If there’s actually one game in the entire Nintendo catalog that best represents the family aspect of the Japanese company, it’s neither more nor less than Mario Kart. A phenomenally successful video game franchise, the madcap races of Mario and his gang weren’t always one model of positivity. In the past, some games have not always been friendly to defeat, to the point of traumatizing some children.
Summary
- Eight years later, Mario Kart 8 is still going strong
- Encourage Mario and his crew…instead of belittling them
- Players will never forget these Mario Kart endings!
- Mario Kart 64 and the defeat of Toad, a very disturbing experience
Eight years later, Mario Kart 8 is still going strong
In thirty years, the Mario Kart license has been democratized at a rate as bewildering as the vehicles used by the mustachioed plumber and his entire gang. The Mario Kart games are snapping up opus after opus and the mascot in the blue overalls can visibly say thank you Nintendo switch. Rescued from limbo from the Wii U catalogue, Mario Kart 8adorned with the mention “Deluxe” on the hybrid console, has become a planetary carton. And again, the term “planetary box” just sounds like an understatement.. Whole pallets are sold every year. We’re not talking about the small model, but about an extra large format in which you can store millions. In FY22-23 alone, between April and December inclusive, 6.66 million passed
This incessant “boom” doesn’t run out, and there are always seasons when this outrageous success is more than palpable. For example during the celebrations at the end of the year. eight years later Mario Kart 8 deluxe always remains a safe bet under the tree. It has to be said that Nintendo is beyond cunning when it comes to one of its biggest golden eggs
Encourage Mario and his crew…instead of belittling them
One of the strengths of Mario Kart is the supply a family experience where everyone can assert themselves at any time. Those who’ve played it know: Nintendo’s title can be so gruesome that it can make you clench your teeth and clench your fist to maintain an appropriate stance (online or in front of your loved ones) and not back down stop anger. But the most important thing is to participate, as dear Pierre de Coubertin said. Nintendo and Mario Kart are increasingly embracing this philosophy and encouraging perseverance.
When the final table and summary make a cut Mario Kart 8 and you are not lucky enough to be on the podium, you always have Lakitu applauding you, congratulating you and giving you a heartwarming ” Nice try ! / Damage ! “. It’s not much, but you’re back on track to squeal those tires and take pole position. However, the more we go back in time, the more we feel that Nintendo took malicious pleasure in putting the knife in the wound.
Mario Kart 7the previous opus released on 3DS, was already using Lakitu, but the posture wasn’t the same at the time. With a certain grin, he waved off any player who hadn’t made the top three while acknowledging them with a ” That’s a shame “. Indeed, for support we will be back! As I’m sure you understood, Nintendo and Mario Kart didn’t really know which foot to dance on when beating the many players who saw the podium escape . With the Mario Kart Wii episode, it’s a bittersweet impression that we experience at the end of a competition that leaves us empty-handed.
Surely the developers have a kind word by telling us ” You’ll have better luck next time ‘, but when we see our character standing still and looking around the track with the engine running, we feel like we’re taking away from him the tarmac and more importantly the fun he has with his friends. Truth be told, it’s not the worst: in the mid-2000s, we were one step away from humiliation…hilariously met a few years earlier.
Players will never forget these Mario Kart endings!
Let’s quickly go through the episodes Mario Kart DS etc Mario Kart Double Dash!!, released for Nintendo DS and Nintendo Gamecube in 2005 and 2003 respectively. No matter how much we sweat blood and water hoping to proudly brag about one of the medal spots, Nintendo showed itself to be the hurting type by trying to hit us with the help of a ” Now try to win a trophy! » as if we hadn’t had this goal in mind from the start. Yes, Mario Kart may have seemed awkward to the player in its story, even belittled in its early episodes ! Especially with Super Mario Karton SNES and Mario Kart Super Circuitabout GBA.
If he were an entertainment model on the Super Nintendo, Super Mario Kart is not a consolation model. But on the contrary! If you were unlucky enough not to finish first, second or even third place, Nintendo knew how to remind you that you weren’t good enough. For those who remember, the final award ceremony consisted of putting the winners on the podium, while your character, who hadn’t left his kart, stood as if in the pillory on the side of the road, back to the stage and only a few centimeters from the big one Winner. Eventually, unlike Mario Kart Super Circuit, you were taunted and told to try again, but your poor performance wasn’t erased.
In fact, on the “Advance” version of Nintendo’s portable console, we didn’t lace and You realized you weren’t up to it and that you had just been pulled over… Until it literally happened. In the GBA episode, the final awards ceremony is a real celebration: the three medalists sit in their kart and follow the track to join the party, to which cheers from the crowd echo. Once in place, face them until an ominous shadow hovers over you. The danger in question? Simply the podium that flattens your character and his kart so that you properly integrate that your opponents are above you. You’ve been down for the game to hit you back where it hurts : For many, the pill is still difficult to swallow, but that’s nothing compared to the trauma Mariokart64 and its famous episode!
Mario Kart 64 and the defeat of Toad, a very disturbing experience
« This shit traumatized me as a kid », « I was freaked out by the music change », « It would have totally destroyed me from the inside if I had seen it younger », « I remember being terrified of this ending when I was 7 years old », … We can read that on the web, for example. And no, This isn’t a comment on another horror game, but rather a comment on Mario Kart 64’s weird ending scene if you end up in fourth or fifth place in the final ranking, for example.
As the three victors steer past you toward the castle gates, your character watches the scene from afar before retreating. As he disappears behind a hill he is pursued by a huge yellow bomb that eventually hits you and explodes. Send your character waltz that will trigger a scream, a pain sound that will mark more than one.
The one with the coldest back affects Toad because, unlike Mario and his hilarious onomatopoeia, his scream is oddly close to that of a human, and especially a child, in full agony. Add to this the sound environment, the fluctuations and changes of which make the whole thing very strange and we get a very somber cocktail that leaves indelible marks in the minds of the players.. At that time, therefore, it was better to avoid that situation in which you very much regretted not being comfortably installed on the podium.
Furthermore, it is interesting to point out that this passage certainly inspired the scenario of a scary pasta (i.e. a truly disturbing spooky fantasy tale circulating in various forms across the internet) in which two brothers get their hands on a haunted N64 game cartridge in which the characters experience hideous situations. In the written transcript baptized ” Driven Mario 64 “, we find there sort of a nod to that sequence, in which Toad finds himself not far from the entrance to Peach’s castle, seemingly watching three of his competitors before turning back to the screen and showing a bloodied and unrecognizable face.
The changing endings of Mario Kart are part of the evidence of how Nintendo’s image has changed over the years. The small craftsman of the video game is no more, it is now an indispensable company in the sector that values its family image and tends to convey positive messages through its productions. May the young players rest easy Mario Kart 9 should go on like this and you won’t have to experience what some had to endure in the first versions.
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