Thursday, June 5, 2014

"Like Dark Souls with karts" -Machinima

Or so I'd like to say, but Mirror Mode was a lot nicer to me than 150cc for some reason. Oh, of course I had the mandatory loss induced by a blue shell two feet from the finish line (no joke, no exaggeration, there was less than a bike's length between it and me), but overall I think I'm getting better at this. So far I've three-starred the Mushroom, Shell, Banana and Leaf Cups on both 150cc and Mirror, but no dice at any of the other ones. I also have zero stars in the Flower and Lightning Cups in 150cc, and the Star and Lightning Cups in Mirror Mode. (Seeing a pattern yet? Fuck Piranha Plant Slide. And yes, I'm aware I sound like I have an ever-changing nemesis of the day like in a lot of fiction.) So I know what I have to do to unlock the Gold Standard, which is my next objective.

Anyway, I was slightly disappointed by Toad's Turnpike in Mirror Mode. What do I mean by that? Well, in MK64 it was one of the greatest challenges in the entire series, possibly matching some of the original's Special Cup tracks. The reason for that is that you had to go AGAINST traffic instead of in the same direction, and we're talking pretty dense traffic here. One mistake would send you to the back, and you'd make several in a frenzied attempt to catch up. Here? You go in the same direction as the traffic, and even if you didn't the anti-gravity parts would allow you to bypass lots of vehicles anyway. Donut Plains 3 also lost its teeth - it was one of the tracks I had in mind when I mentioned SMK's Special Cup. Just finishing in the points was such a pain, but now its position in the Banana Cup is justified.

Something I wanted to say for a while, but always forgot about: Cloudtop Cruise's music features parts of Sky Station and Gusty Garden, the latter of which was also in SM3DW. MARIO GALAXY 3 CONFIRMED!!! No, really, I'd need a change of pants if it ever came true, the two existing games are the best Mario games I've ever played, and some of the best games I've ever played period.

Question: is it worth it to go in the underwater section near the end of Sherbet Land, or should I stay up top? If it helps, I'm using the Roller tires, which get me up to 5.25 water speed, as opposed to 4.25 land speed (and I wouldn't be surprised if traction did something to my cornering on ice like it did in MKW).

Unfortunately, I won't be able to play this much this weekend, as I'll be away from home, but hey, there's no rush, right?

9 comments:

  1. Sucks to hear that about Toad's Turnpike being nerfed. Does anyone remember if Mushroom Bridge and City from DD flipped the traffic? Or was Toad's Turnpike the only track to ever do that?

    Also, I think its funny Dark Souls has become known as "hardest gaem evar" Don't get me wrong its a tough game but its not even the hardest in its own series, and I can think of plenty of AAA games that are harder.

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    1. Some of the other city tracks had one way that went the same way as you, and the other that went in reverse. But never both at the same time, aside from the original Toad's Turnpike in Mirror Mode, and more importantly, never as dense.

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  2. Piranha Plant Slide is a bit easier if you're not trying to stay in the speed-increasing water the entire time. Cutting the corner in the tunnel where the Goombas appear is helpful, as is taking the boosts onto the floating platforms and trying to stay on the upper path. I find that my biggest problem with the course is getting and keeping coins, but those floating platforms have a bunch. Lastly, there's a really nice shortcut right at the end if you have a mushroom. You can cut through a fake bush on the wall right before the finish line.

    As for Sherbet Land, I always stay on the top path if I can help it, but I have no conclusive evidence that it's the better way to go. I try to avoid water wherever I can because I feel my set-up doesn't do well underwater.

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  3. So I'm not the only one having trouble with this track... Feeling a little bit better now. Also, until you reminded me, I didn't even remember this particular trait of Toad's Turnpike in the original game, Now I suddenly have really bad flashbacks... Trying to win that one as a kid was a complete nightmare.
    And I also have an easier time with Mirror Mode than 150cc, so... either we got used to the brutal AI or Nintendo just copped out from trying to make players rage-quit the game.

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    1. My money's on the former. As the options in VS mode suggest, there are three AI difficulties, which correspond to what 50, 100 and 150cc are in GP mode. And Mirror Mode does NOT have the same difficulty as 100 cc, I can tell you that much.

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  4. The water is faster on sherbet land at the end, and obviously slower at the start

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  5. I had the most rage inducing thing happen to me today. Was about to 3 star the mushroom cup and on the last track, on the last lap, near the finish got blue shelled. But that isn't the worst part. I tried again, and on the second course I was on the last lap, close to the finish, and had a horn. I got lightning bolted then was blue shelled soon after. THERE IS NO WAY TO WIN IF THE GAME DOESN'T WANT YOU TOO!

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    1. At least you're going through your bad luck streak on the Mushroom Cup, that kind of thing is a lot more frustrating when you're leading on a tough track.

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