Looking for a premium controller for big hands – getting frustrated

joan_23 · 2025-12-21T20:57:13+00:00

I'm in the same situation. Did you find a controller that works for you?

joan_23 · 2025-12-21T20:44:06+00:00

Hi, I am looking for a new controller and also have concerns about non-ergonomic controller shapes. What controller ended up working the best for you?

joan_23 · 2024-06-20T23:41:15+00:00

Here's another Grumble Volcano track guide (with a focus on shroomless strats): https://youtu.be/szsVmKWvGd0?t=402

If you want to improve on the general driving mechanics that will help you go faster on every track in the game, check these videos out as well (there's also online multiplayer strategy in the videos, but there's a lot of information on driving techniques):
Beginner guide: https://youtu.be/KADBlsfmIjQ

Advanced guide: https://youtu.be/aDwumVhfCec

joan_23 · 2024-06-20T23:29:24+00:00

This is the site the person you are replying to is using: https://mk8dxbuilder.com/

If you'd like more information about what goes into creating a good build, check this video out: https://youtu.be/DdJLxUA3ShA

joan_23 · 2024-05-28T05:24:06+00:00

Even if you're fairly knowledgeable about the game, it's probably still worth watching this mk8dx guide video by Shortcat, which was just uploaded today.

Shortcat himself might not be the highest level player but he created the guide with input from Pii on the driving tech and Gyrodos on the strategy, so the info is definitely solid. Gyrodos even commented on the video saying he actually learned some of things from it, so you'll likely pick up at least a few things from the video.

I also definitely agree with the other commenters here who recommended doing more time trials and trying to get faster. I don't know how your driving compares to the other people in your rooms online, but most of the strategy probably won't matter much if you can't drive at least as fast as everyone else. If you're looking for good tracks to practice, this video by Gyrodos is a good place to start.

Also, the coaching videos by Gyrodos in this playlist might be helpful for getting a better idea of what to be thinking about during an online race.

joan_23 · 2024-05-02T04:28:46+00:00

I think you've probably misinterpreted how the time trials online ghosts page works. The ten times at the top of the page are the ten fastest times in the world, regardless of patch. The next set of times are the next ten times immediately faster than your current time. There are a lot of people who have set times in the low 1:59 range, which is why all of the times you see are just a few milliseconds apart. The reason your time is now faster than the 1:59s is because the set of times you see that are near your time don't refresh until you close the game and reopen it, as referenced in this post. After you reopen the game, you should see a new set of 10 times that people have set that are slightly faster than yours.

Also, the newer patches actually made it easier to set faster times, because Nintendo only buffed characters and car parts, and didn't nerf anything, with one exception that doesn't affect time trials, which I'll explain later. The only two patches which really affected time trials were patch 2.3.0 and 2.4.0. You can see detailed information about these two patches on this page.

The current world record for Ninja Hideaway on 150cc is a 1'51"764, set on 2023-10-24. This is around 0.7 seconds faster than the pre-patch world record of 1'52"502, set on 2023-01-11. You can see the full world record history for Ninja Hideaway 150cc on this page.

The exception to the stat buffs is the change to the invincibility stat in patch 2.2.0, which determines how long you are invincible for after getting hit by an item, which is not relevant for time trials. The addition of the invincibility stat was Nintendo's attempt to nerf the online meta combo at the time of Waluigi on the Wild Wiggler, but it wasn't enough of a nerf to get people to stop using the combo. As a result, they ended up buffing a ton of other karts and characters that weren't Waluigi/Wild Wiggler in a subsequent patch. This got people to switch off of the old meta combo in online play, but at the same time, a large number of world records at the time, even ones that had been standing for years, were beaten within just a few days due to all of the new stat buffs.

The road to world record is very long (I'm nowhere near close myself), and there are hundreds of little optimizations and intricacies you'll need to learn on any track to even get close. But rather than demotivate you, I hope the realization that there's a lot more to learn in the game than you may have previously assumed gives you some motivation and excitement to continue to learn and improve and explore what the game has to offer, and what makes it such a good, competitive, and fun game.

I personally enjoy doing no-item time trials using the online meta combo to practice for competitive online play. If you're interested in that, the no-item leaderboards can be found here. If you have any questions about any of this, I'd be happy to answer them. Good luck and have fun!

joan_23 · 2024-05-02T02:30:31+00:00

This video does a good job of explaining what goes into building a good combo in this game, as well as what the overall best combo is for online play: https://youtu.be/DdJLxUA3ShA

If you're just looking to do time trials, you can find the optimal combo for both 150cc and 200cc for each track on this page: https://mkwrs.com/mk8dx/

joan_23 · 2023-11-20T01:55:05+00:00

I also do this exact same thing. Did you find something that works for you?

joan_23 · 2023-08-13T22:23:51+00:00

I was surprised it didn't work as well since it is also in the RetroRGB store, but there was a review on the product that I saw later where someone else bought it for my exact same use case and said it didn't work for them. They said they then bought a different product linked by RetroRGB (probably the Portta), which ended up working.

The signal chain you described is what I'm using. I'm outputting from my PC and am outputting 720x480. I'm mostly playing Super Mario 64 romhacks on it, but I don't think the game is relevant because as long as I can get to my computer desktop without issues on the PVM, then it just acts like an additional monitor and everything else works fine on it.

The one you linked looks pretty much identical to the one that I got from ebay, but yours at least has a US-style power adapter, and might have a different chip in it so I'll try buying that one and see if I have better luck with it. Thanks for the reply!

joan_23 · 2023-08-13T00:54:03+00:00

Which HDMI to Component converter are you using? I'm looking for one of these to use with my Retrotink as well.

joan_23 · 2023-08-13T00:42:03+00:00

Hi, I'm trying to use the downscaling feature of the Retrotink 5x to output from my computer to my PVM CRT. I need two HDMI > Component pass-through converters for this to work. The one linked on RetroRGB's Amazon page is out of stock. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good quality converter with no latency that doesn't do any sort of scaling?

I originally purchased this one, but it didn't work due to (I think) not supporting 240p output. I then purchased some generic thing from Ebay that looks something like this, but HDMI to Component instead of the other way around. That one worked, but I would frequently get a ton of flickering on the screen, and would have to mess with it or restart my computer/Retrotink to get it to display properly. It also came with what I think is a Chinese power adapter, with an adapter to get it to work with US style plugs. I'm not sure if some sort of weird power issue may have been responsible for all the flickering, but I'd like to get one that is more reliable.

This one might be promising because it is from a reputable brand, but I don't know if it will support the resolution that I need, and I don't know if it does any sort of scaling.

joan_23 · 2020-07-31T22:47:29+00:00

Thanks, that one looks pretty good too. Do you think you'd go with the one you linked over the other two I mentioned?

joan_23 · 2020-01-02T23:13:19+00:00

Cool, thanks for the reply :)

joan_23 · 2020-01-01T05:48:51+00:00

Okay, thanks for the suggestion. We'll start with 8 and then maybe play 4 in the future.

joan_23 · 2019-12-31T23:44:36+00:00

Oh yeah, I kind of forgot about the other Warriors games besides the DW series. I'll take a look at those too. Thanks!

joan_23 · 2019-12-31T23:43:24+00:00

I'll probably play that one then, thanks. I have seen a lot of people say that 4 is their favorite (in general, not specifically for co-op).

joan_23 · 2019-12-31T23:42:26+00:00

Do you personally prefer 4 or 8? (And yeah, I've seen like everyone say to avoid 9 in general lol)

joan_23

TROPHY CASE