Super Mario Kart

Introduction

Yo, peeps. Aye be settin’ sail on thees vast ocean ye call NC to be reviewn’ another SNES Game: Super Mario Kart!

Story

The story of Mario Kart is that Lakitu organized a racing tournament… Just read the Beginning of Mario Kart in the Mushroom Kingdom secton of comics. =P

Gameplay (6.5/10)

The gameplay is like that of many other racing games on the SNES and N64. Of course now, you can shoot items. The racers are divided into 3 weight classes: Light, Medium, and Heavy, naturally. They each play differently. Lights are slow but have good acceleration and are good offroad, and the opposite for Heavy. I prefer the lighter Midweights like Yoshi, because they are fast in acceleration while still having a decent top speed.

Now to the real gameplay: the racing on the courses. This is the game’s weak point. I mean, the racing was revolutionary and fast paced back in 1992, but sadly, this game’s gameplay hasn’t aged well over 16 years. It feels a bit choppy, and turning is not the greatest thing since sliced bread, definitely. The battle mode has also fallen short. Even if you look past the fact that it’s 2-player only, the battle mode stages are very simplistic, even compared to the racing courses.

I believe that the gameplay isn’t too bad however, its just that it’s not as good as even some PS1 racing games.

Graphics (10/10)

The graphics are just like the game they were based upon: Super Mario World. The Koopas look almost exactly like the SMW ones (sans the colors), and the Yoshi use pretty much the same pallete. One exception is Bowser, who got a complete graphical makeover from his past platformer appearence. Now this doesn’t affect the score badly. The SMW graphics were good for the SNES. And the courses look very crisp and exciting.

Sound (9.5/10)

Well, this will be hard to sum up in a paragraph. The sounds are mostly from Super Mario World, like the graphics. You’ve got the well made engine roaring, also. The music is a whole different matter though. The main menu song has become not only the main theme for all other Mario Kart games, but also one of the catchiest songs in gaming! The songs from other stages are very well made, also. Especially the Ghost ones. =P

Replayability (10/10)

This game can be played over and over in the fun multiplayer races. The battle mode isn’t TOO bad either.

Challenge (5/10)

Heh, challenge. If you get 1st the entire Grand Prix, guess what: so do the CPU players! The racing’s pretty easy, so if you get in 4th twice, don’t expect to win at all.

Frustration (4/10)

Meh. Not too frustrating, unless you made a bet or something =P. If you get in 5th, you have to retry the race, so there’s no “1st 3 times and counti- I GOT IN 8TH?!”.

Value (10/10, 7/10 on Virtual Console)

It’s pretty rare nowadays. It has yet to be released on the VC, but I’ll have the score from what it’ll be when it is.
*Not factored in

Overall (7.5)

This game is worth buying, for fans of racing games or multiplayer games. If you look past the simple and aged gameplay, it’s pretty good.

(I’m trying out a new scoring method; all of the points from each category added up. A frustration score of 5 or higher is subtracted, lower than 5 it isn’t added)

40/54 rounded to 7.5 on a 10 point scale

Thanks for reading my review. Private message me on the forums or comment to give me feedback to this new scoring system and this review in general. Ciao.

Screenshots