Analyze the early (first 2 years) 3d releases vs end of life (last 2 years) 3d releases of the N64 and talk about what you think developers learned about game design artistically and gameplay wise
The visuals to the newly released shadow generations and comparing that to the stages they brought back. It'll also be cool to find out which generations campaign does a better job visually. If you do that, I'd tap into that frame 1.
Mario Kart 8 straight up looks like a PS4 game, with the only thing originally holding it back was the 720p resolution on Wii U (which was raised to 1080p with MK8DX on Switch).
@@2fernandoc1 seriously, 8 is still one of the best looking games on the Switch. IT IS LITERALLY A WII U GAME! I think Mario Kart 8's graphics looking as good as they do is one of the most impressive feats in game design history.
It's my opinion that Mario Karts have generally never been super impressive graphically. But then this game came out and absolutely blew away my expectations in 2013, and it STILL looks so damn good to this day, I don't get it. Actually it has such a strong style that a lot of the DLC courses added in the Switch rerelease didn't hold up to the originals to me. The tricks and stuff they used to make it look so good on this level hardware have to be insane. Still remember the very first course I played, Cloud Top Cruise. They did a demo for a saturday in gamestops, so my friend and I went in to check it out, looking at that combine with the god tier orchestra music was insane to me. Like, I love Mario Kart Wii, but I'll be damned if that game isn't kind of ugly, jumping from that to 8 was crazy. I hope they've got something rivalling this title cooking for Switch 2, it's about time it was put to rest and considering the improved tech Switch 2 is set to have, they could do some absolutely insane stuff with lighting and textures, especially considering what we're seeing on limited hardware already looks so damn great.
The Super Mario Kart blue number one represents your player. Player 1 has a number 1, player 2 has a number 2. This is also why half the screen is a zoomed out view of the course, as the game was designed with two players in mind
I like how this video is basically a showcase of how nostalgia plays a big role in how we perceive things. Every single section the narrator(s) fawns over MK8, explains why it's technically better in pretty much every aspect and then at the end gives it some arbitrary lower number than some pre DS era game cuz reasons.
I like the video, but the placement scoring after each category always feels a bit anti-climatic. MK8 always gets the most praise but then never really ends up with the most points 😅.
Its pretty funny. "This is incredible, the attention to detail and originality is top notch, i cannot sing its praises any further" >Gets 2nd place. Great video regardless though. I always love deep dives like this.
I'd argue Mario Kart Wii is the worst looking. They made a muddy game low res game (Nothing wrong with it) and instead of trying a different stylization for it they just threw A TON of bloom over it
it's soft focus, a lot of Nintendo games on the Wii looked like that, possibly because it was during the transition between SD and HD and soft focus gives a more inviting and ethereal vibe than realism + jaggies. Probably nostalgia talking but I like it
@monochromemiku7983 its just that i noticed that he always glazed 8 way more and proceeded to give it 2nd or 3rd place for some reason. As if he already decided his list, and made the video from there
@@CEOofAustralia but you can't compare SMK and MK8 as if they were developed with the same advantages, that makes no sense. MK8 looks the best *because* it borrowed from what the previous games established, with 22 years of hindsight. It doesn't exist in a vacuum.
One of the best video essays out there. This video has reinvigorated my passion for game design UI principles, and just the amount of hard work and dedication that goes into every frame of a game. You truly deserve all of the love and attention that this video receives. Keep up the good work.
Honestly one of the most entertaining videos I've seen, I would have liked to see an honorable mention for the booster course pass since after the second wave it started to have its own style apart from tour and mk8 for the courses
yeah an ass style. imo it’s an insulting misunderstanding of both 8 deluxe and tours visual styles by attempting to mash them together in very unnatural ways
@@meisterwu8922 I never really cared if it was low quality i always liked how the models look like, as a 3D modeller myself i can see that the models aren't the problem but the lack of time adapt and port the models to MK8 correctly was the problem
I really like the place number disappearing just before you finish the race in MK8. As you said it's great for suspense but also helps alot with lag online because if it says you were first but the results say second you'd be pissed
Love how broad yet in depth your analysis of the games is, usually people either point out the surface level details they like about a game or only focus on their specific area of expertise. Genuinely one of the best video's I've seen in a while, looking forward to whatever you make next!
I love how when Deku mentions the creative solutions made in graphic design due to hardware limitations and then we see fucking Wario stadium and its infinite sea of Wario jpgs on a single color blue background
this video is incredible, I was completely convinced you were some big name with at least a million views on this video until after watching the whole thing and scrolling down! I really love how well done this is formatted and all, excellent stuff!!
would of been better as a sort of "evolution of visuals/graphics in mario kart" rather then a poorly weighted points system that feels slightly biased. cool video :3
> 759 subscribers at the time of writing this > randomly uploads a long-ass masterpiece of breaking down important points of Mario Karts iconic design neat!
How do you only have 400 subs. You deeply analyse each aspect down to the smalest detail (even fun stuff like counting the amout of times each character is shown in the super circuit credits) and put a lot of thought as well as research into it and it shows. This is super high quality. I hope to see your channel grow. :)
I always learn so much from these videos! It's fascinating how much work was put into the visual stuff since the very first game. This video was awesome!! And you did a great job at keeping the whole thing interesting while showcasing all the cool details that make each game so unique from one another. So happy to have worked on this!
This felt Like a Video from a 500k subs channel Like holy. The editing and quality is Instant and the Way my jaw dropped when I saw you only had 423 subs. Honestly insane you earned a new subscriber :)
This is the first time I’ve seen one of your videos and DAMN dude this was really good! The editing and visuals were awesome! Keep up the great work, looking forward to more!
Amazing video, usually a video with this title would be super surface level with a tier list on top, but this one impressively goes over eeeeverything mario kart I'd love to see this kind of in depth analysis for rich and diverse series like kirby and sonic
I'm like half-way through the video as I'm typing this, but most of the "What the heck is this?"-design decisions are usually a direct reference or a play on some sort of racing esthetic that the video-makers didn't know about (or came across as clueless about), like the checkerboard theme being a goal-flag pattern (which is common in many racing-styled stuff), although some things they mention in passing (seemingly without knowing about it) and then later when they reference it again, it is more accurate (the monitors on the player select screen in SMK for example). I also found the pronunciation of Grand Prix as "Grand Pricks" very amusing! This is a lovely video however, and none of this is meant as harsh criticism! It's very well made as well; and possibly it was little bit of a learning experience for the makers of it, when it comes to motor-sports in general? Either way; thanks for the great video!
I appreciate the feedback! We're both always looking to improve so this is really helpful. Since this project did take over two months of production (at least on my end, JP probably took a bit longer considering how big the video is) I kept running into this line of thinking where I thought I mentioned something already but completely forgot to, so I had to fix it in post. Also yes, Grand Pricks is one of many words I pronounce wrong lol. Glad you found it amusing because most people were losing their minds in the comments about it. You look like a Sonic fan, how do you pronounce Hydrocity Zone? hahaha
@ You’re welcome, and I’m glad you think so! I totally understand that the workflow (and knowing what’s been said and done) is difficult on a massive group project like this! I shouldn’t be surprised some people got angry I guess, but I think it’s a very innocent (and funny) mistake to make! And besides; now you know! Hahaha, good question; I know it’s been a hot topic!! Personally, I call it “Hydro City Zone” and not ‘Hydrossity Zone’! This might be in part because I don’t think I knew the word “velocity” when I was 7 years old and played Sonic Mega Collection (I didn’t know much English at all, to be fair, but I’m sure I knew“city”). It’s also quite in line with the other names and, from a meta-perspective (and hopefully not sounding condescending; I’m only talking about the likelihood of it), I’m not sure how likely it is that these Japanese developers back then would’ve been good enough at English to make such an advanced pun? (Unless it’s called something else in Japanese, and that name came to be in the localization? I don’t actually know!)
Can I just say this video should win the HUD Cup, because by golly I love your visual style. The gray version of the logos you use are also a really visually pleasing touch, great watch!
Wow, the animations in this video (in addition to everything else) are really good! This channel must have a fair amount of- JUST FIVE HUNDREDS SUBSCRIBERS???? This is outrageous!
ive only watched a bit of this video but im kinda blown away by the amount of effort and editing put into it compared with the amount of views/subs you have, it's really impressive. keep at it bro
I really appreciate your very in depth time stamps, it’s super useful, I was watching this at like 3 am and fell asleep but I remembered the last thing I saw and was able to skip directly to it rather then skipping around trying to find where I was
Actively going out of your way to include the names of all the art team members for each game at the end made me so, so happy. You are a class act for having an extended segment crediting all the wonderful talented people who crafted these worlds for us to get lost in. Even Nintendo themselves seemingly has an aversion to doing that (Nintendo Music comes to mind) so as an artist myself serious props to you for spotlighting them. Hope to see more vids like this from you and good luck growing your channel!!
Excellent work! This video really scratched an itch for me. I agree Double Dash has the best visuals in the series, it all comes together to make the game feel so lively.
crazy good video man. was nice to learn little details about these games that i never knew-it got brought up a few times in the video, but it's one of the reasons why i love splatoon. this level of care and detail being put into games is so special to me, and it's nice to see that highlighted and appreciated like this. the style of ranking their performances in 'cups' is also super fun :) also @ 1:35:21 i would be so down for that lol
The top 4 character portraits during a race are so you'll form grudges against specific racers. In some games this was paired with a rival system where one racer would always be right on your ass being extra aggressive, and seeing them rising up the ranks to reach you would make you scramble for a protective item.
This video has an insane amount of detail and I’m barely ten minutes into it. Well done! If I had to pick my favorite looking out of all of them it’s definitely Double Dash. Every character and every thing is so well animated and lively. I remember buying the game as a kid after I had played Wii for a couple years, and being confused as to why the game looked better when it was on worse hardware
17:29 im glad SOMEONE noticed how the image of the key landmark was outlined. However, the same cannot be said for the dlc cup images. I guess the designers forgot about that detail 🤷
I wasn't expecting a video with editing this great from a channel with less than 1000 subs, this was really fun to watch! IIRC you were able to buy some of those banners you talked about for Mario Kart Live Home Circuit with My Nintendo platinum points, so I think Nintendo also knew how iconic they are
This is an absolutely fantastic video, especially from a channel of your size. Something I specifically want to note is that usually in my experience, collaborations do not usually give much of substance to the main material of the video, but I did feel that this collaboration was integrated very well into the style of the video as well as DekuGamer providing some valuable insight into the design philosophy of the Mario Kart franchise. Assuming videos are of this caliber moving forward, you can consider me a subscriber.
Thank you so much for the kind words! So happy to hear you liked the graphic design parts. I always enjoy working with JP on these types of videos because we share an appreciation for video game visuals that I feel works well together, so I'm thrilled to hear you enjoyed the collaboration!
One Thing about the Color Picker in Mario Kart DS Emblem Maker: It help's with Color Blindness. If you want to use the same color u did before, but are red-green blind, you can still pick the same shade of green with that for example.
8 deluxe just looks so fantastic. Everything looks so brilliant and shiny. It blew me away when I played it for the first time. Nintendo really knows their hardware, man.
MK8DX *DEFINITELY* has the best visuals (only the base game) but like, the reason why it's in 3rd place all because of the visuals of the whole *ENTIRETY* of the booster course pass being WAY much more than INFINITY times worse than the visuals of the base game
@@Daymare19 Ohhhhhhhhh. And yeah I'd *DEFINITELY* say the ranking of the visuals between each Mario Kart game is rigged too, and I cannot believe he would put 64 in 1st place position, like, seriously, 64 looks way much more than INFINITIES worse than MK8/MK8DX
he made some great points for double dash, I agree with most of them. but no, double dash still shouldn't have won. 8d is objectively the most visually appealing game by far
I have not seen the whole video yet (I've also only ever played Mario Kart Wii, and not when it was new) but I was blown away when I realized a bunch of posters and other graphical elements sampled the Miis loaded on your system. your Miis appear in some posters in Coconut Mall, and are driving the cars in the parking lot, for example. edit: ah the posters are in the video. nice!
This is a really amazing video, and comes from a perspective that is SEVERELY underrepresented in video game design analysis. These things that few people will notice are often what makes the biggest difference between a polished and unpolished game. That being said, I'm not sure I agree with presenting this video in a ranking format. The rankings felt really arbitrary, sort of went against what you said, and gave the impression that MK8 was rigged to not get first place. I mean, even considering the time/hardware, 8DX is still one of the best looking games on the Switch in pretty much every aspect even 7 years later. And it is a Wii U game!!! I think just presenting this video as a review/deep dive would have been better, since comparing games across multiple decades is always going to be a little bit unfair imo.
Mario kart DS logo is actually smart as hell. The red squares are supposed to represent an artistic depiction of the road. And the 2 of them represent the DS’ dual screen. When you look at it sideways, you can see it better
For me, the Double Dash and Wii aesthetics are the best. DD might be more cartoony with loads of inanimate objects having eyes, but that adds to the charm. MKWii tows the line between realistic and cartoony, and it always makes me ponder on what's beyond the track boundaries. The first three games are also quite good for their liminal feeling, but DS and 7 are quite similar to Double Dash and Wii just on a smaller scale. Mario Kart 8 has the advantage of visually impressive tracks, and the Tour/Booster Course Pass style is oddly appealing because it's almost like the Wii style in modern day. Every Mario Kart has a unique style, and it's ultimately a matter of taste that decides which one looks the best.
The Lakitu design from Super Circuit is indeed a leftover from the "big head" era! One of the only piece of footage we have from that era shows Lakitu being identical to how it was in the final game.
I hate that we're at a place in the RUclips algorithm where it's advantageous to give videos titles that don't accurately represent their content. But I suppose it can't be helped. I just started, so I'm strapping in for the ride. 23:51 hey now, the cloud IS helping. It's carrying the weight of both Lakitu AND the kart. =P 36:52 I'm 99% certain that isn't Rockwell. I don't know what it is though. 49:06 Technically speaking, the general spacing between characters is called "tracking." "Kerning" doesn't refer to the space between letters, but rather the process of tuning the space between two characters to ensure proportional consistency. 1:40:18 I’m betting the next game will be called Mario Kart 10. Or maybe X. But I believe Nintendo counts Tour as “9.” Very informative video overall! There’s some bits of information that I think could be better or more accurately conveyed, and I don’t agree on all the value assignments given to arrive at the scores, but it’s nice seeing someone focus on some of the most overlooked aspects of the game’s visual design. Good stuff!
This video is GREAT Not only is it a great reference for how game design can be done best by tackling things like UI which is lovely to listen about But old graphics need more credit, not PS1 stuff but early-mid 2010s, Nintendo had crazy shaders & materials back then and I miss it compared to the more "realistic" approach you keep seeing nowadays, sometimes it used to look like rubber or something, and shadows would be hand painted and so colorful, it was really pretty
gr8 video, never thought anyone would give this much.. thought to their visuals, its all interesting but what motivated you to make a 1 hour video about this?
The position counter disappears before the finish line to hide how laggy online races can be. I've seen people finish miles ahead of second and still come in behind them.
I always thought that the Item Box in Double Dash was meant to represent a slot machine screen or something. I like how that shape is even reused in MK7 for the kart selection roulette. As someone who occasionally makes custom tracks in Mario Kart Wii, this video is one of the best videos that analyzes Mario Kart's graphics. I love exploring the tracks throughout the series and seeing how devs do certain things like modeling tricks, graphical techniques, and textures. I always try and make my custom tracks feel like an extension of the Mario universe. Overall, amazing video. My favorite section was about the Graphic Design for track advertisements. The bit at 1:27:27 tho 💀
Spoiler: Of course Double Dash wins, because it is the GOAT. Nintendo never tried the tandem kart mechanics again because they knew they couldn't improve what was already perfect.
Honestly I like the change the shell orientation better the red and green shell and that reason for color blind people could tell the different between the red and green shell being before DS it was very hard to tell the difference between a red and green shell especially if you red and green color blind
I remember there being a moment in time where a lot games were heavily using the bloom effect during the Wii days. Even PS3 and Xbox 360 games were cranking that up too. I guess it helped make games look more modern back then? Regardless I don't know what they were trying to go for with Mario Kart Wii.
Let me know know what games you'd like me to analyze next! :D
The evaluation of pokemon, i.e., how the games changed over time and depending on the technical at that time the games launched
Analyze the early (first 2 years) 3d releases vs end of life (last 2 years) 3d releases of the N64 and talk about what you think developers learned about game design artistically and gameplay wise
NINJALA
Minecraft through the years
The visuals to the newly released shadow generations and comparing that to the stages they brought back. It'll also be cool to find out which generations campaign does a better job visually.
If you do that, I'd tap into that frame 1.
you know theres gotta be one developer out there whos hyped someone recognized all their hard work making those billboards
The billboards deserve the hype tbh. Consistently great work throughout the franchise! Even their "weaker" designs were striving for greatness
The billboards and ads in 8 are so subtle but do so many cool things for the lore
8's graphics blew my dad away when he first saw them. The visuals in that game are so well-crafted
Mario Kart 8 straight up looks like a PS4 game, with the only thing originally holding it back was the 720p resolution on Wii U (which was raised to 1080p with MK8DX on Switch).
@@2fernandoc1 seriously, 8 is still one of the best looking games on the Switch. IT IS LITERALLY A WII U GAME! I think Mario Kart 8's graphics looking as good as they do is one of the most impressive feats in game design history.
It's my opinion that Mario Karts have generally never been super impressive graphically. But then this game came out and absolutely blew away my expectations in 2013, and it STILL looks so damn good to this day, I don't get it. Actually it has such a strong style that a lot of the DLC courses added in the Switch rerelease didn't hold up to the originals to me. The tricks and stuff they used to make it look so good on this level hardware have to be insane.
Still remember the very first course I played, Cloud Top Cruise. They did a demo for a saturday in gamestops, so my friend and I went in to check it out, looking at that combine with the god tier orchestra music was insane to me. Like, I love Mario Kart Wii, but I'll be damned if that game isn't kind of ugly, jumping from that to 8 was crazy.
I hope they've got something rivalling this title cooking for Switch 2, it's about time it was put to rest and considering the improved tech Switch 2 is set to have, they could do some absolutely insane stuff with lighting and textures, especially considering what we're seeing on limited hardware already looks so damn great.
@@2fernandoc1the wii u does have 1080p but only some games support it (the home menu supports it)
@@limeanimatesexperiencing the home menu in glorious HD is all I need in my life
Mario kart 8 looked fucking INSANE for a wii u game. Easiest win ever.
I still don’t understand how they made 8 and Xenoblade X look so good
@@rhettmitchellto me it’s like, clearly they are capable but just do not try hard enough
The Super Mario Kart blue number one represents your player. Player 1 has a number 1, player 2 has a number 2. This is also why half the screen is a zoomed out view of the course, as the game was designed with two players in mind
I was just about to comment this
1:05:33 "This was 1996, so explosions weren't invented for another 5 years" 👁👄👁
A fucked up but funny as hell thing to say tbh
I like how this video is basically a showcase of how nostalgia plays a big role in how we perceive things. Every single section the narrator(s) fawns over MK8, explains why it's technically better in pretty much every aspect and then at the end gives it some arbitrary lower number than some pre DS era game cuz reasons.
2:48 probably it's the player number so you know who's player 1 and who's player 2
it is
Exactly right ✅️
You got it!
It is but also player 2 is always on the bottom so it's a little redundant
@@EliteOcto I think p1 on top and p2 is already intuitive, but the extra clarity for first-time players never hurts.
I've always felt like the backgrounds of Super Circuit are some of the most gorgeous things in Mario Kart.
Yeah it's really good art for its time, cheep cheep island is so great looking, it better be in the next mario kart
I like the video, but the placement scoring after each category always feels a bit anti-climatic. MK8 always gets the most praise but then never really ends up with the most points 😅.
Vid felt like he first decided 8 should not win and then made the video from there.
Its pretty funny.
"This is incredible, the attention to detail and originality is top notch, i cannot sing its praises any further"
>Gets 2nd place.
Great video regardless though. I always love deep dives like this.
I'd argue Mario Kart Wii is the worst looking. They made a muddy game low res game (Nothing wrong with it) and instead of trying a different stylization for it they just threw A TON of bloom over it
The bloom honestly hurts my eyes at times
Who tf pissed on the screen!?
it's soft focus, a lot of Nintendo games on the Wii looked like that, possibly because it was during the transition between SD and HD and soft focus gives a more inviting and ethereal vibe than realism + jaggies. Probably nostalgia talking but I like it
Huh I love how Wii looks, maybe I just love my bloom lol, but come on at least all the characters have legs unlike DS :P
The bloom looks great, what do you mean
i love how about 80% of the gameplay clips cut off right before the player gets totally obliterated by something lmaoo
TBH, that’s pretty normal Mario Kart gameplay, lol.
8: clearly im going to win, i score the best on all departments.
Nostalgia: hehehe... YOU FOOL!
Not nostalgia, Double Dash just looks gorgeous
sounds like you need to re-watch the first 30 seconds of the video
@monochromemiku7983 its just that i noticed that he always glazed 8 way more and proceeded to give it 2nd or 3rd place for some reason. As if he already decided his list, and made the video from there
@@Mr.Starlight_gaming it's because being the first one to do X gives more points than doing X better which is kinda stupid imo
@@CEOofAustralia but you can't compare SMK and MK8 as if they were developed with the same advantages, that makes no sense. MK8 looks the best *because* it borrowed from what the previous games established, with 22 years of hindsight. It doesn't exist in a vacuum.
One of the best video essays out there. This video has reinvigorated my passion for game design UI principles, and just the amount of hard work and dedication that goes into every frame of a game. You truly deserve all of the love and attention that this video receives. Keep up the good work.
Honestly one of the most entertaining videos I've seen, I would have liked to see an honorable mention for the booster course pass since after the second wave it started to have its own style apart from tour and mk8 for the courses
yeah an ass style. imo it’s an insulting misunderstanding of both 8 deluxe and tours visual styles by attempting to mash them together in very unnatural ways
Calling the bare minimum that went into development of most booster course tracks as “its own style” is certainly something.
@@meisterwu8922 I never really cared if it was low quality i always liked how the models look like, as a 3D modeller myself i can see that the models aren't the problem but the lack of time adapt and port the models to MK8 correctly was the problem
I really like the place number disappearing just before you finish the race in MK8. As you said it's great for suspense but also helps alot with lag online because if it says you were first but the results say second you'd be pissed
Love how broad yet in depth your analysis of the games is, usually people either point out the surface level details they like about a game or only focus on their specific area of expertise.
Genuinely one of the best video's I've seen in a while, looking forward to whatever you make next!
the transition at 50:32 did NOT have to go that hard
I love how when Deku mentions the creative solutions made in graphic design due to hardware limitations and then we see fucking Wario stadium and its infinite sea of Wario jpgs on a single color blue background
It's so funny that the devs came up with THAT as their solution lol. It definitely stands out from everything else
50:32 that transition was CLEAN
Glad somebody noticed ;)
flashbang
this video was there for me when nobody else was, thanks
this video is incredible, I was completely convinced you were some big name with at least a million views on this video until after watching the whole thing and scrolling down! I really love how well done this is formatted and all, excellent stuff!!
3:01 I'm almost certain this is the player slot you are. It will say 2 if you are player 2
Edit: I checked and yes, I am correct
My exact thought when I saw that
would of been better as a sort of "evolution of visuals/graphics in mario kart" rather then a poorly weighted points system that feels slightly biased. cool video :3
> 759 subscribers at the time of writing this
> randomly uploads a long-ass masterpiece of breaking down important points of Mario Karts iconic design
neat!
The world building in Mario kart 8 is something I’ve always noticed, but I didn’t realise the other games have their own merit
How do you only have 400 subs. You deeply analyse each aspect down to the smalest detail (even fun stuff like counting the amout of times each character is shown in the super circuit credits) and put a lot of thought as well as research into it and it shows. This is super high quality. I hope to see your channel grow. :)
47:48 i was NOT expecting a shortcat reference lol
I always learn so much from these videos! It's fascinating how much work was put into the visual stuff since the very first game. This video was awesome!! And you did a great job at keeping the whole thing interesting while showcasing all the cool details that make each game so unique from one another. So happy to have worked on this!
Love your editing, hope your channel gets more recognition!
This felt Like a Video from a 500k subs channel Like holy. The editing and quality is Instant and the Way my jaw dropped when I saw you only had 423 subs. Honestly insane you earned a new subscriber :)
Thanks so much :D
@ Yw Mate :)
This is the first time I’ve seen one of your videos and DAMN dude this was really good! The editing and visuals were awesome! Keep up the great work, looking forward to more!
This video is probably one of the best productions I’ve ever seen from a small channel. Take my sub 💚
52:57 getting crushed to get the billboard in frame is nasty
Amazing video, usually a video with this title would be super surface level with a tier list on top, but this one impressively goes over eeeeverything mario kart
I'd love to see this kind of in depth analysis for rich and diverse series like kirby and sonic
Thank you :D
Great video, dude. I just looked at your previous videos and it looks like I’m in for a treat.
How does this guy not even have 1k subs?
this is such a great and well thought out video! the quality of the video made me think you had at least 1 million subs!!
awesome video! your analysis is really well considered and informed, made me really wanna play these games again, subscribed!
39:57 'grand pricks'🤔
it's so difficult to say "grahn pree", evidently
@@Raidraptor_-_Ultimate_Falcon It's very difficult fr
What a phenomenal video, thanks RUclips recommended.
I'm like half-way through the video as I'm typing this, but most of the "What the heck is this?"-design decisions are usually a direct reference or a play on some sort of racing esthetic that the video-makers didn't know about (or came across as clueless about), like the checkerboard theme being a goal-flag pattern (which is common in many racing-styled stuff), although some things they mention in passing (seemingly without knowing about it) and then later when they reference it again, it is more accurate (the monitors on the player select screen in SMK for example).
I also found the pronunciation of Grand Prix as "Grand Pricks" very amusing!
This is a lovely video however, and none of this is meant as harsh criticism! It's very well made as well; and possibly it was little bit of a learning experience for the makers of it, when it comes to motor-sports in general?
Either way; thanks for the great video!
I appreciate the feedback! We're both always looking to improve so this is really helpful. Since this project did take over two months of production (at least on my end, JP probably took a bit longer considering how big the video is) I kept running into this line of thinking where I thought I mentioned something already but completely forgot to, so I had to fix it in post. Also yes, Grand Pricks is one of many words I pronounce wrong lol. Glad you found it amusing because most people were losing their minds in the comments about it. You look like a Sonic fan, how do you pronounce Hydrocity Zone? hahaha
@ You’re welcome, and I’m glad you think so!
I totally understand that the workflow (and knowing what’s been said and done) is difficult on a massive group project like this!
I shouldn’t be surprised some people got angry I guess, but I think it’s a very innocent (and funny) mistake to make!
And besides; now you know!
Hahaha, good question; I know it’s been a hot topic!! Personally, I call it “Hydro City Zone” and not ‘Hydrossity Zone’! This might be in part because I don’t think I knew the word “velocity” when I was 7 years old and played Sonic Mega Collection (I didn’t know much English at all, to be fair, but I’m sure I knew“city”).
It’s also quite in line with the other names and, from a meta-perspective (and hopefully not sounding condescending; I’m only talking about the likelihood of it), I’m not sure how likely it is that these Japanese developers back then would’ve been good enough at English to make such an advanced pun?
(Unless it’s called something else in Japanese, and that name came to be in the localization? I don’t actually know!)
Randomly stumbled across this video, was not disappointed! Interesting breakthrough, learned a lot of things. Thanks!
Can I just say this video should win the HUD Cup, because by golly I love your visual style. The gray version of the logos you use are also a really visually pleasing touch, great watch!
Wow, the animations in this video (in addition to everything else) are really good! This channel must have a fair amount of- JUST FIVE HUNDREDS SUBSCRIBERS???? This is outrageous!
Very high quality video! I really liked it all the way through
ive only watched a bit of this video but im kinda blown away by the amount of effort and editing put into it compared with the amount of views/subs you have, it's really impressive. keep at it bro
it is CRIMINAL that this guy has only ~500 subs. not 500k, 500. it's so clear that the youtube algorithm only treats some people well
Just how it be, clearly the algorithm likes this video so probably his lucky break innit?
I really appreciate your very in depth time stamps, it’s super useful, I was watching this at like 3 am and fell asleep but I remembered the last thing I saw and was able to skip directly to it rather then skipping around trying to find where I was
Actively going out of your way to include the names of all the art team members for each game at the end made me so, so happy. You are a class act for having an extended segment crediting all the wonderful talented people who crafted these worlds for us to get lost in. Even Nintendo themselves seemingly has an aversion to doing that (Nintendo Music comes to mind) so as an artist myself serious props to you for spotlighting them. Hope to see more vids like this from you and good luck growing your channel!!
Excellent work! This video really scratched an itch for me. I agree Double Dash has the best visuals in the series, it all comes together to make the game feel so lively.
It was a pleasant surprise to see a section dedicated to the people behind the visuals. Great work!
1:00:40 Just wanna add that the red & green shells facing different directions is also meant to help people with red-green color blindness! ✨
Great video! You're gonna go far, cause you've got a real talent for editing and analysis. Keep it up! :D
Everything about this video is brilliant
Wow, this video is *SO* well made, genuinely surprised you don't have more subs cause this is some top-tier analysis content
Guys, I think it’s that one
I have always had a passion for the way that each Mariokart game looks in terms of visuals.
This video is amazing.
crazy good video man. was nice to learn little details about these games that i never knew-it got brought up a few times in the video, but it's one of the reasons why i love splatoon. this level of care and detail being put into games is so special to me, and it's nice to see that highlighted and appreciated like this. the style of ranking their performances in 'cups' is also super fun :)
also @ 1:35:21 i would be so down for that lol
The top 4 character portraits during a race are so you'll form grudges against specific racers. In some games this was paired with a rival system where one racer would always be right on your ass being extra aggressive, and seeing them rising up the ranks to reach you would make you scramble for a protective item.
47:48 HE SAID THE THING
You deserve way more subscribes, really cool video
Great video and editing. You need more subscribers
This video has an insane amount of detail and I’m barely ten minutes into it. Well done! If I had to pick my favorite looking out of all of them it’s definitely Double Dash. Every character and every thing is so well animated and lively. I remember buying the game as a kid after I had played Wii for a couple years, and being confused as to why the game looked better when it was on worse hardware
this editing is insane idk who edited it but whoever did it did an amazing job!
17:29 im glad SOMEONE noticed how the image of the key landmark was outlined. However, the same cannot be said for the dlc cup images. I guess the designers forgot about that detail 🤷
I wasn't expecting a video with editing this great from a channel with less than 1000 subs, this was really fun to watch! IIRC you were able to buy some of those banners you talked about for Mario Kart Live Home Circuit with My Nintendo platinum points, so I think Nintendo also knew how iconic they are
Oh snap! A interesting video essay out of the blue! I guess my recommended feed is working
This is an absolutely fantastic video, especially from a channel of your size. Something I specifically want to note is that usually in my experience, collaborations do not usually give much of substance to the main material of the video, but I did feel that this collaboration was integrated very well into the style of the video as well as DekuGamer providing some valuable insight into the design philosophy of the Mario Kart franchise.
Assuming videos are of this caliber moving forward, you can consider me a subscriber.
Thank you so much for the kind words! So happy to hear you liked the graphic design parts. I always enjoy working with JP on these types of videos because we share an appreciation for video game visuals that I feel works well together, so I'm thrilled to hear you enjoyed the collaboration!
R.I.P. Mario Kart Tour
One Thing about the Color Picker in Mario Kart DS Emblem Maker: It help's with Color Blindness. If you want to use the same color u did before, but are red-green blind, you can still pick the same shade of green with that for example.
this is a great idea for a video, would be cool to see you do this on other series, such as zelda, or mainline mario games.
8 deluxe just looks so fantastic. Everything looks so brilliant and shiny. It blew me away when I played it for the first time. Nintendo really knows their hardware, man.
tdlr? i cant be bothered to hear about how mario kart 8 dx doesn't have the best graphics (even tho it does)
MK8DX *DEFINITELY* has the best visuals (only the base game) but like, the reason why it's in 3rd place all because of the visuals of the whole *ENTIRETY* of the booster course pass being WAY much more than INFINITY times worse than the visuals of the base game
@@nolanjthesupergoanimator2909they literally said they don't include the BCP and it still got 3rd. It was rigged all along for double dash
@@Daymare19 Ohhhhhhhhh. And yeah I'd *DEFINITELY* say the ranking of the visuals between each Mario Kart game is rigged too, and I cannot believe he would put 64 in 1st place position, like, seriously, 64 looks way much more than INFINITIES worse than MK8/MK8DX
the fact that MK8/DX are in HD alone makes them look better, it's not really a competition
he made some great points for double dash, I agree with most of them. but no, double dash still shouldn't have won. 8d is objectively the most visually appealing game by far
I have not seen the whole video yet (I've also only ever played Mario Kart Wii, and not when it was new) but I was blown away when I realized a bunch of posters and other graphical elements sampled the Miis loaded on your system. your Miis appear in some posters in Coconut Mall, and are driving the cars in the parking lot, for example.
edit: ah the posters are in the video. nice!
Deserves way more views man!
i love the first four placement boxes, it really makes me wanna beat whoever's ahead of me and to get to first
This is a really amazing video, and comes from a perspective that is SEVERELY underrepresented in video game design analysis. These things that few people will notice are often what makes the biggest difference between a polished and unpolished game.
That being said, I'm not sure I agree with presenting this video in a ranking format. The rankings felt really arbitrary, sort of went against what you said, and gave the impression that MK8 was rigged to not get first place. I mean, even considering the time/hardware, 8DX is still one of the best looking games on the Switch in pretty much every aspect even 7 years later. And it is a Wii U game!!! I think just presenting this video as a review/deep dive would have been better, since comparing games across multiple decades is always going to be a little bit unfair imo.
Well "minimap" for Super Mario Kart makes sense, because it uses Mode 7, and switches with either the 2nd player or the minimap.
Mario kart DS logo is actually smart as hell. The red squares are supposed to represent an artistic depiction of the road. And the 2 of them represent the DS’ dual screen. When you look at it sideways, you can see it better
For me, the Double Dash and Wii aesthetics are the best. DD might be more cartoony with loads of inanimate objects having eyes, but that adds to the charm. MKWii tows the line between realistic and cartoony, and it always makes me ponder on what's beyond the track boundaries. The first three games are also quite good for their liminal feeling, but DS and 7 are quite similar to Double Dash and Wii just on a smaller scale. Mario Kart 8 has the advantage of visually impressive tracks, and the Tour/Booster Course Pass style is oddly appealing because it's almost like the Wii style in modern day. Every Mario Kart has a unique style, and it's ultimately a matter of taste that decides which one looks the best.
You forgot the individual character music in the snes mario kart 😭
This video is about visuals not sound tho
3D slider all the way up gang! 😎
The Lakitu design from Super Circuit is indeed a leftover from the "big head" era! One of the only piece of footage we have from that era shows Lakitu being identical to how it was in the final game.
I hate that we're at a place in the RUclips algorithm where it's advantageous to give videos titles that don't accurately represent their content. But I suppose it can't be helped. I just started, so I'm strapping in for the ride.
23:51 hey now, the cloud IS helping. It's carrying the weight of both Lakitu AND the kart. =P
36:52 I'm 99% certain that isn't Rockwell. I don't know what it is though.
49:06 Technically speaking, the general spacing between characters is called "tracking." "Kerning" doesn't refer to the space between letters, but rather the process of tuning the space between two characters to ensure proportional consistency.
1:40:18 I’m betting the next game will be called Mario Kart 10. Or maybe X. But I believe Nintendo counts Tour as “9.”
Very informative video overall! There’s some bits of information that I think could be better or more accurately conveyed, and I don’t agree on all the value assignments given to arrive at the scores, but it’s nice seeing someone focus on some of the most overlooked aspects of the game’s visual design. Good stuff!
Brief summary: It is Mario Kart 8 lol
This video is GREAT
Not only is it a great reference for how game design can be done best by tackling things like UI which is lovely to listen about
But old graphics need more credit, not PS1 stuff but early-mid 2010s, Nintendo had crazy shaders & materials back then and I miss it compared to the more "realistic" approach you keep seeing nowadays, sometimes it used to look like rubber or something, and shadows would be hand painted and so colorful, it was really pretty
489 subs is criminal Im soo subscribing
gr8 video, never thought anyone would give this much.. thought to their visuals, its all interesting but what motivated you to make a 1 hour video about this?
I'm surprised you didn't mention that MKDS has a special animation when having the starman, something that no other games have
It was the only time this had an animation, however its just a re-use of the character select/victory animation.
The position counter disappears before the finish line to hide how laggy online races can be. I've seen people finish miles ahead of second and still come in behind them.
The number in the Super Mario Kart item box at the start of races simply shows which player slot you're in - one or two.
I assumed that the color to represent player one would be red because like, Mario, the main character of a bunch of games, usually player 1, is red
One thing about the trick animations in 8 is that you choose one by holding the left analog stick in different directions whilst tricking
MARIO KART DS HATER DETECTED
I remember being able to play races by only looking at the bottom screen on the ds which I found pretty interesting lmao
I always thought that the Item Box in Double Dash was meant to represent a slot machine screen or something. I like how that shape is even reused in MK7 for the kart selection roulette.
As someone who occasionally makes custom tracks in Mario Kart Wii, this video is one of the best videos that analyzes Mario Kart's graphics. I love exploring the tracks throughout the series and seeing how devs do certain things like modeling tricks, graphical techniques, and textures. I always try and make my custom tracks feel like an extension of the Mario universe.
Overall, amazing video. My favorite section was about the Graphic Design for track advertisements. The bit at 1:27:27 tho 💀
Absolutely incredible video.
Spoiler:
Of course Double Dash wins, because it is the GOAT. Nintendo never tried the tandem kart mechanics again because they knew they couldn't improve what was already perfect.
Honestly I like the change the shell orientation better the red and green shell and that reason for color blind people could tell the different between the red and green shell being before DS it was very hard to tell the difference between a red and green shell especially if you red and green color blind
But they definitely gave retro in Wii and 7 and graphical upgrades and then 8 they nailed it out h the ball park was the retro track
I remember there being a moment in time where a lot games were heavily using the bloom effect during the Wii days. Even PS3 and Xbox 360 games were cranking that up too.
I guess it helped make games look more modern back then?
Regardless I don't know what they were trying to go for with Mario Kart Wii.