Well that's good... we want you to join, too!

This page is meant to guide you through the process of joining. The process is very easy, but to make your initiation problem-free, we'll lay out a few ground-rules first.

You must play using a real Super Nintendo (not an emulator) and be playing on the Time Trial Mode of Super Mario Kart. All of your Time Trial records will be required (20 courses = 40 times) for you to be listed on some charts. When you submit scores to us, please tell us:

• Your name (exactly as it appears on the site. We may ignore your submission if you don't.)
• Which system you played on (PAL or NTSC).
• The character you drove your time with (optional).

For your very first submission, you should also tell us your country (and even town/state, if you want), so we can put that info in your profile. We will list your email and possibly your chat details (AIM/MSN/ICQ/etc) if you instruct us to - this can allow other karters to contact you.

The URL for submissions is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/supermariokart.

You can send emails to this group using supermariokart@yahoogroups.com.

What is PAL/NTSC?

PAL and NTSC are different TV standards. NTSC is used in Japan, and the majority of North and South America. There are also a few other smaller countries that use it. PAL is mainly used in Europe and Australia. NTSC TVs operate at 30fps (60Hz, 60 frames interlaced), while PAL run at 25fps (50Hz). To satisfy the frame output requirement of these standards, consoles between NTSC and PAL regions run some games at different speeds. Some games are adjusted, but not all. Super Mario Kart is not one of them. PAL runs a few seconds slower on most races. Some slight noticable differences are that the off-road terrain such as grass, sand and water slows the kart down more on the PAL version. Such important differences induce separate charts, and scores between the two versions are incomparable.

How will I know which version I use?

NTSC consoles usually have purple buttons on the controllers, while PAL has yellow/blue/green/red. If you are using an NTSC console, chances are you've got an NTSC game. PAL versions say that they are PAL on most games (check the game or its box). If there is any doubt, please contact us.

Other Information on Time Submissions

As you reach higher standards and ranks we may ask you for some sort of proof. This can be in a number of different formats. Several of the top karters have made video recordings of their times and races. Some players send in pictures, and others have eyewitnesses of races. For more details on this, please refer to the proof information page.

There are some trick/glitch/shortcut methods of driving records, however these are not included in the normal driving methods or the rankings on this site. There are links on the main page for separate records/tables if you wish to send any times for this. For your normal times submission, please stick to driving the courses without tricks/glitches.

There are some corners cutters that we do allow as part of the normal driving routes. These include jumping across the platforms on GV1, GV2 and GV3, using the bumper on MC2 and the long boost to cut the sand.

New Boosting Techniques (NBT) are also allowed on this site. These involve holding L and/or R round the corners and releasing them after sliding for a while, a mini boost is executed and this can be used near a corner with some sand or grass to cut across a bit of it without losing speed. These are very advanced techniques used by some of the top ranked karters but cuts off small amounts of time, so it is recommended at first to sticking to hopping round corners and learning racing lines to cut the corners as tight as possible before trying these techniques. For more details please see the videos.

Submitting your times

When you have a full list of Time Trial course times and fastlaps, please submit them with your first and last name, character used, system and country/town to the address shown above. We always welcome new members to the site; if you find any other people who are interested in joining Super Mario Kart Time Trials, recruit them!