Your Top 50 Games: 2011 Discussion Thread

[Michael-5]

RolStoppable said:

Michael-5 said:

Blasphemy. Mario Kart 64 is the high of the series and since they made this game, Nintendo has been unable to improve the formula. Name 1 new item better then the Blue Shell, or 1 track better then Wario Stadium on N64. Even Rainbow Road and Bowsers Castle levels, best on the N64.

and yes, playing single player to unlock tracks (and characters) is a big deal. I never play the game alone, and doing so feels like a chore. Mario Kart is fun because it's something everyone can play, and it's funnest when you have 3 or 4 (or more) people over and everyone (good and bad) can play together.

Item balance in MK64 is the best, there isn't a pow block or a cheap bullet bill to knock you out at first, but the Blue Shell Bomb is a cool upgrade.

Graphics too man, Mario Kart Wii looks pretty crap to todays standard. Mario Kart 64 looked amazing, and was a huge jump in graphics technology over Super Mario Kart. Mario Kart Wii has slowdown (something MK64 never has) and looks no different from DD except for the single kart racer.

and Koopa Beach was an awesome map! It made you save mushroom boosts and that tunnel was a hard one to get into. I hate now new Mario Karts dumb down the old games, they make them too easy. I mean take the Skyscraper battle level in Mario Kart Wii. It's terrible, jumps gaps are too small, tracks are too wide, and overall it's just too damn easy.

What you say hurts me. Mario Kart 64 is by far the best fun racer of the gen, and by far the best Mario Kart. Since MK64 all Nintendo has been able to do is repeat the exact same formula (I'd even think they still use the same engine), and add crappy items, and dumb down the levels to make them wider and more accessible.

MKDS is really good too in the sense that it feels like MK64, but being on a handheld system totally kills it for me. I'd need 4 DS's to play 4 player and there is no big screen for others to watch too.

Mario Kart Wii offers you customizable four player GPs, something we had to wait 15 years for on home consoles. MK64's Wario Stadium was horrible, its easily among the worst 10 % of Mario Kart tracks ever created. The ridiculous unintended shortcuts and the stupid jump across a previous section of the track that made people with lightning wait for specific players to reach that part. This track was screwed up on so many levels. MK64's Rainbow Road is also one of the worst tracks in existence. Another ridiculous unintended shortcut and a boring beyond belief. SMK's Rainbow Road had no rails whatsoever, but MK64 had them along the entire track. And you talk about other games being dumbed down. Oh. My. God.

MK64's Bowser Castle was one of the better tracks of that game, but in the history of Mario Kart, Bowser Castle is pretty much always great, just like any Mario Circuit/Raceway. The thing is, overall MK64 has the worst package of tracks in the entire series. Wario Stadium, Rainbow Road, Yoshi's whatever, Toad Highway. You know, there's a reason why these tracks haven't appeared as retro courses yet. The other two that didn't make it yet are the Royal Raceway and Banshee something.

Playing an hour of singleplayer in Mario Kart doesn't seem like much (if you do hate it) when gamers nowadays go through much worse pains in other games. If it really bothers you that much, just let someone else do the "work". Finishing third in GPs is enough to unlock the other cups.

Item balance doesn't even really exist in MK64. It's a lottery where the player in second can end up with better extras than the player in fourth. MK Wii's POW block is easily avoidable and the Bullet Bill can't hit you when you are in first, because it never lasts that long. The more you write, the more it sounds like you barely played MK Wii at all.

Mario Kart 64 didn't look amazing and its graphics aged worse than Super Mario Kart. MK Wii has no slowdowns. MK64's framerate in three and four player mode is locked at different levels depending on the track, that's why some courses seem to be faster than other ones.

The Koopa Beach tunnel wasn't hard to get into, unless you want to insist that the controls made it hard. Most people usually complained that MK Wii is too hard and they see getting three stars rankings in GP mode as a near impossible feat. You have a very weird perception of reality.

Mario Kart 64 is the most dumbed down game in the series. I already mentioned the item lottery in multiplayer races. Results depend more on luck than in any other game of the series. In GP mode, MK64 is the only game to give you infinite tries. Meaning, if you don't like the place you are going to finish in, you just let some other racers pass and come in at fifth or lower to play the track again as often as you wish. Super and Super Circuit had limited tries, so you couldn't abuse this system. All following games don't offer you retries at all. If you mess up, you just have to deal with it, take the few points you can get and have to redo the entire cup. Those are the facts.

Mario Kart does not offer you customizable 4 player GP's, otherwise I'd be unlocking stuff. It has customizable 4 player circuits, but I really don't mind selecting a new race after the old one.

What, you like the Mario Circuit/Raceway tracks? and hate Rainbow Road? That's like saying you hate the most interesting track in the game, and hate the worst....and for the record Luigi Circuit and Mario Raceway on N64 are the two best of that type of track.

Banshee Boardwalk is another track I love, one that hasn't been replicated well since. They can't remake all the great tracks.

I unlocked the cups, but not the racers. Apparently you have to do specific things in GP to unloick the racers and most can't be unlocked in MP. I want Diddy and Dry Bones damn it!

Bullet Bill Still kills you when your 4th, and I dunno how to avoid the POW block, jump? It's really hard if you ask me. MK64's items still balanced. You never got a star or lightning in 1st-4th, but come 7th or 8th and it's not too hard to get. What you said is completly untrue about MK64's item balance.

Graphics aged worse then Super Mario Kart? Your joking! I still play this game, where Super Mario Kart is just so different (It did have nice ice levels though). and I have a hard perception of reality.

The Koppa tunnel track isn't too hard to get into, but if someone throws a banana on the ramp, or hits you with a shell just before hand, you lost it. You also needed a mushroom which wasn't too easy to get, especially because on Koopa Beach I found I would always be right next to people who would often take my prize.

You say Mario Kart 64 is dumber down, but look how few places there are to die in MKWii, look at Skyscraper! It's widened and the gaps are almost ignorable.

:O!!!!

I just can't beleive what your saying, MK64 Items are random, but MKWii's are not? Watch the GT review, they specifically say the MKWii items are too random and it can easily take you out of first when two lightnings and a pow block hit you one after the other.

In MK64, you saved good items for the right opportunity, in MKWii you just used them when you got them. There is little strategy in MKWii, and more focus on luck, where MK64 is the opposite.

Also I never noticed infinite tries. In 2 player GP, someone always finished above 5th... :P

RolStoppable said:

Michael-5 said:

You two are crazy, it blows my head someone thinks MK64 being the low of the franchise. It defined Mario Kart, and Mario Kart Wii, DS, and 7 just feel like reincarnations of the game.

I understand people liking Mario Kart DS, 7 and Wii better, especially if they don't mind unlocking content single player, but MK64 was still the game that inspired them, and it has the type of gameplay the wish to imitate (DD was terrible, and they switch to the style of gameplay MK64 gave)

Stop revising history. Super Mario Kart defined Mario Kart, because the vast majority of the things that are present in Mario Kart today trace back to the SNES game.

What happened in reality is that most of Mario Kart 64's elements got ripped out again. The miniturbo mechanic got a major overhaul to fix the issue of snaking. The newer games don't feature ridiculously long infields anymore (like Luigi's Raceway and Kalimari Desert where a golden mushroom allowed you to make insane gains). Shortcuts went back to SNES levels where they were short and sweet, not things that could decide entire races based on who makes it and who doesn't. GP mode is nothing like MK64 anymore. No retries, completely different points system.

The director of Mario Kart DS specifically said that he wanted to best the SNES game, not Mario Kart 64. The result was immense growth for the popularity of the series and along with it, growth of popularity for Nintendo systems as well. That is how it should be. Mario Kart 64 didn't really move the series forward. If it hadn't been for the 3D craze and the built in four controller ports of the Nintendo 64, MK64's sales would have been way worse. Double Dash!! was the wrong direction too, it just made things needlessly complicated.

The only thing that makes Mario Kart 64 good are childhood memories. Those who don't have them or who have played Super Mario Kart see MK64 as the subpar game it is.

Mario Kart defined modern day Mario Kart. Super Mario Kart was a very different game compared to new iterations. Tracks were very flat, there were coins, breakable walls of ice, and different terrain. It was just a different beast. MK64 changed the formula, and since then the gameplay has remained unchanged (except for the terrible DD) and all they do is add items which generally make the game more random, and less skill based. Also Battle Maps will never be as good.

MK64 sold 1 unit to every N64 owner. How does that not move the series? It has the highest sales to console owners ratio of all Mario Karts. I think DD had a similar figure, but MK64 defined Mario Kart.

MK64 defined the series and moved it into 3D, since then new Mario KArts have been "repeat" with added items. That is my honest impression, and the Mario Kart franchise is my most played franchise.

Your insane, every critisism you have about MK64 I find untrue. Items are balanced and are different per position, MK64 has the best tracks around, it's be far the least dumbed down game in the series (wide Skyscraper track, hello? Way to ruin an old classic), and well MKWii just isn;t as good as you say (slowdown, no multiplayer GP, items affecting the whole feild of players frequently, etc, etc).

Just wow....