Mario Kart 64

robman60

I'm thinking of trying my hand at some Mario Kart 64 time trials again, after not playing for almost a year and a half.

This is definitely one of my favourite games ever, and I'm planning on reclaiming my position in the time trial top 100 on mariokart64.com

Any other players here? I could do with someone else for motivation.

CiDeRmAn

I think you'll find that Mario Kart 64 is not a firm favourite around these parts!
It's still ahead of it's peers from the time as far as the genre goes, but compared to the other Mario Kart titles it's certainly the weakest of the series.
Compare it to the incredible GBA and DS editions and to the wonderful Gamecube game.

That said, once you get 2/3/4 people crowded around a tv any Mario Kart becomes fun and you'll certainly meet some mean players about here.....

OwaynOTT

Gamecube Mario Kart is my favorite. Very disappointed in the Wii version. Id love a new one with all the tracks from all the tiles and doesn't need any new tracks.
Also it would have options for multiplayer battles like say bananas only, no upstairs in luigi mansion and one ballon only battles.

batari

I'd defo be up for the craic. What tracks are your preferences?

robman60

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

but compared to the other Mario Kart titles it's certainly the weakest of the series.
Compare it to the incredible GBA and DS editions and to the wonderful Gamecube game.

I have to disagree. I've spent quite a lot of time on all six of the games, and saying it's the weakest just seems absurd. In my opinion, MKW is most certainly the worst in the series, although its appeal to a casual gaming audience is more than some of the other editions.

robman60

batari wrote: »

I'd defo be up for the craic. What tracks are your preferences?

Most of the tracks are well designed, but my favourites would be Royal Raceway and Choco Mountain.

Do you partake in multiplayer, or time trials? Personally, I've had few opportunities to play multiplayer, so my main focus has been on time trials.

@Mod(s): Could I post the web address of a site for time trial involvement here, or is that considered advertising? I have no vested interest in posting the web address, as it is a free site for time trial participation which I didn't create.

pdbhp

robman60 wrote: »

I have to disagree. I've spent quite a lot of time on all six of the games, and saying it's the weakest just seems absurd. In my opinion, MKW is most certainly the worst in the series, although its appeal to a casual gaming audience is more than some of the other editions.

i agree MK Wii is by far the worst/weakest of the bunch, DS version is the best IMO lots of fun to be had playing that:D

Mcjmetroid

Mario kart 64 just feels so... unpolished to me...

It doesn't have the best control in the world. the graphics aren't too great..

The ultimate karting game for me is Crash team racing for the PS1.

Retr0gamer

There's too many exploits as well. Toad is pretty much broken on some tracks.

robman60

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's too many exploits as well. Toad is pretty much broken on some tracks.

What do you mean by "Toad is pretty much broken on some tracks?"

Also, is it okay for me to post the link mentioned above?

CiDeRmAn

Fine to post links, once there is no illegal goings on, like bios files and roms...

Not really absurd to suggest Mario Kart 64 is the worst, to be honest it's all down to personal choice.
No one dislikes the DS or GBA incarnation, nor the GC game.
The Wii comes in for abuse because they made too many concessions to the Wii control options and the N64 just lacked something, the tracks, the visuals the gameplay, never seemed to have the speed and fun of the other editions.
Now I am not a big fan of the Snes game at all and will take the N64 game in preference everytime, but then I never liked Mode 7 games.
But I thought the GBA game was excellent, possibly my most played of the series and I can play it on my GB Micro too! Which is nice.

Overall, amongst all the games in the Mario Kart series, MK64 is the one that more people dislike over the others. People are still fans of the game but not as many give it their first preference compared with all the other games in the series.

Not trying to take a swipe at MK64 fans here, ok?
You have to accept different points of view here, like that Halo is great and Gunstar Heroes sucks balls!

o1s1n

I think it's less to do with MarioKart64 being bad and more to do with the fact that you have to use one of the worst controllers in the world ever made to play it.

Racing games with an n64 controller is a hilariously bad combination.

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

Racing games with an n64 controller is a hilariously bad combination.

:eek:

Well, actually, you're right, but it took some balls to say it so well done and you'll be missed around here!

That little stick could do so, so much but was such an epic fail at racing games, although F1GP wasn't ban on it, aside from the unfortunate lack of frames in the old framerate...
Beetle Adventure Racing was good too.

Mcjmetroid

o1s1n wrote: »

I think it's less to do with MarioKart64 being bad and more to do with the fact that you have to use one of the worst controllers in the world ever made to play it.

Racing games with an n64 controller is a hilariously bad combination.

I know right! I find it near impossible to use the controller these days. How did they go from the SNES perfection to that monstrosity.

o1s1n

Mcjmetroid wrote: »

I know right! I find it near impossible to use the controller these days. How did they go from the SNES perfection to that monstrosity.

And the fact that so many people sing it's praise boggles my mind.

The thing has three handles. Three! Humans have two hands. Maybe they designed it for some weird three armed Japanese creature we've never heard of?

LoGiE

I sent my college years playing Mario Kart 64 but I never loved it as much as the original on the SNES if I'm honest. I also wasn't a huge fan of the Wii version until I played it using the classic controller... way better but totally unfair in multiplayer against opponents using the regular remote

Retr0gamer

robman60 wrote: »

What do you mean by "Toad is pretty much broken on some tracks?"

He can hit a lot of the shortcuts without the need of a mushroom.

Josey Wales

I don't get all the hate for the Wii version. I'd say it is the game that I've spent most time playing on the Wii. I loved most of the courses and the online worked very well. Never any lag and there was always a game to be joined.

Once you avoid using the wheel the controls were great, especially the Wiimote & Nunchuk combo. Before I'd played the Wii version the last one I'd played was the N64 game. I'd missed all the ones in between so a lot of the courses were new to me.

Mcjmetroid

Josey Wales wrote: »

I don't get all the hate for the Wii version.

Right I'll join in on this..

There's too many karts on track
The battle mode is team-based only and therefore ****e.
The single player is awful as usual.
The bikes are annoying
Too much dependance on items..

there's loads more. The DS version is my favourite so far.

Pyongyang

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Beetle Adventure Racing was good too.

You just reminded me of a PC game I have in lock up that I adored. I forget the name, Beetle Cup I think it was called.

Highly recommended, especially the ski jump tracks.

robman60

Retr0gamer wrote: »

He can hit a lot of the shortcuts without the need of a mushroom.

As can Yoshi and Peach.

Anyway, for anyone who is interested in participating, here are the web links. Feel free to join the forum too, it's a really friendly place and you'll get tips and hints from the top players, or from people at your level, whatever that may be.

SMK: http://www.mariokart64.com/smk/
MK64: http://www.mariokart64.com/
MKSC: http://www.mariokart64.com/mksc/
MKDD: http://www.mariokart64.com/mkdd/
MKDS: http://www.mariokart64.com/mkds/
MKW: http://www.mariokart64.com/mkw/

If you have questions about any of the sites, I'll try to help you.

robman60

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

But I thought the GBA game was excellent, possibly my most played of the series and I can play it on my GB Micro too! Which is nice.

I agree. The game boy advance edition is often underrated, and although the game's mechanic design is questionable in certain elements (the huge jumps, flat walls which can be jumped when certain techniques are used) I still think it's well worth playing. The poor mechanics has put many people off the game, and participation in MKSC is much lower than in some of the other games on MK64.com.

CiDeRmAn

I had a look at that Mariokart64 site and, with the greatest respect, it seems to have taken one of the most fun loving racing series of all time and combined it with a sort of stat heavy obsession we normally see in Formula 1 fanboys, rendering the series into some sort of source of charts and result sheets.
Or I might just not get it, sorry...

Retr0gamer

Mario Karts a good time trial racer I have to say when you get into it. My big problem with MK64 is that there's too many bad tracks. Rainbow Road being a biggie, how they managed to make Rainbow Road boring is beyond me.

robman60

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I had a look at that Mariokart64 site and, with the greatest respect, it seems to have taken one of the most fun loving racing series of all time and combined it with a sort of stat heavy obsession we normally see in Formula 1 fanboys, rendering the series into some sort of source of charts and result sheets.
Or I might just not get it, sorry...

Well it is about competition, but the forum is a friendly communtiy where players of all levels help each other to improve in the game. It also has chat about things which have completely no link to Mario Kart. Many people may consider playing in order to be the best monotonous, but others (like me) find that element of competition exciting, and for people like me, it brings a whole new dimension to the video-gaming experience.

It's subjective. My brothers played a little Mario Kart, but they had no interest in time trial competition. Some people just don't find it interesting, others do. It's all about personal preference, so I accept your point, but disagree with it all the same! :pac:

CiDeRmAn

No worries, when it comes to racing games my enjoyment expectations peaked at Gran Turismo, F1'97, Need for Speed (on the 3DO, natch) and Metropolis Street Racer on my beloved Dreamcast.

OwaynOTT

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Mario Karts a good time trial racer I have to say when you get into it. My big problem with MK64 is that there's too many bad tracks. Rainbow Road being a biggie, how they managed to make Rainbow Road boring is beyond me.

is that the same as the one in double dash? If it is or not I find it boring.

Retr0gamer

OwaynOTT wrote: »

is that the same as the one in double dash? If it is or not I find it boring.

There's a Rainbow Road in every Mario Kart and they are all different. The one inf DD is one of the best tracks in the game and a bitch to master. The one in MK64 is the longest track in the game with very few corners, it takes forever to do one lap, and therefore is really tedious and boring. Rainbow Road is usually the highlight of a Mario Kart game but in 64 is was the worst track in the game.

valleyoftheunos

The Mario Kart series is one of my favorites but I absolutely despised MK64. It controlled awfully and many of the tracks were quite dull, only the stadium was any fun to me.

MKDD for me was probably the best, the Tracks were all fantastic designs and the variations of karts and partners meant there was a strategic element also. MKW comes a close second for me, 32 tracks, loads of characters and great online racing. It does fall down in some areas, the elastic catch up is frustrating, it is far too dependent on items and the bikes are utterly pointless.

Still though, the only game I've played more on Wii is SMG.

Mr.Saturn

I've only gotten hooked on Double Dash, Super Circuit and DS. All of which have been worthy of the countless I've sunk into them. Particularly, Double Dash, which has an AI that's akin to the most vindictive sibling you've ever encountered. I was doing the All-Track cups, after sixteen races and knuckles red with rage, all I needed on the last track-Rainbow Road-was to finish 3rd or higher, and glory was mine. This was done with grace, 'til about twenty seconds of the final lap, where I got blueshell'd, then redshell'd when halfway though a speedstrip, the force of which blew me right off the track into oblivion and then, AND THEN, Yoshi rocketed me with his special. I came 6th.

**** this addictive bitch of a game.

OwaynOTT

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's a Rainbow Road in every Mario Kart and they are all different. The one inf DD is one of the best tracks in the game and a bitch to master. The one in MK64 is the longest track in the game with very few corners, it takes forever to do one lap, and therefore is really tedious and boring. Rainbow Road is usually the highlight of a Mario Kart game but in 64 is was the worst track in the game.

Just wan't sure if they had recycled the track in DD like they did with a lot of tracks in the Wii version. Haven't played n64 Kart in yonks.
I don't think its too difficult a track compared to Wario's Gold Mine on Wii, just cannot do well on that track. Hate multiplayer on it though as red shells aren't that effective and my brother wins it every time.:mad:

robman60

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Just wan't sure if they had recycled the track in DD like they did with a lot of tracks in the Wii version. Haven't played n64 Kart in yonks.
I don't think its too difficult a track compared to Wario's Gold Mine on Wii, just cannot do well on that track. Hate multiplayer on it though as red shells aren't that effective and my brother wins it every time.:mad:

There's a huge shortcut on Wario's Gold Mine, which you're probably aware of. True, red sheels in MKW seem to hit items such as banana skins, and are easily broken on corners. Not nearly as effective as they were in previous editions.

valleyoftheunos

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's a Rainbow Road in every Mario Kart and they are all different. The one inf DD is one of the best tracks in the game and a bitch to master. The one in MK64 is the longest track in the game with very few corners, it takes forever to do one lap, and therefore is really tedious and boring. Rainbow Road is usually the highlight of a Mario Kart game but in 64 is was the worst track in the game.

There is also a massive, and reasonably easy, exploit right off the start line, pull it off once and the race is yours to loose. Manage it twice and you could go out for a smoke, comeback, and still win easily.

chopperbyrne

Never been a fan of MK64, but I wouldn't call it the worst in the series.

Wii and GC share that title for me.

DS version is good fun, but it annoys me that fifteen years later, it takes longer to complete a SMK track in MKDS than it does in SMK*.

*Not sure if the SMK times can be matched with the use of snaking.

Retr0gamer

chopperbyrne wrote: »

DS version is good fun, but it annoys me that fifteen years later, it takes longer to complete a SMK track in MKDS than it does in SMK*.

*Not sure if the SMK times can be matched with the use of snaking.

Those tracks were made longer and wider to accomodate the power sliding mechanic in the newer games.

jesus_thats_gre

**** game!! Super Mario Kart though - heaven!!