Super Mario Kart
Template:Infobox Super Mario Kart is a racing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System released in 1992 and re-released in 1996 as the Player's Choice. It was also released in Japan on June 9, 2009; in United States on November 23, 2009; and on April 2, 2010 in Europe and Australia as a Virtual Console title. It is the first game in the Mario Kart series and the game that popularized the kart racing style of video game.
Characters
As well as the eight playable drivers, various other Mario series characters appear in Super Mario Kart. Thwomps, Piranha Plants, Monty Moles and Cheep-Cheeps are enemies that serve as obstacles in certain tracks and Boos appear in the background of other tracks, as well as serving as a usable item.
As stated in the Super Mario Kart manual, Lakitu is the owner of the Super Mario Kart Race Track, and as such, he oversees all races. He holds up the starting signal and various other signs and for the price of two Coins, he uses his fishing rod to lift any fallen drivers back onto the racetrack.
Button Controls
SNES
- Use items, stop Item Roulette
- Accelerate, Rocket Start
- Pause/Select
- Switch view
- Change option during the Menus/Steer
- Switch view
- Brake
/ 
- Drift
Modes of Play
Mario Kart GP
The Mario Kart GP is the main mode for Super Mario Kart. Here, players can race against seven other opponents in a five-course cup. The four best drivers will receive Driver Points for placing in the top four. First place gives the player nine points, second gets six, three points for third and only one for fourth. If players get fifth or below, they can try again using one of three limited lives. If they get it four times, the mode is over. A single extra life was earned by placing the same position three times. The maximum score in a GP cup is forty-five. The three best drivers will move on to the award ceremony where they can receive their trophies. Third place gives the player a bronze trophy, second gives them silver and gold for the winner. Each race is five laps long. If the player wants more of a challenge, he or she could highlight his or her character and press the A, B, X, and Y buttons at the same time. Their character will be permanently small until the player presses these buttons again.
Match Race
In this two-player mode, players can race against each other to see who is faster. The player who crosses the finish line after five laps wins the race. Hazards will also be placed on the track to add to the challenge.
Time Trial
In this single-player mode, players can get the fastest time within the required number of laps. The best lap time and race time is recorded after all of the laps are played.
Battle
In this mode for two people, players can battle against each other with balloons. To pop them, the player must hit their opponent with an item. The Item Panels will automatically restock after all of them have been used. Each player gets three balloons to begin the battle with and the first person to pop all the other players' three balloons wins the battle.
Drivers
Super Mario Kart has eight available drivers, divided into statistically identical pairs of two. These four categories have no official name, but are referred in the manual as different classes. Later Mario Kart titles categorize characters into weight classes to organize their stats.
| The Drivers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Bros. These characters are average in all areas. |
Mario is the main hero of the Mario series, first introduced in Donkey Kong. When the computer uses him, he will sometimes use Star power (invincibility). | Luigi is Mario's brother who first appeared in the game Mario Brothers as a palette swap for use as a second player in multi-player games. When the computer uses him, he will sometimes use Star power (invincibility). | ||
| The Dino and the Lady These characters have excellent acceleration, average handling and medium weight, but suffer from poor top speed. |
The Princess was also introduced in Super Mario Brothers. She is the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. When the computer uses her, she will sometimes throw Poison Mushrooms at that player to make him or her shrink. | Yoshi is a friendly green dinosaur-like creature, first introduced in Super Mario World. When the computer uses him, he will sometimes throw eggs at the player. | ||
| The Showdown These characters have the highest top speed and heaviest weight, but suffer from poor acceleration and poor control. |
Bowser is another character introduced in Super Mario Brothers and is the game's main villain, as well as the villain of most games in the Mario series. When the computer uses him, he will sometimes throw lava balls at the player. | Donkey Kong Jr. is the son of Donkey Kong and one of the more obscure characters in the series. He made his debut in his self-titled game. When the computer uses him, he will sometimes throw bananas at the player. | ||
| The Small Guys These characters have very good steering, but only average acceleration and average top speed. They also get bumped around a lot, because of their low weight. |
The Koopa Troopa is one of the basic enemies introduced in Super Mario Bros.. When the computer uses him, he will sometimes throw Green Shells towards the player. | Toad is also another character introduced in Super Mario Bros and one of few friendly characters from those events. When the computer uses Toad, he will sometimes throw mushrooms in front of the player that will make him or her shrink if he or she collides into them. | ||
Character attributes
| Drivers | Acceleration | Top Speed | Weight | Handling | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mario | Luigi | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
| Princess | Yoshi | High | Low | Medium | Medium |
| Bowser | Donkey Kong Jr. | Low | High | High | Low |
| Koopa Troopa | Toad | Medium | Medium | Low | High |
Courses
Battle courses
| Battle Course 1 | Battle Course 2 | Battle Course 3 | Battle Course 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| File:BC1SNES.png | File:BC2SNES.png | File:BC3SNES.png | File:BC4SNES.png |
Items
Rivals
Super Mario Kart has a different rival system from the rest of the series; the rivals contain one very fast driver, one fast driver, one medium driver, one slower driver and three very slow drivers. It is notable that when one of the three slower drivers gets hit, that kart will keep its place, while when one of the faster cars gets shot, it will usually resume its previous place very quickly unless unable to catch up fast enough before the race ends. For this reason, the drivers (except the human racer) will (if unaffected) always finish in the exact same order. Also if the player tries to hit an opponent a majority of the time, they jump over the item.
The rivals for each driver are always the same, the list will be in the order the line up for the first race. It is possible to change the order if the rivals can't recover their place at the end, (Eg. If someone is playing as Luigi and Yoshi finishes last, Yoshi will then become one of the three slower drivers while everybody takes the next position up)
The rivals are determined by the current points standing, meaning that if Yoshi was still only second to the player, he will boost back to first position from the start.
| Character | Rival Order |
|---|---|
| Mario | Donkey Kong Jr., Princess, Yoshi, Luigi, Toad, Bowser, Koopa Troopa |
| Luigi | Yoshi, Mario, Bowser, Koopa Troopa, Princess, Donkey Kong Jr., Toad |
| Princess | Bowser, Toad, Mario, Donkey Kong Jr., Luigi, Yoshi, Koopa Troopa |
| Yoshi | Koopa Troopa, Donkey Kong Jr., Princess, Bowser, Mario, Toad, Luigi |
| Bowser | Mario, Luigi, Princess, Yoshi, Donkey Kong Jr., Toad, Koopa Troopa |
| Donkey Kong Jr. | Toad, Bowser, Koopa Troopa, Luigi, Princess, Mario, Yoshi |
| Koopa Troopa | Luigi, Yoshi, Princess, Mario, Bowser, Donkey Kong Jr., Toad |
| Toad | Princess, Donkey Kong Jr., Mario, Yoshi, Luigi, Koopa Troopa, Bowser |
Development
Super Mario Kart was born out of the idea of making a two-player racing game following F-Zero, which was exclusively single-player [1]. The prototype initially only featured a generic "guy in overalls". The decision to include Mario characters and concepts was made three to four months in development, when the developers added Mario driving one of the karts because they were curious about how the game would look, and decided that it looked better [1]. The battle mode was implemented because the developers thought it would be a good idea to include a form of one-on-one battles that didn't involving competing for ranks during the races [1].
Reception
Super Mario Kart met with very favorable reviews. The game was placed 32nd in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997.[2]. In the book, Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition for 2009, Super Mario Kart was placed as the #1 best console game. The game was placed 33rd in the 200th issue of GameInformer's "Top 200 Games of all Time" in December 2009. The game was awarded the Most Critically Acclaimed Mario Kart Game by Guinness Book of World Records Gamer's Edition 2009 - 2013.
References to Other Games
- Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels: The computer-controlled Toad and Peach are able to throw Poison Mushrooms, which are not usable by the player.
- Super Mario World: Several sound effects from this game are reused, for example, the music in the Bowser's Castle levels is very similar from the final boss in this game. Most of the races take place on Dinosaur Land. Also, sprites such as the Lakitu bear a resemblance to their Super Mario World sprite.
- Mario Kart: Super Circuit: All twenty of the courses appeared in this game, but all of their track hazards have been removed, Item Boxes are at different places than where ? Panels laid and some tracks changed a little. The music for all tracks is remixed.
Gallery
Media
- Main article: List of media from Super Mario Kart
Names in Other Languages
Trivia
- In the Japanese version of Super Mario Kart, every character has a winning animation that involves a bottle of champagne. Bowser and Peach drink champagne in their winning animations, which goes against Nintendo of America's policy on the depiction of alcohol, as they considered it inappropriate for younger children. Instead, they just toss and catch the bottles in the Western versions.
- In the manual, the picture for Mario Circuit 1 is upside down.
- In the manual, Karts were incorrectly spelled as "Carts" in the section about the remaining Karts that indicate the player's remaining chances before getting a Game Over.
- This is the only game in the Mario Kart series to have more than three laps on every course, and the only one to have 5 courses per cup, as opposed to 4 in later games.
- There is a prototype cartridge that belongs to a customer with some differences from the final. [3]
- There is a secret way to get the Special Cup. On Time Trials, put the cursor on Mushroom Cup, then press these buttons in order: L R L R L L R R A. That also works for Grand Prix, except without pressing A in the combo.
- The instruction manual states that the Chocolate Island courses are in the desert.
References
- ^ a b c Iwata Asks: Mario Kart Wii (accessed March 22 2012)
- ^ http://www.gamekult.com/communaute/forum/voirmessage.html?foid=13000909, retrieved 6/4/2009
- ^ http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?121546-Super-Mario-Kart-prototype
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