Greetings,

I’m wondering when we start and stop the timer, specifically for Levels and for All Objectives + Fight.

Levels: Does the timer start on the first in-game frame (not the menu) of the Amateur Challenges and end upon completing the last Pro objective? It’s probably a good idea to require either "Mastered the Level" (via Restart) or "All Completed Pro Challenges" (showing the objective list) in the video, but these shouldn’t be part of the timed segment.

All Objectives + Fight: I strongly suggest stopping the timer when the post-boss cutscene begins. I’ve tested extensively and don’t believe there’s any way to interact during that cutscene. Most games exclude the final cutscenes from timing since exiting the game would skip them anyway, making their inclusion kinda irrelevant.

One is faster with increased difficulty.

Upon winning Arcade Mode, one can go again on higher diff., a certain amount of money is kept for the next run, and one can upgrade one's kart before starting the run. Moreover, when beating it on hardest, one keeps even the upgrades during the previous run.

I think this is the intended way to beat the harder difficulties. I don't think it's possible to make it through Germany on hardest diff. without any upgrades.

My question now: should this even be allowed? Since the setup for a run becomes a great hassle (beat game on easy -> normal -> hard -> (repeatedly beat hard until all upgrades unlocked and enough money to buy boosts) -> start run.