{"id":11903,"date":"2014-05-30T00:01:27","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T00:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=11903"},"modified":"2014-05-22T09:52:33","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T09:52:33","slug":"cary-ranks-all-the-current-mario-kart-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/30\/cary-ranks-all-the-current-mario-kart-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary Ranks All the Current Mario Kart Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"toadkart\"<\/a>In honor of the upcoming release of Mario Kart 8, I thought I\u2019d write a blog ranking my favorite games in the Mario Kart series.\u00a0 Mario Kart 8 itself isn\u2019t on the list, since I haven\u2019t played it yet as of this writing, but I am looking forward to it.\u00a0 So read on to find out which Mario Kart game took first place, and which ones ate dust!<\/p>\n

8. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GameCube)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of people hold Double Dash in high regard, so I may catch some flak on this.\u00a0 But Double Dash is my least favorite Mario Kart game.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a bad game.\u00a0 It\u2019s just my least favorite.\u00a0 I will admit that Double Dash brought a lot to the table.\u00a0 I appreciate the double karts as it showed Nintendo was trying to do different things.\u00a0 And there were a few neat tracks, such as Daisy\u2019s Cruise Ship and the Rainbow Road in this one was pretty slick, too.\u00a0 However, since there were two people in a kart, it meant you could hold double the items.\u00a0 And it got really frustrating being pummeled with more shells than before.\u00a0 In fact, this was the first Mario Kart game that I stopped trying to get 100 percent on.\u00a0 The other reason why I don\u2019t like Double Dash as much is because there is a far superior racer on the GameCube, and that\u2019s Kirby Air Ride.\u00a0 Kirby\u2019s racer trounces Double Dash in every way, and yet people still gush about Double Dash and forget that Air Ride even exists!<\/p>\n

7. Mario Kart DS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even though the DS Mario Kart is low on my list, it\u2019s not a bad game.\u00a0 It\u2019s just not very memorable to me.\u00a0 However, there are two things that stick out about the DS game.\u00a0 One, it was one of the first online games I ever played.\u00a0 Granted, I didn\u2019t play it online very much, but I don\u2019t really play too many games online, especially back then.\u00a0 So that was pretty monumental.\u00a0 Also, this game gave us Waluigi Pinball, one of the coolest Mario Kart tracks ever.\u00a0 I always thought it would be a neat idea to have a race track inside a giant pinball machine, and it was cool to see my idea come to life.<\/p>\n

6. Mario Kart: Arcade GP 1 and 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

When people think about Mario Kart games, they always forget that there were a couple of them in the arcade.\u00a0 Even Nintendo, as Mario Kart 8 should\u2019ve been Mario Kart 10 if they counted these.\u00a0 I even heard one person on YouTube say that the arcade versions were irreverent.\u00a0 Well I disagree.\u00a0 Sure they were not as good and the tracks were not as well designed.\u00a0 But it was meant to be an arcade game so it was made a little differently because of that.\u00a0 One notable thing about these arcade games is that they were the first ones that I didn\u2019t play as Toad.\u00a0 In all the other Mario Kart games I always play as Toad because he\u2019s my favorite.\u00a0 Well, the arcade games were actually made by Namco, so one of the racers you could play as was Pac-Man!\u00a0 Also Ms. Pac-Man and Blinky.\u00a0 Sorry Toad, but it\u2019s\u2026Pac-Man!\u00a0 There was even a Pac-Land themed race track in the first one.\u00a0 When the sequel came along, Namco and Bandai had already merged, so one of the new racers was a Tamagotchi character.\u00a0 Another cool thing about the arcade Mario Karts is that when I saw them in arcades, kids would just flock to them, and it warmed my heart to see kids enjoy an arcade game so much.\u00a0 I would love to see a home port of Mario Kart Arcade GP 1 and 2.\u00a0 Sure they wouldn\u2019t be as good, but I bet people would still buy them and have fun anyway.\u00a0 You could even use the Wii U controller to take your picture, just like how they did it with Tank! Tank! Tank! (another Namco arcade port).<\/p>\n

5. Mario Kart 7 (3DS)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just like Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS wasn\u2019t as memorable to me for some reason.\u00a0 There were some cool tracks, and I liked how some races were more like rally races instead of circuit laps in that each leg of the race was different (like on Wuhu Island and Rainbow Road).\u00a0 Driving underwater and gliding in the air with hang gliders and parachutes was different, but there is a kart racer that did that sort of thing way better, and that was Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, one of the few kart racers to outperform Mario Kart in a few areas.<\/p>\n

4. Mario Kart Wii<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of people bashed on Mario Kart Wii, but I really liked it.\u00a0 Well, I didn\u2019t like the Wii Wheel steering controller.\u00a0 Thank goodness you could use a regular controller.\u00a0 And even though it had online play, that part was much better implemented in, again, the Sega and All-Stars racing games on the Xbox 360.\u00a0 But I liked how you could do tricks in the air to get a boost, and adding motorcycles to the mix kept things fresh, new, and fun.\u00a0 Lots of cool tracks, too.\u00a0 Some of my favorites include Toad\u2019s Factory, Koopa Cape, and the shopping mall you could race through.<\/p>\n

3. Mario Kart 64<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many consider this one their favorite, and it\u2019s one of mine, too.\u00a0 Even though there was more emphasis on item usage, it still felt somewhat fair.\u00a0 Power sliding was way more fun, and a time trial contest even won me a gold N64 controller back in the day!\u00a0 Lots of fun and memorable tracks, too.\u00a0 I especially liked Toad\u2019s Turnpike and the N64 version of Rainbow Road in all its neon beauty.\u00a0 I have a lot of great memories playing this with my college roommate and his girlfriend (now wife) back then.<\/p>\n

2. Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)<\/strong><\/p>\n

It may surprise some of you, but the GBA Mario Kart game is my second favorite!\u00a0 I loved how the tracks still used that flat \u2018Mode 7\u2019 effect of the original.\u00a0 It made it feel more like a spiritual successor sequel to the original game.\u00a0 There were a lot of tracks I enjoyed, like the one made out of cheese, Sky Garden, the Wild West themed Sunset Wilds, and many more!\u00a0 I also appreciated the little details they added.\u00a0 For instance, in Luigi\u2019s Circuit track, you start out with it raining and you can see an airport in the background.\u00a0 After the second lap, it stops raining and you can see a Luigi blimp take off.\u00a0 Later in the Sky Garden track, you can see that same blimp flying above the clouds!\u00a0 Best of all, Super Circuit let you unlock ALL the tracks from the original Super Mario Kart game.\u00a0 This means that the GBA game had more tracks than any other Mario Kart game to date!\u00a0 It\u2019s too bad this entry gets forgotten a lot of the time.<\/p>\n

1. Super Mario Kart (SNES)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yup, my favorite Mario Kart game is the very first one.\u00a0 Ever since I first saw preview screens of it in Nintendo Power way back when, I knew it would be a big hit.\u00a0 And I was right!\u00a0 I imagine it hasn\u2019t aged as well now, but I don\u2019t care because I enjoyed it so much in high school and again in college that it still earns my number one spot.\u00a0 In fact, I like SNES Super Mario Kart so much that not only is it my favorite Mario Kart game, but it\u2019s also one of my top five favorite games of all time!\u00a0 The game single-handedly created a new genre of racing, for better or for worse.\u00a0 I played it for a couple of years in high school before getting tired of it, but then we dragged it out again when I was in college and enjoyed it just as much as before!\u00a0 That\u2019s why I like it so much.\u00a0 I appreciated how each racer controlled differently.\u00a0 Even similar characters had slight differences (Koopa Troopa cornered slightly better, but Toad was just a teeny bit faster, for instance).\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell the subtle differences as well in current Mario Kart games.\u00a0 Speaking of which, this was the game that helped me decide that Toad was my favorite Mario character instead of Luigi, since he was such an awesome driver in this game.\u00a0 I also like how there was less emphasis on item usage and more focus on driving skill.\u00a0 You usually only got one item per lap, if you were lucky.\u00a0 Speaking of laps, I also liked the shorter, flat tracks in this game because they felt more like real kart tracks that you\u2019d see in amusement parks and other places you\u2019d find karts.\u00a0 It just made the game feel more like a kart racer.\u00a0 So anyway, that\u2019s why the original first Mario Kart game is so special to me.<\/p>\n

Finish Line<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before I finish this up, while I\u2019m talking about Mario Kart I thought I\u2019d mention that for the past couple of years, every time I\u2019ve visited a toy store I\u2019ve seen Mario Kart racing toys and slot car sets and they look really cool!\u00a0 When I was a kid, I used to love slot car sets that you had to put together.\u00a0 One year when I was little I wanted a Dukes of Hazzard slot car set so badly for my birthday, but was ultimately disappointed in it when I got it.\u00a0 It had a ramp you could make the cars jump over, just like in the TV show.\u00a0 But how many times do you think the cars landed exactly on the slots after the ramp?\u00a0 That\u2019s right, ZERO!\u00a0 They would never make a lap.\u00a0 But at any rate, if I were still a kid, I\u2019d probably love the Mario Kart racing toy sets.\u00a0 If I had kids who loved video games and were at the right age to enjoy them, I would certainly get them some of those Mario Kart toys.<\/p>\n

So where would Mario Kart 8 fall on my list?\u00a0 Well, I don\u2019t know since I haven\u2019t played it yet as of this writing.\u00a0 But since it uses the trick system and motorcycles like in the Wii game, I would imagine it would fall somewhere nearby on the list.\u00a0 But who knows?\u00a0 It\u2019ll be fun to find out, though, once the game comes out.\u00a0 In the comments section, tell me what you think of my list, and let me know YOUR favorite Mario Kart games!\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In honor of the upcoming release of Mario Kart 8, I thought I\u2019d write a blog ranking my favorite games in the Mario Kart series.\u00a0 Mario Kart 8 itself isn\u2019t on the list, since I haven\u2019t played it yet as of this writing, but I am looking forward to it.\u00a0 So read on to find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11903"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11906,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11903\/revisions\/11906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}