History:
Years ago Wario had thoroughly explored the Shivering Mountains, and so, seeking to capitalize on recent trends in extreme sports, purchased some land on one of the Peaks, re-named it after himself, and created a ski resort. This naturally devolved into a full racetrack, even though there was no practical loop to be seen. Another proprietor may have failed, but Wario was persistent and threatening enough to push through his insane new track idea. He eventually handed operation of the track over to his pal, Waluigi, who fell on pretty hard times after his Pinball and Stadium projects fell apart with no real adventuring background to fall back on.
8:
Wario was an interesting choice to take over a track like this, especially since it owes so much to DK Pass and DK Summit, being a long sloping snowy mountain track. In particular it's a lot like DK Summit with its Winter Sport theme. But really it goes beyond that, being the only track in Mario Kart history that doesn't loop and one of only a handful of courses that are broken up into sections rather than laps (the others being both Wuhu Tracks, the 7 Rainbow Road and 8's remake of 64 Rainbow Road). Only Mount Wario, though, has different music playing for each section.
The first section is very typical to DK Pass, consisting of a helicopter jump (okay, not that part), but then a twisty wind down the peak of the mountain into a rocky valley. Next we have a large anti-gravity ice cave as well as a large Damn in section two. Finally, the last section primarily comprises a downhill ski slope that's a lot like the final section of DK Summit, but of course, that one had snowboarders. There are other sections such as a treacherous snow forest that allows for plenty of multiple paths along with both underwater and the Wario Dam processing plant, which makes for some really diverse racing. It's a definite Frosty Track, but gets its own section here for just how extensive and weird it is, as well as how much more it has in common with DK Tracks and Wuhu Tracks.
The Ghost here is Waluigi, who uses the Duke, in its only Time Trial appearance, with Monster Tires and the Wario Wing in 2:06.283. The Duke doesn't really add any special stats, but the traction of the Monster Tires is pretty helpful here. You may not actually get a better combo that preserves land and anti-gravity speed while retaining traction, but you can go another route, using a lightweight that has a higher base traction to begin with. Then add some wheels for pure speed that sacrifice a little traction in this slippery course.
Years ago Wario had thoroughly explored the Shivering Mountains, and so, seeking to capitalize on recent trends in extreme sports, purchased some land on one of the Peaks, re-named it after himself, and created a ski resort. This naturally devolved into a full racetrack, even though there was no practical loop to be seen. Another proprietor may have failed, but Wario was persistent and threatening enough to push through his insane new track idea. He eventually handed operation of the track over to his pal, Waluigi, who fell on pretty hard times after his Pinball and Stadium projects fell apart with no real adventuring background to fall back on.
8:
Wario was an interesting choice to take over a track like this, especially since it owes so much to DK Pass and DK Summit, being a long sloping snowy mountain track. In particular it's a lot like DK Summit with its Winter Sport theme. But really it goes beyond that, being the only track in Mario Kart history that doesn't loop and one of only a handful of courses that are broken up into sections rather than laps (the others being both Wuhu Tracks, the 7 Rainbow Road and 8's remake of 64 Rainbow Road). Only Mount Wario, though, has different music playing for each section.The first section is very typical to DK Pass, consisting of a helicopter jump (okay, not that part), but then a twisty wind down the peak of the mountain into a rocky valley. Next we have a large anti-gravity ice cave as well as a large Damn in section two. Finally, the last section primarily comprises a downhill ski slope that's a lot like the final section of DK Summit, but of course, that one had snowboarders. There are other sections such as a treacherous snow forest that allows for plenty of multiple paths along with both underwater and the Wario Dam processing plant, which makes for some really diverse racing. It's a definite Frosty Track, but gets its own section here for just how extensive and weird it is, as well as how much more it has in common with DK Tracks and Wuhu Tracks.
The Ghost here is Waluigi, who uses the Duke, in its only Time Trial appearance, with Monster Tires and the Wario Wing in 2:06.283. The Duke doesn't really add any special stats, but the traction of the Monster Tires is pretty helpful here. You may not actually get a better combo that preserves land and anti-gravity speed while retaining traction, but you can go another route, using a lightweight that has a higher base traction to begin with. Then add some wheels for pure speed that sacrifice a little traction in this slippery course.
I remember finding this blog back in college. I don't know if you view this site anymore, but if you do: do you have a favorite course? And do you have a top quantity of tracks (top 5, 10, etc) that are your favs?
ReplyDeleteHey Michael - it's been a while for sure, somewhat regrettably.
DeleteFavourite all time? Or in one specific game? All time is tough. Maybe Koopa Cape from Wii, there's just so much going on. I also love Kalimari Desert, Choco Mountain, Cheese Land, Airship Fortress, Grumble Volcano, Banshee Boardwalk, Shy Guy Bazaar, Dolphin Shoals...see I've gone through too many already.
I suppose it's courses that have a lot of variety or something unique - and Mario Kart is of course full of gimmicks, but when that gimmick really pushes the gameplay in new, fun, and exciting ways, creating new strategies that still fit in with how we've been conditioned to play. I also dig aesthetically pleasing courses that fit in well with the overall sense of the world. Music Park and Electrodome are weird.
I left off a lot of SNES courses, they're of course great for 1992 but just can't really match up to the wild stuff today.
I'm in the process of ranking the Mario Kart tracks and hope to document my findings in the near future. As such I'm digging out all my MK games (will need to replay Double Dash and the Wii version at a friend's house, though). I'll prematurely call out Daisy Cruiser as my favorite out of all the games, but that could change!
DeleteAnd I actually really enjoy the Super Mario Kart remade in the DS games; their flatness and relatively short lengths were appealing to me.
DS of course changed it to the standard 3 laps instead of the original 5 - it's crazy how weird SMK was and how a lot of the track traditions really didn't start until 64. I think they're also prevented from being memorable because there's only like 4 or 5 archetypes that have different spins. Like ice with water in middle...ice with water on outside. No one track ends up being distinctive in memory.
DeleteMK64 was my first MK game so I can definitely see how SMK courses could be tedious and unmemorable for those reasons. At least the 3 laps and not having a bunch of 'Donut Plains' or 'Ice Lakes' to make the tracks less distinguishable mitigate those issues.
DeleteAnd I'm not a fan of Music Park or Electrodome because they're so out there and inorganic. Stages that are either naturalistic or have a nice balance of nature and pavement sit well with me (DK Mountain/Jungle Parkway is a good example of the former and Mario Raceway/most circuit courses is a good example of the latter).