I think the skyway also prefers to drop you off in areas that aren't right before a turn, which makes them EXTREMELY powerful in the pro courses if you know the layout of the track

In case viewer missed it - Mute City: Super boost right after the ramp and Big Blue: Super boost during the 1st 90 degree turn of the track. Thanks for the video!

I have noticed that the skyway seems to last longer the further away you are from the lead as well, like a rubber-banding mechanic. I could be mistaken but it certainly feels that way.

I think there's a very vital piece of information missing in this video. Super boost duration is NOT based on track, it's based on placement. The further back you are in the pack, the longer your super boost lasts for. a super boost from 70th place lasts significantly longer than a super boost from 7th.

As I started watching the video it I was remined of so-called "Bullet Bill extension zones", or places you can use your Bullet Bill in Mario Kart where you can increase how long a bullet bill lasts for because the game doesn't have a nice place to drop you out of the bill.

I immediately knew what that this mechanic existed. Very similar to Bullet Bill extension zones in Mario Kart. It will not pop you out in areas that could cause you instantly crash.

Considering it’s based on a retro game released in 1990, this game is super easy to pick up but is super in depth. Amazing

Idk if you will read this comment, but I just wanna tell u that this type of content is genuine and meaningful. It may not always get the clicks or have a super big budget, but dang, this is what KZfaq should be. Thank you for making such good content 👍

Pro course skyways are POWERFUL AND I LOVE THEM 😂

The skyway will also not drop you around curves or sharp turns, only along straight paths!

This is very similar to bullet bill extensions from mariokart 8. The goal is to use the skyway in such a way that when it ends there are multiple areas that it can’t drop you off at.

The areas you recorded with the longest times line up where I've felt the skyways got the most use in practice. Nice to see that confirmed in the data. Great video!

Hey ! I like this new content ! Please do more

Wow, great research here. Just when you think this was a "simple" game, mechanics like these come to light. Thanks for putting in the work.

Seems the skyway works like bullet bills in mario kart where there's spots where the game simply can't drop you off at, usually the parts where there's sharp turns. Plus the distance of it is based on your distance from 1st place, so it's a lot longer at 50th than it is at 15th for example. On sand ocean I like to use it right at the first triangular looking 180° turn because there's so many turns right after it that it gets extended by a lot

This video series will skyrocket your channel. Great idea!

Appreciate you for not passing this out to 15 minutes like most KZfaqrs

One thing to also note is that the SKYWAY tends to be longer depending what lap you're on for balance. Example lap 1 vs lap 4

I'd worked this out on my own, but it's still pretty useful to see it laid out with visuals and second stats.

Reminds me of bill extensions in Mario Kart! The bullet bill item in MK is usually programmed to not drop you in inopportune places. Meaning there are large gaps in the track where the bill will not stop. So knowing the right place to use your bill and take advantage of those spots, will allow you to extend the items use much longer. Like the skyway!

Interesting, this reminds me of the bullet bills in MK8, and how you can extend their time by making use of their zones where they won't drop you

Good high quality video! I wish your channel all the success in the world

i've been waiting for the competitive level notes to appear and you're the first i've seen!

Great video! In the future, I would like to see what the best locations to begin a skyway boost are for each track. Thanks for posting this informative and pleasant video!

You explained this amazingly! I’d love more track walkthroughs and techniques for this classic game update!

Thanks for the helpful info, The Skyway is best used in a helpful place rather then straight away.

Still amazed with this kind of awesome videos for F-Zero99. Love the game since the og was one of my childhood games.

I knew there must have been a sweet spot, and this video shows that pretty well. Nice vid

This game is 🔥🔥🔥

Yeah I noticed this really quickly on the 2nd day on big blue and told my friends that Mario karts bullet bill extensions are in this game XD

Thanks for the video! I noticed the same thing, but I was not willing to do the research! I'm glad you did and shared what you found out to the rest of us 😃

There are also a few cases of very EVIL drop zones, such as one just before the last sharp right turn of Sand Ocean, just after the curves. You wouldn't think people would drop in there since it's such a short piece of track, but it's one a lot of people drop in because they were too eager to skip all the curves that come just before this turn. People who wait a little can sometimes get just past that turn so they only have to deal with a shallow right and the final stretch. Otherwise it'll be in "extension mode" and will drop you. Big blue has a similar one.

Excellent guide. Only thing I would add is to position your machine carefully as you enter the drop zone. I've lost so many wins from being dropped on top of a red bumper right before the finish line. It's easy to not pay much attention to what's happening on the track below while on the skyway.

Thank you for this helpful info. See you out there.

2:00 but then you'd be let out of the skyway at a really awkward angle and uncontrollably slam into a wall! Extending the skyway times boil down to cheesing the system in place that ensures you are brought back down at a place straight enough to give you time for the next turn. If you turn your skyway so that the 5-6 seconds ends at the start of a hairpin or otherwise very large and steep turn, your skyway time will be extended until the end of that turn. Also, even if the skyway time is relatively short compared to a cheese based one, it is often best to pick a skyway that goes over the most turns. Those skyway sections often skip the most track, and gives you the most actual speed difference if it is any turn that requires you to release the throttle. Simply put, it is as if you were taking a hairpin turn on white land at over 500+, rather than releasing throttle and strafing to keep as close to the barrier as possible, and slowing down beneath 400. The skyways on Port Town II and White Land are significantly unbalanced, as they let you head through multiple hard corners and hairpin turns at full speed. Understanding which skyway routes are the best in Pro maps can give very easy wins. If you can combine that with cheesing the landing time, you can easily jump from 30th place to the podium on the last lap. On the first tracks in a prix, cheesing the landing time to jump into the top places can make the gray bumper car method a very solid choice as well! Great video! I wish more players took the time to experiment with the game and gain a better understanding of how it works.

Great video! I wondered why some last longer than others. Good info here.

The skyway duration also depends on where you are located in the race, like bullet bill in Mario Kart, it not just gonna take you to the front, if you are already pretty close to the front, like in the top ten, the skyway won't last as long as say if you are close to the back

And here I thought that it had to do with collecting more sparks than needed made you go further

Great, I need to obtain my f-zero 99 diploma.

Skyway drains more rapidly over the healing areas too.

really need more advanced tips like this.

Time to use what I learned in boating school and floor it.

I noticed that they also won’t drop you if you’re in an area where there is a bunch of tight turns. It will drop you when younger to the next straight line.

Can you do a more detailed video on your longer jumps or provide some rankings on best places to start a boost on different tracks?

This video is great!

As other people have mentioned, the one aspect that seems to be a bit unclear is how some Superboosts can technically last longer than others. I know the best spots to get onto the Skyway, but I guess when I was further behind, I ended up going to the next drop zone instead of the drop zone I was expecting. I have not done as much research as you have, but I do have general ideas based on observation for all of the tracks. In general, get onto the Skyway either right before a difficult turn or set of turns where a mistake could cost you placement, or right after a healing zone if you want to preserve your energy. I can follow up with more detailed advice if anyone wants to know. Mastering the Skyway can greatly reduce the pressure needed to do well with the other aspects of your races.

I've noticed this and try to use it to my advantage.

I know they probably did it in order to balance it but I hate you can't use your regular boost when you have a full skyway boost bar activated and automatically use that instead of using your left over power gauge in case the moment you wanna use skyway isn't the best time to use it. Then you gotta wait it out and search for a spot that's best to use it.

I did notice that if youre towards first place the skyway wont last nearly as long. So I think the amount youre behind first place by does play a factor.

I knew there would be skyway extensions!

@HeyNiles you forgot to mention that skyway will never drop you in a turning it'll wait until the next straight path

Seeing this video in comparison to your others is a lot of fun 😁😁 Does this make you a F Zero 99 youtuber now haha

The problem with the extension is that sometimes the boost pads are disabled when your super boost energy runs out early, so you're stuck in the skyway at fairly slow speeds until the game is able to drop you off.

I thought you had to time the boost with the flashing icon to get a longer lasting super boost on top of the drop zones I mean, sometimes the super boost bar drained super fast when the icon didn't flashed when i got on the skyway and slowly when jumping to it was aligned with the icon flash

This is all rather obvious stuff. Something else I'm not 100% certain about but have reasonable belief in, is that the skyway will last naturally longer on later laps, as in the bar itself will empty much slower. I also think picking up sparks after your super boost is full might make it a little extended when used, but that could be wrong pretty easily.

If you haven't won a 1st place yet, keep trying. Eventually you will win 👊

Nice video if i remembered correctly i was way behind the lead in port town 2 used the sky wave before the barrier magnet for a skywave shortcut, did sliding turns on sharp turns, got the boost pads, and drop around the corner becoming first place. I finished first place, but needs more research tbh.

Even if you're in a least position, could that mean that your Skyway Boost will be extended?

Nice Job!!

i noticed that the skyway wouldn't drop me off the side of the track, but i'd love to see a breakdown of all of the best places for using your super! i'd also love to see if you ever did analysis on if its better to use your boost more frequently or try to hold it for the optimal time... if I get my super filled but i just passed the optimum jump point, is it better to burn it and hope to collect again before the next cycle? or is it better to hold it for close to a whole lap in order to hit a specific point. Anyways, thanks for this video, it was just what i was looking for!

The most important bit of information that could've been highlighted in this video, "Where in the track grants you the greatest extension on the skyway," wasn't.

I love going to heaven!

Thank you so much

I think it also avoids droping you just before a tight turn

I would love to see the details of prime skyway start points in the pro tracks

I thought it lasts longer the more you use it, whether in single race or Grand Prix.

Is it a trope to have additional holographic level geometry? if it is, then it is my favorite. It's like a pinball upper playfield!

It has to do with what place you're in... pretty sure.

Ayo help me with the course Silence lol, im always messing it up because of the tight left and right turn

Just gonna be _that guy_ and point out that those map images you're using are from the F-Zero GP Legend versions of the track and not from F-Zero SNES/99... but whatever the case, yeah, the Skyway meta is super interesting especially since you can't really experiment unless you're in the middle of an actual race. Resources like these are helpful, thanks!

Bruh, games been out for less than a month and we got stats

Did you confuse 1a and 1b on Mute City?

So im trying to make it drop off road to extend it?

This video is great but ultimately was much less technically descriptive than I was hoping. It didn't show the plotted paths in an easy to understand way (actually showing them vs showing small equally colored labels for their starting and touchdown points) and it didn't show where the best spots to start the skyways actually were either. Still great video, I just think it needs a bit more easy to understand information.

isn't it piloting school?

F-ZERO-Dd

I'm sorry, but you had to collect data points and analyze them to find out the skyway only drops you in specific places? I've noticed that after my first few races, it's completely obvious. And that you didn't even mention how much longer it lasts when you're away from the lead is even more confusing. The real question is what to conclude from this and where to activate it.

Really? It made no sense why some section of the skyway might buy you extra time over segments of the track it can’t put you down on?

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