Super Mario Kart was the 2nd game I got for my SNES when I was a kid, my mom bought it for me after I aced Super Mario world for the 10th time in only a month of playing it. Super Mario Kart is probably one of the first kart racers out there, and even though it establishes the genre and a great series the original one has flaws a plenty. It should also be known this was probably the start of Mario sports and party generes that we see him in now, more then his actual adventure game.

Story.
No story here basically you choose a class, a character, and a cup and you race. If you can beat everybody else you will win the gold. There are 8 Mario characters to choose from to. The characters are: Mario, Luigi, Princess, Yoshi, Bowser, DK JR., Koppa, and Toad.

Graphics.
For its day Mario Kart had fantastic graphics. The SNES was a 2d console and Mario Kart mimics 3d almost perfectly. Characters in the distant start out small and become bigger as you get closer. It’s hard to spot the changes in which the sprite changes to a bigger one. Of course it’s still a 2d game as the tracks are all flat with very little sticking out of them, with the exception of maybe a few pipes. The backgrounds you have trees and hills that look a bit like they come out of Super Mario World.

The characters sprites themselves show how old the game is as they are all pretty old. Toad is pretty plumb like he was in the old day, Yoshi always has his tongue sticking out, and then there is of course the fact that we have DK. Jr and not DK. DK. Jr being in this is probably due to the fact that this was before DK Country where we saw the new Donkey Kong complete with neck tie and Nintendo probably didn’t know how to make something like the old Donkey Kong fit in a go kart.

Sound.
You have some good simple racing music that comes out of the game. The music matches the theme of the track ok and it’s pretty catchy. Also each character has a theme music for when they win. For example some one like toad will have a small quiet tune, while someone like Bowser has a harder more edgier theme.

Gameplay.
There are a few different modes in Mario Kart. For 1 player you have GP and time track. In GP you play against 7 CPU controlled opponents in 5 races. You have to score in the top 4 in order to move on to the next race, and in order to win the gold you have to beat everybody else in the points you win from the races. There are 2 classes to start off with 50cc and 100cc, and 3 cups to start off with in each class. There is also an unlock able special cup if you beat the first 3 cup in 100 CC, and a hard 150 CC if you can manage to beat the special cup.

The next one player option is time trial where you race around by your self to see what’s the best time you can make on the track. If you do well and don’t fall into any holes or anything you can replay your race and even race the ghost you will unlock from the last time trail.

In 2p mode you have a 2p GP where you and a friend race 6 CPU controlled characters in the race for the cups. Match race which is just the two of you on any selected course racing you. In these match races a few more obstacles will be added to the track to keep things interesting. Then battle mode where you pick one of 4 arenas and try to pop 3 balloons surrounding the other characters kart. The 2p modes is where the game is the most fun especially the battle mode kept me and my older brother going at it for several years in till Mario Kart 64 came out.

Now let me talk about what the actual racing comes in. The controls in this game are pretty good I think with the karts and characters being pretty easy to control and you’ll hardly every find yourself being knocked off the road because you couldn’t control your kart. However there are some people I know like my younger brothers who have gone from steering with the analog stick to steering with the D pad and find themselves getting stuck in the corner. Never happens with me though.

Now Mario Kart started the Kart racing genre so like any cart racing games there are weapons to use on your opponents. The pickings are a bit slim here though but it’s not bad. You have green shells that can be thrown at opponents and they go straight, red shell that lock on and go straight at an opponent. Banna peels that can be used to mine the field. Then invincible stars and thunderbolts will appear if your in last place, stars make you go real fast and lighting shrinks everybody making them go slower.

Has for characters you have 8 of them and 4 types. There is the average characters Mario and Luigi who don’t excel at anything but don’t stink at anything either. Princess and Yoshi are light weights who can accelerate fast but they have lousy top speed. Bowser and DK JR who have the fastest max speed but lousy acceleration. Then Toad and Koopa Troopa who have the best corning but can be knocked around easily.

Another concept that is only found in this game and Mario Kart Super Circuit is coins. You pick coins up by running over them. The more coins you get the faster you go. If you hit an opponent you loose a coin. Falling off the course will cost you two coins, and running over an enemy weapon will cost you 4 coins. If you loose all your coins you go super slow and if you get hit you spin out.

Now like all Mario Kart games the courses in this one are all themed after the last huge Mario game. Double dash featured Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart 64 had Mario 64 themed courses and items, and finally the original had Super Mario World theme courses and items. There are haunted house stages with the eerie Mario world ghost house theme running in the background. There are choco island stages where the courses are all dirt and Piranha plants line the side of the road. As for items this game as got an item that is only seen in this game and that is the feather, which can be used to jump barricades. While it’s usually worthless on a lot of stages if you find the right spot and place to use it you can take huge short cuts.

Now for the flaws I was talking about and most of them have to do with the AI and the fact that this game is old the AI is a bit primitive. They all race pretty much in the middle of the track in a straight line. Also whoever starts out in front of the pack stays in front of the pack as far has the AI characters go. And they only aim for you and not for themselves. Add in they have there own special weapons that they can throw at you at once and the game can get pretty challenging in 100cc mode. They can not only use special weapons but two standard items as well, the feather which means they can jump over anything, and the Mario Bros can use become invincible whenever they want to. The good news is that while annoying there are a few tricks that can become available if you have good timing. The game warns you about there special and if it’s a banana or a fire ball throwing a shell at the right time to where they get hit before releasing the weapon will spin them out just has there dropping there weapon. If your lucky there still in the same spot as the weapon they release, and the computer has some sense of fair play that the computer isn’t immune to there own weapons and they will get spun out as well. Next is there an unlimited feather which gets used to many times to just jump over that banana peel you threw at them. Planting bananas on select areas of the track can cause them to miss vital zips and jump bumbers that can send him out of bounds, or severely set them back. And in case your wondering what the special cup is like, it’s the hardest in all the Mario Kart games. If you can manage to get past the first 4 races you’ll find yourself on the hardest of the rainbow road. Where there are no rails to keep you falling off at all, invisible jump bumps that will help you fall off if you’re not paying attention, and invincible thwomps. The invincible thwomps are the worst, unlike regular thwomps found in the bowser castle race course which just merely block you for a minute, running into these will make you spin out and loose 4 coins.

As for 50cc mode is a lot easier has the CPU goes so slow you’ll find yourself lapping the guy who is in 4th place before you finish the race. 50CC gets a bit boring to quick.

Final recommendation.
While Super Mario Kart is a fun game it has it’s flaws, mostly the AI is has cheap has it is dumb. But if you remember the age of the game and that Nintendo was treading on a new ground for racing games you’ll find a satisfying game play experience. Especially if you have someone to play it two players with.


Recommended: Yes