The Mario Kart franchise has become a major success story, which each installment outselling the previous entry in both the handheld and in the console department (with the exception of Double Dash, but let’s all pretend that didn’t happen). Mario Kart Wii has now become one of the top-selling games of all-time, and the top racing game in history. Mario Kart DS has been on the best-seller list for over 230 weeks, raking in over 18 million in sales. So yea, Nintendo will not be going bankrupt anytime soon. However, I am still keen on my Mario Kart 64. To this day, I still prefer this version to all the other ones, with Mario Kart DS literally inches away at second place. The only reason Mario Kart 64 still wins is because of the superior battle mode and track design. This article is now dedicated to all the reasons why I personally (despite all the critics disagreeing from second one) prefer the N64 installment, and how the Mario Kart saga can improve by taking notes from this article (and from the amazing racing game of 1997).
The very first and ultimate reason for Mario Kart 64’s surprise success back in the day was the simple, yet engrossing Battle Mode. Revolutionizing multi-player for years to come, Mario Kart 64 showed the world that four players can play at the same time and indeed have an excellent time. All it took was four stages, items, and a decent frame rate, and our Friday nights were set. But starting from Mario Kart Double Dash and on, they complicated things, they slowed things down, and tried expanding upon perfection. Mario Kart DS required for you to blow on the balloons, and allowed you to steal balloons (limiting the suspense and turning it into a big game of tag). Then there is Mario Kart Wii and it requiring for you to work on teams. Really? Just make a bunch of stages, allow a bunch of items, don’t expand the options, and we are set. Mario Kart 64 was simple, which made it is accessible to beginners and veterans. The Battle Mode should be the same way. There is yet to be a single battle mode in any game that can top the infamous Block Fort---and that stage was simplistic brilliance.
An interesting aspect about Mario Kart Wii is that none of their courses were that lengthy. In Mario Kart 64, we had Wario’s Stadium, Royal Raceway, Rainbow Road, and DK’s Jungle Course. These four levels were not only entertaining, but they were an amazing test of your endurance. These courses also guaranteed that if you are last at the halfway mark, you can still manage to catch up to the top (without the use of infinite cheap items, but that’s another tale). The next Mario Kart should benefit from more of these nice long courses. While a race that takes 24-hours would be exaggeration (Gran Taurismo 4 anyone?) I’d love to see more Wario Stadium-like levels.
Continuing in the conversation about courses, we need more levels that does not contain any actual silly obstacles (like baddies, pipes, moles, etc), instead be courses that test your true abilities as a driver. Yes, Mario Kart is about the items, but I propose that some levels (the tougher ones) mix things up a bit by not offering items; just offer some nasty curves, crazy turns, and tricky routines. Mario Kart 64 did not contain item-free levels, but did contain some nice obstacle-free-it-requires-true-racing-skill-to-conquer tracks like Mario’s Raceway, which used to be the basis of a time trial contest back in the day. Sometimes, we just want a nice race, similar to how Mario Golf sometimes offered actual golf courses as opposed to those that are obstacle-ridden. Finally, the Yoshi’s Valley course design should be used much more often. While it was frustrating, the fact that you don’t know who is leading the race until the finish line is actually crossed was quite a clever maneuver by the producing team, and it’s a shame we don’t see it occur in Mario Kart Wii.
The biggest current issue we have is the item chaos that has occurred in the later installments. No longer does skill win races, a major dosage of luck has overwhelmed the franchise. Back in Mario Kart 64, the AI was faster than you, but didn’t have the overhaul of items that the AI in the Wii version have. In Mario Kart 64, you never saw the purple shell, and never saw the top 4 opponents with super stars or red shells up the wazoo. In the Wii however, you can be first and second place suddenly has a lightning bolt. You can be in first and for some odd reason everyone behind you has a red shell or a blue shell, ready for usage. You can drop from first to last in a matter of seconds, and it makes things extremely frustrating. Mario Kart 64 did rely on some luck, but you needed skill to muscle past the 150cc class. And what about Super Mario Kart? Even harder, and the opponents used nothing more than bananas, feathers, and green shells.
Mario Kart 64 was the most balanced in terms of items and what you can receive. This balance needs to be restored. The first four positions should be limited to the smaller and weaker items, and this should apply to the AI. And then we should remove some of the totally unfair items, like the bullet bill and the blue shell. The purple shell back in the Mario Kart 64 days was indeed avoidable with luck and pure skill---the blue shell offers you no hope, and then blows you up. You lose five to seven seconds of driving thanks to the item that you can never avoid. And for goodness sakes, can we please bring back the disguise bombs? The red bombs are too obvious and stand out like a sore thumb. I missed the Mario Kart 64 block bombs, in which anyone can secretly plant in a cluster of item blocks.
As a matter of fact, I missed the effects of the items in Mario Kart 64. Mario Kart 64 was the only MK version in which when a person gets hit with a red shell, they don’t do the nearly pointless flip over; they blow up. Games with more explosions are more exciting, this is a hypothesis away from being scientific fact. The green shells used to be more devastating too, with you flipping over multiple times rather than once. The purple shell dethrones the blue shell because it can take out more than one racer on its way to first place, adding some more mayhem. Finally, block bombs are BOMBS and should be treated as such. The super star used to allow you to mow through people. Not so much now, its limited to mere flipping over. The lightning used to cause more havoc back then, because you can run over people, turning them into Warner Brothers-like caricatures.
In the chaos that is Mario Kart 64, one of the most essential skills you can develop is when to hold items, and when to throw those items. However, in Mario Kart Wii, you can no longer hold green shells, or red shells, or bananas for that matter (unless it’s a bunch---and the bunch is a smaller number than it used to be). The next Mario Kart needs to come back with this. Part of the unfair cheapness of Mario Kart Wii is that there’s no way you can defend an incoming red shell attack. Back then, holding your green shell or banana saves you for just a little bit longer. All of this may seem trivial, but if it were all pointless banter, than I wouldn’t be preferring to play from the 1992-2000 Mario Kart saga (Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Super Circuit) over the 2001-Now Mario Kart generation (Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii).
Bottom Line: Mario Kart is a huge success, but can be so much better if they bring back all the little whimsical fun details that made Mario Kart 64 a runaway smash hit and a part of Multi-player Hall of Fame. I miss the longer courses, I miss the insane explosions, and I miss the simplicity of it all. All these extra vehicles, extra statistics is peeling away at the arcade appeal of the entire franchise. Nintendo in my opinion should go back to the basics, before they tried adding depth to a series that will never be as deep as your modern-day racers. Yes Mario Kart Wii and (especially) Mario Kart DS have their high points and qualities, but (in my humble opinion) they still lack when compared to the N64 version. Remove the cheapness, being back the devastation of our items, and up the ante on the course design, then I am sure the next Mario Kart will be a great one as well as become a successful entry.
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