N64ostalgia

I've deleted the last post, because I felt it was of an overly personal nature. AH WELL.

Apparently it's the Legend of Zelda's 25th Birthday. This means that I played up to the first temple in Majora's Mask before someone kicked me off to play Wind Waker. I think they're trying to beat it today. They just finished the second dungeon, so I don't know if they'll make it. (I've never played Wind Waker.) Best of luck to them, though, eh?

I've been playing a lot of old video games lately, because my dorm's TV lounge now has an N64. In a way, I've learned a lot of fairly disappointing truths, things I didn't remember from my childhood:

-Who the hell approved the N64 controller? People do not have three hands. Nobody has ever, to my knowledge, had three working hands. I am, however, willing to admit my personal lack of knowledge in this area. It's possible that someone has had three hands, thus making full use of all the potential places to hold an N64 controller. If so, I have to wonder whether Nintendo chose the right target market in that guy.

-Mario Kart 64 is such bullshit. Multiplayer, racing against friends, is only mildly bullshit. (I say this because fucking blue shells.) Single player, though. Single player is some incredible bullshit. The computer goes exactly as fast, not to beat you, but as fast as it has to go to make you feel bad about yourself. Nearly at the finish line, in second place, barely behind, with a golden mushroom? Go ahead. Tap Z like you're a methhead playing a tiny drum. I will bet large sums of money that you will not catch up. I speak from experience, an experience that concluded with me shouting "FUCKING YOSHIIIII." The other night I was trying to beat Star Cup on Extra, and had to beat Yoshi in Bowser's Castle to win. That's it. And I spent an hour on it. Some losses were legitimate; many were bullshit. Then I had it pointed out that players won point ties, so even though Yoshi beat me, I had still won. I slinked off to bed and cried myself to sleep.

-Pokemon, types, etc. This rant has already been published.

That said, these games are good. I really enjoy them, and I have fun playing them. In many cases, I'd rather play Mario Kart 64 than Mario Kart Wii. It's simple, I know it better, and in that respect it's more fun. At the same time, I recognize that newer games are sometimes strictly better. I'd never rather play Super Smash Bros. on the N64 than the Wii. So, nostalgia: not always the best indicator of quality.