It's always a treat to race someone better than you online. You spend the past hour decimating everyone, then suddenly, a worthy opponent appears. Yes, you're a little pissed about losing, but it's the good kind of pissed, because the only reason you lost was because someone was simply better, not because you got splattered by nonstop Warp Orbs and Clocks. (Remember pre-nerf Warp Orbs? Jeez!)
I think NF is stuck between party and competitive. Alot of times if you race someone with equal or even slightly less skill than you, and you get hit by a missle after the first crate row and the other person doesn't, you have no opportunity to catch up. They are too far ahead to hit with missiles or bombs but also you wont ever get good weapons because there is always newer players or bots in the back locking you out of warp orbs, masks and clocks. Thats what I dont like about NF. CTR99 and MK8 is much more of a party game because you frequently get catchup tools. Heck in CTR99 you could literally wait out the first lap of a 7 lap race and then still catch up with all the tools the game gives you. I have nothing against the competitive appeal but then they should have had a no weapons mode AND a party mode. NF is stuck in the middle which I dont like. Also getting Hit was Fun in CTR99. Get hit didnt slow you down as much and there was no blue fire you could lose to screw you up.
I used to play this game rather competitively, and I am still very surprised when I revisit online in recent times and there's still people who can hold their own against me, not to brag or anything. Love the challenge, more fun than wiping the floor with most lobbies I join.
@@NyxxyNightstar What I like to do sometimes, is when it's a track is totally 'wrong way-able', ie, Crash Cove, Tiger Temple, etc, I just show off my master wheels and drive into people head on. I have everything unlocked, all from earning coins in online races. Not a single irl cent spent. (Unless you count the promotional stuff like that veteran's day plane, or the icebreakers candy wheels)
Well, I'm happy to say that I did train a bunch of CTR demons when I was a teen and damn was it fun playing 4P splitscreen (LOL the multitap thingy) being all good at the game. We all reached the point where even the hard difficulty CPU would get destroyed so there was no point on even including it.
Wow this video was really well done, good job! Sadly the things about skill ceiling are true and additionally because the online mode really doesn't offer much except single races against random players it's not that engaging anymore since Grand Prix stopped. I've beaten the dev time trials dozens of times now since there is just really nothing else to do in this game anymore. I really wish there was a bigger fanbase for this game, it deserved it for how good it was.
thanks so much!! and yeah the online was broken as hell XD 3 people destroying everyone else in the lobby every race - hopefully we'll see more of CTR sometime in the future tho 👀
What I find interesting about the Mario Kart shortcuts is that most of the best ones require a mushroom, possibly 2. This means that the best shortcuts, even those that require skill, are still mostly off limits for players in first place. The players who know about them can use them to get back to the front of the pack after a setback, but they can't use them to completely smoke the other players after regaining the lead. By requiring mushrooms, the shortcuts themselves are balanced based on positioning, which is kinda mind blowing, and it took watching this video for me to realize it.
i absolutely adore this game with every atom of my body, and i wish that i decided to buy it earlier. i only brought it when i was looking for a mario kart wii substitute on console (which was about half way through the gingerbread joyride grand prix) and it ended up becoming my favourite kart racer. i wish this game got more updates, more recognition, more love. beenox did such a phenomenal job with this game and ive never been so obsessed with a game before. about 3 years on and i struggle to get an online match. ive decided to go back and keep trying to beat the dev time trials since i never beat any of them. i owe it to the game to at least complete all it has to offer.
(Vi) I actually had specifically one person to play CTR with and that was my brother. We both beat all the dev time trial records and I can say multiplayer CTR with people able to maintain blue flame for the whole track is simply AMAZING. Yes, if you make a single mistake you are nearly guaranteed a loss but that is the fun of it, and it just makes victories ultra satisfying.
Also items such as tnt and potions at a high level end up being much more fun to use than your mario kart bananas, because in CTR there are many more good places in the race track you can use to disrupt your opponents (like blue fire boost pads or in the air in the middle of a shortcut above a pit), making trying to race around them leagues more fun
super true, i remember the first time i won a race with blue flame opponents and it was so epic XD items are huge too, years ago i'd play the orginal with my brother and he was evil with em
some very interesting points! i loved CTR as a kid but i'm more of a mario kart kinda guy now, definitely makes me want to check out the new CTR though even if just solely to play as the iron checkpoint crate
This is actually a great way to describe Nitro-Fueled. It's technically more advanced and has a higher skill ceiling, but casual players will need to train their asses off to get good at the game. It's definitely more hardcore than Mario Kart, which is both a blessing for CTR, and a low-key advantage for Mario Kart.
FINALLY SOMEONE THAT GETS IT! CTR deserves way more recognition. It is the best kart racing game ever, and maybe even the best racing game ever. And yes, I managed to train my sister to the point that she can beat me every now and then. She can take the sewer shortcut more consistently than me by now.
@@NatetheNintendofan That's not even official, and is built on top of MKW mechanics so it doesn't come close. Still the best way to play Mario Kart out there. I'd take it over MK8 Deluxe any day.
When I played this game, it was UNBELIEVABLY fun, the amount of stuff there was to learn on every course was super cool, and beating the in game ghosts always felt like a massive accomplishment. Really a game I should play more, it’s so cool. You did say that the games higher skill floor did make the game hard to play with friends, but if I may recommend a game, Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed, despite not having the crazy skill ceiling CTR has, does have a skill floor low enough for people to quickly learn, and still has a high enough skill ceiling to allow good players to chain together boosts in exciting and challenging ways. A lot of people I’ve showed the game to have started playing it for the large roster of Sega characters and super cool transforming courses, and have stayed for the high stakes racing.
My main problem with ctr is that even if you know how to keep the boosts and the shortcuts, so do your opponents in online. So there was a lack of competitiveness due to everyone doing the exact same things, the positions would never change, the guy who did the first boost in lap 1 would always be the winner. I guess they could improve the item selection, make them more useful(for instance, the bomb and the rocket work mostly in a straight line projectile, they are kind of useless in high skilled races), it would be a nice approach to casual players and for balancing purposes.
the items are super underpowered, someone brought up that they were more effective in the original and i gotta agree with that - they had more of a chance to actually change the outcome of the race
I wouldn't say the items are underpowered, it's the item distribution. In the original 2nd place players got a crap ton of missiles to mess with 1st place, 4th and below would be flooded with the op items to either catch up or screw with the other racers. Nothing worse than getting clocked into a warp orb. Further more they also boosted the positive items for the higher place players which isn't a great idea. There is absolutely no reason why I'm a whole lap ahead of people and you give me a bubble to protect myself from a warp orb or clock. Summary: Items distribution just need to be balance, not just by position but distance. If the gape between first and the pack is too much, first should not be getting protection or boost items and the pack that is further behind should be flooded with the screw with you items. Honestly nitro fueled should have added a 3v3v3 mode. Team placement could have been based on peoples online ranking. Another mode they could have added is a boss level mode. The person that chooses to be the boss would be a huge disadvantage. It would basically be them vs all racers. The boss would have to choose between abilities from story mode bosses (Oxide excluded for obvious reasons.), and should they win they get large amount of wumpa coins as a reward. This could make newer players feel less alienated from vets and give them a fighting chance, and give vets a chance to test their skills and get rewards for it. This would be hard to implement, but it is something different.
i think i'll train an army of ctr demons, infact, i'll hold the whole ass world hostage and force them all to become ctr gods, that way we can all get along
If you played the older Mario karts, you'll know the skill ceiling was higher in those games. Nintendo makes an effort to make games approachable for all now
I’m one of the biggest Nintendo and more so Mario fans but I’ll admit that CTR’s gameplay absolutely blew my mind playing the remake for the first time and for about the following year was my go to racing game and always my recommendation. Even now if it was still supported I’d be playing daily but unfortunately that’s not that case and Mario once again has taken that spot as my go to racing game..especially with that DLC
Trying to get my friends to play this game is impossible. Instead I just grind crash cove time trials since there was some serious competition on that map that felt fun to compete against (I also scored a 1:18 attempt!)
I was in a similar position as you were, hearing about the game I loved as a kid getting a remake and not being overwhelmingly excited. I was glad it was being made but wasn't in a rush to get it, and it has been like 10 years since I played the original. Now I need to get this game and train my siblings to become a mini CTR squadron. Thank you
I absolutely love speedrunning the original CTR, it's faster than NF sometimes if you can do the stupid tech haha Good shit, we need to give CTR/NF more recognition in the kart racer meta, shit is fire
This is my favorite kart racer of all time. I really like games with loads of high quality content and this game delivers it really well. And I mean come on, which other game allows you to play as iron checkpoint crate???
Personally my favorite kart racer is currently Yakuza 7/Like a Dragon 😳, but I remember CTR on the game cube being my favorite racer even after Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64. Loved how well edited the video was and how passionate you were in explaining. It definitely put a new game on my radar.
Probably won't come to PC, but...I think that the problem with CTR could be solved with an online ranked system to segment the skill levels. Starting from "Driving Grandma" all the way up to "Speed Demon" where all CTR pro's can infuriate each other. You are right about local multi, MK has the upper hand.
I don’t like the idea of shortcuts being that big. It makes it so there isn’t any reason to drive on much of the track, and just missing one shortcut can drastically change the outcome. I prefer the MK approach, where they just give you a bit of an edge.
Well i do and this just bias but i feek like ctr has better shortcuts and you learn how to get through them as long as you learn your environments around the tracks but hey you do you bro
Heck, the best recommendation feom the algorithm today! Thank you for expressing exactly what this game is, although I'm good on the original version and sucks on the remaster, I still loves this game from the bottom of my heart haha
Finally, somebody who understands how much the skill ceiling being so high killed the game. Idk how to break to everyone blaming activisions microtransactions but Activision has loot boxes in this little game called call of duty and its doing just fine. I hate microtransactions too but casual gamers arent bothered by them like hardcore gamers are i dont know if anybody is aware but a kart racer has some of the highest casual gamer percentages of any genre of game. The problem with nitro fueled was it was marketed as a casual game that alienates the casual
CTR is okay, but Mario Kart is still better. The controls are simple but still tough to master, the track design feels more diverse and fun to play on, and there are currently 80 different tracks in 8DX. The tracks in CTR are the okay, but I still prefer Mario Kart. Mario Kart has way more exciting shortcuts and better items. You say that MK doesn't have good shortcuts and then proceed to put in the most basic bitch Cloudtop Cruise “shortcut” when 8DX has the Mushroom Gorge gap jump, JenZua glider and the Big Blue ultra shortcut along with smaller shroomless cuts. And don't even get me started on MKWii shortcuts. And I think the whole part about CTR having more skill is why MK is better. It's easy to pick up and play, but if you suck, you'll still lose most of the time. And the occasional bullshit with items balances out over time. CTR is a bit better than the shitty MKs, but games like Wii and 8DX make MK still reign superior.
@@lemon66111 I definitely think that Double Dash and Wii are better than 8DX, but you can't deny that the sheer amount and variety of tracks are nice, and the controls feel amazing.
I’ve been saying this since before NF came out! Growing up with CTR just made MK feel horrid to me. I’ve tried to just have fun and be a team player but I’d literally rather sit out than play MK.
holy smokelinis that was great. this came up on my recommended and I'm so glad it did. 10/10 edits I could've sworn this was from a huge channel. keep it up!
CTR will always hold a special place in my heart. The thrill of being a competitive player was immeasurable, I can't ever go back to Mario Kart with the experience and skill I have for this game. That aside, the friends and memories I made during this game's active lifespan is something I will never forget. Beenox really knocked it out of the park with the sheer level of fan-service and passion they put into the game.
Ctr NF is my favourite racing game, but no 60fps mode on a game that launched after xbox one x is dumb. Even modders managed to make a 60fps mode for the switch emulator. I know its a flawless 30fps, but still dumb for such a high skill racer
Wellll... Not that I'm trying to invalidate CTR's impeccable mechanics that play a big role into the shortcuts buuuuut... *There are several ultra shortcuts in Mario Kart 8*
It happens the same to me. The original CTR is my favorite game of all time, and that made me playing it a lot in my life, thanks to that I know every shortcut and how to do the drift perfectly. Sadly my friends didn't played CTR when they were kids or even later in life, so I got stuck playing Mario Kart with them meanwhile I play CTR alone :( (And I still play the original more than the remake, I just love the ps1 graphics and sounds)
Great work here. I actually skipped over this game when the trilogy came out thinking it was just a throw out game by the devs. But your review really is mkaing me regret that decision....think i may have to pick this one up now! Great video!
here's the perfect way to differentiate Mario Kart and CTR: -Mario Kart is a cartoon being put into a go-kart racing it drive like how you would expect a go-kart felt like, it's quite light and agile but still have it's weight -CTR is a cartoon's spirit stuck inside a go-kart racing it encourages you to go wacky and crazy as much as possible, do as much as jumps and drifts possible
You’re totally right here. I grew up with Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing but Nitro Fuelled is by far the best kart racing game in terms of mechanics and ceiling. Also, the first few months of nitro fuelled online had a really strong community of skilled drivers.
Oh 100%. Doing time trials and Mario kart has a pretty hard limit on how fast you can go. I didn’t even know about the boosting with little hops in CTR
I ahve the same relationship with Sonic & All-Star Racing Transformed. Still my favorite kart racer ever and the skill ceiling is also quite high. I like CTR for it's purity, it's all skill and I love that... only real issue is it never released on PC. Would've been a killer app in a platform that severely lacks games in this genre with a population, especially with crossplay. What could've been. (CTR Source Port is out though! please give it a look!)
this is the best review for ctr that doesn't immediately trash down mk8d with no full criticisms for either game ctr is great for comp, mk8d is great for casual amazing video
Good video. As someone who has been playing CTR99 with my brother and cousin since its release in 3 Player mode we were sadly a bit disappointed in Nitro Fueled. Don't get me wrong, Blue Fire is an awesome mechanic for single player and time trail but it kinda kills casual play. The whole meta is now about keeping blue fire. Also the weapon balance is pretty messed up in NF. You don't get the Clock or Warp Orbs nearly as much as in the Original. This makes it even harder to catch up. So more often than not the meta is about not getting hit in the start of round 1 and getting ahead. The rest of the race is free reign since there aren't enough opportunities for the other players to catch up. This was especially bad in online races where a lot of the time the bots would be much further back than the players locking them out of the already rare catchup weapons. In the Original, because of the much more frequent good weapons, you of course would get hit a lot more often. But it also wasn't as frustrating since getting hit didn't slow you down as much. You could also sometimes bounce over walls and barricades which doesn't happen in the remake since your hitbox is locked to the ground. Or take for example driving into a green bottle. In CTR99 you could keep most of your speed by mashing jump. The main penalty was temporarly losing control over your kart. In the remake it slows you down to a halt. So to sum it up: CTR99 = Get hit a lot but getting hit is fun and makes for dynamic races with lots of changing positions CTR:NF = Rarely get hit if you can get enough distance in the start I haven't played enough MK8 to say this with enough confidence but I believe CTR99 might be an even more approachable game than Mario Kart 8 since in CTR99's Multiplayer there were no bots so the last place could always slow down the first place with warp orbs and not be stuck between the bots and human players with no catchup tools. Also in the remake the walls dont bounce you off if you jump against them but instead suck up your speed which is super frustrating. :(
Got CTR for my switch and couldn't get past the load times. If it was released on PC ( missed opportunity for a market without a good kart racer) I would jump in. 45-60 second wait times to load one race was too long for me though which sucks because it looks really fun.
I already heard that this was the best racing game from Designing For over and over again. I can probably, maybe, definitely not beat you. I have the switch version though, so I don't know if that's a potential issue.
hooh hoooohhh a challenge, you'll totally wipe the floor with me - i also have switch (as well as xbox) so join the discord and ill letcha know when i next stream 😎
and online is magically still somewhat alive (if you don't get kicked and are stuck in que for 20 min), so most people that I play with are all veterans. So it is a blast to play if you are decent in the game, but on release this game was amazing with new content constantly and everyone being still kinda dog so the growth of the player base was amazing to witness.
It's still insane to me that these companies remaster LITERALLY ANYTHING but we still haven't had any remaster or port of Nitro Fueled to new consoles. No PC version and not even a simple 60 fps update on ps5......
i was waiting for you to mention sacred fire and usf, these were the things that made it the best to me since ps1. awesome game exactly because of it's deeps systems and i love it
Why did Naughty Dog expect us to hate Oxide for being a new alien character when there was a level in Crash Bandicoot Warped where Crash raced against UFOs? Not to mention Crash Bandicoot already had enough sci-fi elements to expect aliens to show up, and the previous game had just introduced time travel. Aliens were already expected for this series even if you didn't play the Area 51 level. There were mutant animals, mad scientist supervillains, jet packs, robots, cyborgs and even magical witch doctor animated voodoo masks. What would have been so rage inducing about an alien villain showing up? All Oxide did by showing up was reinforce Crash Bandicoot's place in the sci-fi genre. The next racing game had even more aliens and the tracks were set on four different planets. Nobody had a problem with that. Honestly, the only thing that seems out of place in this sci-fi setting are the masks.
One thing I like about Mario Kart is the feeling of weight. Other kart racing games are missing this and it's just weird when you're driving. It's the same reason Smash Bros feels better to play than other smash-like games. The weight just gives that extra oomph.
CTR is amazing the remake even more so, Diddy Kong Racing was the game that inspired it and is also incredible, I love them both so don’t want to pick one over the other. I’d love a remake of Diddy Kong Racing too! I’m actually not bad at CTR but after all these years and still learning and improving, I always panic when I do online and end up sucking. 😅
To add onto your point of the game not being too newcomer friendly is the lack of any online ranking system. Like, even Mario Kart has one despite being way more casual friendly (possibly to prevent newcomers from getting steamrolled now that I think about it)
I miss the skill I had when CTR was still getting updated. I just can't go back and play it because it feels so foreign to me now despite beating some Developer Times a couple years ago. It's really sad too since when I was """good""" at CTR is was an awesome game to play.
Mario kart 8 deluxe: why do you guys always act like you are so much better than me? Mario kart ds, mario kart wii, mario kart double dash and crash team racing nitro fueled: 🍷🗿
Only thing Nitro Fueled didn't do right (aside from bad online) was not making u-turning a properly usable mechanic. It requires holding down, which is just not accessible, nearly impossible on a joystick and still awful with the D-Pad as you still need to turn properly. The brake button just should've done that by itself. I mapped down to R2 on my PlayStation and R2+Brake was my standard mapping and I defeated all developer ghosts this way, but without that even the Velo ghosts would've been a pain in the ass.
No, I’m willing to hear you out. I’m a very big fan of Mario Kart, but I’ve heard some things about CTR here and there, and would like to hear what you have to say about it.
I absolutely adore CTR ! I love it , it was one of my childhood games i played back in the day The only problem I have with it is that it is completely skill based even in adventure mode you still need to master boosting in order to beat oxide Also , in the remaster they gave us Kart bodies and decals that don't effect your stats which is honestly disappointing , they are nothing but cosmetics
I put in some work on the time trials, but then I got bored cuz I couldn’t play with my lil sis so I sold it xD. It was fun single experience tho forsure
Taken from this video: - Tracks in CTR require that you know and use ALL the shortcuts ALL the time. - Ergo, why even build the rest of the tracks in the first place, when you are required to skip like 70% of them? That, to me, is a great reason why Mario Kart might actually be a lot better.
“Remaster”, it’s a remake my guy. Remakes are built from the ground up while remasters are just enhance HD ports of old games. Any who, I always preferred CTR over Mario Kart. It’s more so because of bias, I wasn’t that into Mario growing up but I did like Mario Kart. Wish my friends got CTRNF but I see why they’re scared to race with or against me, not only that, they saw how CTRNF players played to the point where these sweat lords in FPS games said, Nah we’re good”, Instead they prefer to play MK8 since that doesn’t have any advance technique or at least as far as I know. It’s sad that CTRNF isn’t made for casuals, specifically for online while MK8, anyone can get a win.
I just wish CTR had cross-play. As you say, it gets virtually everything else right but no cross-play is a death sentence for the online play from day 1. Real shame, couldve given the game a much longer relevancy.
The CTR drift boost is really really cool, but I'd argue it raises the skill floor just as much as it raises the skill ceiling. I played a lot of Mario Kart DS as a kid and really liked that, but now when I look back on CTR and Mario kart DS I cant help but feel like their drift mechanics are poorly designed due to the fact that to play optimally you should be drifting 99% of the time, it makes the standard driving a bit of a redundant mechanic no?
follow for more trash team racing www.twitch.tv/marlzeee
Yo this was randomly recommended and was surprised with how well this was edited - great job!!
yo thanks so much!! this one was a lot of fun to do 🥳
same!
Same
honestly, ctr has to be my fave "arcade" racing game. it just feels so good to play. especially the ring races, like damn, the speed is insane.
oh mannn ring races are something else, UNLIMITED POWAHHH
@@marlzeee especially when ya use a speed character after mastering the break turning n what not. feels so goooood
@@commandershepard9312 it's a fucking drug fr
Diddy kong beats all!
It's always a treat to race someone better than you online.
You spend the past hour decimating everyone, then suddenly, a worthy opponent appears.
Yes, you're a little pissed about losing, but it's the good kind of pissed, because the only reason you lost was because someone was simply better, not because you got splattered by nonstop Warp Orbs and Clocks. (Remember pre-nerf Warp Orbs? Jeez!)
I think NF is stuck between party and competitive. Alot of times if you race someone with equal or even slightly less skill than you, and you get hit by a missle after the first crate row and the other person doesn't, you have no opportunity to catch up. They are too far ahead to hit with missiles or bombs but also you wont ever get good weapons because there is always newer players or bots in the back locking you out of warp orbs, masks and clocks.
Thats what I dont like about NF.
CTR99 and MK8 is much more of a party game because you frequently get catchup tools. Heck in CTR99 you could literally wait out the first lap of a 7 lap race and then still catch up with all the tools the game gives you.
I have nothing against the competitive appeal but then they should have had a no weapons mode AND a party mode. NF is stuck in the middle which I dont like.
Also getting Hit was Fun in CTR99. Get hit didnt slow you down as much and there was no blue fire you could lose to screw you up.
I used to play this game rather competitively, and I am still very surprised when I revisit online in recent times and there's still people who can hold their own against me, not to brag or anything. Love the challenge, more fun than wiping the floor with most lobbies I join.
@@NyxxyNightstar What I like to do sometimes, is when it's a track is totally 'wrong way-able', ie, Crash Cove, Tiger Temple, etc, I just show off my master wheels and drive into people head on.
I have everything unlocked, all from earning coins in online races. Not a single irl cent spent. (Unless you count the promotional stuff like that veteran's day plane, or the icebreakers candy wheels)
This is how i met one of my best friends within the first week of the game
Well, I'm happy to say that I did train a bunch of CTR demons when I was a teen and damn was it fun playing 4P splitscreen (LOL the multitap thingy) being all good at the game. We all reached the point where even the hard difficulty CPU would get destroyed so there was no point on even including it.
maaaaaann that sounds so dope XD bet it was great fun
Wow this video was really well done, good job!
Sadly the things about skill ceiling are true and additionally because the online mode really doesn't offer much except single races against random players it's not that engaging anymore since Grand Prix stopped. I've beaten the dev time trials dozens of times now since there is just really nothing else to do in this game anymore. I really wish there was a bigger fanbase for this game, it deserved it for how good it was.
thanks so much!! and yeah the online was broken as hell XD 3 people destroying everyone else in the lobby every race - hopefully we'll see more of CTR sometime in the future tho 👀
Well, there you are! Check out The Karters 2, it's heavily inspired CTR game with built mod-support, even tools for track creation and sharing.
R.I.P CTR so many things needed fixing never did get fixed. Activision only cares for a year
What I find interesting about the Mario Kart shortcuts is that most of the best ones require a mushroom, possibly 2. This means that the best shortcuts, even those that require skill, are still mostly off limits for players in first place. The players who know about them can use them to get back to the front of the pack after a setback, but they can't use them to completely smoke the other players after regaining the lead. By requiring mushrooms, the shortcuts themselves are balanced based on positioning, which is kinda mind blowing, and it took watching this video for me to realize it.
i absolutely adore this game with every atom of my body, and i wish that i decided to buy it earlier. i only brought it when i was looking for a mario kart wii substitute on console (which was about half way through the gingerbread joyride grand prix) and it ended up becoming my favourite kart racer. i wish this game got more updates, more recognition, more love. beenox did such a phenomenal job with this game and ive never been so obsessed with a game before. about 3 years on and i struggle to get an online match. ive decided to go back and keep trying to beat the dev time trials since i never beat any of them. i owe it to the game to at least complete all it has to offer.
Would have been great if they did another year of GPs.
(Vi) I actually had specifically one person to play CTR with and that was my brother. We both beat all the dev time trial records and I can say multiplayer CTR with people able to maintain blue flame for the whole track is simply AMAZING. Yes, if you make a single mistake you are nearly guaranteed a loss but that is the fun of it, and it just makes victories ultra satisfying.
Also items such as tnt and potions at a high level end up being much more fun to use than your mario kart bananas, because in CTR there are many more good places in the race track you can use to disrupt your opponents (like blue fire boost pads or in the air in the middle of a shortcut above a pit), making trying to race around them leagues more fun
super true, i remember the first time i won a race with blue flame opponents and it was so epic XD
items are huge too, years ago i'd play the orginal with my brother and he was evil with em
some very interesting points! i loved CTR as a kid but i'm more of a mario kart kinda guy now, definitely makes me want to check out the new CTR though even if just solely to play as the iron checkpoint crate
iron checkpoint crate for the win, where's your question block huh nintendo
This is actually a great way to describe Nitro-Fueled. It's technically more advanced and has a higher skill ceiling, but casual players will need to train their asses off to get good at the game. It's definitely more hardcore than Mario Kart, which is both a blessing for CTR, and a low-key advantage for Mario Kart.
Keep making videos mate. The algorithm is starting to pick you up, and your content is great. Now's when the work starts to pay off.
thanks man, i really appreciate it - plenty more where this came from
FINALLY SOMEONE THAT GETS IT!
CTR deserves way more recognition. It is the best kart racing game ever, and maybe even the best racing game ever. And yes, I managed to train my sister to the point that she can beat me every now and then. She can take the sewer shortcut more consistently than me by now.
yooo big brain plays
Do you mean custom tracks Revolution
Mario better crash bad 🦍
@@NatetheNintendofan That's not even official, and is built on top of MKW mechanics so it doesn't come close. Still the best way to play Mario Kart out there. I'd take it over MK8 Deluxe any day.
@@jepompom455I like Mario but no way is ti as good as Crash, Steve
When I played this game, it was UNBELIEVABLY fun, the amount of stuff there was to learn on every course was super cool, and beating the in game ghosts always felt like a massive accomplishment. Really a game I should play more, it’s so cool.
You did say that the games higher skill floor did make the game hard to play with friends, but if I may recommend a game, Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed, despite not having the crazy skill ceiling CTR has, does have a skill floor low enough for people to quickly learn, and still has a high enough skill ceiling to allow good players to chain together boosts in exciting and challenging ways. A lot of people I’ve showed the game to have started playing it for the large roster of Sega characters and super cool transforming courses, and have stayed for the high stakes racing.
My main problem with ctr is that even if you know how to keep the boosts and the shortcuts, so do your opponents in online. So there was a lack of competitiveness due to everyone doing the exact same things, the positions would never change, the guy who did the first boost in lap 1 would always be the winner. I guess they could improve the item selection, make them more useful(for instance, the bomb and the rocket work mostly in a straight line projectile, they are kind of useless in high skilled races), it would be a nice approach to casual players and for balancing purposes.
the items are super underpowered, someone brought up that they were more effective in the original and i gotta agree with that - they had more of a chance to actually change the outcome of the race
I wouldn't say the items are underpowered, it's the item distribution. In the original 2nd place players got a crap ton of missiles to mess with 1st place, 4th and below would be flooded with the op items to either catch up or screw with the other racers. Nothing worse than getting clocked into a warp orb. Further more they also boosted the positive items for the higher place players which isn't a great idea. There is absolutely no reason why I'm a whole lap ahead of people and you give me a bubble to protect myself from a warp orb or clock.
Summary: Items distribution just need to be balance, not just by position but distance. If the gape between first and the pack is too much, first should not be getting protection or boost items and the pack that is further behind should be flooded with the screw with you items.
Honestly nitro fueled should have added a 3v3v3 mode. Team placement could have been based on peoples online ranking.
Another mode they could have added is a boss level mode. The person that chooses to be the boss would be a huge disadvantage. It would basically be them vs all racers. The boss would have to choose between abilities from story mode bosses (Oxide excluded for obvious reasons.), and should they win they get large amount of wumpa coins as a reward. This could make newer players feel less alienated from vets and give them a fighting chance, and give vets a chance to test their skills and get rewards for it. This would be hard to implement, but it is something different.
get this legend on the dev team those modes sound epic
also yeah good point about distribution, i reckon you're right there
These are kind of the same reasons I like Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart more than Mario Kart nowadays. Such expressive high skill cap keeps me coming back
i think i'll train an army of ctr demons, infact, i'll hold the whole ass world hostage and force them all to become ctr gods, that way we can all get along
i like this plan
CTR was my first ps1 game and its one of my favorite game ever.
If you played the older Mario karts, you'll know the skill ceiling was higher in those games. Nintendo makes an effort to make games approachable for all now
this is true, good point
I’m one of the biggest Nintendo and more so Mario fans but I’ll admit that CTR’s gameplay absolutely blew my mind playing the remake for the first time and for about the following year was my go to racing game and always my recommendation. Even now if it was still supported I’d be playing daily but unfortunately that’s not that case and Mario once again has taken that spot as my go to racing game..especially with that DLC
Trying to get my friends to play this game is impossible. Instead I just grind crash cove time trials since there was some serious competition on that map that felt fun to compete against (I also scored a 1:18 attempt!)
man oh man 1:18 that's lit
I was in a similar position as you were, hearing about the game I loved as a kid getting a remake and not being overwhelmingly excited. I was glad it was being made but wasn't in a rush to get it, and it has been like 10 years since I played the original.
Now I need to get this game and train my siblings to become a mini CTR squadron. Thank you
Mario Kart literally has a real band performing the soundtrack, whilst Crash is all computer.
don't get me started on the mariokart 8 soundtrack it is a complete masterpiece, i love the original CTR music but MK8 is insane
they got the littest session musicians in Japan, including half of the seatbelts (the cowboy bebop band)
I absolutely love speedrunning the original CTR, it's faster than NF sometimes if you can do the stupid tech haha
Good shit, we need to give CTR/NF more recognition in the kart racer meta, shit is fire
When I play with friends on local multiplayer, I just don't drift boost, it works :D
By the time I mastered this game, it was so hard to play Mario Kart's controls XD. I end up getting use to both.
XDDD big same, it's always such a shock after playing one and not the other for a while and then switching
This is my favorite kart racer of all time. I really like games with loads of high quality content and this game delivers it really well. And I mean come on, which other game allows you to play as iron checkpoint crate???
Mechanics alone is what makes ctr so fun. The ability to chain boost feels good
I completely agree and this is a great in-depth video. It can be tough but pulling off those boosts are pretty satisfying in CTR.
tysm!! nothin better than nailing blue flame
the remastered version of CTR is my comfort game, I will never get bored of it and reminds me of the old times with my PSX
Personally my favorite kart racer is currently Yakuza 7/Like a Dragon 😳, but I remember CTR on the game cube being my favorite racer even after Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64.
Loved how well edited the video was and how passionate you were in explaining. It definitely put a new game on my radar.
XDDDDD now that's some real racing
aw thanks 🥲🥲🥲 glad you enjoyed!!
The only thing killing CTR for me is the awfull loading times
s o l o n g
How do you only have 277 subscribers? This is peak content. Keep up the good work, I am excited for more of your content.
yo that's so sweet 🥲 thank you so much
Probably won't come to PC, but...I think that the problem with CTR could be solved with an online ranked system to segment the skill levels. Starting from "Driving Grandma" all the way up to "Speed Demon" where all CTR pro's can infuriate each other.
You are right about local multi, MK has the upper hand.
I don’t like the idea of shortcuts being that big. It makes it so there isn’t any reason to drive on much of the track, and just missing one shortcut can drastically change the outcome. I prefer the MK approach, where they just give you a bit of an edge.
this is a really decent point to be fair, it keeps things tighter right up until the end even if you miss one in MK8
Well i do and this just bias but i feek like ctr has better shortcuts and you learn how to get through them as long as you learn your environments around the tracks but hey you do you bro
Not to mention CTR remake remove the gravity part from the original. Gravity track on MK is nothing but visual.
Heck, the best recommendation feom the algorithm today! Thank you for expressing exactly what this game is, although I'm good on the original version and sucks on the remaster, I still loves this game from the bottom of my heart haha
This video was so good I had to come back and watch it again a year later
Finally, somebody who understands how much the skill ceiling being so high killed the game.
Idk how to break to everyone blaming activisions microtransactions but Activision has loot boxes in this little game called call of duty and its doing just fine.
I hate microtransactions too but casual gamers arent bothered by them like hardcore gamers are i dont know if anybody is aware but a kart racer has some of the highest casual gamer percentages of any genre of game.
The problem with nitro fueled was it was marketed as a casual game that alienates the casual
damnn well said
CTR is okay, but Mario Kart is still better. The controls are simple but still tough to master, the track design feels more diverse and fun to play on, and there are currently 80 different tracks in 8DX. The tracks in CTR are the okay, but I still prefer Mario Kart. Mario Kart has way more exciting shortcuts and better items. You say that MK doesn't have good shortcuts and then proceed to put in the most basic bitch Cloudtop Cruise “shortcut” when 8DX has the Mushroom Gorge gap jump, JenZua glider and the Big Blue ultra shortcut along with smaller shroomless cuts. And don't even get me started on MKWii shortcuts. And I think the whole part about CTR having more skill is why MK is better. It's easy to pick up and play, but if you suck, you'll still lose most of the time. And the occasional bullshit with items balances out over time. CTR is a bit better than the shitty MKs, but games like Wii and 8DX make MK still reign superior.
yo fair play, can't really argue with this
8dx is terrible but wii >>>
gotta love some mk wii
@@lemon66111 I definitely think that Double Dash and Wii are better than 8DX, but you can't deny that the sheer amount and variety of tracks are nice, and the controls feel amazing.
ModNation racers also was an amazing game! I had the same feeling or better when I played it compare to MarioKart!
I’ve been saying this since before NF came out! Growing up with CTR just made MK feel horrid to me. I’ve tried to just have fun and be a team player but I’d literally rather sit out than play MK.
holy smokelinis that was great. this came up on my recommended and I'm so glad it did. 10/10 edits I could've sworn this was from a huge channel. keep it up!
aw thank you so much, really happy to hear that - i'll keep makin more 🥳
CTR will always hold a special place in my heart. The thrill of being a competitive player was immeasurable, I can't ever go back to Mario Kart with the experience and skill I have for this game.
That aside, the friends and memories I made during this game's active lifespan is something I will never forget.
Beenox really knocked it out of the park with the sheer level of fan-service and passion they put into the game.
Ctr NF is my favourite racing game, but no 60fps mode on a game that launched after xbox one x is dumb. Even modders managed to make a 60fps mode for the switch emulator. I know its a flawless 30fps, but still dumb for such a high skill racer
yeah nah that's a fair point
Whenever I play ctr online I'm just happy to place in top 3 so I can see my character s win animation
especially polar 😭
Wellll... Not that I'm trying to invalidate CTR's impeccable mechanics that play a big role into the shortcuts buuuuut... *There are several ultra shortcuts in Mario Kart 8*
so i have seen recently, fair point fair point
It happens the same to me. The original CTR is my favorite game of all time, and that made me playing it a lot in my life, thanks to that I know every shortcut and how to do the drift perfectly. Sadly my friends didn't played CTR when they were kids or even later in life, so I got stuck playing Mario Kart with them meanwhile I play CTR alone :(
(And I still play the original more than the remake, I just love the ps1 graphics and sounds)
Since you used Sonic Mania music in your video, Sonic All-star Racing Transformed is the 🐐 of racing games for me.
eyo we got a legend in the comments 😎
Great work here.
I actually skipped over this game when the trilogy came out thinking it was just a throw out game by the devs. But your review really is mkaing me regret that decision....think i may have to pick this one up now! Great video!
here's the perfect way to differentiate Mario Kart and CTR:
-Mario Kart is a cartoon being put into a go-kart racing
it drive like how you would expect a go-kart felt like, it's quite light and agile but still have it's weight
-CTR is a cartoon's spirit stuck inside a go-kart racing
it encourages you to go wacky and crazy as much as possible, do as much as jumps and drifts possible
You’re totally right here. I grew up with Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing but Nitro Fuelled is by far the best kart racing game in terms of mechanics and ceiling.
Also, the first few months of nitro fuelled online had a really strong community of skilled drivers.
Oh 100%. Doing time trials and Mario kart has a pretty hard limit on how fast you can go. I didn’t even know about the boosting with little hops in CTR
I ahve the same relationship with Sonic & All-Star Racing Transformed. Still my favorite kart racer ever and the skill ceiling is also quite high. I like CTR for it's purity, it's all skill and I love that... only real issue is it never released on PC. Would've been a killer app in a platform that severely lacks games in this genre with a population, especially with crossplay. What could've been. (CTR Source Port is out though! please give it a look!)
this is the best review for ctr that doesn't immediately trash down mk8d with no full criticisms for either game
ctr is great for comp, mk8d is great for casual
amazing video
The PS1 Crash games were my drug. Especially CTR, Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped and Crash Bash.
man i love warped, the music was epic
@@marlzeee Warped had great levels. My favorite was the one where she gets on the bear on the great wall of China.
so hard getting all the crates killed me
@marlzeee getting all the crates and the platinum trophy killed me
Good video.
As someone who has been playing CTR99 with my brother and cousin since its release in 3 Player mode we were sadly a bit disappointed in Nitro Fueled.
Don't get me wrong, Blue Fire is an awesome mechanic for single player and time trail but it kinda kills casual play. The whole meta is now about keeping blue fire.
Also the weapon balance is pretty messed up in NF. You don't get the Clock or Warp Orbs nearly as much as in the Original. This makes it even harder to catch up.
So more often than not the meta is about not getting hit in the start of round 1 and getting ahead. The rest of the race is free reign since there aren't enough opportunities for the other players to catch up. This was especially bad in online races where a lot of the time the bots would be much further back than the players locking them out of the already rare catchup weapons.
In the Original, because of the much more frequent good weapons, you of course would get hit a lot more often. But it also wasn't as frustrating since getting hit didn't slow you down as much. You could also sometimes bounce over walls and barricades which doesn't happen in the remake since your hitbox is locked to the ground. Or take for example driving into a green bottle. In CTR99 you could keep most of your speed by mashing jump. The main penalty was temporarly losing control over your kart. In the remake it slows you down to a halt.
So to sum it up:
CTR99 = Get hit a lot but getting hit is fun and makes for dynamic races with lots of changing positions
CTR:NF = Rarely get hit if you can get enough distance in the start
I haven't played enough MK8 to say this with enough confidence but I believe CTR99 might be an even more approachable game than Mario Kart 8 since in CTR99's Multiplayer there were no bots so the last place could always slow down the first place with warp orbs and not be stuck between the bots and human players with no catchup tools.
Also in the remake the walls dont bounce you off if you jump against them but instead suck up your speed which is super frustrating. :(
totally agree about the item balance, and yeah the wall bouncing was always great in the original 😭 very good points, thanks for taking the time :))))
Got CTR for my switch and couldn't get past the load times. If it was released on PC ( missed opportunity for a market without a good kart racer) I would jump in. 45-60 second wait times to load one race was too long for me though which sucks because it looks really fun.
I am waiting CTR discount on xsx as I heard its 30frame. Is it not really issue?
The drifting is definitely more engaging. With speed being tied to skill and not “difficulty” makes it a lot more rewarding to play.
I’d be all over this game if it were on PC. Sadly I don’t think it will happen.
bigSad 😭😭😭
3:00 - "The key things to note here" - very slick 👌
😎🔑
I already heard that this was the best racing game from Designing For over and over again.
I can probably, maybe, definitely not beat you. I have the switch version though, so I don't know if that's a potential issue.
hooh hoooohhh a challenge, you'll totally wipe the floor with me - i also have switch (as well as xbox) so join the discord and ill letcha know when i next stream 😎
@marlzeee I'm currently playing the new Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope game, maybe I'll practice CTR eventually.
THIS GAME IS JUST LIKE STARFOX ZERO FOR WII U, EVERYONE WHO SAY IS A BAD GAME IS BECAUSE HE NEVER MASTER IT.
and online is magically still somewhat alive (if you don't get kicked and are stuck in que for 20 min), so most people that I play with are all veterans. So it is a blast to play if you are decent in the game, but on release this game was amazing with new content constantly and everyone being still kinda dog so the growth of the player base was amazing to witness.
So, you mean to tell me that ctr is just a sequel to mario kart wii? damn that's sounds like a great game to me
naughty dog thinking that an alien cartoon villan would sink a cartoonish villan franchise
It's still insane to me that these companies remaster LITERALLY ANYTHING but we still haven't had any remaster or port of Nitro Fueled to new consoles. No PC version and not even a simple 60 fps update on ps5......
i was waiting for you to mention sacred fire and usf, these were the things that made it the best to me since ps1. awesome game exactly because of it's deeps systems and i love it
Jokes on you, Naughty Dog.
Oxide is awesome.
Why did Naughty Dog expect us to hate Oxide for being a new alien character when there was a level in Crash Bandicoot Warped where Crash raced against UFOs?
Not to mention Crash Bandicoot already had enough sci-fi elements to expect aliens to show up, and the previous game had just introduced time travel. Aliens were already expected for this series even if you didn't play the Area 51 level. There were mutant animals, mad scientist supervillains, jet packs, robots, cyborgs and even magical witch doctor animated voodoo masks. What would have been so rage inducing about an alien villain showing up? All Oxide did by showing up was reinforce Crash Bandicoot's place in the sci-fi genre. The next racing game had even more aliens and the tracks were set on four different planets. Nobody had a problem with that. Honestly, the only thing that seems out of place in this sci-fi setting are the masks.
I think this was the best crash game....no lie!
One thing I like about Mario Kart is the feeling of weight. Other kart racing games are missing this and it's just weird when you're driving. It's the same reason Smash Bros feels better to play than other smash-like games. The weight just gives that extra oomph.
good point, it's real satisfying smacking dry bones off the face of the universe as wario
That's probably just because you're too used to Mario kart so anything else feels different and for most people different = bad.
@@TheOnlyGokuMain Nah, I'm a CNC guy, and I didn't even grew up with MK.
CTR is amazing the remake even more so, Diddy Kong Racing was the game that inspired it and is also incredible, I love them both so don’t want to pick one over the other. I’d love a remake of Diddy Kong Racing too!
I’m actually not bad at CTR but after all these years and still learning and improving, I always panic when I do online and end up sucking. 😅
Now if the fuckers just released a PC port.. Don't get me wrong, performance on PS4 is good! Just saying, i'd definitely buy it again.
To add onto your point of the game not being too newcomer friendly is the lack of any online ranking system. Like, even Mario Kart has one despite being way more casual friendly (possibly to prevent newcomers from getting steamrolled now that I think about it)
I miss the skill I had when CTR was still getting updated. I just can't go back and play it because it feels so foreign to me now despite beating some Developer Times a couple years ago.
It's really sad too since when I was """good""" at CTR is was an awesome game to play.
This doesn't really feel like a Mario Kart clone, but more of a Diddy Kong Racing clone.
i have really gotta play this
Mario kart 8 deluxe: why do you guys always act like you are so much better than me?
Mario kart ds, mario kart wii, mario kart double dash and crash team racing nitro fueled: 🍷🗿
Mario kart 8 >>>>> Mario kart 8 deluxe
@@osvaldo128 true
CTR takes skill, mario kart punishes you for being in 1st
I played the OG without a memory card on the PS2 and beat the story with Dingodile without knowing of oddjob Penta Penguin cheat code......in 2004¡
My favourite part about Nitro-fueled is that they added real Rilla Roo after the initial monstrosity. - but kept both!
Only thing Nitro Fueled didn't do right (aside from bad online) was not making u-turning a properly usable mechanic. It requires holding down, which is just not accessible, nearly impossible on a joystick and still awful with the D-Pad as you still need to turn properly. The brake button just should've done that by itself. I mapped down to R2 on my PlayStation and R2+Brake was my standard mapping and I defeated all developer ghosts this way, but without that even the Velo ghosts would've been a pain in the ass.
No, I’m willing to hear you out. I’m a very big fan of Mario Kart, but I’ve heard some things about CTR here and there, and would like to hear what you have to say about it.
why thank you 🙏
I miss nitro fueled I wish there was a pc port so there would be a dedicated fan base
I still wish Mario Kart had some form of single player experience like a mission mode again
Well, we have 1:30 am now BUT I gonna play this game now. Again
let'S GOOOOO-
I absolutely adore CTR ! I love it , it was one of my childhood games i played back in the day
The only problem I have with it is that it is completely skill based even in adventure mode you still need to master boosting in order to beat oxide
Also , in the remaster they gave us Kart bodies and decals that don't effect your stats which is honestly disappointing , they are nothing but cosmetics
it is a shame that there's no gameplay effect in terms of the kart parts like there is in mariokart!! that would have been really cool i think
I put in some work on the time trials, but then I got bored cuz I couldn’t play with my lil sis so I sold it xD. It was fun single experience tho forsure
XD probably sensible
CTRNF blows MK8 out of the water but i will agree Multiplayer and online is way better in MK8 than CTR
Hope this gets a PC port so New comers and old fans could play at 60 fps
I don't even need to watch this, you've got my like on this video from the title alone
Taken from this video:
- Tracks in CTR require that you know and use ALL the shortcuts ALL the time.
- Ergo, why even build the rest of the tracks in the first place, when you are required to skip like 70% of them?
That, to me, is a great reason why Mario Kart might actually be a lot better.
Suppose you make it to the top of a mountain, what’s left for me but lightning and Master Wheels?
“Remaster”, it’s a remake my guy. Remakes are built from the ground up while remasters are just enhance HD ports of old games.
Any who, I always preferred CTR over Mario Kart. It’s more so because of bias, I wasn’t that into Mario growing up but I did like Mario Kart. Wish my friends got CTRNF but I see why they’re scared to race with or against me, not only that, they saw how CTRNF players played to the point where these sweat lords in FPS games said, Nah we’re good”, Instead they prefer to play MK8 since that doesn’t have any advance technique or at least as far as I know. It’s sad that CTRNF isn’t made for casuals, specifically for online while MK8, anyone can get a win.
This was a nice video, kinda reminded me of videogamedunkey's dunkviews. Well done!
eyyy thanks, appreciate it 💜 love a bit of dunk
I would love a PC version of this game
😭 me too
I just wish CTR had cross-play. As you say, it gets virtually everything else right but no cross-play is a death sentence for the online play from day 1. Real shame, couldve given the game a much longer relevancy.
cross play would have absolutely saved this game 😭
Dude… this was well done. 2023 and this vid inspired me to add CTR to my collection… Cheers
yo thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it ❤️
The CTR drift boost is really really cool, but I'd argue it raises the skill floor just as much as it raises the skill ceiling. I played a lot of Mario Kart DS as a kid and really liked that, but now when I look back on CTR and Mario kart DS I cant help but feel like their drift mechanics are poorly designed due to the fact that to play optimally you should be drifting 99% of the time, it makes the standard driving a bit of a redundant mechanic no?