Mario Kart

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Mario Kart
A screenshot from an early development build of Mario Kart Wii
Genre(s)	Racing
Developer(s)	Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Original release	August 27, 1992

Mario Kart (マリオカート, Mario Kāto^?) is a series of go-kart-style racing video games developed by Nintendo as a spin-off from its Mario series. To date, there have been eight Mario Kart games; four for home consoles, two for portable consoles, and two arcade games. The series debuted in 1992 with critical and commercial success.^{[citation needed]} Mario Kart Wii, the eighth and latest installment released in April 2008, has sold over 13 million units worldwide and is the fourth-best-selling game for the Wii.^[1] Overall, the Mario Kart series has sold over 52 million copies.

[edit] Series

Main series

1. Super Mario Kart – (Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), 1992)
2. Mario Kart 64 – (Nintendo 64 (N64), 1996). Also available on Virtual Console, as of 2007.
3. Mario Kart: Super Circuit – (Game Boy Advance (GBA), 2001)
4. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! – (Nintendo GameCube (GCN), 2003)
5. Mario Kart DS – (Nintendo DS, 2005)
6. Mario Kart Wii – (Wii, 2008)

Arcade series

1. Mario Kart Arcade GP – (Arcade, 2005).
2. Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 – (Arcade, 2007).

[edit] Gameplay

In Mario Kart, players choose from characters mostly from the Mario series (there are some characters from the Donkey Kong series) of video games and race vehicles around a variety of tracks to win trophies. In the first seven games, players race in go-karts; in Mario Kart Wii, motorbikes are also featured. All games have three engine classes that players can choose to race in: 50cc, 100cc and 150cc, which differ in kart speed and game difficulty. Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash‼ and Mario Kart Wii also have a fourth engine class called "Mirror Mode" which mirrors all tracks in 150cc mode. Players can obtain items by driving through item boxes or coins, which can be used for either defense, offense or powering up the engine for a short amount of time (boost). Each Mario Kart game features several gameplay modes, which can be played in both single-player and multiplayer.

[edit] Gameplay modes

[edit] Grand Prix

In Grand Prix, the characters compete against each other in a themed cup. Most games in the series have consisted of four cups: Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, Star Cup and Special Cup, each have new race tracks. In Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii, there are an extra four cups that consist of tracks from previous Mario Kart games, called the Shell Cup, Banana Cup, Leaf Cup, and Lightning Cup.

On Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii, the first four cups are the Mushroom Cup, the Shell Cup, the Flower Cup and the Banana Cup. In order to unlock the Leaf cup, the Shell and Banana cups must be completed and won with a trophy and by winning the Leaf cup with a trophy, the Lightning cup becomes playable. The same system applies to the Star (same conditions as Leaf) and Special (Lightning).

The player wins the cup by receiving the most points throughout the Grand Prix. Points are allocated based on the position the player finishes in. Mario Kart Super Circuit, Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii also feature a rating system, which, from lowest to highest, is E, D, C, B, A, *, ** and ***. While the instruction manuals for the three games never explained what a player's rating is based on, it is believed that it is based on how well he or she played in a cup, such as performing mini-turbos, avoiding items, etc..

In Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart Super Circuit, while racing on a track players are to pick up coins. Once ten or more coins have been obtained a player's car can reach maximum speed. However, if a kart is hit by any items, bumps into another car, or falls off the track, coins will be lost. These coins can also determine a player's rating and unlock other tracks.

[edit] Time Trial

In Time Trial or Time Attack, the goal is to achieve the fastest time in the chosen track. In some series, players have been given up to three mushrooms (speed boosts) which they can use any time during the race. Once a record is set, the game saves a "ghost," a replay of the set record, to compete against. In Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart DS, and Mario Kart Wii, the developers put in their own "Staff Ghosts" for the player to race against. They must be unlocked by achieving a certain time which differs on each track. In Mario Kart Super Circuit and Mario Kart DS, it is also possible to download a ghost from friends. In Mario Kart DS, two ghosts (the player's own and a friend's) can be saved. In Mario Kart Wii, ghosts can be downloaded from across the world via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. There are two sets of staff Ghosts in-game--one available at the start (which are known as "Normal staff ghosts"), and a faster ghost that is unlocked after the player achieves a certain time in the Time Trial or Time Attack (which are known as "Expert staff ghosts").

[edit] VS

In VS. mode, multiple players can compete against each other in a race. The one who crosses the finish line first wins. Depending on the platform, up to eight players can play simultaneously. Racing against CPU opponents was for the first time an available option in Mario Kart DS.

[edit] Battle

In Mario Kart 64's Battle Mode, each player is assigned a set of balloons that can be detached. The aim of battle mode is to detach the opponent's balloons by attacking him or her with items, or by crashing into their kart with adequate force. Once all balloons are detached, the player transforms into a mobile bomb, which has the potential to kamikaze attack, or use remaining attack weapons, but can no longer win the game or pick up more items. In Mario Kart 64, battle mode is acclaimed by fans for its randomization of item acquisition, as opposed to the item welfare system in race mode (i.e. a player in first place will not receive the most devastating weapons such as lightning or triple red shells, whereas these items are commonly acquired by players in last place).

In Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii, another type of Battle Mode games involves acquiring more coins (or shines in Mario Kart DS) than an opponent. There have been several types of Battle Mode games, and they can be played in teams or "free for all" mode. Some items do not appear in Battle Mode because of the sheer advantage they give their users. Mushrooms were removed before the stealing of balloons was introduced in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii are the first two games where players can battle against computer-controlled opponents.

[edit] Missions

Mission mode is only present in Mario Kart DS and includes several levels, each of which contain nine challenges (one of which is a boss battle). These challenges range include collecting X number of coins, driving through X number of gates, destroying X number of enemies, etc. The player is given a grade upon completing a mission, with c being the lowest and three stars being the highest (same as race ratings in Grand Prix mode). There is only one mission level to start with, but by beating each mission level's boss players can reach level six, and, by achieving a rank of at least one star in all missions, level seven. It's noticeable that you can't choose your own character in missions. A similar system are the Challenges in Mario Kart Wii, which are delivered via Wi-Fi Connection and have 2 challenges per month, with the addition of online rankings.

[edit] Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

This mode was introduced in Mario Kart DS. Abbreviated as WFC, this mode allows players to use Nintendo's online gaming service to match up against other players elsewhere in the world, nationally, or with comparable skill levels. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Mode also includes a "friends roster" which allows a player to play with a group of people he or she knows. Wi-Fi gameplay follows the same scoring as multiplayer VS matches, except with a limit of four players instead of eight. Also, only half of the courses available in VS matches are available in Wi-Fi. Mario Kart Wii also uses the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, in which up to twelve people can race online via Wi-Fi and all courses are available. Online play in both games uses a voting system to choose the next level to be played.

[edit] Playable characters

Mario Kart consists of ten main characters and a large amount of other characters that have infrequent appearances.^[2][3]

Three characters have debuted in Mario Kart games. All three have continued to appear in the Mario series.

• Toadette, a female form of main character Toad, first debuted in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.
• Baby Daisy, a baby form of main character Daisy, first debuted in Mario Kart Wii.
• Dry Bowser, a Dry Bones-esque version of Bowser, was introduced in New Super Mario Bros. but first named in Mario Kart Wii.

[edit] Main characters

Bowser, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Mario, Princess Peach, Toad, Wario, and Yoshi are the main characters in the Mario Kart series. They have appeared in most of the games and generally do not need to be unlocked. More recently, Daisy and Waluigi have became main characters as their appearances have become more frequent. A list is below. Shaded cells denote unlockable characters.

Racer	Super Mario Kart	Mario Kart 64	Mario Kart Super Circuit	Mario Kart: Double Dash!!	Mario Kart Arcade GP	Mario Kart DS	Mario Kart Arcade GP 2	Mario Kart Wii
Bowser	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Daisy	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y
Donkey Kong	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Luigi	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Mario	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Peach	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Toad	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Waluigi	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y
Wario	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Yoshi	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

[edit] All other characters

There are 24 other characters that have appeared in the series. Most of these characters must be unlocked before they can be used. The majority of these characters do not appear in the first three games in the series, and most of them appear in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart Wii. Shaded cells denote unlockable characters.

Racer	Super Mario Kart	Mario Kart 64	Mario Kart Super Circuit	Mario Kart: Double Dash!!	Mario Kart Arcade GP	Mario Kart DS	Mario Kart Arcade GP 2	Mario Kart Wii
Baby Daisy	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y
Baby Luigi	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y
Baby Mario	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y
Baby Peach	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y
Birdo	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y
Blinky	N	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	N
Bowser Jr.	N	N	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y
Donkey Kong Jr.	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
Diddy Kong	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y
Dry Bones	N	N	N	N	N	Y	N	Y
Dry Bowser	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y
Funky Kong	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y
King Boo	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y
Koopa Troopa	Y	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y
Mametchi	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y	N
Mii (Outfit A and B)	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y
Ms. Pac-Man	N	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	N
Pac-Man	N	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	N
Paratroopa	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N
Petey Piranha	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N
R.O.B.	N	N	N	N	N	Y	N	N
Rosalina	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y
Shy Guy	N	N	N	N	N	Y1	N	N
Toadette	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y

Note: