After suffering through Mario Kart: Super Circuit, I was left with a burning question: would Mario Kart 64 feel terrible to return to? I don't have a lot of love for the N64 because most of my favorite Nintendo games aren't on it (outside of the immaculate Star Fox 64.) Most rudimentary 3D titles would see better sequels released for the Gamecube or Wii—and Mario Kart 64 was no exception. While it's probably my most-played Mario Kart, I haven't gone back to it in roughly fifteen years... because there wasn't a reason to. Mario Kart 64 was an archaic stepping stone, one that gave way to bigger and better racers which were more deserving of my attention.
But hey, guess what: in 2021, it kinda holds up!
What doesn't hold up is the terrible N64 controller, as to drift boost you have to rock the control stick back and forth—and little pushes don't count. Thus repeated boosts can wear on your thumb, due to the controller's notoriously hard plastic and stiff resistance. It's nothing too terrible though; you'll simply botch drifts on occasion and will be forced to give your thumb a break between cups. I prefer modern Mario Kart's drift boost more (the longer you drift, the bigger the boost), but this oldschool style works decently enough once you get used to it.
Yet whatever problems I have with drift boosting pale in comparison to how annoying the AI is. The other racers are designed to catch up to the player in order to keep the match competitive, even on 50cc. That makes any leads fleeting as your two closest competitors will always bounce back, even if they're struck with a red shell and fly out of bounds. This is especially annoying on 150cc as any headway they'll make they'll keep, giving you no chance to surpass them as they move at inhuman speeds through the course. Toad's Turnpike in Mirror mode is a prime example of how atrocious the rubber banding is; the CPU can crash into oncoming traffic all they want but if you make one mistake, you're likely placing 2nd or below.
I wouldn't say this ruins the game however—it's just really obnoxious most of the time. To win matches you'll need to save a good item for the final stretch that'll allow you to zip ahead of your competitors, like a mushroom, star, red shell, or lightning bolt. Considering that's nearly half the items, you often have a good chance of grabbing something early on and using it as your ace in the hole on the last lap. And unlike every Mario Kart post-64, the AI has a separate item pool from the player, which thankfully lacks both blue and red shells. The most common offensive move the AI pulls is to toss bananas ahead of you, and it's honestly more of a danger to them than it is to you.
The biggest handicap Mario Kart 64 grants the player arguably nullifies the brutal rubber banding of the CPU: as long as you place 5th or lower, you can retry a course as much as you like. This is especially useful for any track you struggle with (like Choco Mountain), as not only can you gamble on items until you get a decent selection, but occasionally your rival will fall behind and eliminate themselves from the competition. The downside to this tactic is that you're forced to finish the race in order to have the option to restart, but riding out a single race is less punishing than retrying an entire cup. Individual matches will still often feel unfair—especially if the CPU sprints ahead early—but being able to Groundhog's Day until you win makes 64 the easiest Mario Kart to win in the series.
Plus it helps that the game still controls and plays well. There are definitely a couple of troubling issues that later games thankfully fix—I groan every time a red shell slams into a wall—but the driving and drifting work just fine. Any time you see an obstacle or an item box you can usually intercept or avoid it, which feels like a godsend after Mario Kart: Super Circuit would send my kart careening off the road. Also the long courses weren't as dull as I thought they were going to be, largely because they're packed with corners just begging to be drift boosted. Wario Stadium may lack visual flair and stage variety, but it'll keep your thumbs just as active as Mario Kart 8's courses.
Mario Kart 64 is far from exceptional—despite all the praise I've levied, I think every other 3D Mario Kart game is flat-out better than it. Yet I don't think I'd label 64 as "bad" or even "lackluster". The courses are decent, boost drifting requires some finesse to pull off, and grabbing the gold on 150cc & Mirror is less stress-inducing than shooting for 3-star ranks in future titles. Mario Kart 64's innate issue is that it's obsolete, sporting middling graphics, a paltry 16 courses, and an AI that's shamelessly busted. Fun can still be had with it, but you won't be sticking around for long.
---------------------
Images obtained from: imdb.com, mkworldrecords.fandom.com, nerdbacon.com, n64today.com
No comments:
Post a Comment