The Video Game Revue

Learning to Drift

So much for RPG gaming. I've spent most of the day playing Mario Kart DS, and in true Nintendo DS fashion, it has destroyed my hands. I'm developing cramps and callouses in places that no awkwardly shaped controller has ever managed to reach before.

I love the staff ghost data feature; it's a great way to go to school on Mario Kart technique. For instance, something that was made very clear to me in racing against staff ghost data is that one simply cannot make competitive time trial records without making effective use of drifts and drift-boosts: while drifting and holding R, alternate between left and right on the D pad until your tires start burning, then when you exit the drift you'll get a boost. The staff ghost data for Delfino Square has some incredible drifting action that I cannot even touch, yet. It's a good run for me if I can keep up with the ghost for the first half of the first lap.

I needed to start off easy with learning to drift (Delfino Square is quite the technical drifting course), so I fired up the ol' Figure 8 track. Beating the staff ghost data with Mario (ie. using the same kart) is not a trivial exercise, but beating it with Bowser is. I managed to set a Bowser record of 1:34:697, but more importantly, I'm gradually getting the hang of this drift thing.

I'm pretty stoked about FF IV coming out for GBA. I'm not really sure why, though--I mean, I have Final Fantasy Chronicles, so I can play FF IV any time that I want. Yet, being the consumeristic little bitch that I am, I'm certainly going to buy the new GBA version and play that through on GBA. And I'm looking forward to using it as an excuse to reintroduce some Final Fantasy content into my RPG gaming diet. Lunar DS is going to be shelved for a good, long while.

posted by Parappa @ 11:36 PM