My N64 collection :D *big ass pics....*

[EvilEvoIX]

I am a big fan for Robotron on the N64 but that is because that is my favorite classic arcade game.  The PS1 Version does indeed have better music and the dual shock really makes it easier to play.


I like the N64 a lot but have only played about 2 games on it, but those games had easily the greatest replay value, Bond 4-player gave me years of entertainment.  That alone is worth owning the consoles.  Mario 64 defined a genre that still sets the standard today.  Mario Kart 64 is still the best Mario Kart made.  Mario Tennis was great as well.  Less great games than a PS1, absolutely, but the good games had staying power.  Going to work on 4-Player Gauntlet next.

Well, first off, MK64 is the game that made me sell my N64. I was a HUUUUGEE fan of Super Mario Kart. SMK was the first versus driving game on a console that was actually worth playing. The more you drove the better you got. People who were dedicated got better and scrubs got completely f*cking crushed. MK64 decided to turn the series into a T-ball with a 3 run rule. Its for pussies who don't want skill to result in victory. MK64 introduced something similar to what Sega called "boost" (the leader is slowed, the losers's speed is increased) and the satanic crime that is known as The Blue Shell. Also, tripple shells, because people who can't shoot deserve more ammo. It also made the tracks so wide that anything approaching racing skill or cornering technique was rendered useless. These were replaced with that idiotic, controller destroying, wiggle boost mechanism. MK64 basically took the best racing game ever made and made it...people don't use this term very often anymore for good reason but...its special ed. It really is. Its like Super Mario Kart was remade for people with an IQ of 70. And hey, those people need games too and it sold well, but for me it was a big let down. The only reason why I'm able to function in society today is because of the bone they threw me in the shape of Mario Kart Super Circuit (GBA) which was even better than the original and had the SNES tracks in it!

So, to me the game was the nail in the coffin of N64, but to a bunch of whiny bitches that all want a turn at wining without actually working for it, its a holy relic. I suppose I can understand that, if not totally disagree with it. HOWEVER, have you actually played the new MKs? MK8 in particular? I ask because gameplay-wise they are pretty much all identical, but 8 has online play and very good graphics. Not only does it lack fog (MK64 taking place in either the Scottish highlands or central London, not sure) but the tracks are like F Zero GC times 10. If you like all that random victory shit from 64, I can't see why you wouldn't like Double Dash, 7, or 8 a f*ck of a lot more. Probably because you haven't played any of this shit since you were 9.

Case in point, Goldeneye. It was much better than that POS movie, but why this game was so popular I'll never know. I guess people with far more advanced visual cortexes tend to gravitate to that whole era of 4 player split screen fps, but personally I hate all fps and ones running at a fourth of 480i resolution are, to me, unplayable. I just can't see shit. And to play it with that crap controller? Again, for people who really wanted to mow down some dudes and didn't have a PC (where at the time everyone got their own display with a minimum of 640x480 if not 1280x1024) I guess its better than nothing, but does it really make the machine "worth owning" today? Because of a memory or because of the actual thing? How many people who love love love Goldeneye have actually played it in the last decade? And if you haven't played it in the last decade, why is it worth owning? Are you keeping it around for the same reason I keep my Saturn keyboard and mouse, or is there actually a use for this brown foggy garbage?

Brown and foggy...that's the N64 right there. Its also grey and blurry at times, but usually brown and foggy.

Oh, also, they f*cked up Yoshi twice as bad as they fuct Kart. Mario Kart 64 wasn't a bad game, it was just a completely different game for different people. Yoshi's Story was just lame though. Lame lame lame. It might have been a sequel to Gex or Zool. Island is my favorite platformer, probably tied with Astro Boy (GBA) but I don't think too many people even remember Yoshi's Story.

I think you are being a little harsh on Mario Kart but if your argument is that Games are becoming more inclusive and easier with every generation I cannot fault that.  I have Maro Kart Double Dash and I do like it very much.  Golden eye was a masterpiece.  Try beating it on 007 mode, especially the silo.  I like the N64, it was very different for it's time and I liked it.

[SignOfZeta]

Super Mario Kart was pretty inclusive. It sold nine million damned copies and was loved by everyone.

Losing is not an exclusionary concept. The losers are part of the game too. What's been excluded is skill.

[BlueBMW]

Some of my friends and I still get together to play Mario Kart 64.  We have all been playing since it came out so we're all pretty good.  We give each other great competition.  Getting good at pulling off mini turbos seems to be what separates the men from the boys on that one.  Yeah blue shells are stupid, lightning bolts when activated at just the right time can be brutal but overall we still love to play.

Mariokart 8 is awesome in my opinion.  It took me a little while to get used to the crazy flashy graphics and high speed everything was going at but after I got used to it I really started to enjoy it.  My biggest gripe was how they gimped the battle mode...  That was a big disappointment.

[esteban]

Super Mario Kart was pretty inclusive. It sold nine million damned copies and was loved by everyone.

Losing is not an exclusionary concept. The losers are part of the game too. What's been excluded is skill.

OK, so I only played a little of Mario Kart 64 back when it was released.

So, just to clarify, you are saying that MK64 (and others to follow), was ruined by attempts to "level the playing field" between skilled vs. non-skilled players:

(0) first place cannot gain as significant a lead since 1st place is artificially handicapped/slowed-down
(1) wider tracks (easier for non-skilled)
(2) power-ups are too powerful, especially in the hands of idiots (blue shell, for example, allows non-skilled to knock out first place, etc.)

Just to play devil's advocate, you could argue that the skilled player simply has MORE challenges, but these are actually NOT "increased driving skill" (as you would expect from a pure racing game), but CHALLENGES have shifted away from pure driving skills to STRATEGY/TACTICS for dealing with BLUE SHELL, and TRIPLE-SHELLS, and  RIDING THE BULLET and SQUID INK OBSTRUCTING VIEW and SQUASHING OPPONENTS and LIGHTNING STORM...

I would say that, in the interest of making the game more enjoyable as a "multi-player experience" or a "party game", the emphasis has shifted away from pure driving skill (which, let's be honest, can be incredibly boring when (a) you suck and (b) folks are lapping you and (3) OUTCOMES ARE ENTIRELY TOO PREDICTABLE).

I guess, based on what you said, MarioKart64 represented the shift to "making the game less predictable" by allowing players to F*CK with one another, which, I submit, makes the game better and more enjoyable as a RACE  + CRASH DERBY...

I agree, however, that Nintendo should have, at the very least, offered folks the option to turn on/turn off different  rules/conditions/power-ups (so, for example, you would never deal with the blue shell if you didn't want to).

The problem, of course, is that this sort of granularity would complicate on-line racing (since only folks who chose your exact same configuration would be eligible for a race)...but, really, as long as a game allowed you to save different "profiles", you would not have to constantly fiddle around with the customization options.



Mario Kart does not have to be a "pure racing simulation"...it has lessened pure driving skill requirements and introduced the need to strategize for all the different things your opponents can do to you...in fact, I will submit that COMBATTING THE BLUE SHELL is fun when there are more ways to counteract it (I have played Wii version a lot and there are a bunch of ways, some require crazy timing skills, to defeat blue shell). I honestly can't remember how to defeat blue shell in MK64, or if it is a feasible strategy vs. pure luck.

I'm fine with this, because I think Mario Kart's raison d'être is different than that of Gran Tourismo ...

BUT NINTENDO SHOULD STOP BEING LAZY and offer granular customization for folks! I don't really disagree with your critique...I would love to be able to customize the game.

[SignOfZeta]

Newer MKs do have the option to turn off items.

As for the shift in skill TYPES (more about item management, less about racing) yes, that's most of what happened, and I undertand that, but that's not all of it. First place should already have thier hands full with just being in first and dealing with the other karters. In MK64 he also gets the slowest kart (since everyone else has boost) and a much shitier item selection. First place gets green shells, every other place gets triple reds, blues, and lightning bolts.

The WORST place to be in MK64 is in the lead, and what kind of a f*cked up racing game is that?

(A racing game for slow shitty racers)

[esteban]

Newer MKs do have the option to turn off items.

As for the shift in skill TYPES (more about item management, less about racing) yes, that's most of what happened, and I undertand that, but that's not all of it. First place should already have thier hands full with just being in first and dealing with the other karters. In MK64 he also gets the slowest kart (since everyone else has boost) and a much shitier item selection. First place gets green shells, every other place gets triple reds, blues, and lightning bolts.

The WORST place to be in MK64 is in the lead, and what kind of a f*cked up racing game is that?

(A racing game for slow shitty racers)

Gotcha...so the balance is really skewed toward lesser-skilled players in MK64...and instead of feeling exhilarated/accomplished upon claiming 1st place, it simply introduces a new set of frustrations...

I am really curious about this now.

I wonder if my brother still has his N64? I want to play MK64 now! For real. My daughter, who is 11, would have fun comparing it to the Wii version (we haven't tried the DS versions, although she has a DS)...

NOT THAT MOTO ROADER can even compare to the fine experience of MK...but there were two approaches to playing Moto Roader: (1) legit racing skills + avoid opponents' attacks VS.  (2) no racing skills required, instead, troll other racers with weapons (especially at the end of the race).

I will admit that this added a lot of damn fun to the game. Spamming missiles/bombs at the end of a race to knock out an opponent just prior to the finish line felt AWESOME. And this is from a person (me) who much prefers that winners are determined by legit skills, not random B.S. luck... a common LAME tactic in Moto Roader, for example, was exploiting the fact that the car in LAST PLACE would get "warped forward" when falling behind...blowing-up an opponent + braking (to warp forward) in final stretch = wacky shenanigans at finish line.

YOU SEE? I brought MK64 conversation back to OBEY.