Super Mario Kart

"I still prefer F-Zero, but this game is still great"

In 1993, there was a game that was created. A game that quite possibly re-created the racing genre. Most people at first thought that it wouldn't be great; a cheap gimmick designed for money alone, but the producers knew that they had a smash hit on their hand. It was wacky, it was colorful, and best yet, it had Mario AND his friends. Sure, F-Zero was the standard for racers at that time, but this game help push racers further into its popularity. So what was this game? It was the cleverly named Super Mario Kart.

Just from the title alone, you know that this game was incredible back then, but what about now?

GRAPHICS: 8
OK, like I mentioned, this game used mode seven graphics, the 3-D mapping system for the SNES, and just like many racers who used this program, most of the background visuals look flat. Concerning that this was 1993, you could have expected the game to use the Super FX chip created that year, but they didn't use it. Anyway, despite the out of date programming, the game still has great looking visuals. All the tracks have a ton of color, some which are darker than the last due to proper shading and lighting, and they are populated by many of you favorite Nintendo enemies who look updated from previous NES or SNES games. Granted that all this color might seem childish to many newer gamers today, for retro gamers, this mix of colors was what made games like this great.

The same can be said for the character models as well. Each looks like they were designed with care and they add their own personality to the game. Each character has many lively colors, and many great animations. The Character models that I don't like in this game were the chain chomp balls in the multiplayer. They are pixilated, and they don't do a whole lot to the game except add a challenge to the game play.

SOUND/MUSIC: 7
The audio in SMK is pretty good, but not the best thing I have ever heard. The quality is great and you can hear anything and everything that happens on the track.

The only major problem that I have with the audio in this game is the actual music. OK, so it isn't bad, but since this is a Mario game, I would safely assume that there would have at least some famous Mario songs from the other games, hell, even the original Over-World theme song would have been great. Instead, we get this original soundtrack comprised of wacky music. Sure, it might fit Mario Kart, but in all Mario games, there has been a lot better.

As for the sound, it's actually quite nice. Its original, it adds to the games overall quality, and despite that it limited, the few sounds in this game create the proper wacky atmosphere, which this game needed. Plus, almost every single second, you are surround by sound effects, either it's the lawnmower sounding carts or the constant sound of characters getting hit from items.

GAMEPLAY: 8
So you want a game with fast pace action, tones of items that you might not know what to do with them all and all you favorite cast of Mario characters. Well, lucky for you because SMK actually has all of these aspects. All of your favorite Mario characters are there, or at least the ones that they could fit in the game, so if you like to play as 'classical' characters like DK Jr., then go ahead, oh, and don't forget about Koopa Troopa. If never played as him before, but that's ok...

Ok, Seriously, the character selection in this game is pitiful. Why would I ever want to play DK Jr? First of all, his game was disappointing, and I just don't like anything about him. As for the rest of the characters, there fine and all, but compared to the fast racers, their useless, so why would I want to play as Luigi, my favorite Mario character no mater what any body said, when I can play as Koopa Troopa, you standard enemy from the Mario games? Ya, cause I really want to play as someone who tries to kill me. They might as well called the game ‘SUPER CHOOSE THE FASTEST KART'. The only way that they would make all the characters balanced is if they used the formula from the other Mario Kart games. For example, in the later games, each character has their own special weapons that THEY can only control, as well as have their own personal racing stats.

As for the other modes which you can play, it's limited. In single player, you only get to race in the Grand Prix, or race yourself in the time trial mode. Not great, but more modes that F-Zero at least. Speaking of F-Zero, Super Mario Kart does have three difficulties all conveniently named 50cc, 100cc and 150cc. Again, not great but they serve a purpose.

So, after you choose you mode and one of the three good characters to choose from, you get to choose your track, and wow, there are a lot of them. Each track has their own personality or challenge to them and they just add to the games overall quality. Unfortunately, they creators recycled some of these personalities and just created tracks out of them, so no mater what cup you play in, you will always race on a track that looks like one from the previous cup, so any thought of variety that might have had when you first played the game is instantly shot and buried out back.

As for the actual racing, surprisingly, its spot on. The controls are simple to get used to, the many items that you can use range from modernly powerful to sort of useless, and the overall presentation of in game controls and design are quite adequate, even if some of the tracks are empty and recycled. The real major problem that I have with the racing is that the other racers can actually push you to the side if they hit you. There is nothing worse than almost finishing the race in first, getting pushed OFF the track and end up last, forcing you to restart the race all over again. Its crap like that which urges you to throw your controller at the SNES, freezing the game in the proses ( I should know).

The two-player game is the best part, and why not, most games usually should have a great multiplayer option. In two-player mode, you can either race each other in the two player Grand Prix or have a big brawl in the battle mode. The racing is just the same as the single player mode, so it's nothing really special. The only difference is that there are these black chomp heads that try to screw up your racer. As for the battle mode, despite its lack of tracks, its still a really satisfying experience. Each track has their own unique elements to them and they add a lot of variety to the overall two-player mode. Plus, if you playing against a really great player, it can get really fast and heart pounding.

REPLAY VALUE: 8
Despite all the cool little things in Super Mario Kart, there isn't much to do after you beat it. There are no secrets or hidden things to find, but at least you get a two-player mode. Besides, the 1500 cc races will keep kicking your butt, so beating it is a real challenge.

GET IT OR PASS IT: I would say get the game. Even though there are a lot better racers out there, its still a game that you should have in your collection just because it's a classic game and just for fact that if you don't have this game, you don't own a SNES. Even still, there are better Mario Kart games out there.

CONCLUSION:
So, it appears from this review that this game isn't what its use to be, and I can accept that. Despite its lack of variety and recycled tracks, its still a satisfying experience and it did lead to a franchise that has made millions. So, while this might not be as good as the other Mario Kart games, it's still the first one and it always will be the first one.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/08, Updated 11/20/09

Game Release: Super Mario Kart (US, September 1992)