Mario Kart
Mario Kart is a series of go-kart-syle racing video games developed by Nintendo as a series of spin-offs from their trademark and highly successful Super Mario series of platformer adventure-style video games. There has been at least 1 Mario Kart game for every Nintendo console, and they are often released almost immediately after the console on which they are developed for. To date, there have been 7 Mario Kart games, with the latest installment, Mario Kart Wii, due for release in 2008.
Installments
- Super Mario Kart is the original Mario Kart game. It was released in 1992 for Super Famicom and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The characters in the game are Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Donkey Kong Jr., Koopa Troopa, and Bowser.
- Mario Kart 64 was released in 1996 in Japan, and in 1997 in North America and Europe for Nintendo 64. It was the first fully 3D Mario Kart game (although the characters are 2D sprites), and allowed four players to race and battle on the same screen. In the characters list, Donkey Kong Jr. and Koopa Troopa were replaced by Donkey Kong and Wario, respectively.
- Mario Kart Super Circuit was released in 2001 for Game Boy Advance. It was the first portable version of Mario Kart and contained all the tracks from the original in addition to new ones. Up to four players could link up and play simultaneously using a single game cartridge. All the characters were the same as Mario Kart 64.
- Mario Kart: Double Dash!! was released in November 2003 for GameCube. This game strayed away from the classic Mario Kart formula by omitting the jump action and changing the traditional karts into themed vehicles, seating two characters each. The game is LAN-enabled, such that a maximum of 16 players can play at the same time on four GameCubes, four copies of the game, four TVs, four Broadband Adapters, four ethernet cables, and an ethernet hub. In the characters list, Koopa Troopa returned, Toad became a hidden character and Princess Daisy, Birdo, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Toadette, Paratroopa, Diddy Kong, Bowser Jr., Waluigi, Petey Piranha and King Boo were all added.
- Mario Kart Arcade GP was released in fall of 2005 in Japan and North America. It is the first Mario Kart arcade game. It was developed by Namco and features the characters that appeared in Mario Kart 64, as well as Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Blinky.
- Mario Kart DS was released in November 2005 for Nintendo DS. It was also the first Mario Kart game to expand the single player experience by adding the Mission Run mode, and allowed players to play VS and Battle mode against bots rather than real-life opponents. Mario Kart DS is also the first game to use Nintendo's online gaming service, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It also features an assortment of tracks from previous Mario Kart games. The game features the cast of Mario Kart 64, as well as Princess Daisy, Dry Bones, Waluigi, and R.O.B. as unlockable characters. In single kart multiplayer mode, players without the game play as Shy Guy, who can only be played as in said mode. The game supports Nintendo Wi-Fi connection for four players, and has an eight-player mode played over its wireless connection. There is an option to create an emblem that is seen by opponents on Wi-Fi battles right before a player battles them.
- Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 was released in Japan in early 2007. It was developed by Namco Bandai, and features the characters from Mario Kart Arcade GP, as well as Waluigi and Mametchi.
- Mario Kart Wii was announced at E3 2007 in a press conference on July 11, 2007. No exact release date has been announced yet; however, the game will be released during Q1 2008. Mario Kart for the Wii will include a steering wheel attachment for the system, known as the "Wii Wheel". The game has been confirmed to take use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It will support online battle mode, as well as an online racing mode, such as in Mario Kart DS. Shown in the trailer were some tracks from previous Mario Kart games such as Peach Beach and Yoshi Falls.
Gameplay
Playable characters
Recurring tracks
There are several types of tracks that have been featured in many of the Mario Kart games.
Circuits
Every Mario Kart to date has included several "circuit" courses, one of which serves as the starting course for the Mushroom Cup. Circuit courses are built to resemble actual raceways, with paved track, loose gravel or sand sides, and (in the 3D games) grandstands with onlookers, as well as signs and billboards scattered throughout the course advertising various imaginary racing products. These tracks range widely in difficulty, from simple turns to complex hairpins and banked curves. A particularly memorable circuit track is the Yoshi Circuit from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart DS, which is designed in the shape of a large Yoshi (and resembles one if seen from the air).
In Mario Kart 64, Circuits are referred to as "raceways".
Beaches
All Mario Kart games have included a beach level of sorts, such as Shy Guy Beach (Mario Kart Super Circuit) Peach Beach (Mario Kart Double Dash) and Cheep Cheep Beach (Mario Kart DS). They feature sand (which usually does not slow the kart), sometimes crabs (racers spin out if they hit them) and tides that allow shortcuts when low, but heavily impair speed when high. Beaches normally come early in a game (Mushroom Cup). Both Koopa Beaches from Super Mario Kart are featured in the last cups. Koopa Troopa Beach in Mario Kart 64 is in the Mushroom Cup.
Public roads
In all 3D Mario Kart games, there are tracks that include other traffic to avoid. Mario Kart 64 had Toad's Turnpike, which has huge vehicles that go the same direction as the karts. (In the Extra mode, they come toward the karts, making it one of the most unpredictable and most difficult tracks). Mario Kart: Double Dash!! had Mushroom Bridge and Mushroom City. They featured different kinds of cars, such as Mushroom trucks, the Wiggler vehicle, and Bob-omb cars. Mario Kart DS has Shroom Ridge, in which vehicles travel on the left-hand side of the road, much like the road system in Japan and the UK (in Mirror Mode they go on the right-hand side), set on road which winds around a mountain, and a slightly modified version of Mushroom Bridge. Public roads usually come in the middle of the game Flower cup or Star cup.
Deserts
There has been a desert track in each Mario Kart game since Mario Kart 64 (except for Arcade GP). Deserts usually feature quicksand and long stretches of bumpy terrain. In Mario Kart 64, there is the Kalimari Desert, in which a train crosses the track in two places. For Super Circuit, Yoshi Desert makes an appearance (the Sphinxes have Yoshi heads), and Double Dash!! with Dry Dry Desert has a sandstorm that makes any object fly into the air, plus an area with quicksand and a hungry Piranha Plant living at the bottom. The desert in Mario Kart DS(Desert Hills) includes Pokeys, which move from left-to-right, the Angry Sun, who rains fire down on the track, and a Super Mario Bros. 3 desert level-like theme.
Ice tracks
All Mario Kart games to date, save for Arcade GP (although this did include a snowy section on the Wario Stage) have included at least one ice-themed track, such as Frappe Snowland (MK64), Sherbet Land (MKDD/MK64), and DK Pass (MKDS). Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart 64 have two ice tracks, the rest have one (although the second ice track in MKDS is a retro track, Frappe Snowland). They are normally around the middle of the game in regards to difficulty. By nature, the track is usually slippery. They feature obstacles such as exploding snowmen, giant Freezies, penguins, and ice skating Shy Guys.
Jungles
All games from Mario Kart 64 onwards featured at least one jungle type track. Mario Kart 64 had DK's Jungle Parkway, set atop a waterfall with a steamboat patrolling the river. Mario Kart Super Circuit had both Riverside Park and Lakeside Park, the latter featuring volcanoes which shot out lava balls that spun players out when hit. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! had both DK Mountain and Dino Dino Jungle. DK Mountain's centrepiece was a gigantic DK Barrel which shot players to the top of the mountain. They would then have to drive down the mountain, avoiding massive boulders and traversing a swaying bridge over a fast flowing river. Dino Dino Jungle, as the name suggests, had several dinosaurs stomping and flying around the course. Mario Kart DS had Yoshi Falls, set in a large valley and circling a lake. Yoshi Falls has also been seen in the Mario Kart Wii E3 Video suggesting that it may have Retro Cups Similar to Mario Kart DS.
Haunted tracks
Most Mario Kart games have had some courses with a spooky theme (Mario Kart: Double Dash did not have one, but did have a battle course based off of Luigi's Mansion). Common themes in these 'haunted' tracks have included dark lighting, Boos, or (in the 2D games) railings which break upon impact. Boo Lake and Broken Pier (both from MKSC) are two examples of all these things. Luigi's Mansion in the Mario Kart DS (based on the GameCube game with the same name), includes a muddy swamp in which traction is lessened. While not strictly haunted, Airship Fortress (in MKDS) takes place in a crumbling castle. It is the only track in the game that includes Bullet Bills firing at players as a part of the level. Also in Mario Kart 64 there is a track called Banshee Boardwalk, which was later revamped in Mario Kart DS as a Retro Cup stage and is a haunted Boardwalk.
Stadiums
In three of the games (MK64, MKDD, and MKDS), there has been a stadium track, which takes place in a dirt arena surrounded by grandstands, similar to a Supercross track. Typically associated with Wario and Waluigi, they contain many jumps, bumps, turns, and (more recently) fire and oil. Stadium tracks are normally around the middle of the game in regards to difficulty, although the stadium in Mario Kart DS is among the most challenging tracks. The Wario Stadium track in Mario Kart 64 is notorious for a shortcut that can reduce the time a single lap takes to two seconds.
With the introduction of Waluigi in the Mario Kart series, there have always been two stadiums in the game. The alternate stadiums, instead of being dirt tracks, are mostly made of metal, with a definitive superstructure. The two metal cage tracks are Wario Colosseum (which comes after Waluigi Stadium in MKDD) and Waluigi Pinball (which comes before Wario Stadium MKDS).
Bowser Castles
Bowser Castles are particularly well known for unforgiving and straight 90-degree turns, lava pits, and Thwomps. Super Mario Kart features three Bowser Castle tracks, while Super Circuit has four; the rest only have one (Mario Kart DS has two but one is taken from Super Circuit). They are usually the penultimate tracks of the game, with the only track afterwards being Rainbow Road. Due to their stiff turns and obstacles, they are considered to be technically demanding. The name has also been spelled as Bowser's Castle; this name appears in Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.
Rainbow Road
Rainbow Road is the name for the final track in the last cup (the Special Cup) of every Mario Kart game to date. As such, it is considered one of the toughest tracks to master, as the track is suspended in space and generally has few or no rails to prevent the player from falling off of the edges during a turn (an exception is Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 64, where there are guardrails everywhere, although on hills, it is there so you can brake and steer hard left to shave minutes off your time).
Other features of the Rainbow Road tracks include 90-degree turns and flashing Thwomps (Super Mario Kart), Chomps and steep drops (Mario Kart 64), speed boost panels, Jumps, Storm Clouds (Mario Kart Super Circuit, speed boost panels, a teleporting pipe Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and speed boosts panels, and a barrel roll and loop the loop obstacle Mario Kart DS) that might either provide a helpful edge or cause a player to lose control and careen off the track. Double Dash!! features a set of hairpin turns, and also is the only game in the series to feature stars that occasionally land on the track and become a star power up for anyone who touches them.
Since Mario Kart 64, Rainbow Road is the only track to have the same music theme in every game (except for Mario Kart Super Circuit), though each one is remixed differently.
Items
The main selling point of Mario Kart is the item system. In certain parts of the course, players can drive through an "item box" and receive a random item. There is an equalizer aspect: karts in lower positions get better items, while the higher position karts get worse items.
There are four categories of items: hazards (items such as bananas, items left on the track as an obstacle), projectiles (items such as shells fired at other players or obstacles), boosts (gives the kart more speed), and special (does not fit in to any of the three categories).
Some of the special items include Bullet Bills (provides a speed boost, and guarantees the user will gain at least one track position), Chain Chomps (similar to Bullet Bills, but much faster and more unpredictable) Lightning (zaps and shrinks all opponents ahead of the user), Stars (provides invincibility for a time) Boos (turns the character invisible and steals an opponent's item at random, if possible) and Bloopers (shoots ink at opponents, decreasing their field of vision). Hazards and most projectiles can be trailed behind the kart by holding the item button (except in Double Dash!! and Mario Kart DS on the Nintendo Wi-Fi mode, where they cannot trail behind the karts). This serves as defense against opponent attacks. They are then activated once the player releases the item button.
In the original game, Super Mario Kart, each of the AI drivers had specific items that could be used against the opponents. While some use conventional items familiar to players (like the Star, used by Mario and Luigi), others have exclusive items (like Peach and Toad, who can send a mushroom that can shrink an opponent upon contact). Particularly, the Koopa Troopa always uses his Green Shell attack by lying it in his trail, never launching it forward. This trait, however, was not carried over for the rest of the series.
In Double Dash!!, each pair of characters has a character-specific special item. Like the regular items, the "best" special items can only be obtained when farther back in the standings.
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