Hello everyone, hope you're having a great day, and thanks for joining me on my look back at an all time classic, Super Mario Kart! From time to time I like to fire up the Super Nintendo and enjoy some good old fashioned retro gaming. Recently I've been playing some Super Mario Kart, and it's still as addictive, and fun as it always was. I remember playing this non stop when I first got it as a kid. My Brother and I would take turns trying to get the gold medals for every cup, or just beat the crap out of each other in battle mode. Since this is the first entry in what was to become a very long running series, it's lacking some of the bells and whistles that the more recent versions have, but it holds up surprisingly well regardless.
Super Mario Kart was released in 1992 for the Super Nintendo, and it started a whole new genre of kart based games that still holds strong today. Playing this back when I was little I never would have imagined that it would still be relevant 25 years later. Something I wasn't aware of back then was that it sold 9 million copies, making it the number 4 best selling Super Nintendo game of all time. So really it's no wonder this became a franchise all it's own. It took the characters we all knew and loved from Nintendo, and turned them into race car drivers. It wasn't just boring old standard racing though, it was racing with creative tracks, shortcuts, and weapons you could use to take out your opponents. Nintendo either masterfully crafted, or blindly stumbled upon a winning formula for an incredibly fun racing experience.
At the start of the game you get to choose from one of three different classes, 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc, basically the equivalent of easy, normal, or hard mode. Then you can pick from one of three cups, Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, and Star Cup. Each cup had it's own set of distinct tracks that present different challenges, ensuring that you'll want to play through every single one of them. If you play at 100cc or higher, and finish in first place for all three, you then unlock a fourth cup called Special Cup. This isn't always so easy to do though, even today, because the computer kind of cheats a little, making you have to give it a few tries at least. Things can get a little frustrating, but I still have a ton of fun anyway.
The more modern Mario Kart games feature loads of characters to choose from, giving you plenty of options. But this is the original game that started it all, and because of that it has a much more humble selection of racers to pick from. You have Mario and Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong Jr, Koopa Troopa, and Toad. Even though you don't get a huge selection of characters, the ones available all feel different giving each one a distinct racing style. You have the lighter racers like Toad and Koopa Troopa that are quick and agile. You have the heavier, but more powerful Bowser, and Donkey Kong Jr. Then there's the more middle of the road characters that have a more even feel to them for beginners.
The tracks all have themes from different Mario levels, like Bowser's Castle, or the Ghost House. They all have their own pitfalls that you need to familiarize yourself with so that you can freely, and smoothly cruise through them. Most, if not all, tracks feature some kind of shortcut that can knock a few seconds off your time, as long as you don't screw them up. On top of all this you also get various weapons, by driving over question blocks, that can easily turn the tides. They range from red or green shells, banana peels, mushrooms, star power, lightning bolt, and probably some I'm forgetting. Each one has two functions, meaning you can shoot it out behind you, or shoot it out in front of you by holding up or down. If used correctly, at the right moment, these can be extremely effective in a number of scenarios.
All these wonderful components blend together beautifully to create an extremely fun, and addicting racing game, that went on to launch a new genre. Over the years the series has seen many changes, with more tracks that push the envelope of creativity, new powerups that add more levels of strategy, and of course dozens of new characters from the ever growing library of Nintendo games. Your options might be limited in this one, and the graphics, while not terrible, don't really hold up that well to today's standards, but that doesn't stop the game from remaining an all time classic. If you have a way to play this, do yourself a favor and pop it in for a while. Especially if you have someone to play it with, either two player racing, or battle mode are both a blast. This is the game that started it all, and after playing it again I can see why it was so successful. I'm going to give Super Mario Kart a grade of...……………………….
B +
Thank you for checking out my review of Super Mario Kart, I hope you enjoyed it!
Well, I don't know if you fully read the review, but I said the computer is cheap on harder difficulties, the graphics don't hold up well, and compared to later games in the series the content is lacking. Besides that it's still a classic game that's a lot of fun. Thanks for the feedback though, I appreciate any kind of comments or views.
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Decent retro review, though if you give a game a B+ I'd think I'd see a bit more critique - like what exactly was wrong with the game. :)
Well, I don't know if you fully read the review, but I said the computer is cheap on harder difficulties, the graphics don't hold up well, and compared to later games in the series the content is lacking. Besides that it's still a classic game that's a lot of fun. Thanks for the feedback though, I appreciate any kind of comments or views.