The Legality of SSMT
Or why 'anti-snakers' need to re-think their arguments
If you have not been living in a cave for the last year, you have probably heard of SSMT in Mario Kart DS, or 'snaking’. A very popular technique backed by many websites, this is also hated by a large portion of people as well, who have an overbearing obsession with trying to stop people using this neat technique. However, I personally am one of the biggest supporters of the technique, and I am prepared right now to rip apart my rivals flimsy opinions, and prove Straight Stretch Mini Turbo is a perfectly legitimate technique which proves skill.
'It’s a glitch!’ That is the sad little cry of the anti 'snaker’, who seems to think that anything not on the game box is some 'evil exploit that cannot be ever used’. However, this is incorrect. So lets think what SSMT consists of:
Straight Stretch Mini Turbo- the simple use of mini turbos on a straightway to go faster via the simple mini turbo technique.
Explaining this again, it is simply using between one and numerous mini turbos on a straight road. And what the less educated think 'snaking’ consists of, using mini turbos on a straight way to gain speed. Now, as you can see, mini turbos are actually in the game manual, and since SSMT, or 'snaking’ is simply made of mini turbos, and power slides, both which happen to be intended techniques. That is something the opponents cannot just explain away, the difference.
Another point is the very fine line between what is 'allowed’ mini turbos and 'disallowed’ exploiting. For example, lets say, via the diagram below this, that you have just finished mini turboing on a turn in the track. You reach the end, but your kart is facing at an angle, and you use a mini turbo to re-angle the kart. Then, you find out you are still off path, and mini turbo backwards. You repeat this until the path is over. Now, as you can see, you have, according to the opponents, you have broke some unwritten law, and use Straight Stretch Mini Turbo to an 'unfair’ advantage. However, you can argue that it simply came natural, and it was the best way to not have to do a slow turn. My opponents will say not to use this, but not using it to go faster, you would actually have to boycott mini turbos in the game, and turn without sliding, which feels slow, unatural and is simply holding back your skill. Do they really think that the procedure is unatural now? Do they really think their non mini turbo using ideals are more natural? Or is it just a case of 'play my way now everyone’?
But let us return to the question of whether it counts as a shortcut first, by comparing it to the glitch shortcut list of requirements from the Mario Kart Ds Players Page. Right from the site FAQ page, this is the list:
A shortcut is a trick used to advance yourself in the race by using Lakitu (the ghost), jumping over barriers, or cutting of a large portion of the course in an unintended way.
Now, lets compare all of those requirements to SSMT, or 'snaking’. Does it involve using Lakitu in any way? No, Lakitu does not have to be used, partly because it does not exploit the checkpoint system, so that requirement is out the window. Do you have to jump a barrier to use SSMT? No, unless your definition is vastly different to the majority of the world’s defintions. Finally, do you cut a large portion of the track in an unintended way? This is a part where PRB may or may not meet the requirements, but SSMT or 'snaking’ does not, if done correctly. Hence the picture:
Note that the mini turbo path, and this is true for 99.9% of courses, does not leave the path. Hence, you are not ever 'skipping’ a portion of the track, merely going faster, which proves you are not 'skipping a large portion of track in an unintended way’.
Okay, so It’s not a glitch shortcut. Now, to check if it’s a glitch, the technique would have to meet these requirements to be considered, by DS Ultimate glitch hunter standards a glitch:
It would have to be an unintended happening in the game. If it’s intended, it can never be a glitch. There would have to be sufficent evidence of this, and it would have to be obviously a glitch which would meet a category of either a clipping glitch (going through objects), levitation, item and object manipulation, game hanging/freezes/crashes, debug related or the like. SSMT does not do anything a glitch would do. Unlike the glitch shown here, it does not freeze the game, and definetly not freeze you as a flying bullet bill train:
It also does not cause you to levitate, or go through objects. You cannot access the debug menu or similar while using SSMT (if I could though, I’d be over the moon in joy of this finding). You also do not manipulate the item system, or anything else slightly glitch considered.
Finally for this point, is it a cheat? Now, according to Gamefaqs cheat types, it is not a cheat. As for example, it is not a glitch, as it has not be proven to be unintentional, and the only the unintentional happenings in a game can be a glitch, exploit, malfunction or whatever. And here are their other possibilities for cheats, plus whether 'snaking’ would meet these criteria:
1. Codes - A pushbutton or typed code, usually entered without an explicit prompt from the game (such as a "Password Entry" screen). Usually entered at the main menu, pause screen, or as a console command, and do things like provide unlimited lives or invincibility. Now, SSMT does not meet this requirement, as no button codes or passwords are entered at pause screens, menus, or any other part of the game. Hence, it is not a code.
2. Passwords: A level or cheat password, usually entered at a specific "Password Entry" or "Name Entry" screen. Usually used to jump ahead levels, unlock new features, or activate other cheat modes. It also isn’t this either, as you do not enter a code into a password screen to use SSMT. In fact, Mario Kart DS has no password type screens, except your name, and this has no effect on the gameplay, hence, it cannot be a password.
3. Unlockables: Characters, items, or other features unlocked by completing certain in-game tasks. Usually in the form of "Beat level X to unlock character Y or something similar. This is another option which is quickly thrown out the window, as you can quite easily SSMT from the start of the game. To prove this, a few days ago, I used my cousins game for this, and managed to get 1:58:XXX on Airship Fortress first time, without unlocking any missions, or any star ranks. Hence it is not an unlockable.
4. Easter Eggs: Non-canonical (i.e. nothing to do with the game storyline) hidden bonuses placed in the game by developers. Usually requires a very complicated or unusual in-game task to find. Things like pictures of the developers and "joke" weapons or items are the most common kinds of eggs. Definetly not this either. SSMT is not a picture of the game developers, or anything similar, and is based on mini turbos, which are part of the main game engine, and not bonuses thrown in, as with their appearance in four Mario Kart games.
5. Secrets: Non-obvious in-game tricks or features to ease or enhance gameplay. Includes hidden items in out-of-the-way places, non-obvious boss weakness, tips for quickly and easily leveling up characters or gaining money. Needs to actually be a cheat, not found in the normal way you would play the game. Not this either. SSMT is not a trick, and just by improving, and within the normal way you play the game by improving at Time Trials mode, you learn all about it. In fact, some strategy guides, magazines (official as well) and major websites recommend this for all the Mario Kart games with mini turbos included, and I can easily prove this, as a Prima Strategy Guide for Mario Kart Double Dash says to SSMT against the Baby Park Staff Ghost, and some of the others as well.
Plus, it is not a cheat in another sense either. With real cheat codes, like using an Acgtion Replay, you can go much faster, race different courses and fly with just a selection on a menu, and maybe a button to press in the actual game. However, SSMT usage, and 'snaking’ takes practice, and no Joe N00b can go out, buy a device and instantly start using it. And, anyone can learn to use the technique. It requires no extra cheating or hacking equipment, and can be learnt fairly easily, so it cannot be a cheat in the same sense as, say, the moon jump code used via an Action Replay or Gameshark. It is also intentional. While some opposition to the idea like saying that Nintendo never intended the trick to be used, there is overwhelming proof they did in many places, where snake like road layouts have been used. Here is an example of this:
Now, if you can see above, that one path in Wario Stadium is set out like it was MEANT to be 'snaked’ down, and works perfectly (if you dodge the firery podoboos). This is one sign of Nintendo showing how SSMT is legit.
Another is the Donut Plains Staff Ghost. This actually does one SSMT on the grass, going through the shortcut. Since the person who raced to get the time and generate the ghost works for Nintendo Of Japan, it seems like it was intentional.
The Double Dash Staff Ghosts also show this, like how the ghost on Baby Park curves to the side and does a mini turbo on the straight every lap, and in a semi snake like manouver, as if the technique had been found and used by Nintendo before many 'anti-snakers’ knew about it. Oh, and another ghost in Double Dash proves you were meant to be mini turbo multiple times on corners, as it mini turbos twice on each long bend at Luigi Circuit.
Nintendo Official Magazine also supports this. They said how it was a perfectly fair technique, and included a tutorial in their guide. This counters Nintendo Power being slightly against it (they don’t think it’s cheating though), as Nintendo Official Magazine UK and Nintendo Power are exactly the same in a way, both being the official magazines for Nintendo in the UK and the US (there is probably also a version in Japan, I can guaratee it).
Another backing of this is Nintendo of America. For one, NOA Andy uses SSMT/’snaking’ in races. This is proved by his article supporting the manouver at Nintendo.com, and references to him using the technique in the titles and text of various other articles at Nintendo. Below is a link for proof to his 'snaking’ rant.
Another backing comes in the form of the Nsider forums. These forums have a notoriety for censoring anything Nintendo doesn’t endorse, from Action Replay discussion to external websites to glitches and hacking techniques. Now, one of the sticky topics on the board is a guide to 'snaking’. If this were not intentional, wouldn’t Nintendo have deleted it or locked it like many glitch discussion, or AR discussion topics? That’s something to consider.
Nintendo of Europe can also be seen as proof. Note the professional player (he was beaten by many good players though still, and would totally be killed against someone from the world record site), that Nintendo of Europe said was their greatest challenge to players, used the technique. I consider that evidence that Nintendo, in Europe this time, backs up my side of the argument more. Oh, and di I mention that one of Nintendo’s top staff, Reggie, actually used it when he played Mario Kart DS players for a special event, as well?
Now, seeing all the evidence that 'anti-snakers’ are wrong, why do they still hold their beliefs? Well, here comes the philosophical part. People in general are trapped most of their life in a box way of thinking, and never think outside the box. When their arguments are put down, they will always come back with excuses and counter arguments in fear of being proved wrong, and their entire existance and thoughts being destroyed to the opposing opinion. Now, I am no exception to this, and could argue forever about something I felt strongly about, and it is what I said just then that proves one thing in life that people don’t understand:
'In an argument, you can never actually win. There are no winners, only losers’
So as I said, it’s their opinion that stops them from converting, seeing the light or understanding the opposition evidence. That I knew for ages now, since the time in philosophy where each person had to hold a strong opinion against everyone else’s criticisms of it, and they never gave up their belief. It is the same with 'snakers’ and 'anti-snakers’. While we have the upper hand, neither can win, as the other side can counter the argument. I will leave with a statement from a great philosopher that best describes why many people are against SSMT, even though it is fair:
'One dog barks at a shadow. 400 dogs make it fact’
Think about it.