The only main installment 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 courses to match the new ones. Went back to the Mode 7 flat courses due to the GBA's hardware limitations.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit ( Game Boy Advance, 2001): Has 8 characters again and 20 new courses, 5 cups with 4 courses each.

and introduced Mirror Mode (known as 'Extra' mode in this game). and Koopa Troopa instead of DK and Wario. Mario Kart 64 ( Nintendo 64, 1996): First use of actual 3D, and set the standards for much of the series: it organized its 16 courses into 4 cups with 4 tracks each, established the usual eight-character starting roster, note Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Bowser, DK, Toad, and Wario.Uses 'Mode 7' for its graphics, so all the courses are completely flat. Has 8 characters and 20 courses, organized into 4 cups with 5 tracks each. Super Mario Kart ( SNES, 1992): The original.Racers are characters like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Toad and even 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 feature 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 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 more serious racing game series such as Daytona USA, Gran Turismo, Forza, or even Need for Speed, 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 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.

The man in red himself, Mario Kart 64 note The Japanese version has a crowd of children shouting 'Mario Kart!'

Super mario kart bowser sprites