Super Mario Kart

About This Game

Gameplay

Super Mario Kart is a kart racing game featuring several single and multiplayer modes. During the game, players take control of one of eight Mario franchise characters, each with differing capabilities, and drive go-karts around tracks with a Mario franchise theme. In order for them to begin driving, Lakitu appears with a traffic light hanging on his fishing pole at the starting line, which starts the countdown. When the light turns green, the race or battle begins. During a race, the player's viewpoint is from behind their kart. The goal of the game is to either finish a race ahead of other racers, who are controlled by the computer and other players, or complete a circuit in the fastest time. There is a battle mode in which the aim is to attack the karts of the other human players. Some tracks feature chevron-shaped boost panels to increase speed for a brief moment. In addition, there are also short ramps that racers can use to launch themselves in the air. A combination of the two makes the player jump higher at a high speed.

History

Super Mario Kart was produced by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and directed by Tadashi Sugiyama and Hideki Konno. It began as a multiplayer prototype of the 1990 SNES game F-Zero. Masato Kimura, who worked on F-Zero, was the lead programmer. The team aimed to produce a racing game capable of displaying two players on the same game screen simultaneously, in contrast to the single-player F-Zero. This led to simpler tracks than those of F-Zero. Computer and Video Games suggest that this initial emphasis on creating a two player experience is the reason for the game's horizontal split-screen during single-player. Battle Mode was developed from the desire to create a one-on-one mode where victory was not determined simply by competing for rank.