Speedrunner Guillaume “Antistar” Leviach set an incredible world record time on Super Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road, blowing the previous record out of the water. Though Super Mario Kart was released way back in 1992, the game’s speedrunning community is still racing hard, honing their skills to cut down on race times and compete for world record titles. And though some Mario Kart speedrun challenges are bizarre, Leviach’s straightforward speedrun record is going to be hard to beat.
Speedrunning video games have grown in popularity over the years and have built a dedicated community and fanbase. In essence, speedrunning is the act of completing a game or level in the fastest possible time, utilizing in-game features – and oftentimes game-breaking bugs - to improve efficiency and cut down completion time. There are various speedrunning categories and challenges, which range from completing a game’s entire narrative to defeating its final boss in the fastest possible time. Popular games to speedrun include Minecraft and Skyrim, as well as many of the Mario games due to their fluid controls and the requirement for impeccable timing. Some of the most impressive Mario game speedruns involve executing perfect platforming and movements, as well as discovering new tricks to cut down on previous record times.
According to Nintendo Life, a Mario Kart Speedrunner set an incredible world record time on Rainbow Road, more than two decades after the game’s initial release. Mario Kart speedrunner Guillaume “Antistar” Leviach broke two world records in the span of weeks, with the most recent one having been made official on December 13, 2021. Leviach achieved a 1’26”36 time on Super Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road, cutting down 14 milliseconds from his December 6 record. The new world record was classed as “Myth+,” which is the highest rank the Super Mario Kart community hands out for track times.
Leviach’s record also made him the first player to achieve a perfect 80/80 in the Myth+ category within the World Game Hall of Fame inductee, Super Mario Kart. He received the Myth+ rank on the 80 different times-to-set on the game's 20 tracks, including single lap times and full race times, as well as the PAL (European) and NTSC (North American / Japanese) versions of the game.
Rainbow Road is known for its many iterations, each offering an enhanced difficulty above alternative Mario Kart tracks. For many, it’s challenging to complete the course at all, let alone in record time. With massive penalties for missing turns and reckless driving, completing the course requires steady controls and well-timed drifts. Leviach achieved his impressive world record by hopping over corners and staying tight inside the lines. It is also noteworthy that Leviach was playing as Donkey Kong, whose heavyweight might have provided unique advantages on the course.
Leviach’s Mario Kart Rainbow Road speedrun time will be hard to beat, especially since he now holds the top-two world record spots for Super Mario Kart's Rainbow Road. Still, anything is possible within the speedrunning community, with new times only requiring players to cut down milliseconds.
Source: Nintendo Life, Antistar/YouTube