Pipe Frame

Template:Kart-infobox The Pipe Frame (also formerly known simply as the Go-Kart) is the original form of Kart that appears in Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, and Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and is the predecessor to the Standard Kart. Throughout the various Mario Kart games it appears in, the kart has different colors depending on the driver. In the first three installments of the Mario Kart series, the Pipe Frame acts as the one and only vehicle available. The abilities of the kart depend on the driver so the kart itself has no strong or weak points.

After a 10-year absence, the Pipe Frame returns in Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, as an unlockable kart body in both and generally gives a boost in acceleration and handling while decreasing the weight and traction.

Unlike the Standard Kart, the Pipe Frame does not appear to resemble a real go-kart, though its appearance is somewhat similar to a micro kart, a type of racing kart known for its small size, but powerful engines.

History

Name

This vehicle was simply referred to as a "go-kart" in its earlier appearances, and the name "Pipe Frame" was not yet implemented prior to its reappearance in Mario Kart 7.

Super Mario Kart

The kart makes its first appearance in Super Mario Kart, designed as simple, small go-karts with different colors for each character and various performance traits depending on the driver, and an ability to boost by drifting.

Each character's kart has different engines; some uses four-stroke and few others uses two-stroke, based on its sounds.

Mario Kart 64

The Pipe Frame is redesigned in Mario Kart 64, featuring realistic-looking wheels, new colors for every character and a cubical engine with dual exhaust pipes. It also has a different handling compared to its predecessor.

This time, all karts uses two-stroke engines, with the exception of Toad's kart, which use a softer sounding four-stroke instead.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit

The kart's design and colors for this game remain unchanged from Mario Kart 64 aside from its handling, which reverted to that of Super Mario Kart to fit the game's two-dimensional environment.

Unlike in Mario Kart 64, all the karts now uses four-stroke engines.

Mario Kart 7

After being absent in subsequent games after Mario Kart: Super Circuit, the Pipe Frame returns in Mario Kart 7 as an unlockable kart body. It inherits the Mario Kart 64 design with slightly redesigned exhaust pipes which resembles the one seen on Standard Kart, and the character's emblem is shown underneath the engine. It offers a good boost in acceleration, handling, and off-road, but hinders top speed and weight. The Pipe Frame is one of the three kart parts to have a different color for each character. The eight characters from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit retains the same color schemes, except for Peach that have a slightly lighter pink color. Like in Super Circuit, it has a four-stroke engine with powerful-sounding exhausts.

Color schemes

Character	Color
Mario	Red
Luigi	Green
Peach	Pink
Yoshi	Lime green
Bowser	Orange
Donkey Kong	Yellow
Toad	Blue
Koopa	Light green-yellow
Daisy	Yellow-orange
Wario	Purple
Rosalina	Turquoise
Metal Mario	Blue-gray
Shy Guy	Black
Honey Queen	Fuchsia
Wiggler	Brown
Lakitu	Sky blue
Mii	Color depends on Mii's color

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

The Pipe Frame reappears in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, again as an unlockable kart body, and received a slight design change to resemble the original Super Mario Kart version featuring only one exhaust pipe, instead of two as seen in Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart 7. The character emblem is now located in the front.

Unlike past installments, the colors of the Pipe Frame are now shared with multiple characters, featuring 23 unique colors used among the 36 characters (and of those, thirteen of the colors are exclusive to one character, counting alternate colors for Yoshi and Shy Guy, but excluding Miis). The eight characters from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit once again retain the same color as they were in the original games, while Koopa Troopa has a yellow color like in Super Mario Kart.

In addition, all the Koopalings (except for Morton) have unique colored steering wheels for their karts, as opposed to the standard black for the secondary color. Also, all the Koopalings have unique colored exhaust pipes, as opposed to the standard yellow for the tertiary color, and their wheel hinges are uniquely colored, instead of being colored gray.

The Pipe Frame gives a good boost in acceleration, speed and handling, but hinders weight and traction. Its stats are identical to those of the Wild Wiggler, Standard Bike, Flame Rider, Varmint, W 25 Silver Arrow, and City Tripper. Unlike its predecessor, it is now has a two-stroke engine and its sound is shared with the Standard Kart, Teddy Buggy, Wild Wiggler, and the Sneeker, only having a softer exhaust noise.

Like the Standard Kart, Standard Bike, and Standard ATV, the Pipe Frame body is occasionally used by all the CPU-controlled characters. Most CPU racers will always pair the Pipe Frame with the Standard tires, but several characters (usually medium and heavy racers) may use the Monster tires instead.

Color schemes

Character(s)	Color				Image
Body	Wheel Hinges	Steering Wheel	Engine and Exhaust
File:YoshiRed-MK8.png (Red, Mario/Pikmin Suit)	Red	Gray	Black	Gold
File:ShyGuyGreen-MK8.png (Green, Luigi/Yoshi Suit)	Green	Gray	Black	Gold
File:YoshiPink-MK8.pngFile:ShyGuyPink-MK8.png (Pink, Peach/Kirby Suit)	Light pink	Gray	Black	Gold
File:YoshiOrange-MK8.pngFile:ShyGuyOrange-MK8.png (Orange, Varia Suit)	Yellow-orange	Gray	Black	Gold
File:YoshiLightBlue-MK8.pngFile:ShyGuyLightBlue-MK8.png (Light-blue, Mega Man Suit, Rosalina Suit)	Sky blue	Gray	Black	Gold
	Metallic gray	Gray	Black	Gold
(Light-green, Animal Crossing Suit)	Light green-yellow	Gray	Black	Gold
File:YoshiYellow-MK8.pngFile:ShyGuyYellow-MK8.png (Yellow, PAC-MAN/Wario Suit)	Yellow	Gray	Black	Gold
File:YoshiBlue-MK8.pngFile:ShyGuyBlue-MK8.png (Blue, Hylian/Captain Falcon/Fox/Toad/Sonic Suit)	Blue	Gray	Black	Gold
File:YoshiWhite-MK8.pngFile:ShyGuyWhite-MK8.png (White)	White	Gray	Black	Gold
File:YoshiBlack-MK8.pngFile:ShyGuyBlack-MK8.png (Black, Bowser Suit)	Black	Gray	Black	Gold
(Brown, DK Suit)	Brown	Gray	Black	Gold
	Metallic pink	Gray	Black	Gold
	Orange	Gray	Black	Gold
(Purple)	Purple	Gray	Black	Gold
	Dark purple	Gray	Black	Gold
	Lime green	Blue-violet	Blue-violet	Violet-purple
	Red-purple	Light pink	Light pink	Violet
	Cyan	Orange	Orange	Orange
	Yellow	Sky blue	Sky blue	Sky blue
	Pink	Light purple	Light purple	Cyan
	Dark blue	Blue	Blue	Forest green
	Dark gray	Forest green	Black	Dark gray

Stats

Stat values are out of 6.

Mario Kart 7

• Speed: -0.25
• Sea Speed: +1
• Air Speed: +0.5
• Acceleration: +0.25
• Weight: -0.25
• Handling: 0
• Sea Handling: +0.25
• Air Handling: +0.25
• Off-Road: +0.25
• Mini-Turbo: +0.5
• Stability: 0
• Drift: +0.25

Mario Kart 8

• Ground Speed: 0
• Water Speed: +0.25
• Air Speed: +0.25
• Anti-Gravity Speed: -0.25
• Acceleration: +0.25
• Weight: -0.25
• Ground Handling: +0.5
• Water Handling: +0.5
• Air Handling: +0.5
• Anti-Gravity Handling: +0.25
• Traction: -0.5
• Mini-Turbo: +0.25

Gallery

Artwork

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  The kart, as it appears in Mario Kart 64.

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  The kart, as it appears in Mario Kart 7.

• 

  The kart, as it appears in Mario Kart 8.

• 

  An early, unused concept of the Pipe Frame body from Mario Kart 8.

• DKJRMK.PNG

  Donkey Kong Jr.'s Pipe Frame.

• MKTroopa.PNG

  Koopa's Pipe Frame, in Super Mario Kart.

• 

  Mario's Pipe Frame.

• MKLG.PNG

  Luigi's Pipe Frame.

• MKPC.PNG

  Princess Peach's Pipe Frame.

• MKTD.PNG

  Toad's Pipe Frame.

• MKYS.PNG

  Yoshi's Pipe Frame.

• MKDK.PNG

  Donkey Kong's Pipe Frame.

• MKWR.PNG

  Wario's Pipe Frame.

• MKBW.PNG

  Bowser's Pipe Frame.

Screenshots

Mario Kart 7

• 

  Yoshi's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Koopa Troopa's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Daisy's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Rosalina's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Metal Mario's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Shy Guy's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Honey Queen's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Wiggler's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Lakitu's Pipe Frame.

• 

  The White Mii's Pipe Frame.

Mario Kart 8

• 

  Toad's Pipe Frame, in Mario Kart 8.

• 

  Waluigi's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Iggy Koopa's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Roy Koopa's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Lemmy Koopa's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Larry Koopa's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Wendy O. Koopa's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Ludwig von Koopa's Pipe Frame.

• 

  Morton Koopa Jr.'s Pipe Frame.

Club Nintendo

"Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All"

Mario and Luigi driving karts in the Club Nintendo comic "Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All".

In the Club Nintendo comic "Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All", Mario and Luigi are seen driving karts in their mission to find a spaceship shaped like the Nintendo 64. They compete against Wario and Bowser and make another reference to the Mario Kart games by dropping Banana Peels and making them crash. The karts seen in this comic resemble those seen in the then-new Mario Kart 64. Unlike their video game equivalents, though, they can also be turned into jet skis by pushing a button on their steering-wheels.

Mario Kirby Meisaku Video

A Pipe Frame makes an apperance resembling the one in Super Mario Kart in the Mario segment of the Mario Kirby Meisaku Video where Mario drives it during his pursuit of the mysterious thief W. Eventually, after being attacked by some monsters, he spins out near a vegetable garden.

Super Mario-Kun

Pipe Frame karts are seen in the Mario Kart adaptions of Super Mario-Kun. The first time they appear, Mario races against other characters including Donkey Kong Jr. and Bowser.

Super Smash Bros. series

Super Smash Bros. Melee Trophy

Name	Image	Game	Description
Racing Kart	File:Trophy213.PNG	Super Mario Kart 9/92	The famous racing karts from the ever-popular Mario Kart racing series come loaded for speed with three different engine sizes: 50, 100, and 150 cc. The karts' handling differs with the characters driving them, but all of them utilize Mario Kart standards like drift, jump, and turbo. They're extremely durable and impossible to total.

Trivia

• In Mario Kart 64, Toad and Donkey Kong are the only characters to have unique engine sounds that is not shared with any other character.
  • Mario shares the same sound with Luigi, Peach shares the same sound with Yoshi, and Bowser shares the same sound with Wario.
• In Mario Kart 7, white is the only Mii color to receive a unique Pipe Frame color, as no other character uses a white Pipe Frame.
  • In Mario Kart 8, this trait instead applies to the color brown, unless the alternate Yoshi and Shy Guy colors are not downloaded; in that case white remains an exclusive to Miis.
• In Mario Kart 7, its engine sound is similar to the Mach Bike from Mario Kart Wii.
• In Mario Kart 8, Morton Koopa Jr. is the only Koopaling who uses a black steering wheel instead of a multi-colored one.
• A snapshot from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe shows Mario, Peach, and Yoshi driving Pipe Frames on SNES Battle Course 1; likely as an homage to the original game.