BlackBuzzard
Banned
CTR all the way. If Activision remastered it without screwing up the mechanics and just adding online it would still be the most balanced kart racer ever made.
Is Crash Team Racing the best Mario Kart like ?
- Thread starter GarciaHotspur
- Start date
PeakPointMatrix
Member
Best kart racer to date in terms of track design, racer balance, item balance and distribution. MK8 comes second. Literally the only flaw is the graphical passage of time limiting the game to a sub 30-fps.
Protomanx13
Neo Member
I'm still waiting for my Uncharted Kart Racing Edition. It will blow all racing game away 
Agent Icebeezy
Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
Having played most of these, especially the heavy hitters, sonic all star transformed contains some of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had.
I Wanna Be The Guy
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
And holding down one button to drift and then letting it go for free turbos is for the super hardcore only, right?
Boombox On
Member
I'm not going to assume the point Arjan is trying to convey here. I'm just stating that, as someone who loves both games, this definitely does not paint Transformed in as good of a light. There's much less going on here.
WrenchNinja
Member
I'm sure this is the only way you can rationionalise it in your head and it couldn't possibly be that people may actually like CTR more than the Mario Kart series.
This is basically what I was getting at. The drifting/boosting systems in both CTR and SASRT are more involved than their contemporaries. They both greatly reward you for stacking and maintaining boosts, but only the way you actually get the boosts differ. In CTR you get better boosts with good timing (which you can see on the bottom gauge in the video I reposted), and in SASRT you get them by maintaining your drift or doing tricks in midair. SASRT may be a bit more dynamic (and even more fun because of it!), but there's definitely more going on in CTR than "hold one button, press the other for free turbo."
To reduce CTR's drifting to mindless spamming is disingenuous, and saying it's "for babies" with "literally no skill involved" is dumb as hell (and I mean, these are all racing games based on colorful mascot platformers primarily for children anyways, so no shit?)
+1 for the CTR bandwagon, I played the heck out of that game, more than probably was good for me back in that day. Saying it's better than Mario Kart is kinda ridiculous though, though it definitely competes with the best of the MK series.
My favorite kart games are CTR, MKDS and MK8, followed by Diddy Kong Racing and Sonic All-star Racing.
Can someone explain to me what makes Sonic Transformed so popular here? Because when I tried it it didn't feel that great at all, in a 'worse than the prequel' kind of way even, like how Crash Nitro Kart felt to CTR. Can someone explain to me what I'm missing out on.
My favorite kart games are CTR, MKDS and MK8, followed by Diddy Kong Racing and Sonic All-star Racing.
Can someone explain to me what makes Sonic Transformed so popular here? Because when I tried it it didn't feel that great at all, in a 'worse than the prequel' kind of way even, like how Crash Nitro Kart felt to CTR. Can someone explain to me what I'm missing out on.
LithiumSpade
Member
Serious answer: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.
Joke answer: This thread reminded me that this game exists.
Crazy. Frog. Racer.
Two.
Joke answer: This thread reminded me that this game exists.
Crazy. Frog. Racer.
Two.
All-Stars Racing was almost completely on rails comparatively. It felt pretty good, but all the corners were too trivial, so outside of the weaponry there was very little to influence the outcome of a race. This is why characters like Shadow, Ryo and Amigo were so popular, as their superior acceleration allowed them to get out in front early, and if you could secure first place before all the shots started flying, you were practically guaranteed victory due to the lack of a blue shell (fuck blue shells and lightning too tho).
Sonic Tranformed feel somewhat weightier, but that introduces some legitimate challenge in terms of navigating the course well. It's almost less of a kart racer, and more in line with classic Sega arcade racers.
I'm honestly really surprised when I hear anyone say they preferred the original game... the only aspects of that which makes sense to me would be the single player challenges, or some of the character choices (birng back the Bonanza Bros ffs). As an actual racing game Transformed mops the floor with it (and pretty much every other kart racer).
MiguelItUp
Member
Sonic All Star Racing Transformed for me. I think my runner-up is probably Diddy Kong Racing.
chemicals
Member
I know I'm probably not going to find anyone to agree with me... But the first Mario Kart (snes) hit some kind of note with me that can't be matched. Tried all the mario karts and diddy kong racing and everything except for the last 2 mario karts (the wii and wiiu ones).. They just don't really grab me like Mario Kart Snes did.
Sonic Transformed and Crash Team Racing are fun, but nothing can touch the first one.
Sonic Transformed and Crash Team Racing are fun, but nothing can touch the first one.
Crayon
Member
Hm, interesting. Transformed is like the only kart racer I haven't bought so far so it has always been on my radar. I've played it a couple times at a friends house and I re-downloaded and deleted that demo of Transformed at least six times thinking "I really should be liking this game." followed by "Nope, I don't." after playing it again.
Though tbh, I felt almost the exact opposite about the game compared to what you're saying. The kart racing just felt super floaty to me, the few tracks I played didn't feel like they had anything interesting going on except for some fancy visuals, the weapons just felt very unsatisfying in both their design and the lack of feedback while hitting someone, and I just didn't like all the flying segments as it just seems like the action and the 'chaos on the track'-feeling just disappears in those sections. I'm well aware of All-Star Racing's mayor flaws, but I still liked it more than the bits I played of Transformed.
But yeah, what you're saying makes it seem like quite the opposite is true, in which case my opinion must be totally wrong. Maybe I just got to play the wrong tracks or the wrong karts or something that gave me the wrong impression. I guess I'll just yolo it and pick the game up if I can find it cheap and see if it's actually as good as you guys all say.
TheAdmiester
Member
Shouldn't that be returns?
Or are you talking about Nathan Drake and not Naughty Dog?
PhilipDoesMatter
Member
CTR was champ. Better than MK.
Makoto Yuki
Banned
I always preferred Diddy Kong Racing, personally.
Better than both CTR and MK.
Well, opinions can't really be "wrong". For example I'm not very fond of Mario Kart in general. It's definitely not a popular opinion... but I can back my opinion up with why I don't like it as much, even if it doesn't apply to someone else.
I think tracks in Transformed are generally much stronger than in the original game, and definitely benefit from the additional variety (there was sooooo much Sonic before). However, that's not really something that can be stated as a fact. The courses are generally less winding than say the Super Monkey Ball stages were in the original, but that's partially a result of the handling system being reworked. Tracks like that in All-Stars racing didn't pose a problem because the tightest of turns, and the narrowest of spaces were easily navigated because the handling was so lenient, whereas in Transformed, a track like the Burning Rangers course can be an absolute nightmare due to your vehicle having a somewhat more believeable turning arc. In terms of track layouts, I can see that purely coming down to preference. Transformed easily takes it on variety though, and as you mentioned, some of the visuals and set pieces that occur over the course of a race are really nice. They help to sell the track as actually being part of the game world its referencing. Seeing the ship battles from Skies of Arcadia, or the blue dragoon from Panzer Dragoon Zwei. If you're going to create a game that celebrates a selection of the companies most memorable moments, this is the way to do it. The tracks in the original felt comparatively lifeless imo, like they were simply stage props, rather than that game's world. The psychedelic tunnel in the Samba De Amigo course was probably the closest that game came to selling the concept.
Weapons are an area I definitely though were much improved from teh first game though. The original game felt like it mostly just boiled down to green boxing gloves, rockets and all-star attacks. The first two were just really green and red shells, and the all-star attacks only existed offline. Transformed has a much greater variety of weapons, and they're generally for more imaginative in concept. The exploding nitrous, whirwinds, and bee swarms for example aren't simple copies of existing Mario Kart weaponary. More importantly though, the weapons provide a better balance amongst the racers, avoiding the problem of the player in 2nd having no effective way of attacking the player in 1st. It manages this whilst not simply rolling a "fuck you" weapon every so often like Mario Kart does to solve the issue.
I can see how there would appear to be "less chaos on the track" if you were typically part of the pack when playing the original game. The races are generally a bit more spread out in Transformed, partially because the various racing abilities of each player more directly impact the speed they navigate the course. However, when playing the original, I was very rarely a part of the pack, I was usually far out in front essentially playing time trial, whilst firing back a single shot every so often to block the one desperate attack the person in 2nd would fire off to try an gain some ground (this action usually caused taht player to lose his spot to the 3rd place player eventually). There was no chaos, because there was no other player for a good 10 or so seconds behind me. This was extra true if you were playing against the computer, because for some reason they were simply really slow regardless of difficulty settings. Every race honestly felt the same, following the same pattern. Quick accelration, fire or protect for the first half of lap one, and then never see or hear from anyone ever again. In the rare cases that I played someone that pulled this off better than me (thus relegating me to 2nd) the game was actually more enjoyable (despite my now guarateed loss)... and to me, that's pretty flawed game design.
If you hadn't already given the game numerous tries, then I'd be recommending you to try it again... but it honestly just doesn't seem like it resonates with you. That's fine, and you shouldn't really try to force yourself to like a game, just because it's held in high regard by others.
Are you playing it on PC or console btw? The PC version is almost a different game entirely thanks to the 60fps. I have the 360 and PC versions of both the original and Transformed, and feel that Transformed benefits far more from the higher framerate (or conversely, is harmed far more by the console ports).
I'll admit. as much as I talk shit about MK64... Block Fort was fucking awesome.
Still though, that's the only good thing I have to say about MK64. Outside of that it's garbage.
I always preferred Diddy Kong Racing, personally.
Yep, the battle mode is best battle in kart game ever.
Diddy kong racing >>>>> MK64 > CTR
Captain Europe
Member
SASART is the best MK clone. CTR and DKR were great at the time, but they're way too clunky and slow to compete with SASART and MK8.
soxinthebox
Member
That's not even the best Snowboard Kids game.The one true king of kart racers:
OrbitalBeard
Member
CTR is an awesome game.
Most MK games are better though. As are both Sonic All-Star Racing games and Diddy Kong Racing.
Although a number of kart games have surpassed Super Mario Kart in my opinion, I do agree that the first game has a charm and unique feel to it that will never be matched. It's a really special game.
You really should check out Mario Kart 8 if you get the chance.
Most MK games are better though. As are both Sonic All-Star Racing games and Diddy Kong Racing.
Although a number of kart games have surpassed Super Mario Kart in my opinion, I do agree that the first game has a charm and unique feel to it that will never be matched. It's a really special game.
You really should check out Mario Kart 8 if you get the chance.
Ricky Ricardo
Member
Would pay through the nose for this. THROUGH THE NOSE!
McFadge
Member
Its only a matter of time before the Kart racing god arrives.
I thought we all agreed it'd be called Unkarted?
I probably could have grabbed a better track/video as an example but IMO the time trial stuff in Transformed is actually far more challenging. Way better sense of speed as well.