Mario Kart: 1992–2001

This story starts off in my childhood. When I was 8 years of age, my first experience of Mario Kart was with the wii version so many years ago. It had all of the most well known characters and so many different cars and bikes to choose from. However, I was terrible at the game. Every time I had attempted to play with friends and family, I would always be last. I had no understanding of how the game worked, and so I would always use a similar strategy that would fail in getting me in first. My brother on the other hand, was a natural. He got first almost every time. He knew at age 7, that the different cars and bikes had different values of weight, speed, and handling. My brother knew before me that the different characters weighed differently, and they also influence the cars and the bikes. Even though, this sounds like its about my brother, I have to give him credit for bringing me back to an old memory, and to think about the development of this game.

Release dates:

Super Mario Kart (1992)

lets start out with the oldest version of Mario Kart. Super Mario Kart is a revolutionary title for the Super Nintendo. This version was the second Mario Kart game I ever played, and I was surprised that the SNES was even capable of doing “3D” however, this used a special mode called mode seven which allowed the back round to be scaled like a floor. The Karts are actually 2D shaped with animations, and uses the same technique as Doom or Wolfenstein, in which, when you move around the Karts, it uses multiple sprites to show a sort of 3D shape. there is only one type of kart in this game, and the handling and speed of the kart is determined by the character, and the Class you choose to race in. this game is fully loaded with 20 levels, and the very popular, rainbow road. you had the standard eight racers, Mario, Luigi, Toad, Peach, Yoshi, Koopatroopa, Bowser, and Donkey Kong. Bowser and Donkey kong are on the heavier side, handle better, and are slower. Mario, Luigi, and Koopatroopa are mid-weight, and are average across the board. and the lighter weights are toad, Yoshi, and peach. There speed is high, and handling is low. when i used these racers, I found it hard to stay on the track and ultimately play the game. I found more success from racers like Mario And Luigi, because they where more equally balanced in terms of speed and handling.

Mario Kart 64 (1996)

Mario Kart 64, the successor of Super Mario Kart, introduced some new features like 150 cc, 3D worlds, and smoother animations. It was a surprise to see that the Koopatroopa was replaced with Wario, a heavy weight racer. this also introduced a new map called Wario stadium that took 6 minutes to complete in 150 cc, and was a nightmare when it came to racing with friends. the reaction of this map was unpleasant. when we had the chance, we would skip this level in favor of choco mountain, a notorious level in the Mario Kart franchise for being difficult to complete and to Enjoy. The Karts are still the same in terms of type. The Character is the main factor to the carts handling and speed. One feature that was very new at the time was four player support. you can now play with four players at a time. This feature was revolutionary for the game. My uncle, (who played the game frequently) said to me that the game was a way to settle a dispute among his friends, who used this method very frequently. The game introduced new levels, and also remastered an old one, rainbow road. Rainbow road was now 3D. It had hills, it had sharp turns it had enemies, it was a whole new level dressed up in rainbow roads clothes. It was exiting and difficult to play. you had a new shell, the blue shell, in which you could shoot to sabotage the first place Kart. The next feature introduced was the new music. it was appropriate for the level, and none of the music felt out of place and it didn’t ruin any of the charm from the original game, and it made it all the more competitive when you where going up head to head or against three others.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001)

this next Mario Kart game is not my favorite. this game boy release was a pleasant surprise at first, but was unplayable at higher Classes such as 150 cc. the carts felt like they where constantly slipping out, and the handling of everyones carts was abysmal. if Mario Kart had an oil level, it was like driving on that level. the design of the game was based on the super Nintendo, and at the time, the game boy advanced was said to be a Super Nintendo at heart, but that was far from the truth. this game was way more advanced than the original, and had the same features as the 64 variant. new levels where added, rainbow road was carried over and made its way eventually into every Mario Kart game ever. Super circuit utilized the link cable, and so four player game play was utilized. this Mario Kart was a game changer in portable consoles, but did not meet my expectations in terms of having anything new for the actual game and this is due to the limitations of the game boy, and the cartridge rom size.