Retro Rewind – Super Mario Kart
Written by Podunker:Geovanray
Super Mario Kart was released for the Super Nintendo in 1992. In this classic racing game, you take control of a famous Mario character and race around twenty different tracks. Every aspect of the game is Mario-themed and everything from the music to the sound effects to the graphics is wonderfully reminiscent of classic Mario games. Super Mario Kart has sold over 8 million copies world wide.
Super Mario Kart is an arcade-style racing game with an awesome twist: driving over yellow tiles will give you a random item pickup that you can use in a variety of ways. A green shell can be shot straight ahead, while a red shell acts as a homing missile. A star will let you drive through your opponents and send them sailing in the air, while a feather will let you jump over obstacles and walls to create shortcuts. The ultimate weapon, a lightning bolt, will make all of the other racers tiny and slow, and then you can drive over them to flatten them like a pancake.
The graphics in Super Mario Kart are well ahead of most anything you’ll find on the Super Nintendo. If you’ve played F-Zero, you’ll be familiar with Nintendo’s proprietary Mode 7 graphics engine, which stretches the limits of the console to perform something that might be described as 3D. The sense of speed is awesome, and everything from the tracks to the racers themselves are beautifully rendered in full colored. Sprites are surprisingly detailed, and all of the menus and cut scenes do a great job of keeping your head in the action.
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Obviously, this is a racing game, so Nintendo hasn’t put a lot of emphasis on narrative. However, that’s not to say that fans of the Mario universe won’t find plenty of throwbacks and references to the previous Mario games. All of the characters (Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Koopa, and Toad) are popular names among Mario players. In fact, this is the first game in the Mario franchise where you get to play as the bad guy.
Other aspects of the game do a great job of tying in the Mario feel as well: you can collect coins, use stars to make you temporarily invincible, and shoot red and green turtle shells at your opponents. Most all of the tracks are familiar Mario locations as well, such as the ghost house and Bowser’s castle.
The soundtrack in Super Mario Kart features plenty of 16-bit masterpieces that make a great addition to the Mario canon. The real joy of SMK’s audio, however, is the sound effects. You’ll hear all sorts of sounds reminiscent of classic Mario games.
Super Mario Kart is one of the most replayable games currently available for the Super Nintendo. The single player mode, including time trials and GPs, are challenging enough to take several hours to master, and savvy players will love trying to beat their old times. The real meat of Mario Kart, however, lies in the multiplayer mode. Racing against your friends and using the various weapon pickups is great fun, and the excellent battle mode (essentially a last-man-standing game where the focus is on blasting your opponents with shells) is a perfect diversion from racing.
Any fan of the Mario world, and anyone who enjoys arcade-style racing in general, would be cheating themselves if they didn’t try out Super Mario Kart.
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