I just wanna shoutout Keizo Ota for a sec because the water in this game remains truly incredible, resoundingly kicking the shit out of any current games that aren't merely leaning on existing Unreal Engine tech. If you've seen any documentaries about the making of the Ultra 64, you probably know how rudimentary the Silicon Graphics sample projects were - imagine being handed an SDK that could barely render a sphere and then getting tasked with modeling the most amorphous natural body on our planet using a computer that's barely more powerful than your average modern calculator. Jesus Christ. I've been a programmer for 15 years I still sometimes break out in cold sweats when my boss asks me to make a floating dialog box with some text on it and this guy was out there in 1995 pulling off some Genesis 1:6-8 shit with the computational equivalent of a Casio watch. Keizo Ota is a man-machine genius-god and it does not surprise me that this is the mastermind who went on to design the masterpiece that is Nintendo Land for the Wii U.

Not just a graphics gimmick, the beauty of the gameplay here is entirely down to the water too - it creates this satisfying inversion of traditional racing game mechanics where your track is constantly moving out from under you, encouraging acceleration to make tighter, riskier turns and deceleration on straights to get control of the chop, a counterintuitive methodology that ultimately brings to life the idea that you're a driving demigod skimming across the firmament of creation to some of the best music Nintendo's ever done. Don't bother with Hard and Expert Mode if you want to preserve your Godhood, though - that shit is just stupid, vulcanized rubberbanding that makes Mario Kart 64 look merciful. Just turn up the wave conditions to "Wild" and revel in our Lord's wrath and fury.