Student Beats Teacher in Mario Kart, Teacher Storms out of Room

By Garret Gallion, Gaming Power
Tuesday, December 13, 2016

I was invited to play a match of Mario kart today with my government teacher Mr. Scott Byer. Byer had already played the game with one of his earlier classes, so he had at least some experience. I, on the other hand, have not played this game on its original console, the Nintendo 64, in more than six years.

I was so inexperienced with the game, when the game was starting, I had to ask how to accelerate my driver. Byer had chosen the classic Mario as his driver, while I went with Yoshi. Part of my decision to choose Yoshi was because I thought he looked funny, but it was also influenced by a shouting from the class to choose the character named Toad, who I promptly assumed was the Yoshi character. I was wrong.

The game began and quickly I realized I was not in the lead, but rather Byer had taken upon himself the front of the pack. I struggled to even keep second from last for quite awhile, fault to the design of the controller I say. Nevertheless, once I got a hang of the controller and how the game worked, I quickly climbed the leaderboard of Mario-Karters. The first lap succeeded, Byer in first, myself still in second from last. I started to increase my ranking, going up to sixth, fifth, fourth, I could feel myself accelerating rapidly. Byer, still in first and having been in first the whole game so far, felt confident he was going to win. It even seemed as though he no longer was trying. This may have been his mistake.

The game at intervals had a row of 'power-ups' that range from floating red turtle shells to what I was told were magic stars. I was clueless to how to use this power-ups, but thanks to the class, I made sure to press every button on the Nintendo 64's controller until I saw the power-up being used. The relevancy of these power-ups I still find to be confusing, but when I somehow missed an entire row of power-ups, the class made sure to do their part in showing their discontent with my actions.

The second lap was half way. I was getting up there, closer and closer to Byer. Just as the second lap was reaching its end, starting the final lap, I managed to reach second place, Byer still in first. I can remember clearly his reaction when I had reached this feat, to paraphrase, "Oh! He's in second place?!"

In little time spent in the beginnings of the final lap, I surpassed Byer and aquired the title as front of the pack. Byer had lost it, he happened to slip into third place, even struggling then. I was weary of the power-ups and how once they caused me problems. The second place driver was right on my tail, albeit not Byer, but nevertheless I was in danger of losing my title.

From the yelling of the class, it became apparent that Byer had aquired the floating red turtle shells, and was attempting to knock me out with their destructive prowess. I made sure to keep the second place driver right on my tail. My idea was that when a driver with the floating red turtle shells power-up activated the shells, it would send a homing attack to the driver in the next place but never the next. Byer was in third, I in first. There was a driver gap between us, a middleman. This middleman may have saved me the race.

The final lap was coming to an end. Byer had just sent a floating red turtle after me, but it hit the second place driver. Byer quickly passed and took the second place driver's title. On my tail, byer sent his third and final red turtle shell at me in a last attempt to gain the first place title. The red turtle shell was hooming. The finish line was in reach. One hundred feet, fifty feet, twenty-five feet, I could feel the taste of glory. Fifteen feet, ten feet, the finish line is right here!

At five feet before the finish line, danger occured. I lost control of my vehicle. I felt my Yoshi driver not accelerating. I was hit by one of the floating red turtle shells! Byer was far away, no where as near as I was to the finish line. Even while discombobulated by the floating red turtle shell's impact, I managed to slide into the victory as the winner of the Mario Kart race.

As soon as Byer realized he had lost, rage ensued. He slammed with great force the controller onto the ground. He then proceeded to storm out of the room in a pit of rage. A sore loser, some say about Byer. I saw it rather as the reaction of one who has never lost, losing. The game, while Byer still had not completed the race as he had thrown his controller onto the ground before he was past the finish line, was over. I was the winner, Byer in eighth place.

From my point of view, the game is very linear. I cannot see how one could be "skilled" in the game, other than understanding the concept that the closest distance between two points is a straight line, and knowing that you should always stay on the inner curve of a turn when turning. On a five star scale, I give this game a solid three of five stars. Sure it was fun, but it does not look like a game with much replay value. If there was more to the game, I would have given it a better rating.