1080 Snowboarding - Information from Bert86

First thing to say is that the only valid character/board combination for a WR run is the gold boarder with the penguin board because they have the best speed and balance combination.

Second thing  is that both NTSC and PAL versions of the game are valid to compete in even though NTSC runs faster the timer still works the same. I have had WRs on different levels in both the NTSC and PAL versions of the game but it is fair to say that PAL is advantaged because it runs slower, giving the player more time to react to certain situations so you will more consistently get good runs. But the difference only becomes really significant when trying to get very optimised runs.
Crystal Lake - Is the first level and is easily the most optimised in the game. Ron Klijn held the world record on this level with a 1'02"46 between 2001 and 2018 when I beat it with a 1'02"43. For a long time people weren't sure whether this record could or would ever be beaten but I have since lowered the time by two more frames to a 1'02"37 about a year ago now, LomasLooman holds the NTSC record with a 1'02"40. We know that a 1'02"33 is possible because I've had the chance to race vs my ghost in time attack mode and have gotten ahead by taking slightly tighter lines. In addition we have recently been able to confirm that match race mode is faster than time attack by a half to 1 full frame because of the better starting position you get on the track. We can envision a 1'02"33 and possibly even a 1'02"30 but that would be a really really insane run without some new strategy optimisations.

The only technically demanding part of this level is the shortcut which requires some precision to get correct. You have to jump over a small snowbank and navigate into a small gap in the rocks whilst maintaining as much speed as possible and the best line. This part occurs about half way into the run.

Crystal Lake is the most optimised level in the game and even though it is simple, it might be the most difficult time to beat.

Ill also add that using the ghost is normally a big advantage in time attack because it is a good indicator of what pace you are on and what lines to follow. In using match race mode for CL you do not have the use of the ghost and so getting the 1'02"33 is all the harder

Crystal Peak is the next course and also one of the simpler stages. The current world record is a 1'26"29 by me and I also hold the fastest time on NTSC with a 1'26"36. Ron Klijn also held the WR on this level between 2001 and 2018 with a 1'26"79.

This world record is pretty strong but not as strong as on Crystal Lake. I suspect that a sub 1'26"20 is achievable with known strats. There's two main parts to this level which are critical to a good run, the first are the S-bends which occur between about 20-40 seconds, there are 4 corners which all require a slightly different approach with the third one being the most difficult (30 seconds into run), you need to get in really close to the wall to get a tight turn and avoiding hitting the wall there is very difficult because of the drift that kinds of sucks you in. To stand any chance of getting the record the 4 s-bend corners need to be executed perfectly.

The second critical part is the mogul section between about 1 min and 1 min 8 seconds in the run. Mattador found the fastest known current line through the moguls and he briefly held the wr with a 1'26"49 last year. You have to weave in between the moguls and even ride the wall at a couple of parts but if you can get through the moguls then the rest of the run is pretty straight forward.

The third level is golden forest and it is much harder than the first two stages, it requires much more concentration than the first two levels because there is pretty much always some obstacle to avoid or tight turn to make. Golden Forest is also notable for the amount of lag that occurs, particularly when you are navigating your way through the trees. Playing this level in PAL with a ghost is extremely laggy so I have always run it without a ghost for that reason.

The WR has dropped dramatically since Hayate landed a 1'18"57 in 2014, it now stands at 1'17"88 and I am currently the only player to break into the 1'17s. The closer player to that is a French guy called DemonSlayer whose PB is 1'18"01, he plays the wiiu VC version and has proved it to be a competitive version of the game which we didnt think was possible before.

In Golden Forest the most difficult section to get correct are what we term the "zig zags" between about 27-32 seconds in the run, navigating through these tight bends in the optimal fashion is the key to beating the current world record. The other run killers are trying to get the perfect line on "the log" about 50s into the run and the very last corner which is extremely tight, getting a bonk on the final left hand wall is common. Golden Forest is the second most difficult of the courses to run and arguably the least well optimised alongside mountain village and I dont think it is unreasonable that we could see a time in the 1'17"60s.

In the last 18 months though we have found new routes or strategies on every course in the game and there is no reason to suggest that there will not be more time saves to be found on any or all of the stages.

The mountain village record is alongside golden forest the least well optimised course. When lomaslooman started running the level he found a new route through the rock section and I found a couple of small time saves too. I had held the record with a 1'28"67 until lomas beat that by 2 frames with a 1'28"60 then i retook the record with a 1'28"53, another two frame time save. Neither of us have put much time into the level since. MV is a bit more complex than crystal lake, crystal peak and deadly fall but most of the action takes place in the first half of the run. If you get through the tunnel section and manage to get as far as the village itself the run is pretty easy from there until the end. The first ten seconds are pretty tricky to get the hang of, with a difficult jump at 9-10 seconds. Then you have to find a nice line through the moguls, trying to avoid hitting them straight on at around 15-18s. The narrow tunnel section is the most difficult part as its very easy to lose control and hit the wall. There is a little jump at 40s which is particularly tricky and a lot of runs will die there but once through the tunnel there is about a 50% chance of finishing the run.

This time can be easily beaten for someone who is willing to put in the time and I could see a time in low 1'28"30s or even into the 20's.

Dragon Cave is by FAR the hardest level in the game, I am lucky to get on average about 1 clean run per hour. I'm guessing that is why Russell decided to put the $500 bounty on this stage. The competition on DC was quite intense between myself and hayate for a while last year. He had held the record since 2014 with a 1'23"82 and then I beat that with a 1'23"75 and he struck back with a 1'23"62 which was a really solid run. I managed to beat his time by finding a slightly faster route just before the bridge (left route as opposed to right) and got a 1'23"58 which is where the WR was before rusty put up his bounty. I knew that the 58 was more than beatable, but the question was just about putting a run altogether and getting over the bridge cleanly. After about 10-15  hours max of gameplay I landed a really really good run and improved the WR to a 1'23"42 to claim the bounty.

I would now say that this will be a really hard time to beat due to the fact that the level is so difficult and that this is now a pretty good time. It is certainly beatable and can see something in the 30s or 20s but landing that run is going to take a serious effort. As things stand only two people have ever even run a 1'23.

What make this level particularly hard are two sections, one is the cliff jump into the rocks at about 14s where once you enter the air you have no control over your direction of travel so your line needs to be perfect before going over the cliff. Then it is (almost) a matter of luck what kind of bounce you will get off the rocks when you land, lots of time is won or lost here with many runs dying.
The most difficult bit by far though is getting over the bridge cleanly without bonking (starts at about 59s). You have to approach the bridge from a very tight angle and the bridge itself is very long and narrow so getting the right angle on approach is critical to getting across cleanly. If you bonk once the run is over because you lose a massive amount of speed and you wont get up to top speed again until you exit the bridge.

Deadly Fall - You should probably watch gooses world record progression video to get a good idea of the level. Deadly Fall is highly optimised because of the intense competition we've had on this stage. I hold the current world record with a 1'06"89 and Phalaer and Lomaslooman both have 1'06"92s. I think a basically perfect run would be a 1'06"82, or a 1'06"79 at most, my 89 run was basically as good as it gets apart from an alcove that wasn't quite perfect.

It's a fun level to run but the two tricky sections are the moguls at the beginning, which because the level is so highly optimised now have to be pretty much perfect every time but it is very easy to lose one or two frames here. The other part is the legendary alcove where you try to get a tight entrance as close to the left hand wall as possible so that you can avoid hitting the wall on the right hand side. Even in my 89 run I slightly hit the wall, it is extremely difficult to get that perfect alcove in addition to the perfect moguls at the start of the run and it hasnt been quite achieved by any of us yet. Just like crystal lake it is going to take something quite special to beat this time, but it is not impossible.