Mario Kart Wii and Beyond...
Monday, May 5, 2008 at 10:53PM It has been a good week since Mario Kart Wii was released, and the game has won me over. Though some of the design choices do disappoint me, especially considering that they have taken a few steps back in the area of form fits function, the game is still Mario Kart in the same way that Brawl is still Smash Brothers. And that is a very good thing.
The graphics either grew on me, or I've learned to ignore how bad they are. Some levels look great while others feature geometry that is pathetically jagged. I know the Wii can handle more. My theory is, they were planning on releasing Mario Kart for WiiWare before they invented the Wii Wheel and decided to package it in all together. On the positive side, I've almost completely gotten used to the Wii Wheel controls. The degree of analog control is very high. For those of us who find the D-pad insufficient, and have problems playing on a tiny analog stick, then the Wii Wheel should be the perfect solution. Turning by a hair in the game only takes a hair turn on the wheel making kart control very intuitive.
It seems that the Wii Wheel has another interesting ability. Until now, the difference in controls on the wheel versus a standard controller were a matter of input accuracy and speed. Beyond inputs, the Wii Wheel can be shaken to prevent one's kart from spinning out of control from a POW block. Standard controllers simply can't. This design choice sets up a precedent that I think is very bold. As Nintendo continues to release games like Mario Kart that are on the fence between using the control schemes of this and last gen, it is interesting that they gave the new Wii next gen motion controls an advantage over the standard controller. Masahiro Sakurai tried to make all the control schemes equal in Super Smash Brothers Brawl by giving players the options of swapping button functions for each of the four controller types. Early in Brawl's development, Sakurai decided not to try and implement any motion controls or Wii specific gameplay elements into the game. I hope he is the last developers that opts out of accepting the challenge that Wii developing offers. And I hope more developers will support the Wii's unique controlling options like Mario Kart has.
Fortunately Mario Kart Wii has an option for adjusting the power of items in versus play juts like in Mario Kart Double Dash. Playing in this mode does offer a calmer more focused racing experience that more skillful players thrive in. I believe in a level of design that doesn't have to cut elements out to appeal to casual and competitive players. It's completely possible for Mario Kart to feature a single setting for items that's balanced for all types of play. Maybe next time.
In general, more players is more chaos, not fun. Reggie was wrong. The max player count is just one of the elements I would adjust for the next Mario Kart game. If I were developing the next Mario Kart I'd...
- Bring back coins. Coins encourage multiple paths of racing, and can also be used to balance other elements in the game.
- Reduce the HUD and make the game focus on clean visuals. Being able to see opponents items in their hands like in Double Dash was a great idea that can be taken farther. I want players to be able to look down the track or at other racers, and have all the information they need to play well.
- Make item boxes consumable, so that they're used up as a race progresses.
- Add enemies in the environment that can be interacted with to obtain items. Goombas will give the player a mushroom. Koopas will yield shells. ETC.
- Balance the items, karts, and racers.
- Balance the levels for competitive play. Mario Kart can be as fun and accessible for a casual player while still supporting a design that is tunned for the competitive player. I don't believe that there is such a thing as "casual game design."
- Like Mario Galaxy, Mario Bros. 3, or Super Mario World, I would design the tracks as part of a theme and group them together. Like the platforming games, racers will learn the special mechanics of each theme. Each level will be designed around a unique gimmick or idea that supports the game's primary function: racing.
- The tracks will also be designed as tracks in the Mario universe, as opposed to crazy roller coaster amusement park rides through Mario themed areas that are clearly artificial and have no function. Some of the stages in the latest Mario Kart games have strayed away from race track designs.
- The tracks will also be designed in full 3D. This means that areas that appear to overlap do, and the game won't put up invisible walls to stop the player from inventing their own short cuts. Mario Kart 64, the first 3D Mario Kart, features many shortcuts that are the result of the emergent gameplay and utilizing 3D space.
- Fix battle mode.
And with that, Mario Kart week draws to a close. I've played every game in the series, and I'm still a fan. Even with it's flaws, Mario Kart Wii makes me scream, laugh, and dance around like no other game series can. Though I'm done writing about Mario Kart, I'll still be playing it. It's about time to write about a few other games. I've been neglecting GTA4, Echochrome, and others that must be addressed. I better get to them soon, because once Wii Fit drops, the Critical-Gaming blog will receive an overhaul.
Reader Comments (5)
Make item boxes consumable, so that they're used up as a race progresses.
Don't think I'd like that, just because of how irritating it'd be when you're playing against the AI. You'd use up all the items by the end of the first lap.
Add enemies in the environment that can be interacted with to obtain items. Goombas will give the player a mushroom. Koopas will yield shells. ETC.
You can already do this. Try shooting an item at a Goomba some time.
Balance the items, karts, and racers.
And the Blue Shell?
The tracks will also be designed as tracks in the Mario universe, as opposed to crazy roller coaster amusement park rides through Mario themed areas that are clearly artificial and have no function.
Not sure what you mean here, but I personally want to see more levels like Airship Fortress and Luigi's Mansion, aka ones that could plausibly be in the Mario universe. There's no logic to having a random shopping mall with Miis or such like just to race through, and it's always been depressing how much Mario spinoffs now seemingly have so little to do with Mario. Heck, would it really kill them to realise that more than the platformers exist, and that they could easily co opt some locales from Paper Mario/Mario and Luigi/Donkey Kong Country/Wario Land/WarioWare/etc as well?
The tracks will also be designed in full 3D. This means that areas that appear to overlap do, and the game won't put up invisible walls to stop the player from inventing their own short cuts. Mario Kart 64, the first 3D Mario Kart, features many shortcuts that are the result of the emergent gameplay and utilizing 3D space.
Oh how much I agree with this. In fact, this is the one thing at makes me absolutely detest much of Mario Kart Double Dash, the courses are basically tunnels lined with invisible walls and auto 'kill' barriers. You can even see this if you used an Action Replay, the walls seemingly go up for at least 40-50 feet above ground level. Compared to Mario Kart 64 and Super Circuit, that was disappointing. Mario Kart DS and Wii have improved a bit, but they still need to remove the instant kill 'out of bounds' stuff and checkpoints.
@ CM30
"Don't think I'd like that, just because of how irritating it'd be when you're playing against the AI. You'd use up all the items by the end of the first lap.."
Of course the game would have to be tweaked to work with this design. However, I think in the original Kart, the consumable item boxes could only be grabbed by human players.
"And the Blue Shell?"
The Blue Shell is an item.
"Not sure what you mean here, but I personally want to see...."
Sounds like you get exactly what I meant. Cool.
Good comments as usual.
The Blue Shell is an item.
That is is, but I meant it's probably the least balanced and arguably worst designed item in the game in its current form, so I was wondering what you'd do to fix it? Remove it? Remove the wings like in the older games (they're doing this for Mario Kart 7 I hear).
Because currently, it's designed to just annoy the winner and not particularly help the loser who gets it. It doesn't take out anyone near the person with the item. It doesn't help you get better at the game or reach the front of the pack. It's literally like entering a race and just firing a rocket launcher at the person in the lead despite yourself being right at the back. Or like deciding 'I'm screwed, might as well take down someone else with me'.
@ CM30
I didn't play much Kart Wii, but for Kart DS the blue shell was rough, but not that bad overall.
In a 1v1, you'll almost never see a blue shell. In a 3-4-for-all they come up more frequently, but if your'e playing with more equally skilled players, everyone should be pretty close to each other further minimizing blue shell appearances.
It's a bit too hard to avoid a blue shell with just racing, but it can be done. Also, I strategically plan on holding stars or ghosts to deal with blue shells. It's always up to the 1st place racer to play in such a way as to drag other karts into it's destruction explosion.
The changes for Kart 7 sound like good changes. I'd like to be able to deflect it or out race it a bit. Perhaps, the more people the shell knocks into on its way to 1st place teh slower it gets (or the less stun time it delivers). Ultimately, they should just make it fun and powerful, then give competitive gamers the option to turn it off (or play with a different pool of items).
Interesting to read this after Mario Kart 8