recommended course version: NTSC for Hero or below, both for Titan or above
recommended lap version: NTSC for hero or below, both for titan, PAL for myth or above
recommended NTSC-U character: Fast
recommended course character: FAst for master or below, penta for hero or above
recommended lap character: penta
Grass shortcut (small cut)
Difficulty: Intermediate
This is the standard tech that was used to take the grass SC, before the big cut was discovered by pardiez in December 2008. It is mostly useful for fast characters, or for players who can’t succeed the big cut. To make the small grass cut, jump into the downhill to get an SG, and powerslide diagonally across the grass until you’ve reached the road again, cutting the first grass corner. You then want to cut the second grass corner by going back into the grass and making a small froggy to keep speed in the grass uphill. If you’re trajectory is right, you will exit the grass SC just before the tunnel with a decent speed.
Some mid-air powerslides can be added, especially if this tech is used for the course, for example instead of jumping from the finish line you can do a mid-air there, and you can also mid-air during the second part of the SC, in one of the froggy jumps.
This tech can also be done in a full froggy after you’ve obtained an SG in the downhill, although doing the big cut is faster and easier.
Note that you don’t need to fully join the road at the middle of the SC, as staying a few kart lengths inside the grass will still give you back sacred fire speed while cutting better.
Grass Cut (big cut)
Difficulty: Master
This time the SC is done in one big step, staying in the grass the whole time, instead of cutting wide to almost go back to the road in the middle of the SC.
Of course, this requires getting some SG in the downhill and making a full froggy. This froggy has a tendency of getting stuck, especially on PAL.
The preferred tech is to do a mid-air from the startline, as a simple jump will have worse trajectory. Then, get the downhill SG, jump into the grass cutting as much to the left as you can, and froggy straight to the exit.
This is also possible to do in the SL (without startline mid-air). For the SL, the easiest tech is to go straight, jump, and start turning to the left in the air, to get a good SG and trajectory when you land with a slide (Difficulty: Hero). You should then stop froggy before the end of the grass to make 3 turbos and gain Yellow Fire, but if you’re too slow the grass will slow you down so much you won’t be able to powerslide, which is why this tech is hard.
Downhill SG
Difficulty: Expert
This is the main SG in the track, and it’s right after the downhill before the Tunnel SC impossible in Time Trial. The tech is to jump into the downhill, make a double jump at the end of the downhill, thus skipping over the little bump on the road, and start froggying from there until your froggy ends.
Since the curve that follows is slight, it is a good place to practice control froggy with Penta.
To improve the SG speed, you can use a stop froggy when landing from the initial double jump (around where the turbopad next to the tunnel is). Stopping the froggy there will allow you to keep the SG for longer if done correctly.
Tremplin SG
Difficulty: GOD
Froggying with SG on the tremplin can give you an increased SG, if you’re lucky. The extra speed you get from that can more than compensate the bad trajectory. You can also use stop froggy when you land. Hitting the edge of the tremplin can also give a faster SG, but the tech is random.
Corner SG near last tunnel
Difficulty: Myth
Sometimes, bouncing on the edge of one of the small bumps on the road near the last tunnel will give a powerful SG that can be kept with froggy almost until the finish line, but it is highly random. Note that it is quite hard for the froggy not to get stuck in the last tunnel, especially since this SG seems to happen much more frequently in PAL.