post any random Mario thought on your mind

The Zip Zip is a very stupid name for a bike, as it only as average speed. While the Zip Zip has a stupid name, it also looks very boring. It look more like your average everyday bicycle. And the worst part is that this is an outside drifting bike. As you've seen on my Mario Kart Wii vehicle ranking, most of the outside drifting bikes are ranked low on the list, because MY GOD they are trash. Inside drifting bikes are just so much better and easier to use, and so, you can't compete using outside drifting bikes online. I don't think I've ever seen anyone using the Zip Zip online. I mean, this is the most forgettable vehicle in Mario Kart Wii. Now let's look at its stats.
Zip Zip Stats.png

It only has average speed, below average weight, and low drift. It has the third best off-road in the game, and that's all it has going for it.

The Sugarscoot is also a stupid name for a bike, but at least it looks better than the hunk of junk that is the Zip Zip. How about we look at the stats?
Sugarscoot Stats.png

Oh my god. These stats are shocking. I mean, it has very good handling, but you will almost never need handling in this game, as you're only going to need drifting. Now this brings me to a point. As we all know, the most important stats in this game are speed, weight, and drift. The Sugarscoot does somewhat poorly in all of these areas. Plus, it's an outside drifting bike. This is just sad at this point.

Next is the Wario Bike. This isn't a very good name either, but it's better than the previous two vehicles. However, it looks pretty boring. Now let's see how it fares with stats.
Wario Bike Stats.png

As you can see, this is an outside drifting bike. Plus, it has a terrible drift stat. This, my friends, is the worst possible combination in the game. It also has below average speed. It just gets worse for this vehicle. The only reason it's better is because it's the heaviest bike in the game, making it very good for trolling.

Next is the Phantom. Out of these four, it's the only one that has a good name and a good look. However, I can't say the same for the stats.
Phantom Stats.png

This bike is in the same boat as the Wario Bike; it's an outside drifting bike that has the worst drift stat in the game. The only reason it's better besides the name and look is because it's faster and has higher off-road.
 
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Mario Kart Wii sucks because the only stats that matter for higher level racing are speed and drift and that's an absolutely shit balance and it makes my main class, the lightweights, be heavily disadvantaged. Plus it has that stand still miniturbo and I'm glad that shit is gone.

(This could apply to any Mario Kart really)

Imagine trying to go minmax like this in something like Forza or Gran Turismo. You'll crash into walls and slam into trees because your handling is complete shit and you can't corner worth shit, and you can't accelerate back to your top speed quick enough to catch the rest of the pack who have intelligently balanced their stats.

I know Mario Kart isn't realistic or anything, it's not Forza of course, and it needs to appeal to a broad audience with its easy to understand and excellent controls, but having heavily skewed, unbalanced stat importance really hurts the game, like a lot. I really blame the ultra wide roads Mario Kart tends to have, as well has having CC's not fast enough to make heavyweights feel like a risk/reward type character rather than the safest choice on the roster. It's one reason I believe the Jetsetter is actually one of the more balanced vehicles in Mario Kart Wii, you can't steer for shit but that's a legit tradeoff you get for using such a high speed vehicle while ignoring stats such as handling. Inny bikes were also a mistake in Wii (bikes being able to wheelie boost for a speed boost in a really slow game to begin with is a mistake); in 8 they now feel like the worse vehicle to use overall, unbalanced too far in the other direction.

Plus, I also feel MK8's 200cc is a better attempt at trying to rebalance so you don't max speed and mini-turbo boost because if you use that combo in say Rainbow Road, you will fly off that brutal first turn as well as slip and fall off Neo Bowser City. Some tracks aren't built for it, such as Cheese Land's potholes and trying to steer on Ribbon Road's anti gravity portion but for the most part, it's very playable, even in Dragon Driftway and Neo Bowser City, you just have to play the speed setting very differently than how you approach 150cc. The playing difference between 200 and 150 is far greater than 50 vs 150 after all.

Also, can we like, rebalance the starting boost? It completely nullifies acceleration at the start of the race, and it's not like it's difficult to pull off. Why can't higher speed characters actually take more risks with their set-ups in that they actually start last because they don't accelerate as quickly and thus take more time to reach item boxes?
 
I'm confused
It takes me ages to get a full party for a online Scarescraper game in Luigi's Mansion 3
but somehow it takes me only a couple of minutes or less to get a full party to play with in Dark Moon
Like I'm happy to see that the Dark Moon online community is still there but it's also sad how I can barely get anyone on 3
 
Question for anyone knowledgeable: other than the official DMW social media accounts, have there been any instances of the Dr. Mario viruses saying things? These would contribute towards expanding the List of virus quotes on the wiki.

I've looked through the NES, GB, and N64 Dr. Mario manuals, as well as relevant Nintendo Power issues and the official Super Game Boy Player's Guide, and I wasn't able to find anything in those.

We have the Wiki Collaborations forum for that, I know, but I thought I could reach a broader audience for my question here. Plus I don't fancy making a whole thread for it.
 
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It makes me glad that Zero Suit Samus is still competitively viable in Smash Ultimate and still a high tier character. I was worried that her position on the tier list in Ultimate would be much worse than in Smash 4 because of her nerfs, but she's still good in Ultimate. Apparently, she's considered to be even better in Japan, where she might even be the best character.

Palutena was buffed a lot in Ultimate and became one of the best. I'm not sure how to feel about that. I like her, but she was already a well-liked and popular character. I'd rather that this had happened to someone like Wii Fit Trainer instead. Maybe WFT wouldn't be so unpopular if she was one of the best, Palutena would still be popular even if she was mid-tier.

Jigglypuff...poor Jigglypuff. I'm starting to think that I should give up on her being anything other than a low tier character. Smash Ultimate is done with balance changes, and if there is ever another Smash game, she'll probably be bad again. It's a shame because she's one of my absolute favorite characters in Smash, in the top three for sure.

It kind of annoys me that they buffed some of Smash 4's top tier characters (Sheik, Rosalina, Diddy) in the balance updates. I think that these characters deserved the nerfs that they got in Ultimate, and there was no need to buff them back into the high tiers.

EDIT: Changed the second paragraph a bit.
 
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Do keep in mind that tier lists are not relevant in casual play much less 8 player smash with 2.0 ratio, and try not to let them affect how you play characters. Those tier lists are centered around extremely high levels of play and on those standard 3 stock limited tourney legal play to like Battlefield and Smashville. There's probably a reason Ganondorf is what he is as they balanced him between free for alls and 1v1 rather than strictly 1v1.
 
Do keep in mind that tier lists are not relevant in casual play much less 8 player smash with 2.0 ratio, and try not to let them affect how you play characters. Those tier lists are centered around extremely high levels of play and on those standard 3 stock limited tourney legal play to like Battlefield and Smashville. There's probably a reason Ganondorf is what he is as they balanced him between free for alls and 1v1 rather than strictly 1v1.

It's also important to note that tier lists are not objective in any way. The meta is often developing over time, as it goes for any competitive game. Some characters may be lower tier not because they're actually Bad, but because not enough people play them enough to form proper strategies and metagame around them. This skews it so that higher tier characters are often the popular, well practiced characters most of the time. There are some times when some characters are just obviously really good and will get higher tier (such as Brawl's Meta Knight, who is just... objectively way better than any other character in that game), but around middle and lower parts of the tier, the placements aren't really as objective as those in like, SS tier and such.

One sweet thought that came to mind is that Mario tries to keep Lowkey in his in universe birthday and tries to tell everyone to pay attention to Luigi and what he has done, I also speculate that Mario got Peach to sign off on making The Year of Luigi a thing

I love thinking about Mario as a hypeman for his brother. 100%, the guy who was most excited for Year of Luigi was Mario and you can't convince me otherwise.
 
One of my modding goals is to use the ripped model of a Prankster Comet and make it into a bike for Mario Kart Wii.

The issue is that I'll need to learn how to rip it because I can't find it anywhere. But I won't shy from a learning opportunity!

Also I need to come up with a name for it since Mario Kart Tour stole Comet Tail.
 
I technically can rip that comet model but I dunno how you'd translate that to bike format. It looks a bit too simple.
 
My biggest question about Mario 64 doesn't have anything to do with the iceberg or all the creepypasta shit or whatever. My biggest question about Mario 64 is, why does Mario's hat come off when he clips out of bounds and dies?
 
The children's storybook format has to be one of the best approaches to telling a story in a Mario game, and I think it becomes great if it is able to forgo just the right amount of silliness. Think Rosalina's backstory: while it maintains certain jocular principles that feel at home in a Mario Galaxy game (e.g. traveling the cosmic expanse on a rusty ship, warm ice etc.), it still manages to be quite touching and genuine to its characters, in a way that to me was reminiscent of classic children's literature like The Little Prince. Unlike other storytelling attempts in the Mario franchise, it doesn't become maudlin, convoluted, or otherwise out of place. It also helps that it's told discreetly: it's optional and thus doesn't risk detracting from the overall game.
 
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If we can't get this
606a06264e229.jpg

then I don't want it

(credit https://gamebanana.com/mods/174132 )

Man, Luigi can get it.

The children's storybook format has to be one of the best approaches to telling a story in a Mario game, and I think it becomes great if it is able to forgo just the right amount of silliness. Think Rosalina's backstory: while it maintains certain jocular principles that feel at home in a Mario Galaxy game (e.g. traveling the cosmic expanse on a rusty ship, warm ice etc.), it still manages to be quite touching and genuine to its characters, in a way that to me was reminiscent of classic children's literature like The Little Prince. Unlike other storytelling attempts in the Mario franchise, it doesn't become maudlin, convoluted, or otherwise out of place. It also helps that it's told discreetly: it's optional and thus doesn't risk detracting from the overall game.

The storybook format is exactly why the Paper Mario series works so well. It's become a bit too quirky for its boots, but the original 64 version was definitely trying to play upon that feeling. That's why it was called "Mario Story" in Japan.

Super Mario Galaxy also has generally good story-telling even outside of the book, though. It's cinematic in a way that doesn't feel forced and it's heavily atmospheric, which unfortunately its sequel threw out. It's noteworthy that there's this panning shot that shows how small the planet Mario is on in comparison to the vastness of space; contrasted with the bombastic nature of some of the planets as well as the scene that came before it, it really stands out and it's masterful framing without overselling it.

I do think Mario has had a history of good story-telling, personally (Mario & Luigi RPGs are pretty good about it), and I think it mostly works out when the games are laser-focused on a certain framing.
 
Wii U Bowser's Castle, Mount Wario, Cheese Land, and Dragon Driftway are my favorites.
 
The alleged laziness of Booster Course Pass might be a tell that there really is a next MK for Switch in production.. like, Booster Pass might be a "to hold them over while we work on the real deal"
 
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