It took nearly a year, but Nintendo finally stopped sitting on their hands and made SNES games available for Switch Online subscribers. As somebody who deeply enjoys these classics, I couldn't be more thrilled, and I'm gonna be spending the next few weeks going through all of that. On that note, I must address how I'm going to be covering SNES Online on this blog. Since SNES games are generally more robust than most NES titles (barring NES games like Zelda and Mario, which take a while to beat), and with the monthly release schedule for these services being scrapped, I can no longer do what I did for the NES Online blog series where I just briefly talk about multiple games in one blog entry. Thus, I have decided to talk about every title individually, like any of my regular game "review" posts. I have also created a new blog category specifically for SNES Online, so if you want to tune in to this blog series specifically, take note of the new link on the sidebar. Anyway, enough expository horseshit. Let's talk about the first game. BACKGROUND:
Mario Kart is a legendary series with many titles under its belt, and it all started here, with Super Mario Kart. I've put in a lot of hours for a lot of the later entries (particularly Mario Kart DS, Wii, 7, and 8), but I've actually only played the original briefly via emulation. Now that I can play it legally, I have the opportunity to really sink my teeth into it. SUMMARY: If you're old enough to read and have access to a device that can display this blog to you, chances are that I don't really need to explain the concept of Mario Kart to you. In the off chance you don't, it's racing with Mario characters, and you can pick up items like shells and banana peels that you can use to fuck up other racers. Even if you haven't played any Mario Kart game specifically, this formula has been repeated by other developers in all sorts of titles that I'm sure most people who are aware of video games understand how it works. Being used to the more recent Mario Kart titles, Super Mario Kart's considerably more slippery controls took a bit of getting used to. Aiming items like green shells was challenging, and drifting isn't as easy as it is in later games. I did get the hang of it after a few races, and while the CPUs are pretty tough to beat, I started to get 1st place pretty consistently. Of course, the SNES Online emulator has a rewind feature, and if you wish to cheese the game that way, I won't judge you. Unlike later games, Super Mario Kart's track selection is limited, with only five tracks per grand prix (of which there are four). Some of these tracks only change in layout but not in aesthetic, but it's honestly enough for this game. A lot of them are classics, and the music is topnotch, so I see no sense complaining about the variety. In the same vein, the item selection in Super Mario Kart is as basic as it gets. You've got mushrooms, green and red shells, coins, bananas, the star, and the lightning bolt. It doesn't get any more classic than that. There's also the feather (from Super Mario World) that makes your kart jump high, and I didn't remember that power-up at all. The roster is understandably small as well, with only the most essential characters playable.... plus Donkey Kong Jr. and Koopa Troopa. Kart customization wasn't a thing back then, so what you see is what you get. I'm still quite impressed how well this game looks. I remember the first time I saw this game long ago being blown away that this sprite-based game runs and feels like a bona fide 3D game, and that sense of awe was still present when I revisited it here. It also helps that I fucking love 16-bit era graphics. VERDICT: Despite having substantially less content compared to the newest Mario Karts, the original Super Mario Kart aged remarkably well presentation-wise and is still as fun to play. If you've never played a kart racer before, what better place to start than the game that essentially pioneered the genre. And if you've played a Mario Kart game before, revisiting where it all began is still an enjoyable experience. - end -
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July 2024
Derryck
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