Super Mario Kart
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
I've documented this fact on my blog several times now, but just in case you haven't heard it before, I will repeat myself. I didn't grow up playing Super Nintendo. I was a Genesis kid. It sucked, because there were sooo many great looking Super Nintendo games out there that I wanted to play but I couldn't on the Genesis. And then the games that existed on both consoles - generally the SNES versions got better reviews than their Genesis counterparts. I wanted one so badly, but it just wasn't in my family's budget.
My stepbrothers, however, did have a Super Nintendo. They lived with their dad and only came over to visit every other weekend. They didn't always bring their Super Nintendo with them, but when they did I made sure that I played it with them as much as humanly possible.
I was never a big racing fan, but one game that everyone liked to play was Super Mario Kart. Since this was the game that was on the majority of the time, I had to suck it up and play the game or I wouldn't get to play any Super Nintendo at all. Despite not being a big racing fan, I became pretty darned good at the game. I'm fairly positive that I beat each and every single "cup" on 150 CC, in addition to (occasionally) kicking some major butt in two player head to head match ups. My stepbrothers were good.
But as I said, the game wasn't mine. When the step brothers left, so did the Super Nintendo. And so did Super Mario Kart. Eventually new systems came out and they stopped bringing the SNES over. I remember Mario Kart 64 became a big thing - and I mastered that version as well. I perhaps became even better at that version than I did this one. But still, the original held a dear place in my heart. About 15 years passed in my life when I saw this for sale at a used game store and decided to snatch it up. By this time I had a "combo" system that played Super Nintendo and regular Nintendo games. So Super Mario Kart was FINALLY mine and mine alone.
Firing it up, I was initially taken by how primitive the game seemed. By this time in my life (I'd say it was around 2008 or 2009) I'd already played several versions of Mario Kart, each one more enhanced and with better graphics than the one before it. I remember how everyone was SO blown away by this game when it first came out, and now it looked old and outdated.
I played around with the game for a little bit, but ultimately it went back to the shelf. And on the shelf it stayed, never to be touched for yet another long period of time. Seven or eight years passed until finally this year I decided to pick it up and play the heck out of it so I could review it for this blog.
The game does look a little dated if you compare it to the other Mario Kart games. But if you keep in mind that this game was released in, what - 93 or 94? - it doesn't look that bad. It's charming actually. The split screen does become a little irritating. I don't see why they can't just make it full screen. If you are taking the time to look down at the bottom of the screen to see where everyone is, you are doing it wrong and probably aren't going to win the race. It really is a useless feature.
All the characters look nice and crisp. The courses are all bright and colorful and diverse. The whole feel of the game just bleeds classic Mario. The soundtrack for the game is very authentic as well. Sure there aren't any classic Mario tunes brought back for the game (the whole soundtrack of the game is original) but it still blends perfectly with the Mario world. My personal favorite piece of music from the game is the haunted house theme. A lot of the individual sound effects are carried over from past Mario games, in particular when you collect a coin. When you factor in the graphics, the look and feel of the game, the music, and the sound effects, you get nothing less than a classic and authentic Mario experience.
Which is a fantastic place to start.
Now on to the game play. If you are used to the newer Mario Kart games, you may struggle with this right off the bat. Whereas past Kart games focus a lot on multiple branches in the course, "slide" boosting, and of course - items galore, this game focuses mainly on the driving. That's right, you have to actually be able to legitimately race if you want to have any chance of doing well here.
Each character you can choose from his or her own unique strengths and weaknesses. I found myself picking Toad because he seemed to be one of the most well rounded racers. He is fast and he handles pretty well. But he is a weakling and can get bumped off the track very, very easily. Each character also seems to have his or her own "rivals" on the course. For example, playing as Toad, it seemed like the Princess and Donkey Kong always were the ones to challenge me. If I finished first, they'd be 2nd and 3rd. If I finished 3rd, they'd be 1st and 2nd. If I flamed out and didn't place at all, they'd be right at the top of the leader board. I played this game a LOT and this never seemed to change.
One thing you will notice that is different here is that there are coins you can pick up on the race track. I don't know what these coins do, but my theory is that they make you go faster. I noticed on a pretty regular basis that on the later laps of each track, I would always be going a shit ton faster than normal. I chalked that up to the fact that I'd have collected more coins by the time the later laps came along. I don't know if this is true or not, but that is my theory and I am sticking to it. I do know that if you have no coins and you get bumped, you completely wipe out. And that is super annoying.
Items are pretty standard fare for anyone familiar with Mario Kart. You've got green and red shells, banana peels, lightning bolts (which shrink everyone down), mushrooms, and feathers that make you jump. Absent are the blue shells which seek out whoever is in first and wipes them out completely. Thank the maker for that. I hate hose things.
The game does use the stupid "catch up" mechanism found in most Mario games. You could be racing flawlessly and still have an enemy right on your tail, launching an obscene amount of items in your direction. Even if they wipe out, they'll be right back there behind you in a matter of seconds. I don't know if they do this to make the game more challenging or what, but it is obnoxious. Of course, when you fall behind you noticeably go faster as well, so I can't complain too much. But I am ahead more than I am behind, so I guess I do still find that this favors the computer.
Another thing that favors the computer is the fact that they are immune to a lot of the things that can really mess you up when you are trying to race. Certain obstacles such as pipes and those angry blocks that come smashing down on you don't affect the computer racers at all - they just pass right through them. Also they often are able to miraculously leap into the air to avoid running over things like banana peels and shrinking mushrooms. This is super annoying too. The game is tough enough as it is, giving the computer unfair advantages like that is not cool.
Which brings us to the difficulty. I do NOT remember this game being so hard. Unless my memory is failing me completely (which it very well could be) I could have sworn I beat all of the tracks on 150 CC as a kid. As an adult, I could barely scrape through the 100 CC courses. I was able to complete the first two cups on 150 CC, but quickly became frustrated and gave up trying to finish off the last two on 150. I must have played them a countless number of times, and something ALWAYS would fuck me up.
It got to the point where I was like screw this - it just isn't fun anymore. And I stopped playing. I must have put at least 20 or so hours into this game before writing this review. And I still couldn't beat the last two cups on 150 CC. This irritates me a little, as I feel as if I didn't truly beat the game, but I won't lose any sleep over it. When I beat the Special Cup on 100 CC, it played the credits, so I am still going to count this game as "beaten" by me.
All in all, I still do like this game. This game was at its best back in the mid 90s, playing with my step brothers, feeling like I was on top of the racing world. It was so new, so fresh back then. If I was writing my review simply based on old memories, the game would get an A+. But I have to factor in my opinions from today. The game is not that great. Don't get me wrong, it is a classic and it is very original. Many of the things that this game introduced to the racing genre you still see in games today. It is a highly influential title that many other franchises have tried, and failed, to emulate.
But, hmm. I just didn't have that great of a time playing the game. The game was a lot of fun on 50 CC, but a little too easy. Pretty challenging (but still fun) on 100 CC. Nearly impossible on 150. In fact, it was so hard and frustrating on 150 that it nearly wrecked my opinion of the game. Have you ever been so mad and frustrated at a game before that you just wanted to smash it against the wall? That's how I felt here.
And as a single player experience, the game is very short and doesn't offer much replay value. No secrets, no unlockables, no truly satisfying ending. If you take away 150 CC mode, which takes a long time to master, and simply played 50 and 100 CC, you could be over and done with this game in a day. I know the game is a lot more fun to play with two people, but I didn't have anyone to play with this time around, so its enjoyability suffered in that regard with me as well.
This is still a fun game. It is still a classic. There is no denying the influence it had (and is still having!) on games today. But as a standalone single player game, it does come up short in many areas. I'm trying to balance my thoughts for it when I was a kid, the impact it has had on the gaming world, and my thoughts on how enjoyable it is to pick up and play 20 years after its original release. I think a B+ is more than fair considering how mad this game made me on more than one occasion.
Overall:
B+
