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Mario Kart DS is The Best 0 Comments
I finally got gold medals in every cup of Mario Kart DS (everything up to 150CC Mirrored). I got the game a few years ago and have played randomly on and off (mostly before I sleep) since then. I gotta say that besides graphical limitations of the DS it's gotta be my favorite iteration of Mario Kart so far. It's the perfect hybrid of old & new.
Mario Kart [SNES] was great. Mode 7 Graphics, crazy items, frantic speed and power sliding - revolutionary for the time! Sure It didn't have a 4 player battle mode, but that was due to limitations of the tech. It was still fun overall and it launched a wave of imitators (Wacky Races on the PC anyone?).
Mario Kart 64 [N64] was great-er. Vast improvements in every area of the SNES predecessor. True 3D graphics that were a considerable step up from the pseudo 3D Mode 7. Four player battle and racing modes and more tracks that offered a richer experience. All the enhancements highlighted the great things about the game before it, the frantic pace and the crazy item nature.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit [GBA] was pretty good. Playable as far as portable Mario Kart goes. The graphics were a step back to SNES game with marginal improvements. The power sliding was a bit more like the SNES version so it’s confusing to get into after playing the N64 version. It also featured 4 player multiplayer but there’s no way anyone actually played that because getting 4 friends together with the appropriate GBA cables is a bit too much.
Mario Kart: Double Dash [GameCube] was decent. It was playable. It offered an improvement in the graphics department and retained the 4 player battle/racing modes. I felt that it tooled around too much with the core mechanics and played at a slower pace than the versions before it. The 2 person per cart play mechanic didn’t really offer much other than the ability to hold more than one kind of item. It would have been better if they just took the N64 version, slapped on a new coat of paint with new tracks because the gambles they tried didn't really pay off.
Mario Kart: DS [DS] is back to great. The graphics are a step back from the GameCube version, but a step ahead of the N64 – that’s not too big of a deal though, I chalk it up to tech limitations – what’s important is it’s still a gen above the DS & GBA offerings. The mechanics sit somewhere between all the Mario Kart versions which is decent – it finds a good balance. Multiplayer is a snap because you can essentially send a “demo” version to people with DS’s and you can play together with minimal fuss. Online play is also a great addition but it’s the standard limited Nintendo online experience (limited compared to say Xbox live) in that you’re playing with complete strangers and can’t interact with them in any way other than playing the game – but it’s still a great feature to have if you’re bored with the single player portion. The DS version of Mario Kart also gets bonus points for the “Classic” cup – that was just cool.
So all in all Mario Kart DS has the best balance of old & new - atleast to me :p
Mario Kart Wii [Wii] - I havn't tried the Wii one yet - is that any good? Double Dash was a bit of a let down so I'm not really in a rush to get into it.
P.S. Rob the robot sucks.
Mario Kart [SNES] was great. Mode 7 Graphics, crazy items, frantic speed and power sliding - revolutionary for the time! Sure It didn't have a 4 player battle mode, but that was due to limitations of the tech. It was still fun overall and it launched a wave of imitators (Wacky Races on the PC anyone?).
Mario Kart 64 [N64] was great-er. Vast improvements in every area of the SNES predecessor. True 3D graphics that were a considerable step up from the pseudo 3D Mode 7. Four player battle and racing modes and more tracks that offered a richer experience. All the enhancements highlighted the great things about the game before it, the frantic pace and the crazy item nature.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit [GBA] was pretty good. Playable as far as portable Mario Kart goes. The graphics were a step back to SNES game with marginal improvements. The power sliding was a bit more like the SNES version so it’s confusing to get into after playing the N64 version. It also featured 4 player multiplayer but there’s no way anyone actually played that because getting 4 friends together with the appropriate GBA cables is a bit too much.
Mario Kart: Double Dash [GameCube] was decent. It was playable. It offered an improvement in the graphics department and retained the 4 player battle/racing modes. I felt that it tooled around too much with the core mechanics and played at a slower pace than the versions before it. The 2 person per cart play mechanic didn’t really offer much other than the ability to hold more than one kind of item. It would have been better if they just took the N64 version, slapped on a new coat of paint with new tracks because the gambles they tried didn't really pay off.
Mario Kart: DS [DS] is back to great. The graphics are a step back from the GameCube version, but a step ahead of the N64 – that’s not too big of a deal though, I chalk it up to tech limitations – what’s important is it’s still a gen above the DS & GBA offerings. The mechanics sit somewhere between all the Mario Kart versions which is decent – it finds a good balance. Multiplayer is a snap because you can essentially send a “demo” version to people with DS’s and you can play together with minimal fuss. Online play is also a great addition but it’s the standard limited Nintendo online experience (limited compared to say Xbox live) in that you’re playing with complete strangers and can’t interact with them in any way other than playing the game – but it’s still a great feature to have if you’re bored with the single player portion. The DS version of Mario Kart also gets bonus points for the “Classic” cup – that was just cool.
So all in all Mario Kart DS has the best balance of old & new - atleast to me :p
Mario Kart Wii [Wii] - I havn't tried the Wii one yet - is that any good? Double Dash was a bit of a let down so I'm not really in a rush to get into it.
P.S. Rob the robot sucks.
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