Mario Kart: Double Dash!! ( Nintendo GameCube, 2003): Features two characters per kart - one driver, one 'gunner', allowing the player to stock two items simultaneously and swap characters at will.( Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors also have access to this game on that system notably, this means they can play every portable Mario Kart game on that system.) Developed by Intelligent Systems, the people that brought you Paper Mario and Fire Emblem. It also includes all the courses from Super (reordered into 5 cups of 4), beginning the tradition of including a set of retro tracks to match the new ones. Mario Kart: Super Circuit ( Game Boy Advance, 2001): Has 8 characters again and 5 cups with 4 tracks each.Mario Kart 64 ( Nintendo 64, 1996): First use of actual 3D, and set the standards for much of the series: it organized its courses into 4 cups with 4 tracks each, established the usual eight-character starting roster, and the introduction of Mirror Mode.Used 'Mode 7' faux-3D graphics, so all the tracks were completely flat. Has 8 characters and 4 cups with 5 tracks each. Super Mario Kart ( SNES, 1992): The original.Racers are characters like Mario, Luigi, Wario, Donkey Kong and Bowser, items are Koopa shells and mushrooms, and stages often visit major locales like Bowser's Castle or a haunted mansion.Īside from racing for the finish line, all games in the series have also featured a Battle Mode, where the players drive around in a fixed area and attempt to burst each other's balloons with items or hunt for coins or Shine Sprites (from Sunshine). This kicked off the subgenre of fun racers or mascot racers as other companies have often imitated the concept with their own mascots to varying degrees of success.Īs the name implies, the games draw major inspiration from the Mario platformers. Unlike a serious racing game like Gran Turismo or Ridge Racer, Mario Kart isn't just about driving technique, but mixes things up with items that racers can obtain from item boxes, while the tracks themselves can have a significant number of obstacles and hazards such as enemies from the Super Mario Bros.

Starting on the SNES, the series has graced every subsequent Nintendo console and handheld with at least one installment, with the exception of the Virtual Boy and the Game Boy Color (portable Mario Karts started appearing with the Game Boy Advance). Mario Kart is a successful series of go-kart-style racing video games developed by Nintendo as a series of spin-offs from their trademark and highly successful Mario series of platformer adventure-style video games.

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