Re: Rate the Mario Kart Track Day 34: Yoshi Valley from Mario Kart 64
0/10 (or 1/10 if that's not possible)
It's an awful track, especially in the N64 version. The multiple paths are pointless and aesthetically unpleasing. If they wanted to make a long track that's pleasing and interesting to race on, yes, they could have, the N64 can support long and interesting tracks so it's not an excuse that it looks like crap and is horrible to race on. This track isn't pleasing to race on: you're basically suspended on something carved on top of ----. It's mostly featureless other than that. And then there's the long drops that take an eternity to get respawned. What's worse is that the game cannot keep track of the character order. If the track doesn't have the capacity to do something basic like keeping track of character order, then the idea of the track should be either altered or scrapped completely.
But, I strongly believe that the game cannot keep track of character order is utter BS nevertheless. You still receive items corresponding to your place; you WON'T get a star if you're second place and you're far more likely to get stronger items when you're in back of the pack, something that requires that the game keep track of your placement. Furthermore, your character icon on the map flashes when you're first, another hint. Furthermore, the game CAN tell what order the cpus are in the very end, which requires that it calculates positions at that moment with reliance on checkpoints and stuff. I'm thinking that the design to make everything "lol you can't tell" is a deliberate design choice rather than a fault of ----ty programming. And it fails in that regard: it makes everything unfun and the track nearly unplayable.
I also have a problem with the multiple paths format. The execution of it is very sloppily made. What's the point of taking alternate paths if everything looks the same? When I think of a game that does the multiple paths format right, Beetle Adventure Racing comes to mind. And that game was on N64 too.
The Wii U remake is not as bad, as it has much more variety than the ---- that is the N64 version, but the track just became boring. It also has muddy and an overeliance on bloom to make the muddiness even worse.
Verdict: This is a clear example of what NOT to do in course design: if you're incapable of pulling off a great concept, like say, multiple paths in this track, then the track will end up sucking royally and it would be better off if you stayed to your other, much better, fine examples.