Today’s game is Mario Kart Super Circuit. I’ve kind been making my way down the line of the Mario Kart game I suppose. So I figured this was the reasonable next stop.
I actually played this back when I was younger. Not on official hardware. But on an emulator for my phone. So while I didn’t get an authentic experience, ironically I still have nostalgia for it.
Looking at it now? It’s interesting. I know it wasn’t developed by Nintendo, so seeing someone else crack at the franchise is interesting. I personally like how each of the courses have unique artwork. Donkey Kong here is how I felt after a long day.
Of course, it’s old Mario Kart. It’s fucking brutal. Not only did I struggle to keep up with the bots but there was a jump on Cheese Land that was hard to make consistently due to the flat nature of the terrain. It made it hard to see.
Luckily on future courses I fared a bit better. Like this one I got 3rd place. I think without that jump messing me up it was a little easier.
Ultimately Super Circuit, if I had to describe, felt like more Mario Kart for the SNES. I think taking it out of its handheld environment didn’t help, but its art style and even half its identity feels like it. I know I didn’t touch on half of it, but that’s what it really kind of feels like to me. I guess after this though the only two games left for me to try are Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 7. Maybe the Arcade ones?
Original F-Zero (and GBA Maximum Velocity to some extent) is kind of an acquired taste, it was kind of a SNES tech demo (from launch, even) and it's a bit abstract.
Like there were already 30 racers but only 4 are playable and the rest are identical brown machines, and there are rules just for the 4 main characters (you have to place at least 8th before lap 2, then 4th before lap 3 or you're eliminated, or something like that).
The 3D episodes X and GX are awesome, incredibly fluid and with great zero gravity tracks in absurd shapes. X managed that on the N64 by looking rather rough, but speed and chaos from the 30 contestants make up for it IMO. They're also very fucking hard, especially unlocking everything in GX. Which includes a lot of tracks, new characters and machine parts for the gimmicky but fun custom machine editor. Technically a lot of that extra content are the characters and tracks from AX, GX's counterpart game on arcade machines.
3D F-Zero looks a bit like weaponless WipeOut (but still quite aggressive, because you are encouraged to take down your opponents with physical attacks. Especially your current rival on the scoreboard who the UI helpfully highlights).