I was comparing two of my runs and found that on the first mission one run had significantly lower times in between the first three hits. This video shows the difference: Notice how the video on the right waits for the ball to roll a bit.

Can anyone explain why this happens or find a way to make it happen consistently? I've played around with it and found different ways to make it happen but the only thing consistent is that I have to do bunt feints. Any help would be appreciated!

Are they on the same console? Or is one vanilla Wii and the other WiiUVC

They're both on the Wii. I don't even think I turned the console off between the two runs.

Ok, I only asked that because the WiiU VC is much faster at loading times. Wow that is bizarre. I never knew that could happen and no, I don't think anyone's looked into it b4.

I just want to figure this out so that I can actually use it in runs.

Just by watching, my hypothesis is that the bunts in the quick run go foul. In the slower run, it moves on to the next swing after the Noki grabs it. In the fast run, the ball lands fair, triggering the "Good!" message. However, it then rolls foul. This causes the play to be over, and thus, starts the next swing as soon as the "Good!" message ends. I do think this could be useful at top-level runs, as it can definitely shave 1-2 seconds off a run. Theoretically, this may be able to be applied to any swing-related missions, so this is a potentially important find. The only problem is that if the ball /lands/ foul, the swing doesn't count, so it's probably too high-risk, low-reward for runs not gunning for WR.

That seems like a very solid theory, thanks! I'll test it out. Normally I wouldn't worry about something this minor, but since that mission is the first one for a couple run categories, it doesn't hurt to try. Good thinking, and I'll post my findings when I get a chance.

After a bit of testing, it seems that CTQ is correct. It doesn't matter whether the ball lands fair or foul, so try to hit foul balls on this mission!

Huh. Something was telling me fouls didn't count. Anyway, that makes it easy time save at all levels. Could definitely be the case for other missions too. Overall, great find!