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The blind nostalgia of Mario Kart 64.

D

deleted

Member
It was phantastic - no nostalgia involved
well, maybe a little bit

It had the best Battle Mode to date. I have no idea, why Nintendo avoided that particular kind of mode from that day on. 4 player mode with 3 balloons each, no time limit, loser gets to become a bomb and drive around on the map to blow up a remaining player. That combined with Block Fort and Double Deck was amazing. It just never got old.

It had the best voice overs. Toad, Wario, Yoshi and Donkey Kong never sounded that good again. They moved from a more animal sounding DK to a goofy one with DK64, Yoshi moved from noises to 'Yoshi' whenever he could, Toad got hoarse, and I have no idea what happened to Wario when I compare MK8D with MK64.

It was the last time till MK8 that MK had some kind of good item balance Maybe up for debate, but I hated the character specific items from DD and Wii was a mess all around. Flying blue shell? Bullshit!
You could use an item skillfully in almost all cases (blue-shell excluded). Best Bananas in MK with the multi-bananas.

The courses had a sense of scale. Many argue that it was courses full of nothing, but I just loved how grand everything felt.

It was the last 'pure' Kart racer in the series. No bikes, no baby buggies... I liked it more.

The sprites influenced the gameplay to be a particular kind. The game felt great, no last thanks to the use of sprites. Crashing into other characters and the items felt very satisfying and fast thanks to the sprite nature and the driving engine underneath the visuals. That's my personal opinion of course, but the core gameplay of the GCN and Wii versions didn't feel right to me.

IT HAD SOUND OPTIONS Wanna hear just the engine sounds, or lower the music volume? C-Buttons are your friend.

That's not to say that the game was flawless though.

It looked somewhat dated from the beginning.
The sound engine couldn't keep up. No music for more than 2 players and with 4 players, not everyone had their own sounds.
The speed bug - I don't remember if that's just in the re-releases, but 4 player and some courses, you suddenly had F-Zero on your hands.
Not too many courses, very few options.
Instable framerate.

I would take a rom or a remaster without these flaws over MK8D any day of the week.
 
S

Solobbos

Member
cuate said:
smk has bad controls? first time i'm hearing that. 64 is a bit slippery and feels awkward at first, so it takes some time to adapt, but there's nothing really wrong its controls. visuals may be dated and simple but neither game is particularly ugly. both games have rock solid gameplay and track design, although mushroom cup's tracks are a bit bland compared to later circuits. i still play them to this day with my younger brother and we always have a blast. some people may prefer newer entries but the first two are still very fun to play today, nostalgia has nothing to do with it.
Click to expand...

Are you seriously suggesting SMK has as easy to learn controls and gameplay compared to for example MK8, 7 or even MKWii? Seriously the characters basically float over shitty looking terrain.
 
T

The Salt Life

Banned
Mario Kart 64 was the best, best maps best everything.
That was also the last time IMO that Nintendo had a good console. From then on Nintendo consoles just got weirder and weirder to the point where I was just done with them. So I stopped playing Mario kart after that.

Plus battle mode, first time me and my friends got to experience that, amazing times.

I bought Mario kart 8 for my friends kid, we went to play battlefield mode and it was just a race track. Can't go back.
 
B

Bobo Dakes

Member
Most of us aren't saying 64 is the best Kart today (they'll say it's the most they had fun with). We're saying it was good then and is still solid now. It set a strong foundation and still has wonderful things that were never repeated in the newer games such as

the best item collision
that first place music
character sounds

Deluxe is the best, but 64 definitely has a permanent spot in the top 3 for me, and most of us have proven that that's not nostalgia speaking. Personally I'd put DS as my number 2. Those are the three that really changed the series to me.
 
L

L Thammy

Member
The one thing that makes me like Mario Kart 64 and tepid towards the later games is the weird sense of mystery its level have. I suppose it's because it was the N64 era where Nintendo was working for 3D for the first time, and they were just throwing in whatever they felt like with no real plan. Which sometimes times it feel like there's more to find out about the game world, even though there isn't.

I'm talking about things like the imprisoned green thomp and the giant egg.
 
O

OmegaFax

Member
I liked Mario Kart 64 but I never owned a personal copy until years later with the Wii VC. I would always play it at a friend's house when it came out. Rarely played the SNES games because no one had it.

I like seeing N64 tracks reappearing as retro tracks in later games. I have more of an interest in those vs. playing MK64 again. The graphics are updated and the mechanics from later games are adapted for the older tracks. Nintendo really grasped the essence of these tracks whether it's N64 Bowser's Castle in MK Wii or N64 Rainbow Road in MK8.
 
M

MrSaturn99

Member
L Thammy said:
The one thing that makes me like Mario Kart 64 and tepid towards the later games is the weird sense of mystery its level have. I suppose it's because it was the N64 era where Nintendo was working for 3D for the first time, and they were just throwing in whatever they felt like with no real plan. Which sometimes times it feel like there's more to find out about the game world, even though there isn't.

I'm talking about things like the imprisoned green thomp and the giant egg.
Click to expand...

I totally get you, man.

One of my favorite things about the N64 era.
 
Kibbles

Kibbles

Member
MK64 has the best drifting. Being able to go back and forth and get orange Zzz's right away 8)

When the hell is switch virtual console coming :mad:
 
H

Haganeren

Member
It was my first Mario Kart, i loved it a lot back then, played with a lot of friends too.

... Then i tried it recently, it was really REALLY bad, absurd physics, the music was all over the place and the game was just really badly balanced : you either have a CPU passing you with your mushroom like nothing happened or you're first with absolutly nothing to do. The course were far too long with a lot of nothing.

I was really disappointed, i can't even understand people saying it's still the best.

... And then i played the battle mode with a friend and NOW i had a really like REALLY good time, i remembered that, at the time, i couldn't care less about the race mode. It was all about the battle mode ! Something which changed from Double Dash because i really liked the race here. (and liked the battle mode too actually... But maybe less than 64)

So yeah, very VERY good battle mode and horrible racing mode, that's my take
 
J

jdstorm

Banned
So basically. Mario Kart 64 is to Mario Kart what Melee is to Smash Bros. Its the best balanced version but it has some flaws due to limitations of the hardware it was created on.
 
J

JB-the-Hunter

Member
I've long accepted that Mario Kart 64 isn't great. However, what I loved about it still applies today: the music, the track design (aside from Rainbow Road which is really boring in hindsight), the sound effects, the presentation and battle mode.

jdstorm said:
So basically. Mario Kart 64 is to Mario Kart what Melee is to Smash Bros. Its the best balanced version but it has some flaws due to limitations of the hardware it was created on.
Click to expand...

Melee definitely isn't the best balanced Smash game.
 
G

Gilby

Member
MK8 is my favourite, but 64 still has the best battle mode

I got to play MK8DX last night and I was so pumped to try out the battle mode. Turns out all the levels are so gigantic you almost never see anybody else (it's made to support CPU players), and there's no "stock/balloon" mode. I don't know how or why Nintendo keeps messing this up. It's so damn simple. Just give me 3 balloons, shells, and small maps to chase each other around in. *(I didn't try it out online, maybe it makes more sense there).
 
Muffdraul

Muffdraul

Member
Lothar said:
Nope. 1. Games don't get worse over time. 2. No other MK can touch its battle mode, which is the most important part of Mario Kart.
Click to expand...

You honestly can't think of a single game that seemed great when it was new, but didn't seem so great years later because your perspective changed over time? I don't believe you will_farrell.gif
 
nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
jstripes said:
Absolutely true.

As the decades pass, you potentially play games that have more refined mechanics and are more polished, and your expectations can change along with that.
Click to expand...
There are also games that you appreciate more as they age because you see it's genre being abandoned or dumbed down by modern standards.

Not saying MK64 falls in to this category but there are too many games that do this for me, which is why i find this blind nostalgia argument patronizing most of the time.
 
R

RamaKun

Member
Ezalc said:
Excuse you, F-Zero X is amazing.
Click to expand...

Agreed so much. F-Zero X was easily one of my favorite racers on the system.

I'm surprised it took this long for someone to bring it up.

I'm also surprised no one brought up Wave Race 64.

Wave Race 64, F-Zero X, and Beetle Adventure Racing were probably my 3 favorite racers for the system. BAR had a surprisingly fun battle mode too from what I recall.
 
L

Lothar

Banned
Muffdraul said:
You honestly can't think of a single game that seemed great when it was new, but didn't seem so great years later because your perspective changed over time? I don't believe you will_farrell.gif
Click to expand...

Never happened. I don't even see how this is possible. Unless you just enjoyed a game at the time because it had the best graphics. If you had fun with it when it came out, it's still fun. If it has problems today, it had those problems then. If those problems didn't stop it from being fun, then it still shouldn't.
 
Lynd7

Lynd7

Member
Gilby said:
MK8 is my favourite, but 64 still has the best battle mode

I got to play MK8DX last night and I was so pumped to try out the battle mode. Turns out all the levels are so gigantic you almost never see anybody else (it's made to support CPU players), and there's no "stock/balloon" mode. I don't know how or why Nintendo keeps messing this up. It's so damn simple. Just give me 3 balloons, shells, and small maps to chase each other around in. *(I didn't try it out online, maybe it makes more sense there).
Click to expand...

Damn it Nintendo...

I also hate how its not elimination anymore, everyone gets to keep playing. There is no tension when down to your last balloon and no advantage of the battle becoming less crowded the longer you survive.
 
O

OpinionatedCyborg

Member
Anustart said:
No way for 64 to be worst in the series when the snes and gba games exist.
Click to expand...
I had way more fun with the SNES version. Time trialling the SNES version was actually exciting and the single player was challenging. If the SNES version had 4 player battles, it would be obviously superior.

Mario Kart 64 felt so sterile and boring in comparison. I always felt depressed when I played it.
 
H

HCgamer

Junior Member
I missed out on this game when it was originally released I missed out majority of n64 ps1 saturn era I was in a weird place at that point in my life. I played the original on snes enjoyed it very much my first experience with mk64 was wii virtual console I believed there was problem with emulation lack of music strange sound effects I bought the cart to play on my n64 I hate this game the graphics sounds lack of music the stages it is not fun to play. When I replayed the snes original on wii virtual console it aged poorly I could not get used to the controls again after playing so much of modern mario karts the game still has it's charm classic stages music sound effects even the graphics have a charm it is the controls I cannot get used to but mk64 I do not see a classic it is ugly the music or lack of music the sound effects boring stages gameplay I tried to make myself like it I stopped life is too short to play ugly games that are not fun.
 
Muffdraul

Muffdraul

Member
Lothar said:
Never happened. I don't even see how this is possible. Unless you just enjoyed a game at the time because it had the best graphics. If you had fun with it when it came out, it's still fun. If it has problems today, it had those problems then. If those problems didn't stop it from being fun, then it still shouldn't.
Click to expand...

Whatever. I was overjoyed playing various Atari 2600 games for hours on end when I was a kid. As an adult, I can't stand them for more than 5 minutes before I piss my pants in boredom. They were great games in 1980 that simply don't stand the test of time. You being a contrarian doesn't change that.
 
Rhomega Beta

Rhomega Beta

Member
It was so exciting when I first saw it and played it on a Best Buy demo station, but now, with the rubber band AI as well as improvements in later games, it hasn't aged all that well. I do think Super Mario Kart is the weakest though.
 
N

Nostremitus

Member
Fast Forward said:
Yep.

And I can understand why. For many, N64 was their first console. I get it.

But yeah, I have to agree. 64 is one of the weaker entries in the franchise, aside from Super Circuit. I will say it has one my favorite Rainbow Roads, though, and I'm glad for it's inclusion in Deluxe.

And like someone else said, even a weaker Mario Kart game is still a good game otherwise.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I almost quit gaming during the N64 era. Lots of really bland games as described learned polygonal rendering.

OoT brought me back in.
 
S

Succinct Verbosity

Member
It's pretty funny that I recall double dash getting a backlash for deviating from Mario 64's formula when it is probably the reason why 8 is as good as it is.
 
C

CLEEK

Member
Mario Kart 64 is the Phantom Menace of video gaming.

When the Ultra 64 was first announced, it wasn't Mario 64 or Zelda or Waverace or any of these games that made me salivate at the though of a cutting edge 3D Nintendo games, but just how incredible the new Mario Kart would be. Lol no. I have still never been as thoroughly disappointed in sequel as I was when I first played MK64. Pretty much none of the reasons I adored SMK were present in the sequel, and the game was saddled with a truck load of its own problems. The razor sharp controls and sense of speed of the originally replaced with the feeling of slowly driving through treacle.

Double Dash must get some recognition for actually being a worse game and the nadir of the series, but MK64 will always hold a special place in my heart for being so utterly terrible.
 
mrmickfran

mrmickfran

Member
Loved it as a kid, but yeah I feel that it hasn't aged well. Block Fort was amazing tho

8 > Double Dash > DS > 64 > SMK > Wii > 7 > Super Circuit
 
S

SweetDonuts

Member
I loved it as a kid, but looking back I have no idea how I controlled it. Double Dash was my favourite but I think 8 has taken that title now.
 
X

xboxster

Member
Replace MK64 with SMK and I would agree.

It isn't that SMK is bad in any way, but after playing the sequels for all of these years, then going back to the original....ugh. Super Mario Kart simply doesn't play like anything else in the series (even Super Circuit). Going back to Mode 7, bland track titles (and repetitive themes), and a completely different drift mechanic is rough. Still love the music.

MK64 was amazing at launch. Now it's great in terms of nostalgia, great in terms of setting some standards in the series that have continued to this day, but overall just a fine entry in the series.
 
V

VDenter

Banned
mrmickfran said:
Loved it as a kid, but yeah I feel that it hasn't aged well. Block Fort was amazing tho

8 > Double Dash > DS > 64 > SMK > Wii > 7 > Super Circuit
Click to expand...

MK7 is way to low considering it is basically a beta for MK8 and a gigantic leap over the absolute mess that was MK Wii.
 
K

kubev

Member
I never really cared much for Mario Kart 64, but I do think some of its tracks hold up well. I wish Nintendo would add Bowser's Castle from MK64 (which I believe made an appearance in Mario Kart Wii) to MK8D, for example. I'm really torn on Mario Kart in general, though. I think the premise has always been solid, but the series has serious balance issues and progressively insists more and more on penalizing players who race well.

I'd like to see a game developer primarily known for making quality racing games take a stab at the Mario Kart formula. I don't think any other series has quite nailed what makes Mario Kart so appealing, but I think Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour came the closest. I just think the items in a lot of other games are forgettable, whether it's in terms of feel, variety or other factors. Magical Racing Tour mostly just rips off Mario Kart as far as items go, but it also feels more balanced than Mario Kart, in my opinion.

I'd like to see a return to the sort of balance that Super Mario Kart had, minus the (as per usual) broken, cheating A.I. Remember when you had to use at least a bit of skill to use a red shell? Remember when people who were stuck in the back due to poor performance couldn't drastically influence what happened to the front of the pack at any given moment?

I think Microsoft could come up with something interesting in this respect. Have the Forza team(s?) take a stab at this. Use various Rare/Microsoft characters. Take into account the characters' personalities and sizes, then assign driving profiles to them using Drivatar data that's continually updated to mimic the behavior of real players without resorting to excessive rubber-banding. Give characters exclusive skills with cool-downs attached, as well as common items doled out during races. Tailor the available skills to the mode being played, and don't resort to an overuse of items that penalize good (or all) players who can't see what's coming.

I feel that MK8D is an improvement in some ways, but I hate not being able to hold onto items as a means of ensuring defense against attacks because of ghosts and lightning bolts continually robbing me. The timing with which my items disappear shortly prior to an influx of unavoidable attacks, as well as the frequency of this, really makes me wonder why no one can do this formula better. Surely there has to be someone out there playing these games who can design a better racing game and realizes that a lot of what happens in Mario Kart games is completely unfair.
 
K

Krelian

Member
I've said it in other Mario Kart threads before but MK to me and my friends has always been about battle mode. Because of this there is no better MK game than MK64, period. Nintendo hasn't cared about battle mode since then, as evidenced by every MK cart game that came later. Even Mario Kart 8, while a good game, doesn't hold a candle to MK64, because of its lackluster battle mode. This is just me and friends though, if other parts of these games is more important to you (which it generally seems) then I can totally understand why people would think it's dated and/or not the best.
 
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