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This thread has been linked to the game 'Super Mario Kart'.
If you’ve read my very old review of Mario Kart Wii, you’ll know of my hatred toward the more luck based direction the series has headed in with its over reliance on weaponry rather than racing ability. Sure it can be a laugh with your mates, but this is coupled with moments of extreme frustration as you are continually nailed with weapon after weapon seeing you fall from pole position down to the bottom four with little you can do to stop it.
Rewind seventeen years though and I remember a time when I could play a Mario Kart title that focused on driving skill and not purely how lucky you got with the item boxes. Wouldn’t you know it, Super Mario Kart made its way to the Virtual Console a couple of weeks back and using the last of my points I decided to make the investment. Does it hold up though?
One thing’s for sure though, I don’t remember it being this damn hard.
If you don’t know the rules of Mario Kart by now, then where have you been? Taking control of a character from the Mario universe, you race against a group of opponents round a series of wacky Mario-inspired tracks using a host of items to hinder your rivals and aiming to finish as high up the leaderboard as possible. The formula hasn’t exactly changed much since this title and whether you’ve played the Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Wii, DS or Gameboy Advance version, you should feel more or less at home with the features and feel of this.
Playing alone offers two different modes to try, Grand Prix and Time Trial. The first offers four tournaments with each consisting of five races each. As you may have guessed the more races you win the more likely you are to grab a trophy. You have two difficulties with an unlockable third one to go through which should last you a while. 150cc can border on cruel and really will require every ounce of skill and patience you have. Time Trial is exactly what you’d expect. Here you can compete for the best lap and total time on any track which is sure to please racing fans who love to repeatedly look for shortcuts and go for perfect runs.
Two players can take on the Grand Prix (a great addition that was oddly missing from Mario Kart Wii) which is still just as fun as it was all those years ago. If you wish to play head to head without any computers you can do that too. The final mode of play is battle. This is still a decent distraction, but it leaves you wishing you could have four of you playing at once.
It is all fairly standard and what we’ve come to expect from the plumber. The big difference comes in the way the game handles. If you thought you were the master of the Wii version then try this, as I guarantee you’ll get a huge shocker when you start playing. The first few attempts will make you want to throw the controller out the window, but stick with it and you’ll begin to get to grips with the punishing learning curve and learn to love how it plays. Sure the controls are just as simple, but it’s the tight track designs and hard to master drifting mechanics that really separate the men from the boys. The longer you keep on track and hold the gas button, the faster you will go. Should you drift off course your speed will drop and again you’ll need to build up the pace. It’s a very rewarding system and I prefer it a lot more to the usual wiggling of analogues and short speed boosting you get with the newer versions. There are weapons that can be used to give you a slight edge over the other racers as well, but they sort of take a back seat to the driving. Red shells, stars, banana peels are all accounted for and thankfully you won’t see a blue shell, POW block or lightning cloud in sight.
The amount of characters may be slim, but the selection provides enough variation in weight and handling that you’re bound to find someone you like. The tracks themselves are among the best in the series proving that bigger processing power isn’t everything. The layouts for each are both challenging and more importantly great fun to go through over and over again.
Super Mario Kart is a game that Nintendo fans have been requesting for years and now that it has finally made its way here, I can safely say it is a great addition to the expanding Virtual Console library. Is it the best Mario Kart of the bunch? With its challenging difficulty and flawless track design I believe it might be.
Rewind seventeen years though and I remember a time when I could play a Mario Kart title that focused on driving skill and not purely how lucky you got with the item boxes. Wouldn’t you know it, Super Mario Kart made its way to the Virtual Console a couple of weeks back and using the last of my points I decided to make the investment. Does it hold up though?
One thing’s for sure though, I don’t remember it being this damn hard.
If you don’t know the rules of Mario Kart by now, then where have you been? Taking control of a character from the Mario universe, you race against a group of opponents round a series of wacky Mario-inspired tracks using a host of items to hinder your rivals and aiming to finish as high up the leaderboard as possible. The formula hasn’t exactly changed much since this title and whether you’ve played the Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Wii, DS or Gameboy Advance version, you should feel more or less at home with the features and feel of this.
Playing alone offers two different modes to try, Grand Prix and Time Trial. The first offers four tournaments with each consisting of five races each. As you may have guessed the more races you win the more likely you are to grab a trophy. You have two difficulties with an unlockable third one to go through which should last you a while. 150cc can border on cruel and really will require every ounce of skill and patience you have. Time Trial is exactly what you’d expect. Here you can compete for the best lap and total time on any track which is sure to please racing fans who love to repeatedly look for shortcuts and go for perfect runs.
Two players can take on the Grand Prix (a great addition that was oddly missing from Mario Kart Wii) which is still just as fun as it was all those years ago. If you wish to play head to head without any computers you can do that too. The final mode of play is battle. This is still a decent distraction, but it leaves you wishing you could have four of you playing at once.
It is all fairly standard and what we’ve come to expect from the plumber. The big difference comes in the way the game handles. If you thought you were the master of the Wii version then try this, as I guarantee you’ll get a huge shocker when you start playing. The first few attempts will make you want to throw the controller out the window, but stick with it and you’ll begin to get to grips with the punishing learning curve and learn to love how it plays. Sure the controls are just as simple, but it’s the tight track designs and hard to master drifting mechanics that really separate the men from the boys. The longer you keep on track and hold the gas button, the faster you will go. Should you drift off course your speed will drop and again you’ll need to build up the pace. It’s a very rewarding system and I prefer it a lot more to the usual wiggling of analogues and short speed boosting you get with the newer versions. There are weapons that can be used to give you a slight edge over the other racers as well, but they sort of take a back seat to the driving. Red shells, stars, banana peels are all accounted for and thankfully you won’t see a blue shell, POW block or lightning cloud in sight.
The amount of characters may be slim, but the selection provides enough variation in weight and handling that you’re bound to find someone you like. The tracks themselves are among the best in the series proving that bigger processing power isn’t everything. The layouts for each are both challenging and more importantly great fun to go through over and over again.
Super Mario Kart is a game that Nintendo fans have been requesting for years and now that it has finally made its way here, I can safely say it is a great addition to the expanding Virtual Console library. Is it the best Mario Kart of the bunch? With its challenging difficulty and flawless track design I believe it might be.
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If you’ve read my very old review of Mario Kart Wii, you’ll know of my hatred toward the more luck based direction the series has headed in with its over reliance on weaponry rather than racing ability. Sure it can be a laugh with your mates, but this is coupled with moments of extreme frustration as you are continually nailed with weapon after weapon seeing you fall from pole position down to the bottom four with little you can do to stop it.
Rewind seventeen years though and I remember a time when I could play a Mario Kart title that focused on driving skill and not purely how lucky you got with the item boxes. Wouldn’t you know it, Super Mario Kart made its way to the Virtual Console a couple of weeks back and using the last of my points I decided to make the investment. Does it hold up though?
One thing’s for sure though, I don’t remember it being this damn hard.
If you don’t know the rules of Mario Kart by now, then where have you been? Taking control of a character from the Mario universe, you race against a group of opponents round a series of wacky Mario-inspired tracks using a host of items to hinder your rivals and aiming to finish as high up the leaderboard as possible. The formula hasn’t exactly changed much since this title and whether you’ve played the Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Wii, DS or Gameboy Advance version, you should feel more or less at home with the features and feel of this.
Playing alone offers two different modes to try, Grand Prix and Time Trial. The first offers four tournaments with each consisting of five races each. As you may have guessed the more races you win the more likely you are to grab a trophy. You have two difficulties with an unlockable third one to go through which should last you a while. 150cc can border on cruel and really will require every ounce of skill and patience you have. Time Trial is exactly what you’d expect. Here you can compete for the best lap and total time on any track which is sure to please racing fans who love to repeatedly look for shortcuts and go for perfect runs.
Two players can take on the Grand Prix (a great addition that was oddly missing from Mario Kart Wii) which is still just as fun as it was all those years ago. If you wish to play head to head without any computers you can do that too. The final mode of play is battle. This is still a decent distraction, but it leaves you wishing you could have four of you playing at once.
It is all fairly standard and what we’ve come to expect from the plumber. The big difference comes in the way the game handles. If you thought you were the master of the Wii version then try this, as I guarantee you’ll get a huge shocker when you start playing. The first few attempts will make you want to throw the controller out the window, but stick with it and you’ll begin to get to grips with the punishing learning curve and learn to love how it plays. Sure the controls are just as simple, but it’s the tight track designs and hard to master drifting mechanics that really separate the men from the boys. The longer you keep on track and hold the gas button, the faster you will go. Should you drift off course your speed will drop and again you’ll need to build up the pace. It’s a very rewarding system and I prefer it a lot more to the usual wiggling of analogues and short speed boosting you get with the newer versions. There are weapons that can be used to give you a slight edge over the other racers as well, but they sort of take a back seat to the driving. Red shells, stars, banana peels are all accounted for and thankfully you won’t see a blue shell, POW block or lightning cloud in sight.
The amount of characters may be slim, but the selection provides enough variation in weight and handling that you’re bound to find someone you like. The tracks themselves are among the best in the series proving that bigger processing power isn’t everything. The layouts for each are both challenging and more importantly great fun to go through over and over again.
Super Mario Kart is a game that Nintendo fans have been requesting for years and now that it has finally made its way here, I can safely say it is a great addition to the expanding Virtual Console library. Is it the best Mario Kart of the bunch? With its challenging difficulty and flawless track design I believe it might be.
Rewind seventeen years though and I remember a time when I could play a Mario Kart title that focused on driving skill and not purely how lucky you got with the item boxes. Wouldn’t you know it, Super Mario Kart made its way to the Virtual Console a couple of weeks back and using the last of my points I decided to make the investment. Does it hold up though?
One thing’s for sure though, I don’t remember it being this damn hard.
If you don’t know the rules of Mario Kart by now, then where have you been? Taking control of a character from the Mario universe, you race against a group of opponents round a series of wacky Mario-inspired tracks using a host of items to hinder your rivals and aiming to finish as high up the leaderboard as possible. The formula hasn’t exactly changed much since this title and whether you’ve played the Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Wii, DS or Gameboy Advance version, you should feel more or less at home with the features and feel of this.
Playing alone offers two different modes to try, Grand Prix and Time Trial. The first offers four tournaments with each consisting of five races each. As you may have guessed the more races you win the more likely you are to grab a trophy. You have two difficulties with an unlockable third one to go through which should last you a while. 150cc can border on cruel and really will require every ounce of skill and patience you have. Time Trial is exactly what you’d expect. Here you can compete for the best lap and total time on any track which is sure to please racing fans who love to repeatedly look for shortcuts and go for perfect runs.
Two players can take on the Grand Prix (a great addition that was oddly missing from Mario Kart Wii) which is still just as fun as it was all those years ago. If you wish to play head to head without any computers you can do that too. The final mode of play is battle. This is still a decent distraction, but it leaves you wishing you could have four of you playing at once.
It is all fairly standard and what we’ve come to expect from the plumber. The big difference comes in the way the game handles. If you thought you were the master of the Wii version then try this, as I guarantee you’ll get a huge shocker when you start playing. The first few attempts will make you want to throw the controller out the window, but stick with it and you’ll begin to get to grips with the punishing learning curve and learn to love how it plays. Sure the controls are just as simple, but it’s the tight track designs and hard to master drifting mechanics that really separate the men from the boys. The longer you keep on track and hold the gas button, the faster you will go. Should you drift off course your speed will drop and again you’ll need to build up the pace. It’s a very rewarding system and I prefer it a lot more to the usual wiggling of analogues and short speed boosting you get with the newer versions. There are weapons that can be used to give you a slight edge over the other racers as well, but they sort of take a back seat to the driving. Red shells, stars, banana peels are all accounted for and thankfully you won’t see a blue shell, POW block or lightning cloud in sight.
The amount of characters may be slim, but the selection provides enough variation in weight and handling that you’re bound to find someone you like. The tracks themselves are among the best in the series proving that bigger processing power isn’t everything. The layouts for each are both challenging and more importantly great fun to go through over and over again.
Super Mario Kart is a game that Nintendo fans have been requesting for years and now that it has finally made its way here, I can safely say it is a great addition to the expanding Virtual Console library. Is it the best Mario Kart of the bunch? With its challenging difficulty and flawless track design I believe it might be.