#and one was some wario game for the N64

[skeletalheartattack]

i just had a dream where i had been yard sale shopping at someones house, and they had this big cardboard box full of N64 games, and on the box had the writing "3 games have water damage" and listed the serial numbers for each cartridge rather than listing the names. anyway i don't remember a lot of the cartridges names beyond one clearly being "Super Mario 64 DS", which even in the dream i was confused by. within the box was another mario title that was similar to mario pinball and mario golf, and came with a miniature set you had to put together and included little fence posts you had to click into the board to ensure the marble wouldn't fall out during play.

anyway so im curious about a lot of these N64 games, since ive never heard of them, and i wanted to see if they were custom or bootlegs. a seperate family at the sale is looking at a miniature house of sorts as im pulling out my phone to look up the names of these games. im not even able to type anything in before i hear two giant concrete cylinders hit the floor from just around the corner of the basement. that's right. the mother fucking waterwraith appeared

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Toad's Turnpike Debut: Mario Kart 64

Ah, Mario Kart 64, an iconic game for many reasons. It was the first 3D Mario Kart game, the first game to feature the Spiny Shell, the first Mario Kart where you could select Wario, and also the first good Mario Kart game! Or maybe it also sucks, and I'm just blinded by nostalgia. It is the first game I ever played.

While Mario Kart 64 featured many of the same course themes as Super Mario Kart, it also introduced a handful of new ones into the fold, like "busy highway!" Toad's Turnpike is the first course in the Mario Kart series where you have to dodge traffic. Now, holding a go-kart race on an active road might seem dangerous, but thankfully, having gotten my license earlier this year, I learned that driving on a road is what you're supposed to do, so it's probably fine.

What's NOT fine however, is driving against the flow of traffic! In Mario Kart 64, Toad's Turnpike is infamous for its Mirror Mode layout, where not only is the layout of the course mirrored, but the cars will move in the opposite direction as well! The penalty for crashing into a car is pretty severe in this game, and combined with the brutal CPUs who love to cheat, Mirror Mode Toad's Turnpike ends up being a very difficult race.

The Mirror Mode variant ties into a mechanic in Mario Kart 64 where the speed of cars will change depending on the cc. Are you late on the commute to work? Too bad! Toad has declared that he's doing a 50cc race today, and as the owner of this turnpike, you BETTER abide by his speed limit...!

But why are you commuting on Toad's Turnpike in the first place?! This road just loops back in on itself, with nowhere to get off! Heck, there's nowhere to get on, really, either. I have no idea how you or anyone else got into such a precarious situation. This is true of nearly every traffic course (besides Mushroom City), but this post isn't about any of those.

But what if I told you the cars may not be real cars at all...? You see, in Mario Kart 64, the cars on this course have no hit detection with anything besides the player. Items will pass straight through them, and so will any racer that's currently in a star. Is it possible these cars... are GHOSTS...? Jeepers! It would seem that after being trapped on this road for so long, that all the cars died off, and now nothing but phantoms remain...

You can still crash into phantom cars though, so be careful while driving.

It would seem that Mayor Toad of Toad City thought that something had to be done about his turnpike's ghost problem, so in the time between Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart 8, he had a service station built on the side of the road. This must have worked out big time, as the cars have proper hit detection now! Hooray for necromancy!

Mayor Toad did not, however, pour any funds into building roads in and out of Toad's Turnpike. In fact, he turned the starting line into a toll gate, meaning not only are you trapped on Toad's Turnpike, but you have to pay for every lap you drive! The course was also scaled down quite a bit, meaning you'll be passing the starting line much more often. Clearly, the government of Toad City is very corrupt.

I guess this is my segue into talking about the Mario Kart 8 version of this course, huh? If I'm being honest, I don't like this version of the course nearly as much! But it's not really for anything that has to do with the gameplay...

Sure, it's disappointing that Mirror Mode no longer reverses the flow of traffic. Sure, the anti-gravity walls feel shoehorned in and kind of defeat the purpose of the course. Sure, the road being widened and the track being scaled down makes the cars much easier to dodge, and getting hit is much less impactful than before.

But none of those things really bother me. I mean, they added cars with glider ramps and whatnot! It's definitely easier than the N64 version, but I do think it gains some from its more dynamic elements. But you see, the reason I don't like the Mario Kart 8 version of Toad's Turnpike is because of a much more egrigious sin:

The vibes are off.

You see, the thing I love the most about Toad's Turnpike in Mario Kart 64 is the atmosphere. You know I'm a sucker for good atmosphere! It affected a few placements in those Galaxy rankings I haven't touched in like a year! But yeah, between the late sunset skybox, the excellent music, and the remote feeling of it all, Toad's Turnpike in Mario Kart 64 is a course with A+ vibes. Between that and its unique obstacles, it becomes a highlight of the game for me despite a pretty bland layout.

With Mario Kart 8's version, the time of day was shifted from the late evening to the middle of the night, the music was given a new arrangement that's much more energetic, and the course was reimagined as being in the middle of a big city. I definitely get what they were going for—the big city theming fits the highway environment, and it definitely feels more fitting for a fast-paced racing game. But to me at least, the relaxing evening drive feeling of Toad's Turnpike is a lot of what I loved about the original, and I feel like that was ultimately lost in the remake.

Despite my complaining, I find it important to emphasize that change is not an inherently bad thing! It's good to appreciate the things in our past, sure, but nostalgia can be a prison of our own making! People who refuse to accept change often end up like the Old Norm, grumbling about pronouns and rainbow beer. Heck, Rainbow Road is another course with great vibes from Mario Kart 64 that got a massive aesthetic overhaul in Mario Kart 8, and I love how they handled that remake! Sometimes you just gotta learn to appreciate the new and the old on their own merits.

With that out of the way, the changes made to Toad's Turnpike were bad and I don't like them. They totally should've kept the sunset.

[seandwalsh]

What do you think that the advertisements in Mario kart indicate for the Mario universe?

I've already talked a little bit about this in my previous post on the lore of the Mario Kart games, but I'd be happy to discuss this specific topic a little more in-depth by going over some highlights of the brands, businesses and sponsors seen throughout the Mario Kart games!

It's likely that given Super Mario Kart was the first tournament, Mario and his friends hadn't amassed enough of a viewership to have sponsors backing the Grand Prix. Mario Kart got its first sponsors in Mario Kart 64 in the form of trackside banners on certain courses.

Most of these sponsors are quite non-specific in what they represent and are associated with a specific character or item, such as Mario Star (Marioro in the Japanese version), Luigi's (Luigip in the Japanese version) or Koopa Air. Mario Star may have originally been a tobacco company, but it appears this has been retconned. Luigi's may have been an oil company, but as of Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Tour the sponsor merely represents N64 Luigi Raceway. Koopa Air is likely an airline owned or endorsed by Bowser.

Nintendo is also a sponsor, which is interesting given they also sponsored Mario and Formula 1 in Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race, as well as the Mario Bros. in Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally before this.

It seems they were advertising the Famicom through sponsoring Mario. Perhaps it was even a "Famicom Racing Team" of sorts.

Mario can also wear his Mechanic Outfit from Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally in Super Mario Odyssey, where we can see the patches on it feature several brands from the Mario Kart series. This outfit also ends up being depicted in the logo of Mario Motors from Mario Kart 8 onwards. This first appeared in Mario Kart Arcade GP, and it's certainly one of my favourites.

Mario Motors appears to be a chain of garages that likely builds or repairs vehicles, as we can see two locations in Mario Kart 8's renditions of Wii U Mario Circuit and GCN Yoshi Circuit. In the GCN Yoshi Circuit location several Standard 8 karts and a Yoshi Bike can be seen in the shop. They appear to use Mushroom Piston engines and Fuzzy Battery batteries, also having a pair of fuel pumps outside. Fuzzy Batteries also produce primary (disposable) batteries, as we see in Yoshi's Crafted World.

Of course, Mario can't have all the fun. Wario had to go and make his own company, Wario Motors, which presumably acts as a rival. Wario Motors seemingly built the trucks with Dash Panel ramps on the back that can be seen in courses like Mario Kart 8's rendition of N64 Toad's Turnpike.

Speaking of Wario, in Mushroom City from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! we can see a store called Wario Pharmacy. Perhaps this is a chain Wario opened after stealing the Megavitamins from Mario in Dr. Mario 64.

Mario Work Gear is another brand from Mario Kart 8 that presumably sells dungarees, gloves, etc. like the ones Mario and Luigi wear. Perhaps this company is even the supplier of the clothing we see Mario and Luigi buy from the various shops throughout the Mario & Luigi series.

There are so many things to say about all of the sponsors in the Mario Kart games, and I've barely scratched the surface here! I'm sure I'll feature them in many more posts in the future. Thank you for your question!

[pjunicornart]

The Robinsons and Mario Kart Wii

Floating around Tumblr now is the headcanon that the Robinsons are a Nintendo household. I agree! So I'm gonna share something I've had written down in a notebook for a while now: What each Robinson mains in MKWii!

Why MKWii and not MK8? Because MK8 is painfully average and boring. Where's the jank? The standalone mini turbos? The busted stats? THE PROPER INSIDE DRIFT?! Everything in MK8 is balanced and boring. Therefore, no competition. MKWii is chaos, and therefore perfect for a Robinson game night!

Because I'm extra, as well as including their favorite characters to play, I will also include: Preferred vehicle, fav track, and fav OST. Plus a little paragraph of how they play. Listen, MKWii was one of my hyperfixations when I was little. I know this game by the back of my hand. LET'S GET INTO THIS!

Bud - Koopa Troopa: Standard Bike S Fav Track: Koopa Cape Fav OST: Koopa Cape (Pipe) - He's not the best at the game by a long shot, but he'll play it for the grandbaby. At least he gets the chance to play on his favorite track from when Neil would want to play with him back in the day.

Lucille - Toadette: Mini Beast Fav Track: DS Yoshi Falls Fav OST: N64 Sherbet Land - Same point for Bud can be said about Lucille. The Sherbet Land OST reminds her of her first Christmas with Neil.

Fritz/Petunia - Daisy: Wild Wing Fav Track: N64 Mario Raceway Fav OST: No Trophy For You! - Beginner level skills. Fritz plays for fun, but Petunia plays for competition! Daisy reminds him of her.

Laszlo - Baby Luigi: Jet Bubble Fav Track: Coconut Mall Fav OST: Coconut Mall - Intermediate level of skills. He can perform some easy shortcuts, like the Mushroom Gorge and DK Summit gap jumps. He also holds the opinion that Coconut Mall is the GOAT. He's not wrong.

Tallulah - Rosalina: Honeycoupe Fav Track: Moonview Highway Fav OST: Daisy Circuit - Casual player with an intermediate level of skills. She can perform certain shortcuts, she just doesn't because she's not overly competitive... unless she's playing against Laszlo.

Joe - Birdo: Classic Dragster Fav Track: DS Delfino Square Fav OST: DS Peach Gardens - Purely casual player. However, he might secretly get a leg up on you in the race. Why? He's lucky with the item RNG.

Billie - Dry Bones: Tiny Titan Fav Track: Wario's Gold Mine Fav OST: DK Summit - Competitive casual type. She is in it to win most of the time, but she's the type to not really want to improve her skills.

Gaston - Waluigi: Wario Bike Fac Track: GCN Waluigi Stadium Fav OST: GCN Waluigi Stadium - Speed is key for him, and he loves all the tracks where he can go ham and perform a bunch of tricks. Speed is his key, but he doesn't have the knowledge of which character and kart combos will allow him to gain that speed.

Art - Toad: Blue Falcon Fav Track: Rainbow Road Fav OST: Online Boss Theme - Back in MKWii's hay day, he played all of the online content. Like the boss battles and competitive races. It's because of this that he has knowledge of all the tips of the trade.

Carl - Baby Mario: Bullet Bike Fav Track: Mushroom Gorge Fav OST: Block Plaza - Really only plays it when Wilbur wants him to. He's programmed to be a decent challenger. So... not like the CPUs in the game, lol. Even in Mirror Mode, the CPUs are a joke.

Spike/Dmitri - Diddy Kong: Dolphin Dasher Fav Track: Moo Moo Meadows Fav OST: N64 DK's Jungle Parkway - They don't play often, which is why they tend to stick to the easier cups and engine classes.

Wilbur - Bowser Jr.: Sneakster Fav Track: Bowser's Castle Fav OST: Maple Treeway - He's made it his life mission to upstage his father in skill. Good luck to him, because Neil knows the ultra shortcuts and all of the hidden stats.

Franny - Yoshi: Wild Wing Fav Track: GCN Peach Beach Fav OST: Maple Treeway - Keeps it casual when asked. But otherwise? You're going down. Her weakness is the jankiness of the game.

Cornelius - Mario: Mach Bike Fav Track: Rainbow Road Fav OST: Rainbow Road - The master of jank. He can perform ultra shortcuts like the Grumble Volcano rock hop/respawn glitch and the Mushroom Gorge cliff ride. He's beaten every fast staff ghost. He's got the item RNG on lock. He has no respect for the key checkpoints. He knows which bikes to use and what characters are best. He shows no mercy. Side note - The RR OST gives him an eargasm every time with its nods to Super Mario Galaxy (his favorite Mario game).

[redtoondevils]

I just watched the Mario Movie!

I just watched the Mario Movie about last week ago. And I gotta say, first things first...It. was. AMAZING! There is a lot of references I actually do know! The Super Mario Bros ad, from the Mario Brothers movie. Mario Kart, Rainbow world, Donkey Kong, Cranky Kong, Diddy Kong, and Chunky Kong! Sadly no Tiny Kong, and Lanky Kong.

Super Mario 3D world, Super Mario Odyssey for Bowser's suit, and the Wedding. King Bob omb. The Snifits. The blue shell, some parts of the Jungle Japes, The DK Rap, the Super Stars, and when Mario swings Bowser from his tail from the N64. Those are the few that I spotted, and remembered. And indeed there are many more!

But the person I felt most sad for was Luigi. Just like every game, he's usually the character that get pushed to the side. Same with Waluigi.

How come Wario is more popular, than his counterpart Waluigi? And poor Luigi too! The way that he got tortured by Bowser. I swear he goes through worse, than what his brother had been through. It's understandable that they couldn't add every character. But, the movie is great! Got every expectation right!

And more screentime for Luigi! Oh, and my favorite moment in the Mario Movie is when Luigi saves his brother Mario. The best part, is when both Mario, and Luigi got the superstar together, and they both became superstars!

And Bowser...Oh my damn he's a beast! His flame breath is more powerful than the SSB one! In the N64, his boss battle he's kind of a weakling, after throwing him in those bombs about 5 times. Yet, in the movie he's more threatening!

He's more menacing! I've noticed that on his back, he's got a little bit of green scales at the back of his back, and shoulders! That's also a small reference to his original design. When he used to be green!

A little talk with Bowser, he's truley evil that you can take him seriously now! He's no joke, especially when he looses his temper at his servant's. Even threatening to kill them. He'd kill anyone if he get's mad. And he's literally insane!

I remember, when he's gotten the most serious is in Paper Mario. When he used the Star Rod to become invincible. He nearly succeeded. In the Movie, he let his pride get the best of him.

He became so lustful, that when Peach said that she could never marry him. Is when he brought out his absolute worst. Then he gets reckless. Especially at the end. He's gotten so evil. He is probably the best Bowser so far! I'm curious to see what the next main antagonist would be, when the next Mario Movie drops!

Is there anything else I can say? Oh yeah! I cannot miss, so I think the sequel is going to be about...Yoshi's island! And Super Mario galaxy!

The secret ending after the Credit's, of course there is a Yoshi's egg in the warehouse! Even the Yoshi's appeared too! And they all looked so cute! Reminds me of Yoshi's story! That's a sweet easter egg!

ONE LAST THING I WANT TO SAY! I am SO glad that Donkey Kong and Mario, as rivals at the beginning. Became best friends at the end! :D

[game-boy-pocket]

Happy New Year.

It was a pretty good year for my gaming hobby and being a Nintendo fan. As usual, I did spend a majority of the year just replaying games I loved, but there were a few new, and new-to-me games that I played this year.

Around this time last the year I was on a Rare kick, playing through all the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, DK64, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo Kazooie, and Conker. and Mark Kurko's Snowglow Village remake, and this spilled into January.

The Rare stuff also lead to a N64 kick in general, as I found a few decent Mario 64 hacks that worked on real hardware, and I also finished a run of Kirby 64 I started a few years ago and abandoned close to the end.

I managed to make it through a short and easy but very charming Fievel Goes West platformer on SNES. I've got a lot of nostalgia for Fievel so, no regrets there.

I started going back and fourth between The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, and Banjo Kazooie - the Jiggies of Time, and it was interesting to visit areas of the game as Link only to come back to them as Banjo, this also marked the first time I ever replayed a full length romhack from start to finish.

I picked up several Super Mario World romhacks. Some of them worked out, others didn't, either because of romhack difficulty or hardware incompatibility, but it really was kind of a Mario year for me.

Smash Remix got some amazing updates adding Marina, King Dedede, and Goemon, among other things. I can't wait to see where else that game goes. But speaking of Smash Bros, I also discovered the Akenia build for Super Smash Bros Melee, and I was thrilled to play that game with some characters that came later in the series like Lucas, Diddy Kong, Charizard, Sonic, and Wolf.

And I cleared two Gameboy games for the first time, Donkey Kong Land, and Final Fantasy Adventure, hopefully I can get to their sequels in 2024.

From there I marathonned a ton of Mario games... the SNES version of Super Mario RPG ( little did I know a Switch remake would get announced later this year ), New Super Mario Bros U, Mario Kart 8, which I managed to get 3 stars on every cup and every difficulty rating, Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros DS, and Super Mario Odyssey, all in preperation to hype myself up for the Super Mario Movie which, against all odds, was fun as hell and filled my little Mario fanboy heart with joy.

Also found mods for Wario Land and Donkey Kong Country returns that made both games far more enjoyable to me. Wario's default walking speed was increased, and Donkey Kong Country's motion controls were mapped to buttons.

Revisited Sonic Riders again, and sadly kind of realized it was not as good as I remembered, having only two grand prix that are largely copy pastes of each other with different lighting. Still prefer the concept of those games than sticking Sonic in a car though.

I discovered a pretty amazing Ocarina of Time hack called the Sealed Palace, which is a it obtuse, but still very good, and I really need to get back to it, I had nearly finished it but went on a hiatus when other things caught my attention. Will finish it in 2024 hopefully.

And one of the big highlights, I finally became the proud owner of an NES. My family had one as a child but it was more for my parents than for me. I mostly played NES games via Nintendo's re-releases or emulation.

Among the games I played for NES, the whole Mario trilogy, Zelda, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Final Fantasy 1, Dragon Quest 1, Metroid MOTHER, Kid Icarus, Super Mario Bros 3+, Mega Man 2, Kid Icarus, Duck Hunt, and I started up Final Fantasy 2, but have yet to finish it.

And in April I went to Super Nintendo Land. The experience was slightly soured for me but I had fun and got some cool merchandise. The actual ride was a little underwhelming though, and I didn't even get to go to the Toad Cafe.

In anticipation for the Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom, I replayed Link's Awakening, and Breath of the Wild, had a great time with both of them.

And then Tears of the Kingdom came along and completely absorbed my life for two months. I still miss playing it. Maybe i'll replay it sometime in 2024? It'll be interesting to see if my opinion changes at all, but so far, this one is in my top 3 Zelda games. It's not perfect, but honestly, mention any Zelda game to me and I can give you a laundry list of flaws for each of them, so a Zelda game not being perfect is old news. But it doesn't make them any less great. I think this one is just contentious because 1. it took 6 years, 2. purists of the old Ocarina Cone style of Zelda games are worried that they'll never enjoy Zelda again. They have my sympathies but honestly I don't ever want to go back to the old style of Zelda unless it's for a 2D game.

I actually tried to give Skyward Sword another try, I bought the Switch version, but like with every attempt to replay that game since it's launch, I just find myself really irritated by all the exposition that I just quit playing early on.

Against my better judgement I bought Sonic Origins Plus on Steam, and it has some performance issues. I really didn't need it, I love that Amy is playable but I kind of prefer her Sonic Advance move set, which fans had already modded into the genesis games. I think i'd rather just get an actual Sega Genesis to play these games on someday.

I finished raising every single digimon on my Digimon Version 20th v-pet, which is essentially like completing the "pokedex" but for digimon. Sadly not every virtual pet tracks that information, so I won't get to attempt that again.

There was a double dose of Ninja Turtles with TMNT II the Arcade game for NES and Shredder's Revenge on the Switch, I think a certain movie came out around this time of year that put me into a Turtle frenzy because I also started watching the cartoon around that time of year.

I am not mentioning every little NES game or hack I play but I want to higlight two excellent Zelda hacks called the Legend of Banjo and the Legend of Super Mario, which are exaclty what they sound like, Zelda 1 but with a Banjo Kazooie and Super Mario makeover respectively, both are very well designed and arguably a lot more friendly to players that aren't experts at Zelda 1, and do a great job at selling the illusion that they're intended to be Mario and Banjo games.

One of my big regrets for the year was Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3, Slime Speedway, which I bought because 1. I was done with the Mario Kart DLC and wanted more racing game, and 2, I was on a nickelodeon kick and was hyped up from the pre-release of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2.

Slime Speedway is just not very well made. I am generally accepting of low FPS but two genres of games that shouldn't have them are racing games and fighting games. And it's very sad because I feel like NKR3 could be one of the better Mario Kart clones if it was better optimized and had less annoying sound clips... Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2 was a good game but my hype deflated when I learned it would be cutting ELEVEN characters. Also the Switch version performs like ass but I really wanted to be able to take it to a friends house, so I didn't do the smart thing and buy it on Steam.

October is usually when I do my month long Halloween celebration of only consuming spooky media. But Nintendo and Sega had the nerve to plan big Mario and Sonic releases that month, interrupting my plans. But I did manage to slip in some spooky gaming, with Luigi's Mansion, an Evil Dead hack of Wanpakku Grafitti: Splatterhouse, and a Super Mario World Halloween hack, as well as a Kirby Halloween romhack. There was also the promising Super Mario 64 hack - Super Mario and the Monstrous Manor, but it seemed to lose it's spooky flavoring half way through, so I put it on pause for now and will come back to it in 2024.

I don't need to say much about Super Mario Wonder. It was wonderful. Easily the best 2D Mario in decades. It can definitely stand toe-to-toe with the original NES trilogy and Super Mario World. But Sonic Super Stars on the other hand? It's fine, but the bosses suck ass, especially the final boss, who isn't even interesting since it's just the Sonic 3 and Knuckles final boss again but without the Doomsday Zone sequence.

Super Mario RPG came out in November and it was a delight. My second time playing the game that year, I never would have seen it coming in a million years, but i'm so happy that it did. I already want to replay it.

I was put into the mood for Square RPGs, something I always felt like I missed out on growing up. So I started up Final Fantasy IV, which I played before, but never finished. I need to get back to it but I am officially at the point where I stopped playing last time, about to storm some tower in the underworld while the red wings are being distracted by tanks.

In December I started feeling Donkey Kong again and played the first two DKC games, and a few levels of Tropical Freeze, I thought i'd finally try out that new Funky Mode. I then realized that I was playing the exact same games around this time of year last year. Pure coincidence, but I do kind of want to play the rest of the Rare platformers...

I bought my first ever Mario sports game in Mario Tennis Aces, and I had a blast with it, though the adventure mode was surprisingly difficult, I have also bought Kirby and the Forgotten Land but have not really dug into it much. I guess my appetite for Kirby isn't what it used to be, that and my mood lately has been mostly on Mario. Maybe I should finish Yoshi's Crafted World, I got that in 2022 and have not played it at all this year...

Mark Kurko did his annual Christmas Romhack for Banjo Kazooie. I played it on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day, I replayed all his past romhacks. I think I might make that a new tradition, to replay all the christmas BK hacks, and whatever else I have. I found a decent Mario 64 Christmas hack as well, though it's only a single level.

And to cap off the new year, I started up a run of Animal Crossing for the Gamecube. I've been at it for a week and a half now. I am curious to see how long I can keep it up. But I have already found two NES games, and I kind of want to see if I can get the whole set and build an NES arcade in my basement, just like old times.

There's not much for me to look forward to in 2024 as far as I know, just the Mario vs Donkey Kong and Paper Mario TTYD remakes really, as I'm not too interested in the Peach game. But I hope we get some exciting announcements. I just am not ready for that announcement to be a Switch 2, I'm so tired of buying new machines.

[crusherthedoctor]

I say yes* to Mario talking cuz I enjoyed Charles talking a lot late N64-GC era for a lot of supplemental material or spinoff games (Mario vs DK especially). The 2007 convention having him diss Sony was the funniest fucking thing

Though writing him in char is super precise, and ignoring text driven RPGs, Mario is commonly mistaken to be "basic" compared to say, Wario and Luigi, as most ignore dynamics in spinoffs. Heck, Charles was super in tune for Mario and Wario for conversing cuz he's done them since 1991/3, but Luigi awkwardly was super one note in comparison cuz he never got the chance to do him in conventions till *2013*. And 2011 was when he was more limited for interactivity for conventions until 2021 replaced him with prerecorded lines, then the retirement 2023 in general

I feel like if you want Mario mute, you need it to be visual. In purely writing, the char actions need to be highlighted. It boils down to execution

Though if he's talking in text, the choice of dialogue ticks can make or break things. I notice Looney Tunes ignores writing down char ticks in the comics, even if the char notably has a lisp, so there's that. On the other hand, Eng localizations of Luigi in Paper Mario retains it

Overall, your choice

Don't worry, I know better than to add an -a at the end of every word Mario says. :P I've also defended Mario's character before it was cool, so there's no chance that I'd purposefully portray him as vapid either.

At this point, I'm leaning more towards letting him speak. Not that I believe mute characters are doomed to be empty husks with no character of their own - Crash Bandicoot has a lot of personality, after all - but in this case, and taking into account that Mario speaks fully in other games and media, I think some dialogue and insight from him will be required for what I have in mind with his battle against Eggman... and certain other developments.

[hollysoda]

I rant about Mario Kart Wii because I can

So the final wave of the Mario Kart 8 booster course pass is coming out next week and obviously I am super excited for it!! The new courses look awesome, and I can’t wait to try out the new characters, but since it’s the last wave I am a bit sad as well. There were so many courses that deserved to be remade into Mario Kart 8, but what was the roster mostly made up of instead?

Wii tracks

I do love Mario Kart Wii with all of my heart, it was my first Mario Kart experience and one of the first video games I ever played as a child, but holy shit. It got WAYYY too much representation

Here’s a list of all Mario Kart Wii nitro tracks in Mario Kart 8

Base game + WiiU DLC:

Moo Moo Meadows

Grumble Volcano

Wario’s Goldmine

DLC:

Coconut Mall

Mushroom Gorge

Maple Treeway

DK’s Snowboard Cross

Moonview Highway

Koopa Cape

Daisy Circuit

Rainbow Road

Mario Kart Wii tracks not in the game:

Luigi Circuit

Toads Factory

Mario Circuit

Dry Dry Ruins

Bowser’s Castle

So out of the 16 nitro Wii courses only 5 didn’t make it into the game, which is kind of crazy. Not to mention all the retro tracks that were in Wii that also made it to MK8, like Peach Gardens (DS) and Waluigi Stadium (GCN)

How does that compare to the other games then?

Tour - 14 tracks (17 if counting Merry Mountain, Ninja Hideaway and Sky-High Sundae but tbh the amount of Tour tracks is just as much of a problem as Wii tracks)

Wii - 11 tracks

3DS - 8 tracks

GBA - 8 tracks

DS - 7 tracks

GCN - 7 tracks

N64 - 6 tracks

SNES - 4 tracks

That’s a pretty big difference.

Personally, to level out the numbers and bring back some tracks that deserved to be remade, I would drop Mushroom Gorge and Koopa Cape from the mix. Both were retro courses in MK7, and Mushroom Gorge has barely changed between MK7 and MK8, apart from one mushroom being removed and a higher quality version of the theme. Koopa Cape has had some minor changes: the underwater pipe is now antigravity and the MK8 version has mixed the gliders from MK7 with the half pipes from the original, but I just don’t think it needed it?

Another track that I’m not sure on is Moonview Highway. I love Moonview Highway, but wha are some other non-Tour city tracks with moving vehicles that have only been remade once/have never been remade? Mushroom Bridge and Mushroom City from Double Dash, though I’m leaning more towards Mushroom City since it has a similar vibe to Moonview Highway and has never been remade, whereas Mushroom Bridge was in MKDS.

I think Wario’s Galleon from MK7 would be a good stand in for Koopa Cape. Although it’s far from a tropical and upbeat track, it’s mostly water based, and even though it’s not one of my favourite 3DS tracks I think it would vastly benefit from antigravity since it’s layout already has some nearly vertical climbs. I was actually hoping for this track over Rosalina’s Ice World in the latest wave

As for Mushroom Gorge, I would put Airship Fortress in its place. There aren’t many similarities between the two, but goddamn it I just want a remake of this track is that too much to ask? It was my favourite DS track when I was younger, and I know it was in MK7 like Mushroom Gorge but I can actually see some improvements to be made!! Turn the spiralling tower into antigravity!! Have some singing Shy Guys added to the music because I know for a damn fact they’d be sitting inside the ship!! Add some really strong electric guitars to the music as well while you’re at it!! Nintendo are missing out big time give us Airship Fortress cowards!!

If they were still insistent on giving us 11 Wii courses at least bring back ones which have never been remade before. Toad’s Factory is an obvious choice. It’s a fan favourite and just a super cool track overall. It’s honestly a crime that it’s been stuck in MKWii all these years. Honestly Dry Dry Ruins and Bowser’s Castle could also be good for a remake but they’re nowhere near as popular

Other tracks that deserved to be included, in my very biased opinion, are: Wuhu Island Loop/Wuhu Mountain Loop, Shy Guy Bazaar, Luigi’s Mansion, Delfino Square, Dino Dino Jungle, Rainbow Road GCN, Shy Guy Beach (yeah I could just go on-)

To sum it up, Mario Kart Wii gets too much spotlight and other courses deserved a remake more than some of theirs. Also, I’m a nerd with a Mario Kart fixation, if you couldn’t tell already

[winstein-nin]

Waluigi is a great addition to the Mario crew

In my opinion, probably unpopular if it's among Wario fans, is that Waluigi is a needed addition added at the best-possible time. To take this further, I think he's an overall great addition. There are some Wario fans that may view Waluigi as a redundant figure because they point to the Wario franchise characters and cite pretty much any character that should have been Wario's partner over Waluigi in Mario Tennis. In fact, some view Waluigi as unoriginal only because he's like the Luigi for Wario or some such.

One reason I think Waluigi is added at the right time is that the Wario series hardly gives Wario a friend, especially a consistent one, back in the 90's. Think about it: how many characters appear in more than one game that could count as Wario's friend? Certainly not Captain Syrup, who is basically the villain in the first two Wario Land games (both released in the 90's). Tatanga is more or less hired help and is more of a Mario character. Even Wario's Woods, a game that have opponents/bosses that seemingly work for Wario, never share appearances between the NES and SNES versions. Besides, they are minions and thus are not really developed characters (that's like saying Bowser's default partner should have been a Goomba), so they never really made them with staying power.

Because of this, Wario never really have any partner to use in the Mario games. This is compared to Donkey Kong, who from his first modern incarnation's game in 1994's Donkey Kong Country, already introduced Diddy Kong. Wouldn't you know it: Diddy Kong makes regular appearances in many Mario games, though not Mario Tennis (N64) where it was Donkey Kong Jr. that was used, so at least by then there is a viable partner for Donkey Kong. Wario never had any similar character by then, so there is a vacuum for this position so to speak, which would be a good time to introduce a companion for Wario for long term. Mario Tennis (N64) after all turns out to be the pivotal game for the Mario series by establishing what a spin-off cast of characters should be.

It should be pointed out that introducing a companion of an existing character is still valid. For some it's considered "lazy" to do so, but if that is a purpose for introducing them, that is still as good of a reason as any others. Some of the characters in the Mario series are pretty much introduced to be a companion for another character, the most obvious one being Toadette for Toad in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and lest we forget: Luigi was introduced the same way because Mario needed a partner for 2-player simultaneous gameplay in Mario Bros. (1983).

Funnily enough, the Wario games since Wario Land 4 (released after Mario Tennis) provided Wario with at least a friend. Though, the Wario Land games never really stuck with any for each game, for Shokora was ascended in Wario Land 4, the characters in Wario: Master of Disguise are still in TV land, and not to mention how Captain Syrup's alliance with Wario was temporary and deceptive in Wario Land: Shake It. WarioWare, on the other hand, provided consistent characters that Wario Land did not provide. It may be possible that if WarioWare were to exist before Mario Tennis (N64), Wario might team up with one of those characters, but since that did not happen, Waluigi found his place, and it stuck. Besides, the WarioWare cast aren't really depicted as being close to Wario in the same way as Wario and Waluigi many of the time (they are considered his employees, after all).

Still, I think because Waluigi is part of the main Mario gang, he's probably the most popular of the companions that Wario get. Whether or not he's better-treated than any of them is arguable, where some fans would argue that the WarioWare characters are treated better, but the fact that Waluigi has merchandise, has a mascot costume designed after him, and is an accepted part of the Mario group like some screenshots below shows that, he may have folks that did not like him, but he's still loved quite the same.

Thank you for reading.

[gamersonthego]

Chase Koeneke's Top 25 Game Boy & Game Boy Color Games

The final part in GOTG's GB & GBC Top 25 coverage, make sure you check out my good friend Giggy's list, as well as the shared list we made together on the most recent episode of the podcast.

While the NES was my very first brush with video games, it wasn’t until the Game Boy that I truly fell in love with gaming. For a kid who got taken on a lot of long car trips, it was a godsend (both to me, but probably even more so to my parents, who could drive in relative peace). I dumped hundreds of hours into many of these games, and some of them continue to rank within my all-time favorites. 

25. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

24. Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble

23. Pokemon Pinball

22. Tiny Toons Adventures: Babs’ Big Break

21. Metal Gear Solid (Ghost Babel)

20. Shantae

19. Harvest Moon 3 GBC

18. Balloon Kid

17. Mario’s Picross

16. Mole Mania

15. Mega Man V

14. Super Mario Land

13. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

12. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

11. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX

10. Mario Tennis

I’m not usually a big sports game guy. I find the ways devs abstract a sport through mechanics interesting, but often, their efforts fall short. I’d prefer to just hitting the batting cages than play Game Boy Baseball, y’know? But that’s not the case with Mario Tennis. Camelot aced this one, with simple, responsive controls that offered hidden depth in its strategic play. And the light RPG elements let you shape your character to better fit your play style (then import that character into the N64 incarnation!)

9. Warlocked

I didn’t grow up with a PC, so the real-time strategy genre was always something of a mystery to me. Warlocked was the first RTS I ever got my hands on, and while I can’t say it’s a particularly glowing example of the genre, the fact it even works on a Game Boy Color is astonishing to me. I ran the wheels off this game, playing through both its campaigns and collecting all the colorful wizard characters (Sweatwiz for life!) 

8. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

Zelda continues to not be my thing, but the Oracle games are generally my favorites of the entire franchise (which feels wrong since they’re made by Capcom). Of the pair, I prefer Seasons’ mechanics. Plus, I really love exploring Subrosia — a volcanic land sitting right below the overworld — and interacting with its Jawa-looking residents. Most people are going to prefer Link’s Awakening, and that’s fine, but for my money, Oracle of Season is the way to go.

7. Donkey Kong ’94

It’s unfair how good this game is. The movement tech Mario can achieve is unreal, and it forever changed the way we think about Mario’s moveset. If you’ve ever enjoyed the triple jumps of Super Mario 64 or the cap throwing and diving of Mario Odyssey, you have DK ’94 to thank for inspiring it all. This game takes the original arcade game, and expands it into one of the greatest puzzle-platformers of all time. 

6. Tetris

It’s Tetris. I mean, what else needs to be said? Later versions have added slight tweaks to the formula in the form of T-spins or holding pieces that make them arguably better, but whenever I want to play some Tetris, this is always the one I reach for. 

5. Kirby’s Dream Land 2

Creator Masahiro Sakurai has said the original Kirby’s Dream Land is all about introducing people to what a platform game is. Dream Land 2, in my opinion, is about introducing you to what they can be. The copy abilities brought in from Kirby’s Adventure are expanded threefold with the addition of Kirby’s animal companions, and the music from the battle with King Dedede still bangs. This will forever be my favorite Kirby game.

4. Mario Golf

I gushed about Mario Tennis above, but it can feel repetitive at times as you play set after set on nearly-identical courts. Mario Golf brings in everything good about Tennis (the RPG elements, character importing, great controls) and applies it to a sport that naturally has a little more variety through its courses, challenging you to approach them in different ways. Pick up both if you can, but if you only have room for one, Golf is the way to go. 

3. Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal

The second generation of Pokemon games add so much to the series, both from a mechanical perspective with new types, held items, additional HM moves, breeding and more. But maybe more importantly, Gold, Silver and Crystal surprise and delight in a way that make you feel like you’re in a living and breathing world. It can be annoying for those going back to the games now, but having a real-time day and night cycle affecting the Pokemon you could catch felt revolutionary. And weekly events like the bug-catching contest or a Lapras that only appeared on certain days made you want to explore (and re-explore) every area in the game. Last, but certainly not least, going back to Kanto in the postgame continues to be one of the coolest surprises a game can throw at you.

2. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow

…But even if all of the above is true, it’s not the original. Red, Blue and Yellow, while often a broken, buggy mess, got so much right on their first try. I think a lot of it is the sense of ownership I got through playing. When you pick up a Mario or a Zelda game, you’re playing as those characters, escaping into their shoes. With Pokemon, those were my shoes, and the creatures beside me were ones I raised and trained. It was all my adventure. And that made it all the more special. 

1. Pokemon Trading Card Game

There’s something about card games though. All my Pokemon card friends just wanted to collect them, to keep them in binders and show them off. I always wanted to play the actual game, but would never have anyone to play against. That is, until this came out. Now I had a bevy of computer opponents to face off with, and every win would grant me the dopamine rush of ripping open virtual card packs to further enhance my decks. Even if the card game its based on is a little unbalanced, it’s still one of my favorite games ever, and my favorite Game Boy title of all-time.

[blazehedgehog]

Thoughts on the recent Nintendo Direct?

Things that jumped out at me:

Splatoon 3 Side Order really feels like, to me, somebody at Nintendo really likes NieR. Keep in mind, I have never played a NieR; I've only seen someone play the Xbox 360 version of the first one. But I definitely have that vibe.

A lot of Nintendo's porting/remaking efforts are starting to feel very strange to me:

Luigi's Mansion 2 on Switch, but not 1. Technically they "just" released Luigi's Mansion 1 on 3DS in 2018, but not only was that five years ago, it was on the jaggedy low-resolution 3DS. If they think LM2 deserves to be seen in HD on a TV, why not LM1? "Starting" at 2 like this is weird.

Similarly, it's weird they're doing Mario vs. DK and not starting with DK94. Both are great games, but again, they're kind of starting with the sequel.

Doing both Thousand Year Door and Super Mario RPG at the same time is also weird, especially given they're skipping the original Paper Mario. I guess that game is available through the NSO app, but it's kind of a jumble they'd remake an SNES game, skip the N64 game, and then remake a Gamecube game. They could have also put Super Mario RPG on the NSO SNES app, too. Again: Weird.

Another Code never entered my orbit in any way shape or form, so I feel nothing about that remake.

Princess Peach Showtime looks sort of interesting but somebody said "it looks like Wario: Master of Disguise but for Peach" and that thought alone left such a bad taste in my mouth I am keeping my distance from it for now.

Have no connection to SaGa or Detective Pikachu, so those do nothing for me. Actually, I think I played the Detective Pikachu demo on 3DS and that was in one ear and out the other for me.

The Tomb Raider remasters look bad. I've been curious about those games for some time now, because I think I understand more of what they want out of me mechanically now, but those look like $10 Xbox Live Arcade remasters and I bet the trilogy will sell for $40-$50.

Can't decide if Wayforward's Contra remake looks terrible or passable. It looks early as heck, so maybe it'll get more polish, but Wayforward's output can have some pretty wild swings in quality, so that's a hard "wait and see" at best. At least it looks better than Rogue Corps.

People were going wild for Vanillaware's new game (Unicorn Overlord) but I am not a strategy game person and I have no experience with Vanillaware games in any capacity.

It's weird for an American Nintendo Direct to talk about a small museum opening in Tokyo. I've never flown anywhere before, but a quick glance puts a plane ticket to Tokyo at nearly $2000. It's nice they brought it up, I guess, but the amount of Americans who saw that Direct and will actually be there during the time the Museum is open will probably be very, very small.

Good to see they're still making Amiibo, though they definitely aren't celebrating them like they used to. There's a weird part of me that wants to get Sora. I probably won't.

I have played F-Zero 99 now and it's kind of crazy how polished and nice it feels. A lot of these previous 99 games have felt expectedly low budget, but F-Zero 99 has a multi-phase tutorial and vehicle customization and a map voting system. It looks and feels really, really nice. I'm impressed.

It's funny how quickly they threw 1-2 Everybody Switch under the bus and are now talking up the WarioWare remaster that is a lot of very similar concepts.

Everyone I've seen talk about Dave the Diver seems to refuse to say why it's so cool, "it just is" and they never say anything else about it. The Direct here was the most I've seen of it in motion beyond just the first few basic dives and it actually does look pretty neat.

[skeletalheartattack]

drud that’s a family video you can’t buy games from there

just watch me. i whip my wallet and pull out an original holographic charizard pokemon card. yeah buddy. one of these for one luigi's mansion please. and some pikmin 1 and 2 as sides. and a laarge soda.

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

Why do I always forget how AWFUL the camera in mario 64 is

Doesnt matter which version. The ds version sucked. The original sucked. And the switch one is just a remaster of the original. which I mean...so is the ds version. The ds version just had better graphics AND yoshi, Luigi, and Wario were in it. The switch is almost identical to the original but it has a "modern" camera which isn't inverted which is the same as the ds version.

I never actually played the original n64 one myself so I dont know how finicky the controls were on it but holy shit. Like. Both the ds version and the switch version have advantages and disadvantages.

The ds version was super annoying for turns. In the final boss battles you have to grab bowser and spin him around and throw him into some bombs around the arena. I imagine the final one will still be difficult on the switch HOWEVER. I think I may be able to beat it. I never was able to beat it on ds because trying to spin using a fucking dpad is the most annoying goddamn thing. I COULD do it. But keeping up enough momentum AND trying to adjust the janky ass camera to figure out where I needed to throw the bastard was way too fucking hard for 12 year old me. Spinning with a joystick is far easier.

BUT in the ds version you had the use of the a, b, x, and y buttons and they actually all did different things. I dont remember exactly which button did what for the most part but B was the run button. There is no run button on the switch version. You have 2 buttons for jump and 2 for crouch. How fast you go depends on how far forward you press the joystick. Unfortunately the joystick is sensitive as fuck and if you push it just slightly too far forward mario shoots forward like 10 steps instead of the 3 you were trying to do.

I just spent like an hour trying to beat the last level of lethal lava land cuz I would manage to get all the way to the top of the volcano where the star is

And theres 3 small platforms leading to a bigger one that the star is on

In the ds version it was fine

Just keep finger off B button and jump VERY CAREFULLY

But in the switch version I would jump and try to gently nudge the joycon just a teeny tiny bit to jump on to the tiny ass platform

And mario would fucking FLY over it and fall directly into lava

I finally got to a point where I could get him to land on a ledge farther back from where he fell so I wouldn't have to lose a life

And FINALLY managed to get my jumps just right

But holy shit

This game is why I was getting headaches at age 10

Fucking Mario 64 is what started it.

[miloscat]

[Review] Wario World (GCN)

Wario Land staggers into the 3rd dimension.

Treasure are known primarily for two things: shmups and their Mega Drive action platformer titles. The latter parlayed into Michief Makers on the N64, which spotlighted two of their main strengths as seen in the likes of Gunstar Heroes: boss fights, and grabbing and throwing mechanics. Their first 3D game, the odd Hippa Linda on PS2, definitely leaned into these aspects; I haven't played it but it doesn't seem to have reviewed particularly well. Wario World then fits squarely in that legacy, ostensibly a showcase of these same strengths but so awkwardly handled that they become weaknesses.

On the surface it has the hallmarks of a Wario Land game: Wario's a bruiser who can pick up and chuck enemies, tick. He's hunting for secret areas, coins, and treasures, tick. He can use enemies and objects to interact with his environment, tick. There's required backtracking and mechanics seemingly designed just to waste the player's time, double tick! In adapting to 3D, there's more of a beat-em-up focus now which would be fine if the combat was enjoyable.

Wario has a basic punch combo which doesn't get you very far. Most of the time you're expected to stun an enemy, then grab them. From here you can imprecisely throw them, laboriously spin them, or simply piledrive them. Enemies often respawn almost instantly so there's no good reason to do this unless the level design requires you using one of these actions to proceed, or the game outright traps you into a forced fight. Moving Wario around feels zippy and slippery but the fighting itself is slow and your options are so limited that it never really broke through the tedium barrier for me. There's also only a few types of enemies, and most of the time you'll be slogging through the same faces just reskinned for new levels.

Your main objective in a level is to get red crystals to be able to leave. These are only found inside trapdoors leading to either puzzle rooms or Super Monkey Ball-esque platforming challenges. The controls aren't ideal for precision in these tasks, not to mention the very clunky camera. Most of the time you're looking in at levels diorama-style, which works well enough, but rooms like this open it up... it's fine for these contained sections, but I was glad the rest of the game was more rigid. Anyway, when you get to the end you're able (or possibly required) to return to the start if you didn't find enough stuff, Yoshi's Story style, to explore alternate paths or hidden spots. Aside from the trapdoors, you'll be looking for switches to spawn chests, health upgrades (you only get the boost if you find all the pieces within a level!), and the hint-giving Spritelings.

And speaking of characters who make annoying noises, Charles Martinet is out in full force as Wario with oft-repeated quips and what may be the worst pause screen in the world. The joke of him screeching at you is funny for about two seconds, and then it makes this menu unusable as a pause screen for the entirety of the game. Slow clap for that one. The use of voice clips is good for conveying Wario's personality, which otherwise is a bit let down by the oddly lifeless polygon-shifting animations on his 3D model. But to be fair, he does scratch his bum sometimes, which is pretty funny.

Each and every level ends with a boss fight. Well, OK, there's actually only eight levels—even fewer than Wario Land 4—but they're pretty substantial. Substantial enough that replaying them to get more treasures felt like a bridge too far for me. Anyway, add another boss for each of the four worlds and the final fight, and you have 13 boss fights in all. Some of them have good concepts and fun designs but frequently I found them dragging, overstaying their welcome with repeated patterns. The final boss—an uncharismatic jewel with tentacles—is the worst offender, its boring, padded fight a shockingly weak way to close out proceedings.

Although there's only eight levels, each one has its own well-established setting, from forest ruin to creepy circus to sandy pyramid (this one had the best level design for exploring & backtracking). You can also play them in any order, which is interesting if kind of pointless. The worldbuilding is a bit half-arsed though, as all these environments were just magicked up out of Wario's basement by the evil gem. Actually collecting the collectibles could be more rewarding too; treasures unlock Warioware minigames only playable on a connected GBA, Spritelings are the only thing that determine your ending jpg, and coins are used solely for recovering health or continuing after a game over.

I was hoping Wario World would be a hidden gem of Treasure's hoard, but what I got was an unpolished stone. On paper they seem like a good fit for a new Wario adventure in 2003, but perhaps their inexperience with 3D led to this mediocre result. They don't seem to have made another game like it since, either. Wario World is certainly not all bad, but it really should have been a lot better than this.

[timbrrwolfe]

Currently having a minor existential crisis over the fact that I considered myself a gamer growing up while having had SO FEW GAMES for every console/handheld I had. Like, I knew I didn't have that many games. I had a handful of N64 games, a good amount of GBC and GBA games (I guess because my parents thought handhelds would make it more likely I'd go outside? Might've just been that they were cheaper, I have no idea). A decent number of GBA games I suppose. A few Wii games. etc. etc. The one that managed to short circuit my brain for a few minutes was DS.

I've been going through retro catalogs lately to see what I missed out on, what looks interesting, all that. I missed out on (S)NES entirely, and their era of games isn't particularly interesting to me in general. Some good and interesting games, but a lot of games that reviewers just dig into "this game was SO hard." GBC and GBA were systems I had...not a /lot/, but a fair amount of games for, and I was passingly familiar with a lot of the ones I didn't have.

DS though...there were a ton of games that I just fully missed out on. Which got me thinking about which games I /did/ have. I eventually landed on 7 that I could remember, only one of which I ever beat. Granted I think I was a little more into Gamecube and even started playing City of Heroes during the DS era. But it still blew my mind to realize how little familiarity I had with the DS library. Even the games I had heard of as good (some in retrospect) I never had. And the ones I did have? Not good. Pokemon Diamond, Wario: Master of Disguise, and whatever the DS Viewtiful Joe game was? All slow, or boring, or otherwise didn't hold my attention. Even now I have no desire to go back and give them another chance. Nintendogs was cute at first but that wore off fast.

Super Mario 64 DS I beat, and have fond memories of. YGO World Championship 2010 I sank time into since that was right around when I was being very casually competitive with YGO. And Pokemon White I probably would have beaten (and even had it be the first Pokemon game I did beat) had it not been stolen out of my DS somehow. I still need to take time to play through it in full honestly.

But I digress. For some reason it really threw me for a loop that even lists of "best DS games" I was getting pelted with titles that I had never even heard of, and do look like fun. Truly an era I missed out on. I think in my brain it's also tied to 3DS which I /know/ I missed out on gaming with friends during. I had a couple popular games, to be sure. Pokemon X, ORAS, Smash 3DS. But I had a few friends who were very into AC:New Leaf, or Tomodachi Life. Things like that, which I just fully missed out on. So I think that sort of missed opportunity nostalgia linked up with the realization that I missed out on a ton of DS games (especially since there were games those same friends talked about a ton. Conversations that I couldn't really take part in). That was an era of my life that I considered myself a gamer, but I had missed out on a /ton/ of borderline cultural touchstones. And I guess that's what's got me shaken about it.

[tu-es-gegg]

mario kart 8 deluxe headcannons (inclusive of Booster Course pass courses)

Chayanne

semi unserious player so he'd pick based on visuals but he'll look for the stats. He's like a pure speed build with nice balanced handling but poor acceleration. possibly he'd like the skull rider bike like for theming and cause yknow skull, he'd like to play dry bones (my main) he'd probably liek Bowser's Castle on 100cc, its honestly his aesthetic along with Twisted Manor, but because of his speed build

Dapper

serious player, probably would do 200cc, he picks Baby Luigi for the mini turbos, he gets made fun for this. grinds for all the kart choices until he gets the Teddy Buggy or the Wild Wiggler. he'll have a nice balanced acceleration, handling and traction. minmaxing king. he will however pick teh paraglider and nothing else despite better options. on 200cc, he'd like Tick-Tock Clock (not many shortcuts as far as i know but its real nice to practice the turns) and Ninja Hideaway (nice shortcuts and good challenge, he's the only one out of th egroup to know how to do the skip before the hallway

Leo

Pure aesthetic driver, she will refuse anyone but Rose Gold Peach in the Splat Kart with GLA tires and peach parasol. she refuses the Cat Cruiser because its not a dog. She loves to play anyhting princess related cause theyre very bonita. her layout is fairly ok kinda balanced but she's not taht much good. she likes to play on 100cc or less beacuse anythign above she has a bit of struggle. she loves to play peach gardens solely because its very cute and she always wins at it at least on 100cc

Ramon

semi serious player, not as much as Dapper but he try hards a bit on 200cc anyway (him and dapper play so much they both mastered doing brake drifting). he lets himself use subpar layouts when playing with the younger siblings on 50cc. he likes using the link main layout with teh Master Cycle Zero with the right wheels but he also likes to gush over the Mercedes GLA cars like god. theres also some spirutal connections with him and Kamek. He loves to play N64 Rainbow Road 200cc (imo one of the better rainbow roads on 200cc, i love the path for it) and Super Bell Subway on 150cc because he can do the shortcut path really well

Tallulah

aesthetic layout player, she likes to main Villager Girl in the Biddy Buggy with the Cushion Wheels and Flower glider. its not really her type of game but she plays it enough with Chayanne to be kinda ok at 150cc. She however gets stuck often in item hell when in the middle of the pack, its not really her fault its just that her layout its really built for how she plays (its not a great speed build, even if the accelration and mini turbo is good). mapwise she likes to play Animal Crossing obv, she really likes Autumn version because of the colours which is very based

Richas

serious player, he is a constant villain when playing because 1st is always a toss between him and Dapper meanwhile eveyrone else suffers. he has a nice handling and traction kit, he is one of the people who picks on Dapper for picking baby characters and picks Funky Kong despite litterally picking the optimal 200cc kit but ending uip with bad handling because of Funky (hes just stubborn)

its hard to pick because i feel like he'd both hate and love Baby Park. its like the violence fest of violence fests, he'd pick this course just to be the antagonist and also piss off everyone. this would be an unfortunate trait he would pick up from Bobby when they play together. a serious favoutie would be Wario's Goldmine, its more fogiving even if with bad handling, he just doesnt do the skips

Pomme

serious player, 200cc, optimal Teddy Buggy Azure Roller, she likes ot play with Baby Rosalina. she doesnt prioritise speed all that much but shes killer with her items, like she will hold onto the same shell since the start fo the race adn save them for the right time, shes that much stratetgic over items, hence why she's not really a speed demon so much as a killer. she also teases Dapper over the Baby Luigi thing just to mess with him before the race. She loves Yoshi's Island and Wii Rainbow Road, the turns and her pathing are excellent and hence are her home circuits

Sunny

the breakfast trio are babies to me, they arent great at anyhting above 50cc. Sunny is like Leo, she wont play anthing that isnt a princess but unlike Leo, she is a loud Daisy fan. (i am also a daisy fan fuck all of yall who hate daisy) She will pick the Cat Cruiser, Cyber Slick tires, Parasol. she religiously picks Daisy Circuit everytime, she will fight for Daisy Circuit if she has to.

Empanada

she LOVES to play the bikes, when she discovered the City Tripper bike she doesnt pick anyhting else. she also likes to play Toadette on the bike which is kinda funny. she's nto very good at the game since she maxes her speed with the bike but she doesnt do good at drfits whenits above 50. as for maps, she LOVES LVOES Sky-High Sundae. the bright colours and the kindaeasy pathing are perfect

Pepito

pepito doesnt know how to play, no one taught him how to drift...well they did, he jsut forgets. he is always last of the pack if its not for other people helping him. he picks the Baby Mario beacuse it reminds him of himself. the ONLY one he had like a chance to win is Mario Circuit and also Baby Park by virtue of it being Baby Park. Richas will let him win on Baby Park when there is the chance.

Chunsik

he is also a baby, he likes the Prancer kart. he has some kind of favour for Iggy Koopa and no one understands why. he is about same level as Pepito except he remembers to drift, he just gets stuck at the back a lot. that being said he is always lucky enought o get teh blue shell and thats his favoruite moment because everyone starts begging. he kinda really likes Music Park, its a good map and he likes to hear the music notes on the xylephone paths

BONUS:

Codeflippa

serious player, she takes no prisoners and has an innocent smile while doing so. she likes to play Waluigi because shes one of those internet people who love Waluigi. though honestly she might alsolike Shy Guy. If she pretends she's Juanaflippa, she'll play dumb and pick some subpar kart combo to play on Ribbon Road. If she plays liek herself, she'll play 200cc Big Blue or Waluigi Pinball enjoyably. also she might join forces in teh debate with Pomme between them and Dapper-Richas about whether or not its fun to play Cheese Land on 200cc (they both hate Cheese Land

...would anyone want me to list which mario kart 8 deluxe map qsmp eggs would like...