Super Mario Kart -- 50cc Mushroom Cup, 2-Player Mode

Over the break, I took some time out with that eternal rival of mine and we took a leisurely drive around the block of Mario Kart...and by "leisurely," I mostly just mean this one cup. The rest are something of a different story, although it doesn't get quite so bad as quick as I make it sound.

Anyway, this is a real blast from the past that I'm glad to have had as part of my middling gaming years, as it introduced not just me, but countless of others to quite a few new ideas and exciting visual spectacles. Part of the probing of the boundaries of what 2D gaming is really capable of, Super Mario Kart was yet another then jaw-dropping Mode 7 pseudo-3D game, following on the coattails of other such games to make extensive use of the technology like F-Zero and Pilotwings.

Fairly crude, limited, and practically unknown to balanced gameplay by today's standards (standards that didn't exist until it built them in the first place), it can be a bit hard to take for younger gamers or those accustomed to the newer games to go back to older ways.

Join us in remembering this time-honored classic, either with your rose-tinted glasses or your teeth gritted at every sputtering engine sound and dizzying view from having collided with a hazard.

---

50cc Mushroom Cup
Luigi / Mario

There are eight racers in this game and four cups, so each cup will see the use of two different characters. For simplicity's (not to mention description's) sake, we'll be choosing the same character "classes" each time.

Each pair can be most effectively summed up by whatever the group is particularly good (and bad) at. I suppose "average" is an apt descriptor: Mario and Luigi are just a tad below average at acceleration and above average in terms of top speed and handling.

This kind of info is somewhat misleading in that it doesn't really take into account how turning radius, acceleration, and speed can interact when you're getting up to speed and when you're chugging along at high speed.

---

Mario Circuit 1

The first thing that you might notice about Super Mario Kart compared to newer games...the turning is really tight. So tight that you're liable to oversteer and overcorrect repeatedly, making it feel really loose. Comparatively, the drifting is rather loose and highly variable, because of the aforementioned turning, which is still in full effect while you're jumping.

Confused yet? Me too! It takes quite a bit of getting used to, and I don't think I ever really did...so the end result is rather exciting and out of control!

(No insurance company would ever sanction these races...)

---

Donut Plains 1

One interesting thing about this game that's more pronounced than in most of the sequels and venues contained therein is the differing of terrain. Each course has somewhat different general rules for how the on- and offroad conditions operate.

Tires grip paved road tightly; they grip dirt roads a bit more loosely. Sand causes tires to spin ineffectively and making acceleration largely futile while sapping away at your speed. Grass slows you down less quickly as you slide across it for a bit while acceleration is almost as futile as in sand.

So...offroad is a bit more merciful in this game than in other games, I guess we could say. Of course, having greater acceleration and traction will help keep you in control. A greater speed while entering offroad terrain will also buy you more time before you eventually succumb to its adverse effects.

---

Ghost Valley 1

Ghost Valley is neat in that there's absolutely no offroad whatsoever. Falling off the road will require you wait until your friendly neighborhood Lakitu can pick you up and let you try again. It is quite time-consuming and disastrous to your race, of course.

If my driving ability didn't verge on awful, you can also see that a well-timed Mushroom is just as effective as a Feather at taking the shortcut here.

---

Bowser Castle 1

I never really understood who these cylindrical Thwomp impersonators were, but it makes the fact that they're 2D sprites always set to face the screen somewhat less nonsensical than if they were pointy and square...I guess.

---

Mario Circuit 2

Yeah, with all the tracks ending in the numeral 1, you could probably figure that there's going to be several of variations on the same general theme...although duplicates are entirely different from their predecessors unlike the in-universe logical and thrifty progressions from F-Zero.

---

In case you hadn't noticed, each character has not only a unique race victory theme but also a specific method for using the champagne (alcohol reference?!) bottle to abuse that poor giant Cheep-Cheep.

---

I have a license to use Nintendo’s content in this video through the Nintendo Creators Program. This video is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, but any advertising revenue from this video will be shared with Nintendo.