Anyone else not a fan of Mario Kart?

[glazball | 168]

I'm surprised at the amount of whining.. err, criticism, in this thread!  The rubberbanding isn't THAT big of a dealbreaker.  Once you learn the courses, it's easy (easier) to get in 1st and stay there.  Haven't we all played racing games where the CPUs take the fuck off and you are left in last place with no clear way to even catch up??  That's just no fun to me.

For the record, I love every MK though I don't have as much fun playing the original these days.  I'll play MK64 or later any day of the week.

[Sumez | 2,941]

Yeah, I don't really see the rubberbanding being such a big deal. It's in almost every arcade style racing game (and even some simulations), and there are way worse examples out there than Mario Kart.

I'd get it if it meant winning a race was much more arbitrary, but in my practical experience, the person who played the best will almost always win, outside of certain really unfortunate scenarios which could often have been prevented anyway. If you're doing a series of races, it would take really bad luck to not get the place you "deserved".
I actually really like the dynamic of switching to defensive mode when you're trying to keep the lead, while people who lag behind are given ways to increase their chances of fighting back. Sonic Racing All-Stars Transformed is in many ways a better kart racer than Mario Kart, but I don't really enjoy the defensive game as much in that one - being in the lead is kinda boring.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Sumez

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

If I'm going to play a randomized rubber-bandy multiplayer game it's Mario Party. I only ever cared for the Battle mode in Mario Kart multiplayer, although I do like MK64 and MKDS fine.

Mario Kart Arcade GP is the absolute worst. People swoon over the fancy cabinets with the recognizable faces, but that game is pure dogshit. Bad, simple tracks, extreme rubberbanding (your max speed is actually lower the further ahead you are). It's crazy how modern arcade games are more about what license they have than how good the game is.

Edited January 21, 2020 by DefaultGen

[AstralSoul | 502]

I still love Mario Kart, always will but I agree with those who say we need a bit of a change to the series since it's been pretty much the same game since the original. I for one would love to see the return of a Diddy Kong Racing style adventure mode. Why hasn't Mario Kart adopted that yet? But yeah that and the rubberbanding.

[zeppelin03 | 314]

15 minutes ago, AstralSoul13 said:

I still love Mario Kart, always will but I agree with those who say we need a bit of a change to the series since it's been pretty much the same game since the original. I for one would love to see the return of a Diddy Kong Racing style adventure mode. Why hasn't Mario Kart adopted that yet? But yeah that and the rubberbanding.

DKR style would be a great change of pace. Even a return to double dash gameplay would offer some variety.  Mario kart suffers the same as smash for me.  Each one gets better than the last but becomes more of the same as it goes.

[AstralSoul | 502]

2 minutes ago, zeppelin03 said:

DKR style would be a great change of pace. Even a return to double dash gameplay would offer some variety.  Mario kart suffers the same as smash for me.  Each one gets better than the last but becomes more of the same as it goes.

Same here. I always buy every Mario Kart and enjoy them all but I notice I play each one less than the last. Smash Bros was the same case for me too until Ultimate which I play a ton of, but it's largely thanks to its online. The previous games either had no online or it worked extremely poorly and playing against nothing but bots got old real quick so I put less and less time into them. But yeah I'm ready for a big change to the Mario Kart formula. It's pretty funny how Nintendo states it doesn't want to revive certain franchises (like F-Zero) because they "don't want to make more of the same" yet they do exactly that with many of their franchises.

[Sumez | 2,941]

48 minutes ago, AstralSoul13 said:

pretty much the same game since the original

Whoa there.

I agree they might not be making huge innovations for every iteration - for example, Mario Kart 8 feels mostly like a "fixed" version of Mario Kart Wii.
But going all the way from the original Mario Kart to MK8, there's a pretty gigantic difference between the games. Especially for a racing game series which do have a tendency to just feel like incremental updates.

That said, a Diddy Kong style adventure mode could be super fun.

Edited January 23, 2020 by Sumez

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

I'm gonna throw my hat in for Mario Kart Double Dash as beat MK. I loved the two-players per kart gameplay. They somehow found a way to make it fun to be the one NOT driving. That's kind of miraculous if you think about it.

[Estil | 1,264]

1 hour ago, DoctorEncore said:

I'm gonna throw my hat in for Mario Kart Double Dash as beat MK. I loved the two-players per kart gameplay. They somehow found a way to make it fun to be the one NOT driving. That's kind of miraculous if you think about it.

Not necessarily...the did design the GBA-GC connectivity in Wind Waker such that the person controlling the GBA could be a "spotter" for you.

Still I was disappointed when I first heard about the GBA-GC when I found out it would NOT include being able to play GBA games on the TV...luckily that would be possible a couple years or so later...even now I have a GC hooked up just for the Game Boy Player (my Wii is used for GC/Wii).

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I've only played Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64 in multiplayer, but I always thought they were fun games.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

15 hours ago, AstralSoul13 said:

Same here. I always buy every Mario Kart and enjoy them all but I notice I play each one less than the last. Smash Bros was the same case for me too until Ultimate which I play a ton of, but it's largely thanks to its online. The previous games either had no online or it worked extremely poorly and playing against nothing but bots got old real quick so I put less and less time into them. But yeah I'm ready for a big change to the Mario Kart formula. It's pretty funny how Nintendo states it doesn't want to revive certain franchises (like F-Zero) because they "don't want to make more of the same" yet they do exactly that with many of their franchises.

I actually prefer the F-Zero and Wave Race games to Mario Kart so I wish there were more options, but I haven't owned a current gen Nintendo console since the Wii so I just stick with the SNES/N64 versions.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Double Dash was definitely a nice break. I think that's why I disliked MK Wii.. kinda felt like a step backwards. I loved MK 8 but it did get old pretty quick playing online and the offline game was way too easy. 

[AstralSoul | 502]

1 hour ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

I actually prefer the F-Zero and Wave Race games to Mario Kart so I wish there were more options, but I haven't owned a current gen Nintendo console since the Wii so I just stick with the SNES/N64 versions.

When I was a kid I preferred Mario Kart but I like F-Zero and Wave Race more than Mario Kart too now as an adult. But Diddy Kong Racing is still my all-time favorite racing game. Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled was a fantastic remake of an already great game too which is also better than Mario Kart.

[AstralSoul | 502]

16 hours ago, Sumez said:

Whoa there.

I agree they might not be making huge innovations for every iteration - for example, Mario Kart 8 feels mostly like a "fixed" version of Mario Kart Wii.
But going all the way from the original Mario Kart to MK8, there's a pretty gigantic difference between the games. Especially for a racing game series which do have a tendency to just feel like incremental updates.

That said, a Diddy Kong style adventure mode could be super fun.

I just meant the formula is more or less the same since the beginning. There is more they could do to mix up the formula a little bit. Every entry it's always the same boring options - GP, Time Trial, Battle. I loved DKR for its added vehicle types and adventure mode. Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled (last year's remake) added free DLC and challenges that unlock new karts, characters and customizations. It just feels like Mario Kart has fallen behind in being the best racing/kart racing game.

[RH | 4,903]

I avoided this thread until now but... hearing your argument that it's all about the "rubberbanding", then well yeah, that is 100% the worst part of the game.  I wouldn't mind some of it to keep the single player game challenging for good players, but considering that you have this affect paired with shells, it can definitely get to be a bit to much.  IMHO, it sometimes feels like cheap AI tricks to make programming the game AI simpler.

But, with that said, I LOVED MK 64, which was my first one.  Back then as a kid in the 90s, I didn't mind playing a track over and over again, just to get all of the awards.  However, even then, I remember the sheer frustration of being literally 50 meters from a finish line, getting hit with 3 shells and of which, shells #2 and #3 would always hit you half-a-second before you could accelerate, only to then be blown past by the #2 cart.

UUUUUUGH, it's making me mad just thinking about it. You might be on to something.  Maybe I should stop loving this franchise and go back to Cruis'n games.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

Other than playing it for a few minutes here and there, I don't particularly enjoy the original because it is pretty clunky compared to its contemporary rival FZero.

Had a lot of fun playing Mario Kart Wii with the wife back when it was fairly new, though.

[TDIRunner | 2,733]

2 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

Had a lot of fun playing Mario Kart Wii with the wife back when it was fairly new, though.

I've always been surprised by the hate for MK Wii.  I probably have more MK hours logged with that game over any other and I've played every single game since the original was released.

With that said, I'm just glad that the motion control gimmick was not forced on you with MK Wii.  

[Br81zad | 629]

Reasons stated about the rubber band mechanic are why I wholeheartedly feel that Crash Team Racing (PS1) remains the single greatest kart game out there. Sure, it still has a degree of rubber banding, but if you're truly skilled you can acquire fruit to boost your green bubble item to blue (which means that it won't expire) and you can initiate slide boosts and jump boosts without any need for an item. There are also built in shortcuts on various levels that require skill to take. This puts experienced players at an advantage over those relying on dumb luck and the rubber band.

So if running away from the pack is how you desire to play, you can do that. Or, if you choose to game the system, you can likewise hang around in 4th/5th and make your move on the final lap after stashing away the ideal item.

[Sumez | 2,941]

45 minutes ago, Br81zad said:

Reasons stated about the rubber band mechanic are why I wholeheartedly feel that Crash Team Racing (PS1) remains the single greatest kart game out there. Sure, it still has a degree of rubber banding, but if you're truly skilled you can acquire fruit to boost your green bubble item to blue (which means that it won't expire) and you can initiate slide boosts and jump boosts without any need for an item. There are also built in shortcuts on various levels that require skill to take. This puts experienced players at an advantage over those relying on dumb luck and the rubber band.

I feel like every single of these aspects is also true for Mario Kart, though?

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

47 minutes ago, Br81zad said:

Reasons stated about the rubber band mechanic are why I wholeheartedly feel that Crash Team Racing (PS1) remains the single greatest kart game out there. Sure, it still has a degree of rubber banding, but if you're truly skilled you can acquire fruit to boost your green bubble item to blue (which means that it won't expire) and you can initiate slide boosts and jump boosts without any need for an item. There are also built in shortcuts on various levels that require skill to take. This puts experienced players at an advantage over those relying on dumb luck and the rubber band.

So if running away from the pack is how you desire to play, you can do that. Or, if you choose to game the system, you can likewise hang around in 4th/5th and make your move on the final lap after stashing away the ideal item.

Agreed. Best kart racer around. I haven't played the remake but I sunk hundreds of hours into the original.

[ErickRPG | 42]

I really did not like the anti grav of MK8.  The last MK game I really liked was Mario Kart Wii.  I loved the way it felt to use the wheel to steer, it was really cool.

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

On 1/19/2020 at 1:02 AM, gutsman004 said:

I’m sure I am in the vast minority on this. I see how people can really like the game. And it can be really fun. But here’s the deal breaker for me.....the “rubber band AI”.

The game penalizes you for being good at the game and rewards players who are bad. It absolutely destroys the fun of this game for me. The last thing I want to see is me get hit with some turtle shell or other bs at the last second and lose first place when I’ve been leading all race. I know this is not much of a problem on the easy courses,but the harder courses....geez.

And for this post,I’m referring to Mario Kart 8,although I’m sure a lot of the games in the series are similar.

There are ways to defend against this, if you are leading. You can use defensive items (like bananas or green shells that you hold behind you) to defend against attacks, or use tricks to evade (you can even evade blue shells), or duck into second place to let the first place player take the heat and then pass them. That's part of the challenge, because otherwise you could get a big lead and it would actually be pretty boring to finish the race. 

Me personally, I didn't like Super Mario Kart, the AI players would just bash into you repeatedly and make you lose all your coins and I hated that. MK64 was the first one that I loved, and I've enjoyed every 3D Mario Kart game since. 

[Tanooki | 4,932]

5 hours ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

I've only played Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64 in multiplayer, but I always thought they were fun games.

That's because they're fantastic for that, even playing field, no shenanigans, no crappy put you in last stupidity.  You earn that win with both skillful driving and item use, not being god awful and spamming the blue shell and other heavies because you get those more when you're terrible.

[Br81zad | 629]

59 minutes ago, Sumez said:

I feel like every single of these aspects is also true for Mario Kart, though?

 

If there's an item in the newer mario kart games that behaves like the blue bubble, then they stole the idea from CTR. Through double dash, I can't recall an item that offered 100% protection, and only went away after blocking a strike.

 

Also, mario kart had the jump boost mechanic added in mk64, but you couldn't initiate an actual extended boost by power sliding and properly timing button presses. Again, if that's been added to recent MK games, it was stolen from CTR.

[LastCat | 246]

Mario Kart Wii Custom Tracks 4 lyef.