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Wii

The Innovations of Mario Kart

Mario Kart 64

by Pedro Hernandez - December 4, 2011, 10:19 am EST

Graphically revamped, Mario Kart 64's claim to fame was the addicting multiplayer.

Name: Mario Kart 64

System: Nintendo 64

Year: 1997

Innovations: Four player racing/battle modes, 3D graphics, drifting

Sure, there were a lot of fascinating multiplayer games on the Super NES, but it wasn't until the Nintendo 64 that people saw multiplayer gaming as a grand social event for video game fans. The Nintendo 64's existence was littered with some of the best four-player games ever released. From the shooting action of Rare's Goldeneye 007 to the quirky nature of the Mario Party games, these advancements in multiplayer gaming made the system the preferred console for multiplayer gatherings. One of these games happened to be Mario Kart 64.

When Nintendo created the concept behind Super Mario Kart, they saw no need in drastically changing its concepts for the next iteration of the series. Everything in Super Mario Kart more or less worked, and messing with something that wasn't broken would quickly be the demise of the still-infant franchise. So, rather than completely reinventing Super Mario Kart, they took everything that worked in the Super NES game and translated it onto the 3D hardware.


That's not to say that Nintendo didn't implement some new ideas into the game. The core gameplay concept remained intact when it made the transition from the Super NES to the Nintendo 64: Race as some of your favorite Mario Kart characters (each labeled under the light, medium and heavy racer system) through various wacky locales, using items to defeat each other. But the technical prowess of the Nintendo 64 allowed it to fully expand itself so more ideas could be sprinkled throughout.

The tracks were now more than just a flat, rotating texture with small details here and there. These were tracks that were alive and filled with a lot of personality. Luigi Circuit, for example, may just be the standard racing course, but includes everything from a Luigi balloon to a TV screen that replayed the events going on in the course. It was this attention to detail that allowed Mario Kart 64 to set the standards when it came to Mario Kart track design. Since its inception, other Mario Kart games have worked hard to make tracks that are wacky, visually captivating and inviting to players than wanted to play around with shortcuts. So if you enjoy racing around on a cruise ship or on a giant tree in the fall, you can thank Mario Kart 64 for further cementing this idea.

Outside the obvious graphical update, Mario Kart 64's main claim to fame was its four-player mode. This would be the first time the series would see a multiplayer mode for up to four players to participate in. Both racing and battle modes were available for four-player gaming. The multiplayer modes were very intense but notoriously satisfying. With four players running around the tracks, the chances for mayhem and fun were high. Friendships would be heavily tested, and a lot of screams and yells (of both frustration and delight) would fill many living rooms. Super Mario Kart tested the waters, but it was Mario Kart 64 that made the entire franchise a go-to series for exhilirating multiplayer racing action.

Another Mario Kart innovation that first debuted here was drifting. Drifting is when players handle a tight curve and gain a speed boost out of it. This was done by pressing the R button, which caused the kart to hop. If players left it pressed, yellow smoke would appear and the kart would go into drift mode. If players moved the joystick left and right, the smoke would change colors. Once it was the correct color, players would have to let go of the R button, giving the kart a short speed boost. The feature would become integral to racing strategies, and has been in every Mario Kart game since. Drifting would be altered in each game, though, with Mario Kart Wii featuring a weakened version of it.

One interesting thing to mention is that on the same year that Mario Kart 64 was released, Rare released Diddy Kong Racing. This game took everything that worked in both Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64 and further innovated with it. The game not only had karts but also planes and hovercrafts, as well as items that could be upgraded during the race. It was also one of the first racing-adventure games where you had to collect balloons in order to complete the courses and further develop the story. Diddy Kong Racing stands as a quirky moment in the Nintendo 64's life cycle. Nintendo heavily advertised the game to fans who had gotten their fill with Mario Kart 64, and despite some healthy sale numbers and critical acclaim, Diddy Kong Racing did not quote dethrone Mario Kart 64 as the Nintendo 64's elite racing title.

Diddy Kong Racing would also mark an important moment in the history of the Mario Kart franchise. They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Well, Nintendo was heavily flattered that year, as many companies took notice of Mario Kart 64's success and decided to create their own kart racing games. Gamers eventually dubbed it the mascot kart racer genre, as nearly every major franchise received its own kart racer entry, from the Muppets to Crash Bandicoot, to Mickey Mouse and Final Fantasy. If a franchise had cute characters, it was likely that it would eventually have a kart racer under its belt. The concepts displayed in the two Mario Kart games were replicated, and sometimes expanded upon, but they never quite reached the same level of success as Nintendo's own efforts.

Why is this something that should be noted? Well, because it was at this point that Nintendo had an extremely beloved franchise on their hands. Super Mario Kart presented an idea, an idea that worked very well. Mario Kart 64 polished that idea to near perfection and established it as one of the best in the whole industry. From this moment on, fans expected each new Nintendo system to have its own definitive Mario Kart game, and Nintendo would loyally follow that demand for years to come. Such was the presence and power Mario Kart 64 had in gamers.

Talkback

readyletsgoDecember 04, 2011

Great article!!!

Love MK:DD still, MK:Wii is ok, but never really go back to it. MK64 and SMK, are great too!

Just got MK7, great little game, loads in it! The online feature is brilliant must say, but everyone on there is already a pro at the game lol.

Wondering with MK:Super Circuit in the Ambassador GBA games, will there be online play with that?

TrueNerdDecember 04, 2011

I think I'm burned out on Mario Kart. Double Dash was the last time I felt like this was a franchise that was still trying. I mean, Mario Kart DS is a technically sound game that captures everything good about Mario Kart and I wasn't that crazy about it. It just felt samey. Mario Kart Wii has more fundamental problems and it leaves me feeling cold every time I play it. And I haven't read/seen anything about MK7 to lead me to believe that that would change my mind about things. The ONLY temptation there for me is to play online with the fine people of these here forums. But that's probably not worth $40 to me. Sorry. But if anyone wants to revive that Warp Pipe trick for Double Dash, I'd be game for that!

famicomplicatedJames Charlton, Associate Editor (Japan)December 05, 2011

Super Circuit - You could recover from slipping on a banana skin sometimes, by tapping down and brake. This has never been done since, shame. I love this game because it's a true sequel to SMK!
Double Dash - Baby characters, on rails sections, 2-mile wide tracks and secret shortcuts that took longer than the regular track!? (apologies for the trolling but this is my worst MK game by far)
MK DS - Mission mode, oh how I will miss thee. So good.
MK Wii - nothing beats updating your data to find a friend has beaten your time on a track, only to download his ghost and try and reclaim your title back. Most underrated and overly criticised MK game in my book.


I know MK7 doesn't have the mission modes of MKDS, but I hope the online is as good as MKWii because that's all it needs to be a permanent fixture in my 3DS for the next 2/3 years.

KikoriMinoru Yamaizumi, Japan CorrespondentDecember 05, 2011

> You could recover from slipping on a banana skin sometimes, by tapping down and brake.

Cool! I wish I could dodge a blue shell by the Shoryuken command.

KITT 10KDecember 05, 2011

Super Circuit was NOT the sequel to SMK, MK64 was. But I never had MISCELLANEOUS but with the ambassador program I'll be able to download it for free when it becomes available for the VC for the 3DS.

Ian SaneDecember 05, 2011

I used to see Nintendo as a company that made every game count.  They either did something brand new or if it was a sequel or spin-off the gameplay was unique enough or improved enough to stand on its own.  On the NES, SNES and N64 Nintendo rarely made a throw-away title and they were not only good at mixing stuff up with their sequels but it came across as so natural.  It was rarely forced.

I think on the Gamecube is when they started to lose it but it wasn't due to a lack of trying.  They clearly tried to do something different with games like Wind Waker and Super Mario Sunshine but it came across as forced.  Nintendo couldn't effortlessly change things up.  Double Dash is another great example.  Clearly Nintendo didn't want to just make "More Mario Kart 64" because that's not how Nintendo did things back then.  But no obvious improvement or innovation was coming to mind so they come up with the double kart thing and the whole things feels incredibly forced.

It is the last time Nintendo really tried with Mario Kart because Nintendo changed afterwards.  After struggling to innovative every time out with the Gamecube Nintendo switched to releasing product for the sake of product.  Mario Kart is now disposable.  If you miss one game it doesn't matter because the goal is to just to get a Mario Kart out for each system.

The options were to either not make Mario Karts anymore because they've pushed the concept as far as it makes sense to or make generic Mario Karts.  Since one involves abandoning an established brand I can see why they chose what they did.

Quote from: famicomplicated

Super Circuit - You could recover from slipping on a banana skin sometimes, by tapping down and brake. This has never been done since, shame. I love this game because it's a true sequel to SMK!

64 had it where you could just hit B and avoid the spin.

Quote from: Ian

I used to see Nintendo as a company that made every game count.  They either did something brand new or if it was a sequel or spin-off the gameplay was unique enough or improved enough to stand on its own.  On the NES, SNES and N64 Nintendo rarely made a throw-away title and they were not only good at mixing stuff up with their sequels but it came across as so natural.  It was rarely forced.

I think on the Gamecube is when they started to lose it but it wasn't due to a lack of trying.  They clearly tried to do something different with games like Wind Waker and Super Mario Sunshine but it came across as forced.  Nintendo couldn't effortlessly change things up.  Double Dash is another great example.  Clearly Nintendo didn't want to just make "More Mario Kart 64" because that's not how Nintendo did things back then.  But no obvious improvement or innovation was coming to mind so they come up with the double kart thing and the whole things feels incredibly forced.

It is the last time Nintendo really tried with Mario Kart because Nintendo changed afterwards.  After struggling to innovative every time out with the Gamecube Nintendo switched to releasing product for the sake of product.  Mario Kart is now disposable.  If you miss one game it doesn't matter because the goal is to just to get a Mario Kart out for each system.

The options were to either not make Mario Karts anymore because they've pushed the concept as far as it makes sense to or make generic Mario Karts.  Since one involves abandoning an established brand I can see why they chose what they did.

If Nintendo wasn't really trying with Mario Kart DS they should have never been really trying with the series, because it's the best one they've made.

Troll comment: Mario Kart DS is my least favorite iteration in the series. It's only good for local multiplayer since everyone in the world has it (and you can do single-card).

What don't you like about it? Really creative (and relevant to the franchise) tracks and the best battle mode in the series (though I haven't played MK7 yet). The only way I could see it being any better would be to modernize the online system.

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

What don't you like about it? Really creative (and relevant to the franchise) tracks and the best battle mode in the series (though I haven't played MK7 yet). The only way I could see it being any better would be to modernize the online system.

It just never stuck with me. Though I always forget about Mission Mode. That was pretty novel.

Track comments are very subjective. They weren't super memorable. Any of the memorable ones have showed up as retro tracks in Wii/3DS (Waluigi Pinball is the tits).

It's also one of my least favorite battle modes in the series. Once again, another subjective call.

And every experience I had with online was pretty shitty. Polar opposite of everything I've experienced with Wii/3DS. I recognize I can't totally hate the game for being woefully inadequate for online stuff when it was one of Nintendo's first forays into it, but it still kind of sucked. Snaking ruined it for me.

I really love how vastly people feel about different Mario Karts. While the games are all primarily similar, they each generally have enough individual differences to make them unique. It's kind of awesome.

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterDecember 06, 2011

Quote from: NWR_Neal

I really love how vastly people feel about different Mario Karts. While the games are all primarily similar, they each generally have enough individual differences to make them unique. It's kind of awesome.

That's why I wrote this series: all the games are similar in terms of gameplay, but all of them have something that make them stand out as being the absolute best or the worst the series has ever offered.

In MY case, I can't stand Mario Kart Wii. Those that have heard episode 10 of Connectivity know that. It is just a very unfair game. It is rubber band-ing at its worst. I realize that the other kart games had that, MK Wii was just awful, and from everything I heard MK 7 looks to follow the same path. I KNOW that Mario Kart is all about the multiplayer, but especially in the newer games you unlock karts and characters through single player, so going through that to get the best is really frustrating.

Pedro, it's not the game's fault you're not good at it. :P

Are there moments of total douchebaggery in recent Mario Kart games? Yes, no doubt, but there are also moments where you get to be a douchebag, too. I've won races I've had no right winning by getting a few lucky item pick-ups. I've also lost races the same way. It's fair in its own messed up way.

Ian SaneDecember 06, 2011

Quote:

I KNOW that Mario Kart is all about the multiplayer, but especially in the newer games you unlock karts and characters through single player, so going through that to get the best is really frustrating.


This is kind of a bizarre flaw with most racing games.  Why do they feel the need to make us unlock everything in single player?  Can't we just have everything available at once?  Racing games, probably more than any other genre, is multiplayer focused.  The single player mode exists to give a player something to do when he doesn't have friends over or wants to practice by himself.  No one is thinking "yeah, I can't wait to beat the new Mario Kart!"  They think "I can't wait to race against my friends."  That's the appeal.  So why does every racing game make us have to jump through hoops in a single player mode we don't really want to spend so much time on to unlock the tracks?  Are they afraid it won't have enough game length?  It's a multiplayer game!  It has near unlimted replay value!

If I didn't have anything to unlock in the game, the likelihood of me playing single-player at all is slim. It's nice having some sort of reward, no matter what it is.

PlugabugzDecember 06, 2011

I wonder if fixes the flaw in MK DS and Wii that online the game ascends/descends (depending on your viewpoint) into less being about fun and more being about how few mistakes you can make to win and get higher up the ranks only to run into nothing but those who play the game to precision-perfect to the point they suck the fun out of it.

CericDecember 06, 2011

Quote from: Plugabugz

I wonder if fixes the flaw in MK DS and Wii that online the game ascends/descends (depending on your viewpoint) into less being about fun and more being about how few mistakes you can make to win and get higher up the ranks only to run into nothing but those who play the game to precision-perfect to the point they suck the fun out of it.

You mean like Starcraft?

Ian SaneDecember 06, 2011

Quote from: NWR_Neal

If I didn't have anything to unlock in the game, the likelihood of me playing single-player at all is slim. It's nice having some sort of reward, no matter what it is.

Is it a reward or a chore?  Gameplay should be it's own reward.  If you wouldn't play it otherwise, you probably just don't find it that fun.

Mop it upDecember 06, 2011

Quote from: NWR_pap64

In MY case, I can't stand Mario Kart Wii. It is just a very unfair game. It is rubber band-ing at its worst.

The interesting thing about this statement is, Mario Kart Wii actually has very little (or possibly none) rubber-banding, certainly less than previous games in the series. Unless you're not talking about AI scripts and instead the general notion of keeping the racers together, which would be something more subjective.

PlugabugzDecember 07, 2011

Quote from: Ceric

Quote from: Plugabugz

I wonder if fixes the flaw in MK DS and Wii that online the game ascends/descends (depending on your viewpoint) into less being about fun and more being about how few mistakes you can make to win and get higher up the ranks only to run into nothing but those who play the game to precision-perfect to the point they suck the fun out of it.

You mean like Starcraft?

Yes. When you get past the "random mix" of new, and intermediate players (around rank 5-6000 on MK Wii) and ascend into 6000-8000 you start to get the advanced players. Beyond that you just get into the cheaters (who can somehow complete a course in 0.4 seconds), and those that play the game with such efficiency they nearly always wind up first or second no matter how well you play.

Efficient Mario Kart stops being fun because you devote so much time to shaving time off your race and getting ahead over fun playing and doing silly things. Playing online with people like that (especially with 11 others online, all the same mentality) sucks the fun out. It's not fun to be 100% perfect.

famicomplicatedJames Charlton, Associate Editor (Japan)December 07, 2011

Unlocking all the karts in Double Dash felt like a chore to me.
Still, didn't stop me getting all the gold karts and the alternate title screen. *sigh*

readyletsgoDecember 07, 2011

Is it just me or is it kinda hard to unlock the other characters in MK7? Have only unlocked my Mii and finished 50c and half way through 100cc atm.

And also when online, why is everyone else driving super fast and any kart I pick that is fast seems to be really slow?
Any help would be great!

Also with this MK7 feeling a little incomplete, does anyone think Ninty will release DLC for MK7? Like new tracks an stuff, at a good price or for free?
Or will they work on another MK for the 3ds to be released in 3/4 years time?

SilverQuilavaDecember 07, 2011

My god, that game must be fun as all hell :O

Fiendlord_TimmayDecember 07, 2011

The true fun in MKWii is in the online. The single player is pretty much throwaway.

As for the rubber banding, no clue about how the AI is programmed, but as for lumping everyone together...I never really saw that. Just by playing the game a lot, I got good enough to the point where I could finish a race with a good 30 second lead on the computers - and my friends. I laugh at blue shells now.

To address Plugabugz's point, I peaked at about 9100 VR online, and I never "practiced" to shave extra seconds off the clock, and I certainly never cheated. I just played the game a hell of a lot and got better naturally. Obviously not everyone likes the game enough to do that, but the matchmaking in this game is surprisingly good for a Nintendo game. I've rarely found myself mismatched in MKWii online.

GrabMyBoomstickDecember 14, 2011

Great article Pedro. I haven't played MK 7 yet but gotta say MK DS is still my fav...although I really enjoyed all the online content from MK Wii.

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