Why do people like Mario Kart?
from mesitoispro@ttrpg.network to games@lemmy.world on 13 Jun 00:53
https://ttrpg.network/post/20724843
from mesitoispro@ttrpg.network to games@lemmy.world on 13 Jun 00:53
https://ttrpg.network/post/20724843
It always seemed like a kiddie game that’s not meant to be taken seriously, but apparently a bunch of people in their 20s and 30s take it very seriously.
Why? Isn’t it pretty much random and unfair by design?
Do people really get hours of fun out of losing races due to catch-up mechanics?
threaded - newest
The only thing that comes to mind is that it’s a Nintendo game and most people with Nintendo consoles don’t have access to the variety of games that the rest of us do.
They’re kind of stuck with whatever Nintendo puts out, so I guess it makes sense they would value it more.
I remember when I first bought my Gamecube… I had to sign an agreement that I would never play a non-Nintendo property again. “How could they ever enforce this?” I thought. Little did I know that the next day, the Sony SWAT Team would be bursting into my house to extract my Playstation. It was absolutely terrifying.
I haven’t played a single non-Nintendo game since.
Dude. Mario Kart sells consoles, not the other way around. You’re delusional.
It’s fun because you never know what will happen. It’s not totally random, the more skilled players will tend to win more often than not, just not every time. Also there are other game modes than just racing. Back when me and my friends played on SNES and N64, it was almost always battle mode.
That’s fair.
I honestly forgot about all the fun I had at a friend’s house playing the battle mode. Thanks for the memories.
Yup. In a regular racing game, if one person knows how to play, they’re going to wreck everyone else, and that’s not fun. Mario Kart is more accessible, and the items, it adds an extra influence element to the game.
Why do people like video games?
It always seemed like a kiddie hobby that’s not meant to be taken seriously, but apparently a bunch of people in their 20s and 30s take it very seriously.
Ironically, the older you get, the better video games are for you, flexing your memory and hand-eye coordination.
I don’t understand why it’s difficult to see the appeal. To me it’s just like watching TV, but you can participate.
Edit: I was never big on racing games but boy I loved Excite Truck on Wii back in the day.
Oh, thank you, but I’m closing on fifty.
Mine was the first generation to grew up with home gaming systems.
It’s the only racing game I’ve ever been good at. 🤷🏻♂️
Have you ever played Mario kart racing on mushrooms? Holy balls good times and laughs.
I’ve been playing racing games ever since I was a kid but was never into Nintendo. I played everything from Crash Team Racing to Assetto Corsa and everything in between, but never own a Mario Kart game.
Just in the last year my roommate picked up a Wii U and I played through 8. It doesn’t necessarily do anything that other racing games haven’t individually done better and there’s nothing truly unique.
That being said, the one thing it does better than anyone else is precision and feedback. It is exceptionally tight and responsive compared to others like it. It’s also just incredibly well animated and visually consistent. The game still looks good a decade later, no issues.
I would akin a lot of what Nintendo does to Apple. Not necessarily the first, or the most powerful, but almost always the most polished.
Whacky Wheels forever! Fuck Nintendo!
Rock and Roll racing on the Genesis.
I regularly get blue shelled and I still smoke people. There’s still lots of strategy in the game and randomization is something that keeps games fresh. At the end of the day it’s an arcade racer, not everything has to be Gran Turismo
Are you really unable to understand why other people enjoy things? Is this a serious question?
I can understand why, but I wanted to hear their reasons for it.
I guess you’re just upset because someone was critical of something you like. It’s okay, I see it all the time.
If you must know, I'm actually not a Mario Kart fan, played the older ones but haven't touched the series since DS. More of a Kirby Air Ride and F-Zero GX kinda guy. But I can still understand the appeal well enough to not post this kind of thinly veiled "I'm mad that other people like something I don't" thread.
Now you’re projecting.
I’m just going to ignore you.
Projection is when you said "I guess you're just upset because someone was critical of something you like."
I think people are very much taking this less as an “I’m curious, why do people find this fun? I want to understand” post, and more of a condescending “I think it’s not fun because I have taste and am presuming people who think it is fun do not until proven otherwise, now prove me otherwise” post. Some people, including me until I saw these comments, were seeing your post body that tells us why you don’t like the game less as sharing your own perspective and wanting someone to show you a bright side, and more as trying to denigrate people who see it as fun. I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I think you can reread your post body and see how people might interpret a far less curious, far more judgmental tone from it.
To actually answer your question: I played Mario Kart Wii mostly as kid against the computer and other people, and a few times as an adult against other people. I like to think I was good at the game, that skill mattered and it wasn’t random and unfair. I won almost every time both against the computer, and against other humans. So I just didn’t perceive the game as “mostly random and unfair.” (Although now that I think of it, when I had the option I’d usually switch all items to Strategic against the computer, eliminating a lot of the catch-up items, so perhaps I did perceive it initially and just removed it from my experience to the point I don’t remember it? Although when I played against other humans it was usually on their console at their place with their settings, which probably didn’t have it set to Strategic.) The catch-up mechanics could sink me if I made a mistake, but if I drove well the whole course I almost always came out in front. Perhaps you’re thinking of later editions that I never played and have no opinion of, or the computer plays badly and the people I played against were bad at the game?
You make it sound like people make a pros and cons list before deciding whether to like something or not. We don’t choose what to like. People clearly have fun playing Mario Kart, that’s it.
I’m going to block you now. Real sick of people who can’t take criticism of the things they like.
What? 🤣 Last time I played a Nintendo game was probably in 1995 on a Chinese clone of NES (or SNES, no idea).
I don’t like Mario kart… but I’m guessing other people think it’s… You know… fun. Lol
I’m 40, and I enjoy doing my taxes, choosing colors of paint, and reading the business section of the newspaper. I don’t listen to music or watch television or play video games.
More power to you.
TV and games sure, but embrace music - (try to) learn to play an instrument, and you will appreciate listening so much more!
I’m surprised people just scraped the sarcastic frosting off this cake and just ate it like a sad little honesty cake, bereft of anything good.
I have a bluetooth headset embedded to my skull and I listen to music basically constantly, my Steam Deck goes where I go, and unfortunately, I steal my television on the internets cause I can’t stand advertisements. (And, uhh… playing an instrument is out of the question for me, cause I’ve survived a couple of strokes and manual dexterity and a sense of rhythm are things best left for other people.)
Most of the time I’m writing or taking pictures though. I’ve got a portfolio that I’m building that spans twenty years!
But I should clarify: I am nowhere near anything like what I’ve presented above.
I am almost 40 though.
Heh. Tax returns and music should have been the giveaways, although I know someone who takes great satisfaction in taking every tax deduction they legally can, down to the last cent. :-P
I feel a little judged now…
4,000 weeks is what you get. Spend ‘em doing what you love. If you don’t love it, pick something different.
It’s just a fun party game.
In a way it’s more fair by design. In a completely fair game the most skilled player will always win. In a game like Mario Kart everyone has a chance to win.
As a kid my family wouldn’t play most games with me because I won every time. If we couldn’t do co-op mode we didnt play, and they’d still get grumbly on co-op because I’d be doing the heavy lifting and showing them up. They’d play Mario Kart and Mario Party with me though.
As an e-sport or “compare your online rank to mine and weep” dick-measurer it sucks. As a video game its very good.
skill issue tbh
When the Nintendo kids were playing that, i was hitting Sega Rally, Geoff Crammond’s Formula One Grand Prix, and Destruction Derby.
Let’s just say Mario Cart was not for me.
Are you still into the F1 at all? 👀
No, I only enjoyed the sims at the time.
I’m older, and life has gotten busy.
My friend’s son is into it in a big way. I’ve used his full sit down simulator. It’s impressive.
Stunt Car Racer. Now that was impressive back in the day, also.
Yes, they enjoy and will happily play me at Mario Kart for exactly the same reasons they won't play me at F-Zero.
Presence of catch up mechanics role of luck, amount it rewards familiarity with the game/tracks
Mario Cart was never great, It was OK.
It was the game you put on in pre-internet years for your younger relatives, so they don’t have to just sit and fester all day while listening a story about your aunts hip surgery.
It was something anyone could pick up in a second and still be a challenge for anyone.
For most of them this was the only time they were able to play games with a larger group without their mothers bitching about game time. Many kids didn’t even have gaming systems, because they were expensive and many parents thought they were a bad addictive influence, so for them this was an absolute delight.
So, fun memories about the game, even though the game itself isn’t much.
Somehow those cultural influences still echo in the modern world. Dads with all that nostalgia convince their kids that Mario Kart is absolute classic.
If we're sharing honest opinions minus filter here: if you worded your question differently, more people would answer, and they would be less defensive and have more interesting answers. You've limited the people who will reply.
Condescensing and annoying people like myself will still have a lot to say, but people with fun stories and heartwarming anecdotes will not want to put themselves out there for what seems like will be a snarky put-down as a response.
Specifically, the "kiddie game" opening was fine, but the way you worded the followup came across less like you were confused and more like you wanted to have a group shit-on of adults who play mario kart. Being a little more vague would've been your friend here. "but it looks like i was wrong" might've convinced people who don't want to be shit on to give an answer.
The part about it being unfair by design was fine, but the last paragraph again comes across as "anyone want to hang here and make fun of the losers who like this obvious bullshit?"
anyway, i don't play party video games generally but my impression is they want to appeal to different skill levels, abilities, and ages, so they often have additions that level the playing field so it's not just Gamer Frieda winning while everyone else gets bored and gets out the playing cards (which can also have a random quality that means sometimes the newbie will win or at least not be bored and frustrated).
These catch up elements add extra elements for dedicated players to account for, which is more memorization and reflex training, which is a kind of fun for the type of people who play outside parties.
If you’re not having fun with Mario Kart you should play Drinking Mario Kart. Everyone gets a beverage of their choice. By the end of the race it has to be empty. But because we are all responsible adults we don’t drink and drive. In order to take a sip (or down the whole thing) you have to drive off the track (or to the side, whatever is possible) and come to a complete halt.
Loser drinks one more because they are a loser. And the winner drinks one more to celebrate.
We called that game “Don’t Drink and Drive” back in college. I always just chugged mine at the beginning of the race
Can’t finish the race with a full beer, better to chug first then shell everyone else on your way to victory.
Considering you get better items when you’re behind, it’s a no brainer
Are you talking about Mario Kart World or Mario Kart as a franchise?
The franchise.
Ohhh well because it’s casual fun I suppose. Why is Mario party fun? Sure it’s RNG bullshit but the fun part is playing with friends.
Mario Kart World is not a 9/10 game. It’s a 7 at best compared to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
I’m waiting for Sonic CrossWorlds to see what a Game it brings. The creative director was passively trash talking Mario Kart so let’s see if it can back up the talk
I do not understand how world is as highly rated as it is. The levels are awful, too big and lacking anything to make them stand out, moving between tracks is dull and just leads to extra win-moring, auto attaching to rails fucks up more often than not causing you to over compensate or just jump off of it by accident, it feels like they game just overrides your input sometimes even without auto steering, 24 players adds nothing but chaos if you aren’t leading the pack and is likely the reason levels are way too wide and featureless, and I miss custom horns per character.
World is a 7 at best and 8 is like a 9.
Edit; oh yeah free roam is worthless. The list of events in DS was better without contributing to fucking up the level design to fit the gimmick
Children can consistently win in Mario Kart. Adults shouldn’t have trouble seeing how the RNG works and acting accordingly.
Not sure if you’re trolling or what, but I still play MK Wii regularly with friends on local co op. Used to play it on the console, I now emulate it on a steam deck. There’s nothing that matches the quality and charm of the game on any platform and I say this as a regular opponent of Nintendo. I don’t find it unfair as it strikes a good balance between skill and luck. Everyone I’ve played with, gamers or not, pretty much agree.
If it’s random and unfair, why do I consistently win more than others I play with?
Many good games have some luck, some skill, and some strategy. Mario Kart has all of these. Strategy in how and when to use your items, skill to drive/drift/etc, and luck in which items you get. It strikes a really good balance of this, which results in me, someone who’s an above average player, winning most of the time, but keeping it fun for those who aren’t as skilled, like my parents, where sometimes they can get one over me due to some luck, strategy, or a mistake on my part.
Finally, let people live their lives, and maybe git gud. It kinda sounds like you just suck, and are salty about it.
God forbid anyone be critical of a thing you like, lol.
Why do so many of you throw tantrums over this? Grow up. It’s just a game.
I’m also going to ignore you now. Bye.
Sweet sweet irony.
I think they probably like playing it.