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Comment by modeless | Hacker News Reader

Wait, Bowser and Wario are the fastest? I thought it was the other way around. I guess it's reversed from Mario Kart 64.

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I'm not sure, but it kind of makes sense as a choice, since acceleration and speed should be negatively correlated and since Bowser and Wario are both massive they should accelerate more slowly than others (given constant force). So they get to have the highest top speeds to compensate.

In a real kart a heavier driver would have lower top speed and acceleration, in exchange for better handling (more body weight means you can more easily shift weight to the wheels that need more traction, unlike a car where the driver's weight is insignificant).

But they seem to have ignored kart physics and made it more like a car, where bigger cars might accelerate slower but can accommodate a more powerful engine.

Why would the top speed be lower? Because of increased friction with the ground due to the weight? Ignoring friction, I think what I said would be true.

I hadn’t actually thought about it before but as an incredibly skinny person what you said lines up with my experience in a kart. I could seemingly go slightly faster than others but more easily span off and lost control.

Given two equal karts I guess top speed would be the same but most courses don't have long enough straights to let you reach full speed.

When I wrote that comment I was thinking one might tune the kart for the driver to make up for lack of acceleration which would reduce top speed.

Actually, I'm talking rubbish since without friction there wouldn't even be a top speed. It's true that having a high top speed is only useful if you have enough time to accelerate up to it!

They have the highest top speed. It was that way in Mario Kart 64 as well. They have the worst acceleration though.

This is not true. The lighter characters Yoshi and Peach and Toad had higher top speed in 64. https://tasvideos.org/GameResources/N64/MarioKart64#:~:text=...

Yes, but higher-speed characters have lower acceleration and less mini-turbo, which disadvantages them in many situations.

It’s exactly as in Mario Kart 64! Remember, heavy characters have the higher top speed, but light characters have the higher acceleration!

I distinctly remember that the light characters had the highest top speed in Mario Kart 64. And according to this table, I'm right: https://tasvideos.org/GameResources/N64/MarioKart64#:~:text=...

That'd make the heavy characters completely useless, once you're behind, there's no way to catch up anymore!

Yes, except for items and doing better in the pack.

Heavy characters in Mario 64 have tighter handling than lighter characters and can cause them to spin out when bumping into them.

How, if both your acceleration and your top speed is worse?

I'm not sure what exactly "how" is referring to, but by "tight handling" I mean having a smaller turning radius and losing less speed when turning.

It's not a big difference and you can't be at top speed for long.

It was similar in the original Mario Kart of the SNES. I clearly remember always choosing toad or koopa because they "felt" the more average to me. Donkey Kong was difficult to handle and also had slow acceleration, same with bowser.

Yes, but with their poor acceleration, and given how chaotic some Mario Kart races are, it is hard to achieve their maximum speed.

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