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!!!Characters statistics

The game relies on 3 different statistics that differentiate character selection.
*Speed, which rapresents the maximum obtainable speed from that character (USF excluded).
*Acceleration, the amount of time required to increase base speed from 0, just pressing X.
*Turn, the range of which the kart can sharpen its turns while powersliding.

Do note that acceleration is useless on paper. It affects only starting speed, for a few frames till base speed is reached. (Base speed = maximum obtainable speed by only pressing X).

Statistics sheet:
https://i.imgur.com/HQFVpHQ.png


!!!Game mechanics

CTR phisics are quite intuitive but hide a whole world behind it.
To mention just the surface of it, here's a list of the main mechanics that are a result of the game very own phisics:

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*Fire levels: 
- Unlike SG's, which last only for some moments, there are fire levels, which you can trigger with jumps or turbopads. These ones will last, as long as you have Reserves (the amount of stored turbo you can see). There is only an exception, USF (Ultimate Sacred Fire).

Green 1 or 2: Given by 1 or 2 miniturbos, respectively, in a row, or with [0.66; 99] jumps. 0.66 might not trigger sometimes (The game doesnt display the approximation). [These numbers for jumps (0.66 etc.) are just the time you’ve been in air in milliseconds.]

Yellow: 3 miniturbos in a row, or with 100 to 149 hang time turbo jumps.
Sacred: From a turbopad, and 150 to 255 hang time turbo jump..

USF: The ultimate speed. You can only keep it if you don’t get ANY OTHER kind of fire in the game AND if you do not lose reserves. The only way to get it, is with Super Turbo Pads. They are in all of the HUB4 tracks.

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*Speedghosts(SG's): 
Temporary Speed Boost (NOT affected by Fire level)
Speed increase when driving on downhills and such. Exploited by landing on the edges of the roads (reverse engeneering still being done as to understand why that happens) and also exploited on certain Sewer Speedway halfpipes.

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*Mid-Airs: 
The act of doing a powerslide while also performing a hang-time-turbo (jump with landing boost)

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*Reserves: 
The amount of “gasoline” you have stored. Without it you wont be able to keep Fire levels, which i described above in this page.
Reserves are stored by performing powerslides, each of which allows a maximum of 3 miniturbos to be performed. The turbo bar meter fills with linear time frames, but the amount of possible reserves to be obtained from triggering the turbo is exponential. The fuller the bar meter, the better. Makes a huge difference for each frame, especially when it's almost full.

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*Froggy:
Basically mashing the jump buttons (R1/L1): ctr inputs data only from drawing frames, into static frames. However, if you perform a jump, and you land with 0.16 on the meter or less, the game wont let you do another jump before a short amount of time. This kills most SG's.

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*U-TURN: 
This technique lets you do VERY sharp turns, at the cost of all your reserves. 
It's performed by pressing Down + Square + Left/Right Arrow. Shines when combined with froggy!


!!Wumpas
Each wumpa, till the 9th fruit, adds 30 units of speed on the 2byte adress that reads speed value. It differs a bit from 29 to 31 on some wumpas depending on Lag frames as wumpas are collected. The 9th wumpa adds up for a total of 2.79% speed increase. The 10th wumpa just upgrades the held weapon/item to its powered up state.


!!RNG
 
6 main factors determine Items Boxes rng:
 
1. The checkpoint/respawn area you are in. Every time you get to another one the item box value will change.
2. The rank/progression value. If you are rank 2 or below (EXCEPT FOR THE FIRST BOX), you can technically get any item by pressing Circle at the right moment and changing directions from the CPU. Needs more research.
2.1. There is a set distance between you and the cpu; if you're enough close in this interval the item box value will keep spinning (not valid for first box). Needs more research.
3. The FIRST box is already decided when you entered the level warp. The item box value keeps spinning while driving in the HUBs, so every frame or so, it changes. It stops spinning once the track starts loading. This is easy to manipulate.
4. If you are First Position in the course, even if you have another box predestined by what the value says, the game will force another object (potions, tnt's, etc)
5. Sometimes being out of bounds or on a FakeNMZ (out of bounds but still on the track: an area without checkpoints), fucks up the game and if you're close enough but still ahead of the cpu, the game will put your rank behind.
6. If a CPU is pushed by you or another cpu on a FakeNMZ, the cpu will become first, as long as it stays on that zone. (It doesnt matter if you are ages ahead of the CPU's). Needs more research.


!!!Glitches
!!No Man Zone (NMZ) and Startline Glitch

In CTR the game follows a basic rule to check if a lap is valid. Players must pass through 3 areas in the correct order. 
The first part is the start of the track right after the start line, part A,, the second is the main body of the track. Part B, and the third is the section right before the finish line, part C. 
If you drive from A, through the main body, B, and then finish at C,  the lap will count when you drive over the finish line and back to the start.
If you go from the start of the track and just drive backwards, this is invalid as you break the order as you go from A to C
However, you can’t just jump from B to C without valid progression. The game will recognise that you just skipped to the finish line, and the lap won’t count. 
This is where the NMZ area, or the No Mask Zone comes into play. 
A No Mask Zone is an area on the track where you will not be respawned by a mask. This allows us to land here regardless of our progression in the track and the game will not penalize us for it. 
The NMZ is this area I have outlined, and your kart must land within here. 
If you land outside but away from the finish line, you will be respawned as the game knows you just skipped too much of the track. 
If you land too close to the finish line, but again outside this area, the game knows your progression is not valid and your lap will not count. 
By landing in the NMZ, we can then drive to the start line and trick the game into thinking we followed the sequence and will allow the lap to count.


!!!Known Shortcuts
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EvOoZBY_Bc]

!!!Version differences
NTSC-U is the first release of the game. It has the turn/slow speed character Penta Penguin in it. PAL/NTSC-U have the maxed out character.
This version also features Starline glitch being possible on all tracks, as the developers didnt fix yet the overflowing of the Progression value when driving out of bounds.

PAL features the language skip glitch, which is basically an oversight by the developers which lets the player select japanese language option while not actually having any text or .xa audio for it. CTR is the first naughty dog game to feature a lip-sync feature, and having the language = 0 (japanese) on PAL without the proper .xa audio files, messes with the array of the Boss heads while they speak during their cutscenes, swapping them.
Jump time is adjusted to 0.23 seconds, as opposed to the 0.29/30 that NTSC-U/J versions offer. This difference makes most SG's slightly stronger, at the cost of lower hang time turbo.