Super Mario Kart (1992)

 

Though flawed, Super Mario Kart was a strong start to this spin-off series of games. 

I am sure most anyone reading this has a basic familiarity with Mario Kart. However, if you don't this is a kart racing game where you can play as a Nintendo character and race across a series of cartoon-y racetracks and using various cartoon-y items such as turtle (or koopa) shells, mushrooms (which may you go faster) and banana peels (to make other racers slip) to help you win. you compete in cups (tournaments featuring five courses each). 

While later games in these series are more advanced when it comes to the graphics and mechanics, this first game is still a lot of fun to play. The very concept of kart racing in these very cartoon-y courses and as your favorite Nintendo characters is still a heck of a lot of fun.

Yet this game does have a unique feel among the Mario Kart games. There is a greater emphasis here on the actual driving. There is a rare chance that you might lose a race because you were hit by an item. However there is a much great chance that you might lose a race because you missed a turn. On the courses which have grass (or something similar) off the track, if you go off the track you are severely slowed down. Before you get yourself back on the track, you may have several other racers pass you. On the courses when you can fall off the track a Lakitu will pick you up and put you back on. However, he will take long enough that several racers will pass you before you are put back on the track. This can be especially frustrating on the ghost valley courses and, on these courses, I have lost several races after being in first place for the majority of the race. There is also the great challenge of if you finish after fourth place, you have to start that race again. You are given a few tries and if you run out of tries then you get a game over. This feature (which was not revived for any of the later games) both makes the game more difficult in some ways and easier in some others. If you have one course that you are especially bad at (the ghost valley courses for me), it can sometimes make it, so you aren't even able to complete the cup. On the other hand, if you simply have one bad race, it will not affect your overall end score the way it would in later games. I kind of which Nintendo had kept this feature around as for me it actually increases the fun of the game.  

The visuals on this game are definitely dated. The graphics have a very flat look and though they looked great for their time, they feel very dated today. I also felt that there was a lack of variety in these courses, and each cup has courses that are incredible similar to courses we see in the other cups. There are a couple of visual features in this game that I love though. If you are playing single player, you receive a split screen. The top focuses on you as you're racing. The bottom features a map of the course that allows you to see where each racer is. I can't tell you how many times this has come in handy, while I have been playing this game. Another visual treat in this game is that each character receives a different animation for when you win as them. These is a treat and makes you want to win as each character to see the animation that follows. 

If you are playing multiplayer the battle courses are tons of fun. These course simply are unlike the racecourses, a free for all item battle. I do wish this game a single play option to battle against computers for when you are by yourself though. 

This is a dated but still fun video game.