Despite being a fan of Mario Kart, I only ever played the newer games (DS and onwards). I never touched anything that came before, and that's like half of the games. While I'd still like to play 64, Super Circuit and Double Dash, I figured I'd play the game that started it all. My dad used to reminisce on how he loved playing this game with his friends back in the day, so I figured it would be a fun time. Sadly, I was mistaken as I found it to be kinda sucky.
I'll start with the good parts though. The game's visuals are pretty nice even if the mode 7 can be sort of weird on certain stages. In general though it's nice and colorful and looks good for a SNES game. The ost is also decent with some really solid tracks here and there. I also found the first cup to be alright course-wise even if I ended up only getting 2nd place.
That's it for the positives however, because as a whole this game is just unfun. I said the first cup was alright course-wise and while that's true, I still had an issue with the controls while playing through it. This game is so slippery, if you bump into anything you go flying. The drift feels so loose and is tricky to use, so you'd wanna use it as little as possible. However a good majority of the courses have so many sharp turns in them, you're forced to use the drift. That plus the bumping everywhere aspect just make's it super frustrating to play.
That's not even getting into the CPU's that actively cheat by just having stars whenever they want. I played on 100cc and they were brutal, I'm surprised I was able to get 2nd in the first cup. Once I got to the 2nd cup, I lost halfway through and because I wasn't having much fun to begin with, I just decided to play through the rest of the courses on time trial mode. You can't even unlock special mode until you beat the first three cups on 100cc, which I just said screw that. Oh also the courses are lame for the most part in terms of theming cuz, with the exception of Rainbow Road, they repeat two to three times each (with Mario circuit appearing a whopping four times) and just feel so samey.
Sadly I wasn't able to enjoy this like I thought I did and I think I'm maybe being a bit generous with giving it a 4/10 cuz I really did not have fun. Rainbow Road having an absolute banger song may be why I am not rating it any lower idk lol. Now I'm worried for Mario Kart 64 even tho I've heard good things about it.
I'll start with the good parts though. The game's visuals are pretty nice even if the mode 7 can be sort of weird on certain stages. In general though it's nice and colorful and looks good for a SNES game. The ost is also decent with some really solid tracks here and there. I also found the first cup to be alright course-wise even if I ended up only getting 2nd place.
That's it for the positives however, because as a whole this game is just unfun. I said the first cup was alright course-wise and while that's true, I still had an issue with the controls while playing through it. This game is so slippery, if you bump into anything you go flying. The drift feels so loose and is tricky to use, so you'd wanna use it as little as possible. However a good majority of the courses have so many sharp turns in them, you're forced to use the drift. That plus the bumping everywhere aspect just make's it super frustrating to play.
That's not even getting into the CPU's that actively cheat by just having stars whenever they want. I played on 100cc and they were brutal, I'm surprised I was able to get 2nd in the first cup. Once I got to the 2nd cup, I lost halfway through and because I wasn't having much fun to begin with, I just decided to play through the rest of the courses on time trial mode. You can't even unlock special mode until you beat the first three cups on 100cc, which I just said screw that. Oh also the courses are lame for the most part in terms of theming cuz, with the exception of Rainbow Road, they repeat two to three times each (with Mario circuit appearing a whopping four times) and just feel so samey.
Sadly I wasn't able to enjoy this like I thought I did and I think I'm maybe being a bit generous with giving it a 4/10 cuz I really did not have fun. Rainbow Road having an absolute banger song may be why I am not rating it any lower idk lol. Now I'm worried for Mario Kart 64 even tho I've heard good things about it.
19 Comments
@theadhdagenda_ I have
but like right now
is peak gaming
is peak gaming
@theadhdagenda_ sorry agenda but I must get back to playing persona 3 fes for the playstation 2
The jump in quality of gameplay between SNES and 64 Mario Kart is substantial, so I wouldn't worry.
Also play F-Zero.
Also play F-Zero.
@nilichi oh thats good to hear, and I've played f-zero its way better for sure!
I agree, SMK is pretty slippery. There are techniques you can use with hopping to mitigate it, but they are needlessly complicated. MK64 is much better, as it adopts the drift style you may be used to from MKDS. Still lots of rubber banding, but the controls are an improvement. Fair warning about super circuit though: it's basically a portable SMK. The controls are a little better but it is still very slippery and shares the unique drift style. Heck, all of SMK's tracks are in it as unlockables.
Nice review, I agree with many of your criticisms. It is an important game but also has not aged well.
Nice review, I agree with many of your criticisms. It is an important game but also has not aged well.
@crystalpixel yeah the stages having much more variety and the controls supposedly being much improved already makes it sound way better so I'm looking forward to it. One of my friends really likes super circuit and I did hear it's most similar to smk so I hope they aren't disappointed when I review it lol, but thanks for the heads up!
i'm the super circuit friend hihi, i havent played super mario kart in a pretty long while but i still have fun controlling super circuit, especially given that i think sc has Much better tracks compared to smk, gameplay and design wise. AI is much less of a problem as well, so at the very least it shouldnt be nearly as bad of a time
I loved Super Circuit as a kid but I could never get into SMK. Hopefully you'll enjoy it more tho I have no idea how well it holds up. I love the visuals in it still, the weird plasticky kinda gross GBA aesthetic really speaks to me
@djungelskog they seem to be replicating MK64 a bit and I do like that art style personally, here's hoping I end up enjoying it
@nowitsreyntime i must get back to playing persona 3 reload for the playstation 5 but play fzero when you get burnt out
gonna be real towards the end of last year i played through all of smk, super circuit, and 64 and i think they're all pretty not great. maybe im just spoiled by modern mario kart but to me all three just have really janky controls and shitty item balance and awful rubber banding. i grew up with super circuit and it was soul crushing how much of a letdown it was to me upon revisiting it
@therealbladee ngl I've been playing mk64 and even tho the drifting can be a little weird and the cpus rubberband is pretty bad, I've been having way way more fun than I did with this game
it's a dated-ass game, but it started a dynasty.
Mario Kart 64 is okay. Crash Team Racing blows it out of the water though.
Mario Kart 64 is okay. Crash Team Racing blows it out of the water though.
@spinnerweb been enjoying 64, team racing also looks really fun. Maybe I should give diddy kong racing another chance too cuz I remember not enjoying it much lol
Yeah, I respect the game for what it did, but playing a racing game with a D-pad just isn't efficient, and the parallax effect they had to use here gets tough on the eyes. Good review Rey.
Enjoying these MK reviews! I still love this one, but it is very much unfairly hard at some points, you really can't make any mistakes. The star rating system for MK8 deluxe really gave the game a hard as nails but fair challenge without resorting to cheating, so it's nice to see the progress in that regard.
@antoniabaka thanks! Appreciate it, yeah the star system in 8d was definitely a welcome change
theadhdagenda_
2 months ago