mn2gim6g/videos
Found a JP runner who was active in late 2020 who set tons of impressive times - some of which are still WR today. I've reached out to this player, will let you know if I hear back
https://archive.org/details/WRBS_WRs
Archived video of the top times by Braden Hall before he was banned for cheating. All of the IL runs are still the fastest known times as of 7/26/2022.
This has been an observed rule for years now, but it is now an explicit, listed rule.
https://www.speedrun.com/stunt_race_fx is weird. @thegamer1185 's runs appear on the IL summary page, but don't appear on the main pages unless you set the Flashcart variable to the value it is already set to by default. Nothing is hidden and all the variables are set as usual. I'm not sure what's going on here. Any ideas?
Moving to a more open leaderboard with flags. Use the filters to exclude runs you don't wish to compare.
- FXPak/SD2SNES is allowed. Do not use SuperFX Turbo - standard settings must be used. Mark the run properly with the flag.
- Speed Trax is allowed for ILs. Mark runs properly with the flag.
