The Rise of Mario Kart

[Chaser]

================================
Mario Kart – A Look at the Series
By Chaser
================================



Super Mario Kart (All games will be referred to by an acronym, in this case – SMK)



Quick Info
Console: Super NES
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-2
Genre: Racing
Release Date: 1992
Price: 800 Wii Points
Format: Proprietary Super NES Cartridge, Wii Virtual Console Download (
512KB)

Mario Kart 64 (MK64)



Quick Info
Console: Nintendo 64, Wii Virtual Console Service
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-4
Genre: Racing
Release Date: 1996
Price: 1500 Wii Points
Format: Proprietary Nintendo 64 Cartridge, Wii Virtual Console Download (
12MB)

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (MKDD)



Quick Info
Console: GameCube
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-8 (over LAN)
Genre: Racing
Release Date: 2003
Price: US$26.95
Format: Proprietary 8cm GameCube Optical Disk

Mario Kart DS (MKDS)



Quick Info
Console: Nintendo DS
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-8 (locally only
Genre: Racing
Release Date: 2005
Price: $29
Format: Proprietary Nintendo DS Game Cards

========
Introduction
========

Welcome to my second review, this time I’m going to cover the series of Mario Kart in occurance with the 15th anniversary of Mario Kart. That’s right I’ll be taking you back to 1992 (before I was even born lol) and I'll show you how the series has progressed right up to the present day in 2007. I won’t be mentioning Mario Kart: Super Circuit (sorry guys) because it simply didn’t feature anything to make it stand out. It has been one heck of a roller coaster ride and the series has come a long way, in all fields; graphics, sound and most importantly gameplay. To find out just how far it has come, you’re gonna have to keep reading….

------->

=======
Gameplay
=======

SMK was a fun little racer with highly unusual gameplay, which really helped to set it out from the rest of the pack. The game was a pretty standard steer and brake affair, but the course design really set it apart from its other 16-bit racing counterparts. You were taken through some of the famous locations of the Mario franchise albeit much more twisty than usual. The characters were quite cool as well, with eight characters ranging from Mario to DK each with their strengths and weaknesses. The item system was really unusual, the player had access to a wide arsenal of items, which could be used to enhance the characters abilities or be used as weapons. These include banana peels to give your opponents a slip-up, the famous Star that gave the user invincibility and extra speed, green and red shells as weapons (green are direct fire whilst red track the opponents), a feather that gives the user the ability to cross large gaps, good old mushies for a nice speed boost and thunder that shrunk everyone so you could squash them like a pancake. But really the level design and items weren’t able to save the game from the nagging feeling that it was too simple, which it was.
MK64 fixed all that while retaining those important landmarks that SMK had established. Course design was leap years ahead of SMK; the courses were larger, more detailed and weren’t annoying flat. But best of all was the new system of mini-turbos that allowed the user to boost off from a drift by toggling the control stick back and forth, it was the best innovation of the series ever and still exists to this day. Another improvement over SMK was the speed; it was much faster (it didn’t feel like you were pedalling your grandma’s bicycle) and didn’t drag around the turns. There was a few new additions to items; fake item boxes which work in a similar way to bananas but could be used as decoys, bob-ombs which are explosive little critters that are shot into the air and blue shells which target the person in 1st place.
The developers must’ve known they were on a roll with the innovations because when Double Dash!! came out, they changed a little too much of the formula. The most noticeable change is the inclusion of two players per kart. One was assigned to driving whilst the other was in charge of the gunning; it was quite a cool system. Everything was oversized, the handling a bit crazy and the course design was pretty smooth. Perhaps the best thing were the special items which were given to certain character teams, entitling them to a strong item for example, Baby Mario and Luigi special was a huge Chain-Chomp that pulled their cart around for a while damaging anyone stupid enough to get in the way.
Then came along MKDS, which switched back to the tried and true formula whilst giving it a sweet flavour of its own. The course design was in the middle between MK64 and MKDD, in other words best of both worlds with clever design and crazy courses. As if that wasn’t enough, there are 16 courses from the previous four games in the series. The mini-turbos were re-designed from scratch, now the dream of being able to stick to a corner and come out speeding is a reality. As well as being able to hug those corners, MKDS introduced some new clever items: the blooper and the bullet bill. The blooper spurts ink to block the opponent’s vision, a nice idea in theory but it doesn’t really affect the driver. The Bullet Bill is like a ten second roller coaster ride; the user goes on super speed autopilot knocking down all competition in the way (similar to the before mentioned Chomp). Another cool inclusion was the Mission mode, which sees the driver completing a set of tasks and then given a rank at the end (not unlike Grand Turismo licence tests).
Phew, so that pretty much sums up fifteen years of glorious Mario Kart gameplay!


======
Graphics
======

Mario Kart has always been a 3D franchise. You could always argue that Mode 7 isn’t true 3D but it does give the impression of a 3D environment. Besides that, graphically everything has changed. SMK started out as a pretty but not particularly impressive showcase of Mode 7. The tiny draw distance and pixilation problems didn’t really help it but still it was a good tech demo for Mode 7 and it did the job. MK64 on the other hand was very colourful and the characters looked great. The texturing was pretty well done and the item effects looked sweet. MK64 succeeded in this field because it was simple but gorgeous. MKDD was a complete so graphically wild but it fitted the whole crazy zany theme perfectly. Nice wacky oversized visuals with very smooth and emotive character animation really won me over not to mention a lack of jaggies made this one of the (graphically speaking) premier GameCube games. MKDS is very similar to MK64 but no texture blending and no anti-aliasing make this game look a little worse. Still it manages a silky smooth 60fps while keeping a clean 3D look, so thumbs up for this one.



====
Sound
====

The music of the franchise as a whole is very similar to the main Mario titles. SMK sounded similar to Super Mario World but used (low quality) retro sound effects. It really wasn’t varied enough the songs were very similar. MK64 had a reasonable soundtrack and the visual-audio matching is great (e.g. Moomoo farm sounds very um farmy etc). The soundtrack is also similar to Mario 64 but has its own unique ring about it; the quality is pretty decent too. MKDD had a killer soundtrack, which was really the best point of the game. It featured a variety of instruments that integrated seamlessly with the gameplay. Anyway, who couldn’t like the catchy tunes (Baby Park is a hit)? MKDS is decent but nothing really worth mentioning. The tunes are simple and likable, it sounds pretty similar to MK64 but half the tunes originate from other games so it’s pretty hard to judge.



=======
Multiplayer
=======

Multiplayer is the crowning feature, the icing on cake, the choc-chips in a Cadbury Brownie of the Mario Kart series. The trademark of the series is the fantastic multiplayer. It all began with tough 2-player battles in SMK where the crash of thunder could mean a twist from last to first. The power that item use has over the game is unbelievable and the sense of randomness about it has been carried throughout the series (red shells on the line, anyone?). The bonus mode in SMK called Balloon Battle was quite cool and it remains a highlight of the series to this day. Protect your balloons whilst eliminating everyone else’s (through the use of items); it quickly turns into the survival of the fittest. MK64 was similar in multiplayer, balloon battle was the same but the introduction of two extra human players to the mix is a hit with the fans (i.e. me). MKDD was really a departure from MK64 because this time there could be up to eight players playing over a LAN. The double kart feature developed a real co-op style of gameplay that made it all the better to play with friends. A bitter disappointment suffered by GC owners was the lack on online play. When MKDS came out it had eight-player wireless and (sadly only) four-player ONLINE play, it was, dare I say it, the peak of the series (in multiplayer terms). Sure the online play could’ve been much improved, there’s no lobby or balloon battle and the racing itself is a little sour. Local play is a saving grace in multiplayer because online play suffers with bad handling and the inability to trail shells behind your kart. On local you can swap time trial ghosts and play all the multiplayer modes. Shine runners is a completely new mode which sees the players running around collecting Shines, the one with the least Shines is disqualified after half a minute. Balloon battle has been revised so that you only start with a single balloon and the others must be blown up. It’s a good system, which forces the player to take cover in order to inflate his balloons.



=========
In Conclusion
=========

Whew so you’ve just take a look at fifteen years worth of Mario Kart. Many of us have grown up with this franchise and the karting community has grown fierce and competitive. Replay value is a real highlight here; setting record speed time trials and playing balloon battles with your friends can keep you coming back to the series. To be frank, there’s never been a better time to play Mario Kart and for all those of you who haven’t picked up a Mario Kart game, please do so now. I hope you enjoyed my review as much as I did writing and playing the games. Enjoy!

=================
Pros and Cons of the series
=================
+++: Powersliding mechanics, item system, course design
- - -: Online play could be a little more developed

====
Score
====

Graphics: 7.5 (SMK), 8.5 (MK64), 9(MKDD), 8.5 (MKDS)
Sound: 6, 7, 9.5, 8
Gameplay: 8, 8.5, 8, 9
Replay Value: 7.5, 7.5, 9, 9.5


Series Overall
9

Mario + Kart = Mario Kart XD

BTW, if you enjoyed the review some good karma would be really nice :). *crosses fingers*

[SeriouslyAmped]

You forgot the Mario Kart Super Curcuit game for GBA.

[Little Man]

Great Review Dude! Review explains every MK game in the series.

*Karma*, If I can find it.;) XD

[Shade]

Nice Review, I never really liked the changes of MKDD because it all just felt awkward to just drive and not be able to throw anything. Driving with the control stick felt weird also for some reason..

[Saito Forte]

You forgot Mario Kart Arcade GP & Mario Kart Arcade GP 2

[Flightbolt]

Great review ^,^!

I love Mario Kart, and I'm looking forward to it on the Wii (Without snaking :D!)

[Budge007]

Mario Kart is one of my all time favorite Nintendo franchises! Very nice review, I'm hoping for Super Mario Kart on the Virtual Console soon and maybe even Mario Kart Wii! Keep it up Chaser!

EDIT: Sorry if this sounds like a noobish question but how exactly do you leave Karma....:blush: Either I have either forgotten or it's because the page layout for reviews is different or something:eek:

[Wario]

Great review, I had just finished beating some guy at Mario Kart 64, Me (Wario) against Bowser. I can't believe Mario Kart 64 got some bad reviews on some websites, the gameplay and replayability are exceptional, especially battle! :)
In Canada here, its only 1000 wii points for Mario Kart 64, although I own the N64 version ^.^

[Chaser]

Thanks for all the kind words guys! Yeah, Colten your right. It got something like 6.5 on gamespot. Pretty harsh I thought (I personally thought it was an improvement from SMK but they thought otherwise).

You forgot the Mario Kart Super Curcuit game for GBA.

I pointed that out at the start of the review, it didn't really bring much change to the table so I left it out. There's also some arcade MKs but I haven't played them (or seen them) so they got left out too.

TO BUDGE (and little man): Yeah when I gave you karma I just clicked your first reply cause I wasn't too sure either. If anyone knows that would be great. If you felt I deserve karma then yeah, do what I did.