The Wii is Here.

[Squeek]

Re: The Wii is Here.

I personally used that deal on Amazon when I bought Katamari Damacy 1 and 2, along with Super Paper Mario. Turned a $95 purchase into a $65 purchase.

It's not a bad idea if you shop amazon often, either.

But for Brawl, I got it on Family Video when it was $44. I used a coupon to get $3 off (used the $5 coupon on Guitar Hero 3) and shipping is always a dollar on that site, so I'm paying $42 for it. Sweet deal.

[Squeek]

Re: The Wii is Here.

http://kotaku.com/368463/no-snaking-for-mario-kart-wii

Snaking officially not in Mario Kart Wii.

[Afrobean]

Re: The Wii is Here.

http://kotaku.com/368463/no-snaking-for-mario-kart-wii

Snaking officially not in Mario Kart Wii.

Can you explain perhaps what this "snaking" is?

EDIT: Wow. Read some comments on that page. And one... Why is it that people think that things that make absolutely no sense are a good thing for the game if they require a special skill? How about while racing, everyone needs to constantly answer trivia questions to get speed boosts. That requires skill. Oh, make them sing karaoke to get speed boosts. That makes perfect sense... I always go faster when I sing loudly. And while we're at it, let's make it so when you swerve around, you get a speed boost. I love doing that on the freeway! I mean, it's not like the wheels being turned causes any kind of speed resistance... I do my turns at 30~40 miles per hour without slowing down at all; I don't understand why everyone else brakes down to ~10~15 while turns when they clearly should be swerving through their turns to go faster.

And while we're at it, let's all do small jumps, then slide across the ground. I always do that, especially when the ground is made of a material which would be impossible to slide on considering the physics applied by a world of Reason.

[MalReynolds]

Re: The Wii is Here.

Also, aren't you a video game character that launches shells out of the front of your car and can catch magical stars to speed up?

Oh, right. You're not. It's something that makes sense in the game world, where real logic isn't really meant to be applied. Especially when it comes to cart racing. It's not a cart racing sim. It's not a vehicular combat sim, or a singing sim. It's just arcade racing. When you drive over zip patches in the ground, do you speed up in real life? Probably not, because they don't exist, yet you don't seem to have a problem with them being in the game.

[Afrobean]

Re: The Wii is Here.

Also, aren't you a video game character that launches shells out of the front of your car and can catch magical stars to speed up?

Oh, right. You're not. It's something that makes sense in the game world, where real logic isn't really meant to be applied. Especially when it comes to cart racing. It's not a cart racing sim. It's not a vehicular combat sim, or a singing sim. It's just arcade racing. When you drive over zip patches in the ground, do you speed up in real life? Probably not, because they don't exist, yet you don't seem to have a problem with them being in the game.

Fantasy logic does not apply here. Fantasy logic can explain how they can shoot shells. It does not explain why you could gain speed by swerving along a straight line.

If you're going to go down that line of thinking, why not just make other ridiculous stuff that makes no sense. Press Z or R twice to Barrel Roll! Hold down the B button and you can drive backwards faster than forwards! Hop then dodge into the ground and slide around like you're on ice!

[x6tence]

Re: The Wii is Here.

man I still can't find wii's around here. there is like a wii shortage

[MalReynolds]

Re: The Wii is Here.

Hokay, but they didn't choose to implement any of that stuff. The sliding boost was in Super Mario Kart for the SNES. They did choose to implement it, therefore, fantasy logic does come into play.

If they had programmed rolls to R twice, then that's the way it would be. It would be puzzling, but it would be part of the game.

[Afrobean]

Re: The Wii is Here.

Hokay, but they didn't choose to implement any of that stuff. The sliding boost was in Super Mario Kart for the SNES. They did choose to implement it, therefore, fantasy logic does come into play.

If they had programmed rolls to R twice, then that's the way it would be. It would be puzzling, but it would be part of the game.

When functions of games are used in unexpected ways, it's reasonable to expect them to be changed/elaborated/removed in later versions. They're NOT removing this boost, they're just making it impossible to waggle back and forth to go faster. They're also rewarding longer lasting slides with bigger speed boosts. See, those things make sense in the fantastical sense. Short slide gives small speed boost, long slide gives big speed boost.

And, for example, the case of wave dashing in Melee. People used directional air dodging combined with short hops to abuse an oversight in the physics engine. This does not mean that future versions of the series would not correct the player's ability to take advantage of this intended feature in an unexpected way. Notice that in Brawl, they have removed directional air dodging, but neutral air dodging and short hops are still in. I am quite sure that if directional air dodging was still possible, wave dashing would as well, as we have already seen players mimicking the same sort of sliding motion by doing other actions (throwing an item while in the middle of rolling has a similar sliding effect I believe), so it is quite obvious in my opinion that they knowingly removed directional air dodging just for that. It's a shame that they couldn't just fix it to not slide like that, because I had recently become a big fan of directional air dodging, but I can totally see why they did it. Unexpected use of an intended feature made for the exploitation of the physics engine which apparently could not be overcome by simply increasing the "friction" when a player air dodges into the ground.

[Squeek]

Re: The Wii is Here.

Mal, there's more to this than just 'fantasy worlds should be able to do what they want'.

1) The purpose of the power slide boost was to pop you out of a power slide going the direction you want. The purpose was not to repeatedly go back and forth in order to pull ahead of your opponents. You know how I know? The AI power slides. The AI does not snake. If snaking was an intentional part of the game, you'd think they'd code it into the AI to give them a chance against you. But they didn't. It's not even in the instruction manual!

2) Anyone who's played Mario Kart DS online will tell you what it's like competing against snakers. Basically they get so far ahead of you that you can't even reach them with any items, including blue shells. If the course is pretty small, they will lap you. The point of the game is a go-kart race that uses items and character differences to separate drivers.

3) Anyone who snakes removes the purpose of items and the difference in character speed / acceleration. Power slide boosts keep you at a constant speed which is not based on the top speed of the character you use. Mario Kart uses a 6-star system. 1/5 means you have a low top speed and a high acceleration. 5/1 means you have a high top speed and a low acceleration. 3/3 means you're average. Snaking with a 1/5 character puts you at 5/5. 10 > 6. Thus, this is a break in the system.

[MalReynolds]

Re: The Wii is Here.

I'm almost positive it was in the instruction manual for Mario Kart for the SNES, which is how I learned about it.

[Afrobean]

Re: The Wii is Here.

I'm almost positive it was in the instruction manual for Mario Kart for the SNES, which is how I learned about it.

They might have mentioned slide speed boosts, but I'm confident that they didn't say "hey you can swerve from side to side along a straightaway in order to gain additional speed."

Also: I never played Mario Kart very seriously, so I don't know if I've ever actually done this slide speed boost, although, at the same time, I don't believe I ever had a particularly hard time beating the computer. Does this work automatically or what?

ps I just realized how absurd it would be to swerve using the steering wheel shaped apparatus. It's one thing to move the control stick from side to side to abuse an oversight of an intended feature, but to literally move your hands in the same way you would in a real vehicle... that would be crazy looking.

[ImEric12]

Re: The Wii is Here.

When you drive over zip patches in the ground, do you speed up in real life? Probably not, because they don't exist, yet you don't seem to have a problem with them being in the game.

Actually, there's a little patch of freeway near my house (I think it's between I-94 and I-75... Chris may have actually seen it before) that has lines on the road that make it look like a zip-booster patch, and I naturally speed up when I drive over it... which probably isn't good considering there's a sharpish turn immediately after.

So there's my relevant comment.
*sinks back into lurking shadows*

[Squeek]

Re: The Wii is Here.

A video showing gameplay for Mario Kart says that, for whatever reason, you cannot drive bus-driver style. You must drive car-style.

That means you must hold the wheel vertically at all times.

I see less and less use for the Wii Wheel every second.

[Magewout]

Re: The Wii is Here.

Mal, there's more to this than just 'fantasy worlds should be able to do what they want'.

1) The purpose of the power slide boost was to pop you out of a power slide going the direction you want. The purpose was not to repeatedly go back and forth in order to pull ahead of your opponents. You know how I know? The AI power slides. The AI does not snake. If snaking was an intentional part of the game, you'd think they'd code it into the AI to give them a chance against you. But they didn't. It's not even in the instruction manual!

2) Anyone who's played Mario Kart DS online will tell you what it's like competing against snakers. Basically they get so far ahead of you that you can't even reach them with any items, including blue shells. If the course is pretty small, they will lap you. The point of the game is a go-kart race that uses items and character differences to separate drivers.

3) Anyone who snakes removes the purpose of items and the difference in character speed / acceleration. Power slide boosts keep you at a constant speed which is not based on the top speed of the character you use. Mario Kart uses a 6-star system. 1/5 means you have a low top speed and a high acceleration. 5/1 means you have a high top speed and a low acceleration. 3/3 means you're average. Snaking with a 1/5 character puts you at 5/5. 10 > 6. Thus, this is a break in the system.

1) It's not because something isn't found in the instructions manual, that it's automatically a 'bad' thing to do it. I mean, lots of games have manuals that don't speak of certain techniques, which you have to find out for yourself. Further, I'd like to see you beat the staff ghosts in MKDS without snaking.

2) If you can't beat them, join them. Basically, what you want, is to take out something that requires skill (snaking), and give more weight to pure luck (items). What's the fun if you're obviously the best racer, but get hit by 2000 blue shells just before the finish? At least, when you're both snaking, you know you've been beaten by someone more skilled than you.

3) The max speed also applies to mini boosts. A 1/5 kart will have a slower boost than a 5/5 kart. This is why, on different courses, top MKDS players will use different karts, to have the best handling(and acceleration) vs. speed for that particular course. Otherwise, every world record would have been achieved with Dry Bones + Dry Bomber. But no, people are using the Yoshi Egg, and the Poltergust more and more, even though they have worse handling.

[Telvanni_guard]

Re: The Wii is Here.

What's the fun if you're obviously the best racer, but get hit by 2000 blue shells just before the finish?

What's the fun if you're obviously the best racer, but someone snakes the entire race and wins?