I remember playing Mario Kart 64 for the first time. We didn't care about the details that critics brought up - we were too busy having fun with it.
That is something Nintendo is good at - there may be flaws but they have a knack for making the game so fun you don't care. You just have to figure out in what way that happens. In Mario Kart 64 it is the multiplayer mode.
Yeah, I think the complaints were nitpicks more than anything else. Part of it was probably because it was such a highly anticipated game.
Yeah, that happens with all high profile releases. Fans love them, naysayers do their best to nitpick them to death.