Review Date: May 24, 2021
Release Date: September 1, 1992
Platform: SNES
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Racing
Anecdotes: One night in 1996, my aunt and uncle decided to have a pig roast party. They had nearly all of the family there, plus a good portion of their block. Obviously, I already knew all of my cousins that were there, but I didn’t know the neighbors. As luck would have it, they had lots of girls on that block. There were at least 15-20 girls at this family party. I, at the age of 19, found this really interesting because my house and block were almost all boys, with only three girls. One of them was my 2 year old sister. Anyway, back to the pig roast. I had a ton of fun entertaining those girls, making them laugh and generally having fun with them. I learned how much fun girls are and how much they enjoy positive, nonsexual male attention. I swam with them on and off for hours and played board games and cards with them. However, 10 o’clock at night came around and the older adults closed the pool on us for adult pool time. Amazingly, the adults were in no hurry to leave, and honestly, neither was I. There was more time, so my cousin fired up her SNES and put it Mario Kart. I went outside for a bit after that, but they all were having one-on-one competitions on both battle mode and on the track. I came back inside around midnight.
One girl, who’s name I’ll change to Melissa, saw me come inside and immediately challenged me to a race. I accepted the challenge. We raced Rainbow Road and it was a fun back and forth race with everyone in the room audibly reacting to everything happening on the track. There was a loud gasp when Melissa fell off the side. There were cheers when she drew a star. They were on every lead change. I had the lead heading to the finish star, but the room erupted when Melissa hit me with a red turtle shell, took the lead, and won. I congratulated Melissa on her win. I lost, but it was the most fun I ever had playing video games. Amazingly, this race against a 13 year old happened at 1:30 A.M. I’m amazed the parents allowed their kids to stay up that late. I didn’t get home until almost 3.
Description: The main characters from Super Mario World go go-karting. Players can play solo with either time trials or compete in the Mushroom, Flower, or Star Circuits. There are also two player modes in which players can race each other or battle on an enclosed course. That’s the Battle Mode, where the object is to pop the opponent’s three balloons in whatever way they can.
Positives:
- Playing with other players makes this game a blast. Having a match race with someone can get the adrenaline going, but the battle mode is a blast. Players can shoot red shells at each other, let green shells ricochet all over the arena, run each other over, and lots of other fun things.
- Finishing lower than fourth in the CP races does not mean the game is over. Players get several attempts to get fourth or higher.
- While they can also be used against players, players have a bunch of ways to improve their positioning. Mushrooms are a quick speed booster. Bananas can cause spinouts. Stars make racers invincible. Lightning shrinks everyone else so they can be run over. There are plenty of quirks to get ahead.
Negatives:
- Really, the only faults of this game are the exclusion of the Fire Flower on the track and the set order AI players are supposed to finish in. Unless they’re hit in the final lap, the other seven karts all finish in a set order. They will finish every track in that order, unless hitting a hazard in the final lap. If one is knocked out of order, he or she will fly back ahead of everyone until he or she is back in their predetermined position.
Screenshots:
Final Opinion: It could be the great memories and/or nostalgia talking, but I just love this game. Anyone with sons, daughters, nieces, or nephews needs to not only buy this game for them, but also play the game with them.
Grade: A