Super Mario Kart
Super Mario Kart is a video game, released in Japan for the Super Famicom, and in North America and Europe for the Super Nintendo. It was released in 1992.
In the game, you play as one of eight characters from the Super Mario Bros. series, each of whom are driving go-karts. The game gave birth to the sub-genre of go-kart racing.
The music was composed by Koji Kondo, Soyo Oka, and Taro Bando.
Game modes
There are two main modes in the game in the one-player mode (for the two-player mode see the multiplayer-section below) and the first one is the Mario Kart GP-mode, in which you compete with computer-controlled drivers. There are three different difficulty levels when playing this mode, 50cc, 100cc and 150cc; however, the latter has to be unlocked. The second mode is the time trial, where your objective is to race through each track in the shortest amount of time. There are no items available when playing time trial.
Multiplayer
The game features support for two players. One can choose to play in three different modes:
Mario Kart GP (Grand Prix)
Exactly like playing with one player, the only difference is that there is one less computer controlled driver. In order to proceed to the next track only one of the drivers has to rank among the top four.
Match race
Two players race each other for the best finishing time on the game's normal race tracks.
Battle mode
The most praised and one of the games most popular features. You play on four specially designed battle mode-levels which are filled with question-blocks, and the main objective is to use items obtained from those, such as koopa shells, banana peels, etc. to inflict damage upon the other players. Each player carries three balloons that rotate around them and on a hit one of these balloons are burst. The player who first loses all of their balloons loses.
Fans of Mario Kart claim that the battle mode in this game is much more balanced than in other games in the series, since it relies less on luck and more on skill. However, support for more than two players simultaneously probably make one of the sequels a better choice if one is looking for multiplayer mayhem.
Characters
The drivers available in this game are:
Leagues
There are four cups available in this game, and they consist of five tracks each. Three cups are available from the beginning, and the fourth (Special Cup) has to be unlocked.
- Mario Circuit 1
- Donut Plains 1
- Ghost Valley 1
- Bowser Castle 1
- Mario Circuit 2
- Choco Island 1
- Ghost Valley 2
- Donut Plains 2
- Bowser Castle 2
- Mario Circuit 3
- Koopa Beach 1
- Choco Island 2
- Vanilla Lake 1
- Bowser Castle 3
- Mario Circuit 4
- Donut Plains 3
- Koopa Beach 2
- Ghost Valley 3
- Vanilla Lake 2
- Rainbow Road
Sequels
The success of this game spawned a number of sequels:
Other games in the kart-genre:
