‘My Favourite Games’ is a new regular feature on MossRanking that gives us a chance to get to know our fellow Spelunkers better. In each edition, we put the spotlight on one member of the community, as they pick three of their most treasured video games ever and give their reasons why. Featured members are allowed to pick whatever games they want... except for Spelunky. In the inaugural entry, who better to go to than the number one Spelunky player? Kinnijup has crushed the competition in nearly every single category, and has represented the community at AGDQ 2016. But what was the first game he got into competitively? And which long-forgotten game left a particularly strong impression on him growing up? Here are his three picks... Mario Kart 64 (Nintendo 64, 1997) Mario Kart 64 was the franchise’s first foray into 3D. Bringing in four-player support and 16 brand new tracks, it was a favourite among split-screen enthusiasts -- but for Kinnijup, Nintendo’s kart-racing classic was his second game in which he poured hours and hours into playing competitively. “I still follow it on Twitch,” he tells MossRanking. “I hold a couple of world records, still.” Kinnijup was the NTSC world champion for about a year (NTSC and PAL are split as they run on slightly different speeds), and to this day he remains fifth in NTSC and ninth overall. “Mario Kart 64 just relies on pure driving skill for non-shortcut runs,” Kinnijup says, on what makes the game so appealing for him. As he notes, the challenges with Mario Kart 64 are very different to that of Spelunky. “It is kind of weird I ended up on a game with ridiculous RNG like Spelunky,” he says. “There are cool shortcuts in Mario Kart 64 as well, but they are a different ranking.” Kinnijup hasn’t ruled out a return to the Mario Kart 64 competitive scene. Even to this day, he thinks about diving back in -- but will he? “I have been telling some Mario Kart 64 friends for three years now that I would play again eventually,” he says. “Right now, I plan to give it another try if I ever get the Low% record in Spelunky -- so it might never happen!” Super Mario Kart (SNES, 1992) If Mario Kart 64 was Kinnijup’s second game he got into competitively, it is perhaps no surprise that his first was Super Mario Kart, the very first in the Mario Kart series and a revolutionary title in the kart-racing sub-genre of racing games. “I played Super Mario Kart with my brother as a kid, and it just always had a special place in my heart,” he comments. Despite quitting years ago, Kinnijup has retained a few Super Mario Kart world records, and looks back at his time with the game very fondly. He is honest when talking about why he decided to move on to Mario Kart 64. “A technique that was no fun took over the game shortly after I left, and I really just completely lost interest,” he explains. “Mario Kart 64 is way better and less broken.” Bizarrely, he was the one who discovered the technique, known as New Boosting Technique (NBT). “It was a bit ironic,” he shares. “It basically allowed you to drive off the road entirely without slowing down or with even speeding up. It made the old records feel meaningless and was just frustrating. I never really complained about it at the time, because some people enjoyed it and I didn’t want to stop their fun.” Beyond the Beyond (PlayStation 1, 1996) The final pick is the underappreciated role-playing game Beyond the Beyond. Developed by Camelot (who would go on to make the Golden Sun games), this PS1 title had a huge impact on Kinnijup when he played it years ago. “It was the first RPG I ever played,” he says. “Not many people play it, but I associate it with my upbringing and probably my first real gaming addiction.” Kinnjup struggles to pinpoint exactly what makes Beyond the Beyond stand out, yet it seems the sum of its parts combined to deliver an experience that was immersive and unforgettable for him at the time. “I was heavily into RPGs for a decade,” he notes. “I think it could have just as easily been another RPG here, but it just happened to be the first one I played.” Beyond the Beyond would go on to be overshadowed by a number of other role-playing games on the PlayStation 1, and Kinnijup admits that he wished Beyond the Beyond had more attention. “I used to dig around and never find many fans for it,” he says. “Apparently, it’s a pretty low-rated game by most people who review it. But I actually remember having dreams of a sequel.” -- Do you want to be featured? To be part of ‘My Favourite Games’, send a message to hbix (#3495) on the Spelunky Discord, listing your three picks along with a quick comment justifying their inclusions. You will hear back from me with follow-up questions.