Retro gaming

This xmas I was looking for a game for my kids. While the various app store have a lot of them I find that they all require in-app purchasing, which is difficult to handle when kids are involved.

Since I liked to play Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64, I decided to look if there was a newer version for iPad. There is a remake from Nintendo (besides a zillion clones with what I presume is a doubtful reputation) so I installed that.

The experience was, to use an euphemism, lackluster. After the installation I was taken to first "training" game in which I already realized I did not like the control logic. You have to use the finger to steer, instead of tilting the tablet, which I felt would have been the best experience. I still decided to push through and try it with the kids the next day.


After I announced that there was a new game, they gathered round, and I proceeded to open the app. There was an update to download, to which I said yes. And then I had to wait 15 minutes. Not sure how big the update is, but I do have 300mbps at home so I would have expected it to take far less.

After having explained 3000000 times that we need to wait a bit more I was taken to a screen with a bewildering array of choices, none of which was intuitive or lead me to a race. After 2 minutes spent there I declared that the game was broken and uninstalled it.

On one of my previous searches Mario Kart came up listed from a rom site, so remembering that I decided to give it a try and I was quite amazed at how well it works, with minimal hassle. I'm running OpenEmu on OSX and it works like a charm, the kids love it and I don't have to worry about credit card charges. Win-win.

Next, I'll purchase a couple of 8BitDo controllers, and maybe a Powkiddy. Looking forward to multiplayer.

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