Last Updated 4/13/00 10:58am Central Time


Name: ¤Thelo¤ (Louis Paquin)
Age: 13 years old (At Last Update)
Birthdate: June 1st 1984
Annoying Habit: I lend all my N64 games to various people and I can't find them later!
Location: Boucherville, Québec (near Montreal)
Interests: Nintendo (of course!), computer, reading, badminton, Internet
Driver: Toad! (in fact, I believe all the lightweights are the same besides appearance and sound but I think Toad's the coolest
Unique tactic: I read through ALL the instruction manual before playing ANY game!


****************** Video Game History ******************



At The Beginning:

At the beginning, there was the Commodore 64(!) and the Texas Instruments. The Texas Instruments, as I recall, was a 4K personal computer with BASIC programming capabilities and slots for games. It had about 10-20 games sold with it. Sad enough, it belonged to my grandfather so I could play with it only when I went to visit him. More familiar was the Commodore 64, which had about the same power as the original NES and a ton of small games on it like Marble Madness and Breakout!. I played with it tons of times and it was, with the NES and the TI, my first introduction to English. This era lasted from about when I was 2 years old to my 6th birthday...

The NES fascination:

In the meantime, a new system went out: the NES! I loved this and I was always talking my parents into renting it "another time". So on my 6th birthday my parents bought it with: Super Mario Bros 1 & 2, Mickey Mousecapade, Ducktale, RC Pro-Am, the original Street Fighter(!), TMNT 2, Back to the Future 2 & 3, 720º, Bart and the Space Mutants, and the 52-in-1 cartidge! I was Overwhelmed! I didn't quit it until 1992...

The Super NES era:

On Christmas I received yet another system: the Super Nes! I got Super Mario World and Mario Paint with it. Later, on each half of year (Christmas and my birthday), I would receive 1 or 2 Super NES games. I now own 11 games. In the meantime, video clubs were popping everywhere in the city and with it, the opportunity of game rentals. I rented a game every 2 weeks or so. My 11 years old cousin Jason, who lives in the house directly behind mine, had a game called Super Mario Kart...

Super Mario Kart:

I didn't really play this game very often, and I almost never did Time Trials. Nevertheless it was REAL FUN! It took me some time to beat this game, espeacially Special Cup. I enjoyed playing Battle and Vs with my friends and Jason, who wasn't very good but still someone fun to play with. Then I introduced my 8 years old little sister to video gaming by Super Mario Kart. She didn't play it often, but she did like it. Then I heard about Project Realty. I said good, there will be another system to exploit. Later the name changed to Ultra 64, which was scheduled for September. I saw in an old GamePro magazine some pics of Mario 64, and I couldn't say more than wow! I began the countdown to September and I told all my friends about the Ultra 64. I was somehow disappointed when they rescheduled the launch for April...

The 64:

Later they still rescheduled the releasing for September, yet I was sure that this time would be the good one. And I was right. The Nintendo 64 (it's third name yet) effectively came out as announced. I rushed to 6 nearby video clubs to rent it but they were all gone! After 1.5 weeks I finally went to a Varennes video club and there it was, waiting to be rented! Only thing, they requested a 195$ depot to rent it! I borrowed some money from my aunt and I finally tried Mario 64. I was blown away (no puns intended)! This game had it all: eye-catching graphics, excellent play control, lots of fun, 120 stars to seek, full 3D areas and various levels. Jason bought it and I bought Wave Race 64, who was also fun. Then I heard about a sequel to Super Mario Kart. It was called Super Mario Kart R(?). Later it changed to Mario Kart 64 and when it hit the shelves, all the cartidges were taken for two weeks. Two weeks later, I finally got to try it...

Mario Kart 64:

Man this game was fun! I took about 2 hours to finish Cup Mode, and I played with my sister (the luckiest person on earth) and Jason for about all day. NOW THIS was a darn good game! I knew I had to have it, and I rented it two more times before asking it for Christmas with Shadows... Shadows was good, but not nearly as fun as MK64. After a while, I got a connection to the Internet...

The Net:

I discovered this site naturally, and I didn't get to the Loud House and the BBS before some time. When I did, Munchhole was starting his lies. I fear he may be still here as another login. I got to this place (especially the Game Masters BBS) about every weekday morning. I heard about all these World Records and shortcuts for Time Trials and decided to give Time Trials a try...

Time Trials:

I didn't play Time Trials nearly as much as other people like Phoney or Yoshimaster (about an hour a week) but I did get interested in the concept. I started with Banshee Boardwalk, and just when I thought my time wasn't beatable, I zoomed past it minus 2-3 seconds. I tried various races, like Wario Stadium, Mario Raceway and Choco Mountain, and still today, these are my favorites. Unlike some people, I knew the Power Sliding trick from the beginning since I always read the instruction manual before even trying a game (even in the NES days I was doing that). I lent MK64 to Jason lately, so I didn't improve my times greatly since then, but I did try and set good times on each track except Koopa Troopa Beach...

¤Thelo¤

TrackDriver3 Lap Time1 Lap Time3 Lap SC Time 1 Lap SC Time
Luigi Raceway

Toad

1'44"11

33"45

NT

NT

Moo Moo Farm

Toad

1'20"49

26"31

NA

NA

Koopa Beach

Toad

1'32"17

30"09

NA

NA

Kalimari Desert

Toad

1'55"65

38"26

NT

NT

Toads Turnpike

Toad

2'38"13

52"38

NT

NT

Frappe Snowland

Toad

1'48"94

36"04

NT

NT

Choco Mountain

Toad

1'43"60

34"27

NT

NT

Mario Raceway

Toad

1'19"85

25"71

NT

NT

Wario Stadium

Toad

3'55"93

1'18"52

NT

NT

Sherbet Land

Toad

1'48"50

35"52

NA

NA

Royal Raceway

Toad

2'33"82

51"07

NT

NT

Bowsers Castle

Toad

1'58"51

39"17

NA

NA

D.K. Jungle Park

Toad

2'09"09

40"00

NT

NT

Yoshi Valley

Toad

1'58"13

37"38

NT

NT

Banshee Boardwalk

Toad

1'51"77

36"36

NA

NA

Rainbow Road

Toad

5'18"77

1'45"29

NT

NT

*- Believed to be World Records!



Last time(s) updated: LR3, FS3, CM3, MR3, WS3, SL3, RRy3, BC3, DK3, BB1



Jon's Comments


4/13/00 - Fantastic cuts on WS and Royal. Continue to seek out the best strategies from the various top level players, as just driving the course a certain way will likely cut many seconds off your total times. When you have a chance, download the LKRC from the files section and enter your scores to get a total times score. With that it will be easier to determine where you belong on the ladder. Also looks like you could cut a good 5 seconds off of Rainbow - Nobody likes that board, but you gotta do it! :).

4/9/00 - I've entered your most recent times and tried to approximate where you belong on this ladder as well as possible. If you need strategy help, feel free to email me at jkretsch@indiana.edu. Now go set some new times!