How Mario Kart Changed My Life

A while back, I mentioned about being on Animal Crossing Community and stayed on it even after retiring from Animal Crossing Wild World. Allow me to continue the story by talking about another series: Mario Kart.

While it's not a top favourite series, its accessibility and brand allows it to stand out from other racing games. I would like to say that I'm good at Mario Kart but let's just say that there has been many rageful moments...

I could go on talking about the series as a whole but this story focuses on Mario Kart Wii released in April 2008. 

As with nearly all Wii games, motion control was the main selling point. The Wii Remote was held on its side and can be placed in a steering wheel. The controls weren't always precise but it did feel good flicking it to perform tricks in the air, rewarding you with a speed boost.

It was also the second Mario Kart to have online play (the first being Mario Kart DS). Prior to Mario Kart Wii, I'd never played  a game online but it was around this time where I'd made a couple friends on Animal Crossing Community, including one whom I shall refer to his username lattywatty. I can't remember how I became friends with him but me and lattywatty decided to exchange our Mario Kart Wii Friend Codes on a private thread (Friend Codes are unique codes that can be shared in order to find your friends easily).

A few days later, I found myself being bored so randomly decided to check Mario Kart Wii to see if lattywatty was online. I immediately saw him playing with random people so decided to join him...

Even though. I didn't win any races, it was an incredible experience. The thrill of racing with people around the world was something I never felt before. Me and lattywatty both agreed they were fun races and  we decided to invite more people to play with. I began by asking my other Animal Crossing Community friends if they would like to join our private thread and play with us. But I also went into the Mario Kart Wii thread and asked random people there.

Normally, making new friends is hard, especially for an autistic person and talking to unfamiliar people would be something I would normally be hesitant with, especially in the real world. Non autistic people make this look easy but since our social skills are not up to scratch, we're unsure on how to approach people and may fear  making a fool of ourselves (like what if we say the wrong thing...or can't think of what to say at all. What would they think of us then?). Being online makes the process easier since we don't have to face the person directly and have more time to think about our words.

Eventually, we had a good bunch of people assembled. We would talk to each other on the private thread and arrange when to play. Every Sunday evening was when we all get together for some big races (Saturday was reserved for Doctor Who). This went on for a solid two months when an even bigger game arrived on the scene.

You will find out what game this is another time...   

The Joy and Stress of Achievements

So lately, I been busy playing WarioWare Gold for the Nintendo 3DS. The WarioWare series is one of my favourite Nintendo series for its simplicity yet innovate and humorous gameplay. I completed the other WarioWare games (except for DIY and Snapped. The less said about Snapped the better) so naturally, I would set myself to complete Gold.

The WarioWare series are usually short but Gold took longer than expected to complete. This is primarily due to the Missions you can do which are basically the equivalent to the Playstation and Xbox Achievements. You see, Nintendo consoles do not have their own achievement systems unlike the other consoles (with Playstation calling them Trophies) but some of their games have in-game achievements which grants you in-game rewards. In this case, coins which can be used to buy souvenirs such as cards. And boy, there are loads of them.

They started off pretty simple from completing a character's stage to getting certain scores in microgames (2-8 second games where you have to do a certain action quickly to beat it. They can range from pressing a button, twisting the 3DS, touching the screen or even blowing into the microphone). Then I got to the minigame based missions (longer stand alone games compared to microgames) where progression slowed to a crawl.

There's a minigame called Pyoro, featuring a small red bird with a really long tongue. The aim is to eat as many falling seeds as possible. If a seed hits the floor, it'll destroy a piece of the ground which results in your area getting smaller. They can be restored but if a single seed hits you on the head, it's game over. There's also Super Pyoro which adds special seeds to enlarge the bird and make it invincible. The minigame is ok but there's a mission where you have to score 10000 or more points in the original Pyoro. For Super Pyoro, that is increased to 66000. If you think that's a big number…you're right. They took multiple attempts over the course of 3 days each in order to hit that target which became tiring and stressful.

Who would had thought that this bird would bring so much grief?

There isn't really any special tricks to play Pyoro (though in Super Pyoro, there is a secret bonus area you can access by climbing up a beanstalk) so it all came down to repetitive persistence. Repetitiveness is a common trait for Autistic people where they are often content with doing the same actions over and over and over…and over again. For me, I don't mind doing repetitive tasks…but it helps if there's a meaningful goal at the end and if the task isn't too dull. Here, despite the prospect of completing a mission, the game was getting tedious, especially if you do one mistake, you have to restart at the very beginning. Not to mention there was another tough mission for the original Pyoro where you have to restore all of the ground after having four pieces of it remaining.

I admit at times, I felt like giving up and abandoning the game but I eventually completed them in the end. Thankfully, the other minigame missions weren't as bad bar a few  for example, scoring over 15000 in Pumpkin Panic and defeating 200 enemies in Wario Kard  (yes it's spelt with a "K") which took about a week. I felt relieved having completed all the missions yet I did wish that I could have gotten some of the lost time back.

Generally speaking, I only aim to obtain all the achievements if I really enjoy playing the game and if I believe I can achieve them all without too many problems. I don't want to end up getting stressed over wasting so much time and enjoyment getting the hard ones.

That said, I would prefer it if there were more creative achievements that encourages you to play the game differently (for example, in WarioWare Gold, the Antisneeze Mission forbids you to use the A button to defeat the giant nose in the microgame Nose Dive)  as opposed to grinding based ones so it feels like an actual achievement when you unlock it. Some achievements could even teach you certain techniques. Team Fortress 2 is an excellent example of this with class based achievements which not only teaches you on how to play that character but also encourages you to do so.

Creative achievements are limited only by the developer's imagination. As  I hope you will agree, I have a good imagination with the pictures I made for this blog. I hope that when I get to develop my own games, I can come up with creative achievements.

How in-game events such as Splatfest can help video games last longer

I always enjoy the Splatfests in the Splatoon games so for today's entry, I thought I’d talk about them in time before tonight's Splatfest starts for Splatoon 2 and how in-game events like these can help video games expand their lifespan.

First, for those who don't know what Splatoon is, it's Nintendo's own take on the shooting genre. Only instead of bullets, you use ink and the objective is to ink the most territory before time runs out. If this sounds like paintball, then you're right. But you can also swim in the ink to travel faster and sneak up on foes. The first game was released on the Wii U in mid-2015.

I admit that I didn't catch on with the game at first until trying out the demo. It became one of the most refreshing games I'd played for a long time for its simple yet quirky gameplay. I really enjoyed using a particular kind of weapon called the Roller. Instead of firing ink, you use it to roll ink along the floor. Any enemy that gets caught in that will be splattered immediately. The feeling I get from that is very satisfying. You can also swing the roller to fling ink around which also causes huge damage. I stuck with using the roller throughout the demo and continued to use it in the full version (specifically the Krak-On Splat Roller as it came with a special weapon that transforms the user into a giant squid called the Kraken. Anything that touches it, dies).

The weapons of mass destruction

I enjoy playing Splatoon a lot but one thing that keeps bringing me back are the Splatfest events held monthly on a weekend. Everyone gets to pick a team based on two different (and often random) topics such as Team Cats or Team Dog and fights against each other. When the event ends, the winning team is based on team popularity and matches won. Everyone who participates gets awarded Super Sea Snails which can be used to change their abilities for their gear (though the winning team receives more than the losing team). Most Splatfests are separated by region but a few are worldwide. There have been many Splatfests in the original Splatoon (In case you're wondering, the teams I've joined are Pop, Eating, South Pole, Singing, Tidy, Ghosts, Pro-Pineapple, Rich, Ninja, Pokémon Blue, Hoverboard, Patrick, Fancy Dress, Space and Marie. The only one I've missed was Cats Vs Dogs as I was on holiday at the time. Would have totally picked Cats though). They've worked so well that Splatfests returned for the sequel released on the Switch last year.

When playing Splatfests, I made sure that I set aside a couple hours and play until I hit the max rank. For Splatoon 2, I aim to start as soon as the event starts at 3pm and because ranking up is quicker compared to the first game, I can usually do it in one sitting within 3 hours (longer if the team are playing poorly), but I do take a break if dinner is ready. It has become a routine that I've settled in. Many Autistic people like to have their own routine and get mad if someone or something interrupts it. I used to be stricter on my routines (for example, on a non school day, I always made sure to play a video game after breakfast). As I grew older, I've become more relaxed about breaking them (going back to the earlier example, I don't mind missing out playing a video game if I sleep in or have plans to go out in the morning). Sometimes, it's worth bending your routines every once in a while as this can lead to an interesting varied life especially when a more exciting opportunity comes up (such as hanging out with friends). Still, I suppose some habits are hard to break. 

While I didn't need to play every Splatfest, I've played them because I enjoy playing the game and the event. Having regular in-game events can help increase the game's lifespan. No matter how good a game is, a player is eventually going to stop playing the game regularly after a couple weeks or so but if a new event occurs, it can give them an excuse to boot it back up again. This kind of trend has slowly become popular in video games which have been beneficial for all.  For example, if it wasn't for the reoccurring events in Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, I would have put those games down long ago (even if the latter game's events are becoming repetitive). While it's easy to incorporate in-game events in multiplayer games, it could work for single player games as well. Perhaps for example in Super Mario Odyssey, there could be a special world that pops up once a month with unique challenges that players worldwide would have to co-operate together to gather as many Power Moons in that world as possible. If they hit a global target, then everyone would get a unique prize such as a new costume.

While I am aware that to keep adding new in-game events can add more development time and money, it could encourage new players to buy the game and join in the fun. Developers could also keep the cost down by repeating the events on a monthly basis but change the settings (and rules based on feedback from players) to keep them fresh. These days, developers are turning to microtransactions in order to try to increase the game's lifespan which can lead to a negative reception amongst fans (Star Wars Battlefront 2 being a notable example). But I believe in-game events can have a positive impact with players as they're brought together to play towards a common goal. It could even be possible to make new friends from them. For example, during the Zombie Vs Ghost Splatfest, I was paired with three other players whose cooperation I enjoyed so much that I sent out friend requests to them which is something that I rarely do.

Hopefully, more games will jump onto this trend and hopefully tonight's Splatfest event for Splatoon 2 goes well for me. I am still using the Krak-On Splat Roller (sadly, they've replaced the Kraken weapon for the Baller which isn't as powerful) and I still enjoy the Splatfests. Tonight's theme is Adventure Vs Relax and I joined the latter team. To date, I've been on Team Ice Cream, Ketchup, Flight, Front Roll, Cold Breakfast, Film, Action, Gherk-In, Chicken, Sweet, Leo, Donnie (twice), No-Pulp and Squid. Wish me luck. 

How Animal Crossing Changed My Life

One trait of an autistic person is that they can be obsessed with one subject for a long time. When talking to others about their obsession, they can go on and on about it, oblivious to their surroundings, time and subject's boredom. When this trait is used appropriately, it can lead to great development. In this blog, I'm hoping to use this to an advantage, talking about my favorite past time: Video games. How they've affected my life, how do they shape my autism and what viewpoints I may have thought of that a normal person may not consider before.

For my first entry, I thought to start off with a series that kick-started my journey to developing myself: Animal Crossing. Particularly the original version on the Nintendo GameCube and Wild World from the Nintendo DS.    

I first heard of this game from reading Nintendo video game magazines such as Cube. But it would take a long time before it would be released into the UK, presumably due to the huge amount of translation work. It was actually my twin brother (also autistic) who bought the game while I watched him. We hadn't experienced a game like this before which uses real time to create events and change the town's appearance. For example, in winter, it would actually be snowing and the villagers would be celebrating Christmas (referred to as Toy Day) and you can buy Christmas trees. It helped that my brother is a big fan of animals so he connected with this game easily. Each day after school, he would set aside a couple hours to check on his virtual town. As a spectator, I too couldn't help but feel immersed watching how the villagers develop, sharing the laughs with the witty dialogue as well as sharing the pain when a favorite villager moves away.

Many months later on a cold rainy school day, my brother and I were browsing on the school computers to see if we can find pictures of the Animal Crossing villagers. What we found instead was a website called Animal Crossing Community where players from all around the world can chat with each other and even trade items. My brother would soon create his own account and started to chat amongst fellow Animal Crossing fans. As with the game itself, we've never experienced anything like this site before. It was surprising on how easy it was to chat to strangers compared to real life. With talking online, we have time to think about our words and not be afraid to share our thoughts. In real life, our words would often jumble around themselves with our true feelings getting lost in the process, or sometimes forgetting what we want to say until it's all over.

Much like with the game, I would often be curious about what my brother gets upto in Animal Crossing Community and would sometimes borrow his account. It was only a matter of time before I decided to get into the action myself with my own account and my own Animal Crossing game which was the DS version called Wild World.

Animal Crossing Wild World improves on the original in nearly every way. While some of the holidays were lost, the portability means you can play anywhere, fitting for the game's nature. Like my brother, I soon developed my own routine for the game: After school, I would boot up the game, check on all my villagers, the shops and write some letters. When all that's finished I would make my character wait outside my house and keep the game running while I would be doing my own stuff (such as browsing on the Internet). After around 30 minutes, I would return to the game and try to get the villager's attention to talk to me.

There's a reason behind this waiting around business and that was for a trick I discovered. If you make a villager run up to you, there's a chance that the villager will give you a picture of them as a memento. Take my favorite villager Bob for example (who is not only my favorite villager but he was the one who gave me his picture first).  

These pictures can be placed in your house and when interacted with, you can see their birthday and favorite quote (Bob's was "I'm a cat. Chillin' is in my blood, man!"). Each villager has one and I made it a mission to collect each and every one of them (excluding the DLC Monkey villagers) which I succeed after playing for over two years. While I admit this trick seems primitive by today's standards, it allowed me to have more control over the game which made me feel more comfortable and secure with setting my routine. The 3DS sequel named New Leaf made it harder to obtain pictures so I didn't stick around with that game as much as I hoped to.

Now you may think that collecting all 156 pictures sounds like a tall order but I managed to keep track of them by keeping a notepad and a printed list of villagers that I found on the Internet. When I have a goal, I am able to keep focused on it, able to organize myself by any means necessary (usually visually as visual learning is a strength of mine) and not let anything sidetrack me. I guess an autistic person would find this easier than a none autistic person due to them finding it easy to focus on one interest at a time, ignoring anything that doesn't relate to the interest.

While this trait can help the person develop their interest and connect with others, it's important that they don't entirely focus on only that obsession as it could alienate people who are not interested which can make it harder to develop new friendships. By knowing different people and having different interests, they can develop themselves to have an interesting life. Variety is the spice of life after all. When I mention my interest to a friend who may not know much about it, I try to keep it brief and simple so that they can understand what I'm saying.

Even after I retired from Animal Crossing Wild World, I would continue to check on Animal Crossing Community, developing friendships which would eventually grow beyond the website but that's a story for another time...