The Official Mario Kart thread

Hello, person from ye olde yurop here.

Never see anyone do that gesture, then again, my country probably never used that as far as I'm aware.

Apparently France treats it as "showe it up your arse" so for international reasons I guess it makes sense to alter it.

Then again, Japan doesn't see the middle finger as hugely offensive, just sort of rude. But 'murica? Oh boy.

Values Dissonance is a tricky bitch to deal with when properties go international.

Tangent ramble over.

Also, I play both Inklings. It's a bit odd that they have slightly different stats, but I can dig it.

The two Villagers have different stats, even in the original release when they occupied the same slot. I'm happy that they're separated now.

I mostly main Rosalina, but I go for Bowser Jr. or Ms. Villager when I want a different weight class.

Is the middle finger that rude? I mean, it's rude enough that you probably can't use it in a playful manner, but I don't think it necessarily merits an "Oh boy."

In Japan, on the other hand, it's only mildly rebellious.

It pretty much means "Fuck you" which is pretty rude.

I feel like I've seen that "up yours" gesture used in an offensive context once or twice in movies, but never in real life. I don't remember which movie, but it wasn't a recent one, which makes me wonder if it could be a generational thing as well.

Also, I tend to like to mix it up a bit with my character choices in Mario Kart, so I'm not sure I can say I have any "mains", although the faster the class, the more I tend to prefer acceleration and handling to speed in my builds, which means I don't get as much quality time with the heavyweight racers sometimes.

In America the bicep-polishing gesture doesn't really mean anything in particular. The finger is basically a nonverbal equivalent of "fuck you", though, while in Japan it's pretty mild.

Fun fact: the middle finger is the State Bird of New Jersey.

Well I live in Minnesota. Passive aggressiveness is where it's at up here.

Anyway, it's kind of funny the comments I've seen elsewhere treating this change as if it's a big deal. I'm not sure I would have even noticed if it hadn't been pointed out.

No, that gesture definitely means "up yours" here. It's just kinda old and I haven't seen it used in a very long time. Nowadays, people just stop playing nice and just flip you off.

It's why Bruce Ironstauche became somewhat popular in the west.

edited 18th May '17 8:37:05 AM by Zelenal

I was like wow, that's offensive, really? Ok then... :)

I've been having ridiculously lucky situations while using the female villager recently, for some reason. My new third favorite character to play as I guess!

I'm amused at how many jimmies are rustled over such a minor cosmetic difference

In their attempt at avoiding offending people, people got offended.

Only you, internet. Only you.

Just like the different controller layouts of the Dual Shock controllers and the Xbox controllers... can't please everyone!

So 200cc... if you play these grand prixes, they unlock stars from 150cc and below? Or they don't...

Well, I've three starred most of the GPs in 150 and I didn't think to test this...

Getting a star ranking on 150cc cups will automatically give you that ranking on the 50cc and 100cc equivalents, though Mirror and 200cc still have to be done individually.

@Zelenel: It must be pretty obscure then because I don't think I've ever actually seen it used in American media outside of stuff that's referencing the Rosie the Riveter poster.

I cleared a Mirror Cup/Grand Prix/What have you and it didn't grant stars for the lower tiers, so can confirm that you will likely need to run through all the Cuprixes at least three times.

Also, I swear the AI is half retarted in 50cc and starts being downright bullshit at 150cc and up.

Well, at least their bullshit doesn't trump skill. Most of the time.

I can't recall actually seeing it in media. I only recall seeing it when I was in a public middle school which was... gosh, nearly ten years ago.

So I went go-karting today, and I really had to fight the urge to try to drift around corners. That would've ended badly.

Especially since drifting IRL is, at best, just as fast as turning normally but is actually significantly slower if done properly.

Drifting has two big problems in real life: Tires aren't invincible or cheap; and mini-turbos aren't awarded for drifting successfully.

It didn't help that the kart wasn't that fast to start with (I literally had it floored the whole time).

Game Theory takes a look at Mario Kart.

Ignoring the unnecessary dark realistifcation for Black Comedy and usually terrible thumbnails for the videos, there are some interesting takeaways:

• It is very odd how family friendly karting games get away without enforcing seatbelt and helmet safety. As the trope page shows not even a TV show aimed at toddlers gets away with it.
  • Except the Miis. Those guys have fully padded race suits and helmets. Huh.
• 200cc is no fucking joke, it is fast.
• There are RL go karts that can also go really fast.

edited 22nd May '17 9:15:19 PM by Geist-Fox

Ugh... game theory... they're like an amalgamation of all I hate in youtube.

Well, when characters know they won't get injured, ever, along with the vehicles being invincible and never catching fire or exploding, plus a magical force field that prevents ejection from vehicles, and finally, a life guard that stops everyone from falling into pits/over cliffs with a 100% success rate... I bet they can afford to skimp on protection for the sake of being more visible to the audience.

Parents will have to inform their kids who play Mario Kart that RL driving/biking/racing is far more dangerous, of course.

I don't get the Game Theory hate. Some of those theories are monumentally stupid, sure (I'm thinking of the "Mario is a psycho!" one in particular), but most of them are fun and well research.

I love Game Theory and I'm right with you on not understanding all the hate. Especially when he gave the Pope a copy of Undertale as a symbolic gesture and the very community he was supposed to be showing the good of ended up burning him to the ground.

Also, a lot of theories like the "Mario is psycho" one are tongue-in-cheek. They're not "This is absolutely 100% what this is" and more "Hey, when you look at things this way, it's kinda fucked up. Crazy, huh?"