Time Passes But Love Never Dies

As I sit here, drinking my tall, cold, plastic cup of chocolate milk, looking through old photos of friends whom I never talk to anymore, I realize that many things have changed in my life over the years.  I've moved from the Central Valley, down to Santa Barbara and then way up to San Francisco.  I've gained and lost numerous friends, fallen in love (twice) and even got into a couple of car accidents.  All of these experiences have changed how I live my life or how I view others.  My tastes have changed as well.  I now have a much broader appreciation for films, books, music and, not surprisingly, my family.  I've heard that the only constant in life is change.  In my experience this seems about right.  Although, there is one thing that has never changed -- something I can't imagine ever changing:  my love for certain videogames.

My favorite game, which has been mentioned several times on this site, is over a decade old.  It came out on the Nintendo 64, a system with the most awkward controller and a catalog of games that comes up short when compared with its main competitor, the PlayStation 2.  Countless other games have come out on about a dozen home consoles and hand helds, but few have earned the right to be compared with that one N64 title.  At least, according to me.  The Halo series has now become a blockbuster franchise with near-perfect multi-player capabilities.  Super Mario Galaxy has redefined the platformer genre.  World of Warcraft has over 12 million people willing to pay a monthly fee in order to give up their own lives and play a game.  I wonder how many people who have played these games will name a classic throw-back title as their favorite, and possibly as the best, game of all time.  Do these titles always rest on pedestals while we maintain some kind of grand illusion about them?  Would our favorite games be worth going back to after so much time has passed?  Would they stand the test of time or fall by the wayside along with other, outdated games?

 At one time this was the pinnacle of technology in our civilization.

There are some who can call a game "great" simply because of the nostalgia it brings.  Memories of a time without paper work or dead lines.  This may be enough of a reason to play a game, but certainly not enough to judge whether or not a game is great.  I loved playing Pokemon Snap with a group of friends a couple years ago, but I know I would never play that game alone.  Not again.  We see this type of thing happen all the time.  We're probably all guilty of hearkening back to the good ol' days about something or other.  You can barely turn on the news without hearing how things have gotten so much worse over time.  Well, this is actually the best time to be alive since the beginning of time.  So grats on that.  Even with videogames, technology is racing forward.  Have you seen the Kinect hack videos?  They're amazing.  Think of the possibilities.  I get excited every time I think about the future of gaming.  I don't know what's next, but I know I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for it.

Now, with all these new fangled doohickeys coming out from the woodworks, I'd still be shocked if any of them replaced my favorite game.  Let me remind you at this point that it came out on the Nintendo 64.  Others my age, or older, have favorites from the original Nintendo Entertainment System.  What does it say about all the new hardware if they can't compete with games that came out before 3D was even an option?  I try to judge the game based on it's own merit.  When I look back, I don't focus on the good memories of my family watching me progress through each area; I look at the story, the difficulty and the gameplay.  I should try to be as objective as possible.  We all should when discussing the quality of any title.  But here's the real question, if we're so sure that nothing will compare with our old favorites, why play new games at all?  Why not just keep playing those top classics and be content appreciating the quality of an age long since passed?

And the crowd goes silent as I go for my 10,000th straight win...

I'm willing to bet that we always hope the next game will be our new favorite.  No one gets into a game with the thought of how terrible it'll turn out.  People want to be entertained.  Whether that's by some old favorite from childhood or the newest game to hit the shelves I don't think people care.  Every time I pick up a Zelda title, I want it to be better than Ocarina of Time.  I want that experience of playing a game I know is amazing from start to finish.  I want another game I would judge with a perfect score.  I hope that the games of tomorrow surpass those of yesteryear, but, knowing that the majority of games are average and good only for a week-long rental, I don't have any expectations, just memories.

Mario Kart is My Favorite Sports Game

While somewhat different than the last game I reviewed, Mario Kart 64 still realizes the potential of a great game, which is nothing but pure, unadulterated fun. There is no story to Mario Kart, no enemies or evil to overcome, no hero to save the day. There is you, the other racers, and the track. Nothing else matters. Games like this can never be compared, outside of how much fun it is to play, to the fantastic adventures of RPGs or so many other Mario platformers. This kind of game is all about the personal enjoyment of the player instead of a moving experience. To really review a game like this, one has to judge it based on what it set out to do. Is this game fun? Does it allow enjoyment throughout the game to a wide variety of people? Is this game, after fourteen years since it's release (1996), still fun to play with others or even on your own? These are the questions every reviewer must ask of the games like this, and I happily report that Mario Kart 64 passes with flying colors.

There are eight characters to choose from: two mediums (Mario and Luigi), three light (Toad, Peach, and Yoshi), and three heavy (Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser). If you can't guess, each class of character has slight advantages and disadvantages to it. The lights are faster, but more easily spin out when hit with something heavy - like another character - while the heavies are slower but more resistant when rammed. The mediums are not particularly bad or good against anything. They are the all-around characters. Most will choose one of the lighter characters; in my experience, most gamers specifically choose Yoshi since he is the least annoying of the three lights. As a side note, why even include Toad? He's so bland it disgusts me. I mean, really, there are thousands (millions? billions?) of Toads in the Mushroom Kingdom and who knows how many of them have red spots on their heads. Whose to say this is the same Toad we recognize from other Mario games? Whose to say it's ever the same Toad? Nintendo should probably make a more defining characteristic than a blue vest and annoying voice to separate this Toad from countless others.

Though, aside from the disturbing qualities of Toad, there is not much else to complain about while playing this game. There are four "cups" made up of four tracks (making that a total of 16 courses for all you English majors out there) and the player can choose to go for the gold trophies in every Grand Prix by getting the highest score out of all racers, of which only the top four receive any points at all. In single player, the game can get very repetitive if you want to get every gold trophy possible. Of course, the fantastic item boxes which litter the courses add much to the game's creativeness as well as it's craziness and interactiveness. Quite simply, the items make the game enjoyable and allow for greater satisfaction than your other, average racing games. Not to mention adding to the frustration. Nothing is worse than being 30 seconds ahead of 2nd place, but then getting lightning-ed into the water or off a high jump. The computer, of course, does not plan things like that and they rarely happen when playing by yourself, but expect a great deal of time being spent just waiting for the right moment to use that lightning strike against your friends.

For those new to the racing genre, the 50 cc engine size is a good place to start. It's the smallest engine, which means it's also the slowest and the least likely to spin out if you move the control stick back and forth too quickly. Once all four Gold Cups are earned with the slowest engine, you can move up to a slightly faster speed and do it all over again. And then once more on the fastest engine size. And then once more on the mirror courses, which are unlocked after achieving every other Gold Cup. These mirror courses at first seem like more of the same, however many of the tracks are actually much more difficult, mainly because of your own memory, but there is only one course that actually gets significantly harder: Toad's Turnpike. You'll know why instantly if you play it.

And, when it gets right down to it, the courses are your real challenges. The AIs do not have the skill required to beat someone who knows what they're doing. If you've already gotten all the golds, then going back and playing anything lower than 150 cc's is almost unbearable. Expect to be bored. The worst thing about the other racers is the random chance of items. Any time you're in front, the best thing you can hope to get from the item boxes is three green shells, so be prepared to lay a lot of bananas and shoot many single green shells backwards (or just hold onto them all for defense). While, of course, anyone lagging behind gets the best items so they can have a better chance at winning, which really only succeeds in messing with the players in front.

If I was to judge this game based solely on the single player experience, this game would fall short of being worth the time and money necessary. Luckily for Mario Kart - since I alone clearly have the ultimate judgment - that is not the only, or even main, part of my review. Mario Kart 64 was so clearly designed for multiple players that I wonder how much thought was put into the single player game. When playing Mario Kart with a friend (one to three others) the game hits the pinnacle of fun. The game gives you three choices when playing with others: play Vs. with each other, battle each other, or Grand Prix with the AI taking over the left over racers. Battle has only four different courses, two of which are very small, and the winner depends on who keeps any of the three of their balloons while the others lose all of their own. The Vs. mode is much less hectic than the Grand Prix, but also more ridiculous. Since there are only two racers, the person in second place will often get stars and lightning and all manner of excellent items in order to launch them into first place, which can be very hazardous for other players if the user knows when and what to save them for. Finally, the Grand Prix with multiplayer is the most fun this game can offer. Even so long after Mario Kart 64 debuted it's still fun. Every time I bring up that I have this famous racing game, people want to play. They, I'm sure, seek nostalgia more than a balanced and accurate racing videogame, but what they receive is more than forgotten memories, they experience amazing sensations of pure fun. Even being frustrated at the abuse of items, the game is always fun. For this reason, the game ranks higher than it probably should. Re-reading my review, I seem to portray this game unfavorably, but I cannot be more pleased with this game for accomplishing what it set out to do. I'm ecstatic with this game because of it's multiplayer, pleased with this game for it's single player, and happy with it overall.

4/5 Near Perfect Score! Super Good!