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...