Old Capital

Old Capital is a track with many tight turns.

## Shortcuts

Old Capital contains two shortcuts, one of which requires items.

### Shortcut 1 - ISC

The first shortcut occurs rather early in the track, and requires either a Cradle or a Reverie. Entering the first corridor, there is a gap in the left wall containing several boost rings that requires a Cradle or Reverie to enter.

After entering, you will exit airborne directly opposite to a fenced off gap between the houses, which you can fly over, allowing you to skip an additional hairpin turn.

### Shortcut 2 - NISC

The second shortcut is at the very end of the course, and is similar in structure to the first half of the first shortcut, in terms of entering using a Cradle or Reverie. Just before entering the final corridor, there is a small gap in the right wall that skips a small turn.

In order to do this shortcut without items, you must start by leaving the rooftop sections on the right side, passing through the mid-air boost ring, then getting two more ring bounces between the houses to stay airborne long enough to fly into the shortcut's entrance. While it is extremely difficult, there is not much time lost if failed due to the lines being virtually the same either way, so it is generally beneficial to always attempt it.

## Paths

After the zig-zag section in the first half, you enter the inside of a building and have the option of falling to a lower floor. It is faster to fall because there are more boost rings on the lower floor than the top floor.

At the end of the building, you will come across an open area with a large hole in the middle. You can either fly over it or go around on either side. Flying over is fastest and is almost always the best case except when trying to avoid offensive spells that may hit you over the gap, in which case going around on the right side is slower but made up for somewhat by the many boost rings present.

Shortly afterwards you will end up on the rooftops of several rows of houses. At the end of this section you can either go left to a ramp or go right directly towards more houses. The ramp on the left gives you more air and makes it easier to navigate around the houses, but it is slower than the right path. The best exit to the rooftops is by sliding up from the left side of the rightmost house to get the most air.

## Strategy

Old Capital is a somewhat balanced track where both a frontrunning strategy and an item pulling strategy can be viable. The full first shortcut is very strong, so saving a Cradle for it is almost always more preferred compared to using the second shortcut, unless if you are on the last lap.

The track also features many dangerous areas where offensive spells can do more damage than normal, such as the large pit in the middle of the track, or the rooftop section where getting hit can cause you to fall in between the rows of houses and force you to respawn.

Since the track is slightly on the longer side, there will very likely be Last Words used, which will make the ending section even more difficult.

## Trivia

* The streets are lined with paper lanterns.
* According to the track maintenance oni, dozens of sake were prepared as compensation, but they ran out overnight.