Mario Karts Relevancy
Video games have been around since the dawn of time, and kids have loved them the entire time. Video games have always been “relevant”, and always will be, because of the entertaining factor that they have on children. As I have stated before, in earlier articles of mine, I believe that the Mario Kart series is the most iconic as well as the most influential video game series of all time. Mario Kart changed the video game scene for ever, because of the fact that it is a variation of an already popular game, Super Mario Bros. Because of that, Mario Kart was played for a very long time and continued to grow after the release of the Mario Kart Wii. Mario Kart Wii is just the beginning of the Mario Kart saga. The jump from plain old Mario Kart to Mario Kart Wii was a very big jump, but a very good jump for Nintendo and it even helped prepare for the future Mario Karts on other platforms.
Super Mario Bros as a franchise is one of the most recognizable and distinguishable companies in the world, as it is popular in many very large countries. So, with that being said, any Mario game is going to get good numbers on the release date and will naturally decline in player base through the years, but there is something different about Mario Kart Wii. Mario Kart is very relevant to this day. Most people that I have talked to have played Mario kart wii in their life, and another very good percentage of those people have a Wii or know somebody who has. And if someone has a Wii, there is a very good chance that they own Mario Kart. Some of my friends have Wiis, and we often like playing Mario Kart for the nostalgia and because it is a very joyful game to play and compete with friends.
So, the essential question of this article was if Mario Kart Wii is still relevant to this day. And this question can probably be answered in a very simple yes or no question, but you deserve more of an explanation than that, and I am going to give it to you. So, to answer the question of relevancy, we have to ask some surface level questions, and then dive deeper to get all of the information and opinions. The term relevant is defined as “Appropriate to the current time, period, or circumstances; of contemporary interest.” and I think we all know that Mario Kart Wii is VERY appropriate to this time and period. As well as being acceptable in todays society, I believe that the amount of players that have played within the last 30 days and the amount of presence that Mario Kart has on different websites including Youtube, Instagram, Reddit and our very own, Medium. Depending on a poll that I will conduct with students, about how relevant Mario Kart is and I will look at the previously mentioned websites to see the presence that Mario Kart has on the internet to this day.
I have spoken to many of my peers regarding this topic, and am very pleased with my results. I have engaged in very many friendly discussions over the topic of Mario Kart and even some pretty heated arguments on the ups and downs of this game. Through my conversations, I have found that Mario Kart is not only a carefree, let loose kind of a game, but it is also very serious in some circumstances like the competitive aspect and film making on many websites. I have found some creators on the web that are very big fans of Mario Kart Wii and play pretty much daily. I would have really liked to speak with some of these Mario Kart enthusiasts and really get a feel for their motives behind their gameplay, if they even have any besides the unmatched fun that a game like Mario Kart provides.
Ive even spoke to a few students who do not own a Wii, but have played Mario Kart before, with a friend. One student who does not own Mario Kart or a Wii said that although he does not have Mario Kart or a Wii, he still finds fun in watching the game online and having fun while doing it. That same student told me that he is going to get the new Mario Kart on his Nintendo Switch just to relive his older days on the Wii with Mario Kart Wii. Another student that I know informed me about how she only has a Wii in her basement and only uses Mario Kart because she knows that everybody loves Mario Kart and everybody loves to play it. When I asked why she only had that one game in her basement, she said that its because everybody loves Mario Kart so when she has new friends over, she can have a good time playing Mario Kart.
After all of my time, writing these blogs, I have made some new friends through our common enjoyments such as Mario Kart. I have continued to talk to them as well, as we watch Mario Kart fairly often. I have learned of many new people that I did not know, who have been affected by this game either in the past, during their childhood, or now, in high school. I have interviewed and asked questions to many of my peers and the majority of them have been affected by Mario Kart and a majority of that number, is still very much, enjoying the game of Mario Kart. So, when you see all of these students bonding over a simple game of characters racing around a track, and bonding even more through these polls and these articles, you just have to ask yourself, is Mario Kart relevant? And yes, me and all of my new friends whose lives have been affected by this game will say that this simple game will remain relevant for many years to come.
