Mario Kart - The Games I Have Played

Mario Kart Was Super

In this new series I have decided to start, I will talk about the games I have been fortunate enough to play in my time spent on this planet, the memories associated with them and the epic, annoying and downright did that just happen! moments experienced with them.

One such game I will always favour and keep in my heart is Mario Kart, or more so Super Mario Kart. I never had a Super Nintendo (or Famicon) myself but my cousins did and when we would visit and were not outside having a kick-about we would be on this. Annoyingly my cousins were quite amazing with the game and were also very competitive, and I mean very competitive. They would get angry if it was looking like they would lose and sometimes the temper tantrums they would exact would be a reason alone to want to finish before them.

Despite this, the best times were always the split-screen races with them. When you were watching for the wee dude hovering on the cloud with the lights ready to signal GO, this was always a nudging each other in the ribs and putting your hand over the other person's eyes moment - yes, sportsmanship went out of the window when it came to Mario Kart races.

During the race itself it was of course always frantic - whether it was watching for those damn banana skins, avoiding getting squashed when hit by a lightning bolt, trying not to collect yourself with that green shell you fired earlier (that has been ricocheting back-and-forth ever since), revelling in the glory of a red shell hit or feeling invincible when you had found a 'Star'. The game was a purely joyous affair, excelling in just raw Nintendo fun for those who were playing and providing challenges due to not only what your opponents could do to you, but also how the environments were designed. Shortcuts for example were great if executed properly, but a lot of the time they were difficult to carry out and would have you losing places or even the race itself, due to a small oversight or too much speed that resulted in sending you over the edge or too far out (damn you Ghost Valley jump!).

Environments as you would expect came in many flavours, some of the more memorable for myself was the: Mario Circuits, Ghost Valleys (hated these), Bowser Castles, Koopa Beaches and no way could I forget Rainbow Road. The others I didn't really care for or were not fond of my remembering but if you happened to like them then good for you, we all have our own preferences and if they are special to you then by all means take my dismissal of them not to heart. If anything, I just sucked at them so you were no doubt better than me.

Another aspect that made the game one of my all-time favourites was the music and sound effects. Mario has always been known for its great selection of music that accompanies the different areas of its worlds and this spin-off was no different - you knew what the environment was without even needing to see it, as they all had their own theme. It got you pumped up during the action too, especially when it came to the last lap and intensified by speeding up and in doing so putting the pressure on you to make up places or keep your lead. If you were a nervous player this alone was enough to force you to make a mistake, never mind all that was going on behind you.

Then there was the sound effects, I can still hear some of them in my head now as I reminisce about those days. That random spinning sound before the little 'ding-ding-ding' that signified what you had been given as a mystery item to help you progress through the grid, the spun on a banana identifier, the little 'boing' noise when hopping your kart through turns or trying to cut corners and the whistle when you crossed the finish line. It was all so well done.

Put all that together and you had a complete Princess Peach of a game.

If you want to see if I am nuts about this game for the right reasons then go and find yourself an old Super Nintendo/Famicon and a copy of the game for yourself. Alternatively, one of the great things about the internet is that a lot of these titles are now available to play in your web browser. I leave the decision of which flashing rainbow coloured road you go down, to you.

Feel free to share your own rose-tinted gaming moments with us on our forums.