[this was written as a submission for Arcade magazine, which I assume didn't last long - presented without edit so you can see why they didn't want this idiot writing for them - file date 14 March 1999]
Mario Kart 64: the best multiplayer game ever? More than likely…
The original Mario Kart was a revolution in racing games at the time, being one of the first games to successfully introduce weapons into racing games, as well as dazzling all with it’s fast, cartoony graphics, thrown around the screen with the help of a DSP chip and the SNES’s mode 7 capabilities. It also popularised split screen gaming, something which is now used in almost all racing games.
Shigeru Miyamoto took his original idea and improved when turning one of the Super Nintendo’s best games into a 64-bit masterpiece. Rather than sticking rigidly to the original formula, he exploited the new machines potential, in the process making each character very different in it’s own way.
Mercifully, he axed the ever irritating Koopa Troopa, and joining the Mario Brothers, Yoshi, Toad, Bowser and the newly renamed Peach (anyone remember princess Daisy?) were Donkey Kong (replacing his delinquent son) and Wario, everyone’s favourite psychotic plumber.
Back in the early 1990’s, 4 player Bomberman was king of the party games, simply because it was the best game for the poorly supported Super Multitap. Four players are better than two. Nintendo obviously had this in mind when designing the N64, hence the 4 controller slots as standard (now copied by Sega’s Dreamcast). This meant all N64 games could be designed for 4 players. Mario Kart 64 benefited heavily from this decision. Had it only been a two-player game, I don’t think I’d be sat here writing about it!
This four-player element, combined with the ability to attack your opponents with a wide variety of bizarre weaponry, gave it the edge over its Playstation competition. When people hear that wonderfully dodgy Italian voice croak ‘Versus’, people rush to pick up a three pronged weapon with which to destroy their opponents. Well, thrash a few mates anyway. Late nights used to revolve around watching some shit film whilst knocking back a few beverages. Now the average Saturday night in involves 4 joypads, an N64, a copy of Mario Kart 64 and… knocking back a few beverages! Progress eh?
But what of its one player game? Purists argue that Super Mario Kart’s one player mode is far superior to Mario Kart 64’s. These people have since become Gran Tourismo obsessives. Mario Kart 64 requires just as much skill as its predecessor, if not more. These ‘purists’ fail to realise that the skill is needed in different places now that there’s a true 3D landscape. Much more emphasis is placed on power slides than before, for instance.
The only other criticism ever levelled at Mario Kart 64 is of the new battle mode. While most of Super Mario Kart’s multiplayer fun was to be found here, it seems that the battle mode was thrown together at the last minute for it’s 64-bit brother. None of the battle courses offer anything like the sheer fun of the original versions.
But criticising a game like Mario Kart 64 over such a mishap is like criticising Star Wars over the “only Stormtroopers are this accurate” incident: no one with any sense can. There is little to rival it in terms of sheer gameplay.
I just hope Smash Brothers does for beat em ups what Mario Kart did for racing games!
No comments:
Post a Comment