Posts tagged with “Mario”

This article was originally posted on March 1, 2010. We’re reposting this classic article now because it’s still fun to read, dammit. Enjoy!

Abstract

The four console incarnations of Mario Kart (SNES, N64, GC, and Wii) are compared in terms of difficulty to complete 150cc races (the hardest setting) with a gold medal, that games’ highest honor. A team of game development ninjas were unleashed upon the game over a 36 hour period to determine comparative difficulty, playing single player races in every 150cc cup event for the four titles. Collected data indicate that the order of difficulty is:

Super Nintendo SMK > GameCube MK:DD > N64 MK64 > Wii MKW

The original Super Nintendo title is the most difficult, and the newest Wii title is the easiest. Readers are welcome to verify and corroborate our findings with their own experimentation.

Introduction

The Mario Kart franchise is one of the most beloved racing series in existence, boasting a title on every major Nintendo console since the Super Nintendo. While most users simply play the game in battle mode against inebriated comrades, the astute gamer will note that hidden away in the main menu there is also a “single player” mode in which users can race against the computer in a series of races. When played on the hardest “150cc” setting these races are infuriatingly challenging, and we therefore felt it was necessary to have an understanding of the relative difficulty of the four main console Mario Karts (the SNES original, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash, and Mario Kart Wii).

Methodology

For the complete game completion marathon team Fire Hose decided to race each and every Grand Prix cup event and win the gold medal on the hardest 150cc setting, meaning 20 gold medals (4 SNES, 4 N64, 4 GC, and 8 Wii). Researchers/minions were locked in an airtight room at GAMBIT and not allowed to leave for food, water, or sanitary reasons until all 20 gold medals were earned. Difficulty was determined by listening for the amount of cursing emanating from the room, how long each medal took to earn, and how often researchers swore they would “never play this fucking game again, for any reason”.

Results

Mario Kart Wii was first title tackled and the easiest of the bunch; an expert user can expect to win these races on a regular basis, and the various boost mechanics (popping wheelies, power sliding, midair tricks, and prolific booster pads) offer multiple opportunities to get ahead of the competition. Mario Kart 64 is only slightly more difficult, as the rubber banding mechanics aren’t so punishing as to prevent the first place racer from occasionally acquiring useful items. There is a large element of chance in this game though from environmental hazards, such as cars in Toad’s Turnpike and Bullet Bills in Rainbow Road.

Mario Kart: Double Dash is somewhat harder than the previously mentioned titles; rubber banding on items is more pronounced making it harder to keep a first place lead, blue shells are plentiful for racers towards the end of the pack, and the computerized opponents are adept at power sliding and stealing items from the unwary player. However, the hardest game of the bunch by far is the original Super Mario Kart. This game’s 150cc mode can be aptly described as “dickish”; computerized players have unlimited at-will abilities such as a feather jump and special attack that are severely damaging and often unavoidable, there is no rubber banding of items to help a player catch up from behind, computerized players that fall behind gain super human speed in order to catch up, and the coin mechanic (ditched in later games) adds an unnecessary level of complexity and another potential failure point.

Discussion

The original Super Mario Kart was likely so brutally difficult due to an inability to program especially smart AIs. Rather than spending lots of time trying to (most likely unsuccessfully) make smart AIs the programmers simply opted to create a set of advantages for computer players that just feel flat out unfair. Perhaps this helps to explain why the N64 version was easier, as maybe the developers wanted to create a more accessible sequel that would be less frustrating. With the advent of the Gamecube, a system designed to speak more to “hardcore” gamers, it seems that Nintendo made their greatest effort to create a truly balanced Mario Kart that would appeal to and work for a broader slice of audiences. Of course, with the Wii’s focus on a more casual audience it made sense to tone down the competitive nature of the game to make it easier for less frequent gamers to pick up and play (and play well).

Was this Nintendo’s actual thought process making these games? We don’t know, but after playing these games all weekend we’d like to think so.

References

Complete Game Completion Marathon Website (you can still donate!)

Fire Hose for Haiti’s games list

It’s time for our annual “we’re too lazy to put up new content so here is a rehashed post” list of all the games we played this past year. Sweet! Here’s what we played in 2010.

Our year started off with one of the best games to come out of the Boston Global Game Jam, a highly descriptive and amusing platformer called RunRunRunJump that has one of the best soundtracks you’ve ever heard. After that we played Robot Unicorn Attack which since our post has become one of the best selling games on the iPhone (coincidence? I think not! Of course not all games on our blog get quite as much attention, and Paul Sztajer’s Particulars seems to be somewhat abandoned nowadays judging from the leaderboards. But hey, if you ever wanted to be #1 on some boards now is your chance! I’m personally at #2 of all time with 325K.

We laughed a ton playing Sydney Shark, one of the most hilarious games we’ve seen since Robot Dinosaurs that Roar. Where else can you chomp horse heads, killer whales, and nuclear missiles as a shark? Jay Pavlina’s Super Mario Bros. Crossover got a ton of well deserved internet attention, and since the initial release Jay’s been hard at work adding special new features for each character. We then looked at an artier game called Every Day the Same Dream, which still has a terrific ending if you haven’t tried it yet. I find it interesting that since that game came out a similar title called One Chance was released, which while somewhat derivative is also excellent with a fantastic ending(s?).

Of course if you aren’t feeling especially artistic and just want a fun platformer then Enough Plumbers was probably right up your alley. Any game where you kill clones of Mario and light yourself on fire with jalapeno peppers has to be fun. If you’re more of an RPG or educational gaming fan you’ll probably like CellCraft, a game which not only has “craft” in the title but teaches about both cellular microbiology and platypuses. And if you’re the type of gamer who care for roguelikes and has several days of free time then Desktop Dungeons is the game for you – I think I almost burned a week on that one before deciding I had gone “far enough”. I hope QCF design brings it to consoles!

At the end of the year we wrapped up the demo of the still-in-development indie game Planck by Shadegrown Games, a neat experimental music game with some fun shooting bits. We also played the phenomenal tower defense game Ghost Hacker by Core Sector, and then finally wrapped up the year with the engaging short interactive fiction title The Warbler’s Nest by Jason McIntosh. It was a good year!

If you haven’t played any of these games yet be sure to take a look at them over break, they’re a ton of fun and every single one of them is free to play!I can’t wait for the awesome games we’ll wind up playing in 2011.

A lot of times flash games have some sort of innovative, but ultimately gimmicky, central mechanic that doesn’t get used especially well. At it’s surface, Enough Plumbers would seem to be one of these games. You star as an overall wearing plumber trying to complete several levels by reaching the flag. The fun twist is that when you get a coin a clone spawns, which functions with the same keyboard controls as all the other plumbers (it feels a bit like Ninja Bros).

What’s impressive about this game is that there is actually a good level progression where the mechanic is explored nicely over 25 levels, and some of the later challenges are pretty damn difficult. It’s also got a lot of nice touches, including fun sound effects and music, cool power ups, and a terrific final boss battle. Oh, and in case it’s not obvious, the entire game is a homage to Mario, which is especially apparent in that boss battle (Miyamoto-Bowser!) Why are you still reading this? Go play it!

Incidentally, one of the guys that made this is Glen Forrester, the nut behind Gnilley.

Abstract

The four console incarnations of Mario Kart (SNES, N64, GC, and Wii) are compared in terms of difficulty to complete 150cc races (the hardest setting) with a gold medal, that games’ highest honor. A team of game development ninjas were unleashed upon the game over a 36 hour period to determine comparative difficulty, playing single player races in every 150cc cup event for the four titles. Collected data indicate that the order of difficulty is

SNES SMK > GC MK:DD > N64 MK64 > Wii MKW

With the original Super Nintendo title being the most difficult, and the newest Wii title being the easiest. Readers are welcome to verify and corroborate our findings with their own experimentation.

Introduction

The Mario Kart franchise is one of the most beloved racing series in existence, boasting a title on every major Nintendo console since the Super Nintendo. While most users simple play the game in battle mode against inebriated comrades, the astute gamer will note that hidden away in the main menu there is also a “single player” mode in which users can race against the computer in a series of races. When played on the hardest “150cc” setting these races are infuriatingly challenging, and we therefore felt it was necessary to have an understanding of the relative difficulty of the four main console Mario Karts (the SNES original, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash, and Mario Kart Wii).

Methodology

For the complete game completion marathon team Fire Hose decided to race each and every Grand Prix cup event and win the gold medal on the hardest 150cc setting, meaning 20 gold medals (4 SNES, 4 N64, 4 GC, and 8 Wii). Researchers/minions were locked in an airtight room at GAMBIT and not allowed to leave for food, water, or sanitary reasons until all 20 gold medals were earned. Difficulty was determined by listening for the amount of cursing emanating from the room, how long each medal took, and how often researchers swore they would “never play this fucking game again, for any reason”.

Results

Mario Kart Wii was first title tackled and the easiest of the bunch; an expert user can expect to win these races on a regular basis, and the various boost mechanics (popping wheelies, power sliding, midair tricks, and prolific booster pads) offer multiple opportunities to get ahead of the competition. Mario Kart 64 is only slightly more difficult, as the rubber banding mechanics aren’t so punishing as to prevent the first place racer from occasionally acquiring useful items. There is a large element of chance in this game though from environmental hazards, such as cars in Toad’s Turnpike and Bullet Bills in Rainbow Road.

Mario Kart: Double Dash is somewhat harder than the previously mentioned titles; rubber banding on items is more pronounced making it harder to keep a first place lead, blue shells are plentiful for racers towards the end of the pack, and the computerized opponents are adept at power sliding and stealing items from the unwary player. However, the hardest game of the bunch by far is the original Super Mario Kart. This game’s 150cc mode can be aptly described as “dickish”; computerized players have at-will abilities such as a feather jump and special attack that are severely damaging and often unavoidable, there is no rubber banding of items to help a player catch up from behind, computerized players that fall behind gain super human speed in order to catch up, and the coin mechanic (ditched in later games) adds an unnecessary level of complexity and another potential failure point.

Discussion

The original Super Mario Kart was likely so brutally difficult due to an inability to program especially smart AIs. Rather than spending lots of time trying to (most likely unsuccessfully) make smart AIs the programmers simply opted to create a set of advantages for computer players that just feel flat out unfair. Perhaps this helps to explain why the N64 version was easier, as maybe the developers wanted to create a more accessible sequel that would be less frustrating. With the advent of the Gamecube, a system designed to speak more to “hardcore” gamers, it seems that Nintendo made their greatest effort to create a truly balanced Mario Kart that would appeal to and work for a broader slice of audiences. Of course, with the Wii’s focus on a more casual audience it made sense to tone down the competitive nature of the game to make it easier for less frequent gamers to pick up and play (and play well).

Was this Nintendo’s actual thought process making these games? We don’t know, but after playing these games all weekend we’d like to think so.

References

Complete Game Completion Marathon Website (you can still donate!)

Fire Hose for Haiti’s games list