Super Mario Kart

This article is about the game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. For the microgame from WarioWare Gold of the same name, see Super Mario Kart (microgame).

"SMK" redirects here. For Super Mario-Kun, see here.

Template:Infobox Super Mario Kart is a racing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the first game of the Mario Kart series, as well as the game that sets precedents to fictional kart racing genre. It was first released in 1992 and re-released in 1996 as a Player's Choice title. It was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console in Japan on June 9, 2009, in North America on November 23, 2009, and in Europe and Oceania on April 2, 2010. Super Mario Kart was re-released again on the Wii U's Virtual Console in Japan on June 19, 2013, Europe on March 27, 2014, Oceania on March 28, 2014, and North America on August 6, 2014, and exclusively for the New Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in Europe on March 17, 2016, Oceania on March 18, 2016, North America on March 24, 2016, and Japan on May 9, 2016, and is one of the 21 titles included on the Super NES Classic Edition and one of the 20 launch titles for Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online. Part of this game is heavily based on Super Mario World, in terms of graphics and overall theme.

Modes of play

Mario Kart GP

File:SMK 1-1 Yoshistart.png

The first race of the Mario Kart GP is about to begin.

The Mario Kart GP is the main mode in Super Mario Kart. Here players can race against seven (six if in two-player mode) other CPU-controlled opponents in a five-course cup. The top four players receive points based on their ranking: first place earns the player nine points, second earns six, third earns three, and fourth earns one, while fifth and below get zero points. Players who rank fifth or below lose one of three lives. If both players rank fifth or below, the race must be tried again. If the player ranks fifth or below without any lives left, the game ends. A single extra life can be earned by placing in the same position three times. The maximum score in a GP cup is forty-five, obtained by winning five times. The three best drivers move on to the award ceremony where they receive their trophies. Third place gives the player a bronze trophy, second gives silver, and first gives gold (the player can watch the ceremony only when they place first: however, a protoype version has animations for second and third). Each race is five laps long. If players beat all of the cups in the 150cc Class, the Message "Excellent driving, you are now a Super Mario Kart expert" pops up, thus officially telling players they have completed the game. If the player wants a harder challenge, they can hold and at the character selection screen. This will make the character permanently small as if under the effect of a Lightning or Poison Mushroom until the player presses the buttons again.

Match Race

This mode is two-player only: the players can race each other like in GP, except CPU racers do not appear and players can freely choose the track to race in. Chomp-like objects slide around the courses as well, and coming in contact with one will result in the kart spinning out and the object disappearing as if it were a Green Shell. The game keeps track of wins and losses of each player.

Time Trial

This one-player mode have the player to race through five laps of the selected track the fastest they can without items in the 100cc engine class. The five lap times are recorded which are then combined to make the total time, as well as the fastest lap time and the characters used, for each track.

Battle Mode

Donkey Kong Jr. and Mario in Battle Mode

Main article: Battle Mode

Another two-player mode, it is completely different from a normal race and adds some variety to the game. For this mode, there are four square-shaped tracks that are the only selectable. The player's goal is using the items to pop the opponent's balloons. Each player has three balloons that can't be recovered in any way. The first to pop all the opponent's balloons wins.

Button controls

SNES

• - Accelerate, Rocket Start
• - Use items, stop Item Roulette
• - Pause/Select
• - Switch view
• - Change option during the Menus/Steer
• - Switch view
• - Brake
• / - Jump/Drift

Wii

• - Accelerate, Rocket Start
• - Use items, stop Item Roulette
• - Pause/Select
• - Switch view
• - Switch view
• - Brake
• / - Jump/Drift

Wii U

• - Accelerate, Rocket Start
• - Use items, stop Item Roulette
• - Switch view
• - Brake
• - Pause/Select
• - Switch view
• / - Change option during the Menus/Steer
• / - Jump/Drift

New Nintendo 3DS

• - Accelerate, Rocket Start
• - Use items, Stop Item Roulette
• - Switch view
• - Brake
• / - Change options on menus / Steer
• - Pause/Select
• - (while paused) Change Selected choice / (in race) Switch view
• / - Jump/Drift

Characters

The game features eight playable characters from the Mario franchise, such as Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Bowser. However, some other characters from the series acts as obstacles in the game's tracks, like Thwomps, Gophers, Piranha Plants and Flopping Cheep Cheeps. Ghosts do not act as enemies, but both as item and as part of the Ghost Valley tracks' background.

Character selection screen.

As stated in the game's manual, Lakitu is the owner of all the racetracks, thus overseeing all races. It will appear on the track to start the race, to warn the player if they are going the wrong way on the course, and when they fall off the edge of the track or go out of bounds. If the latter happens, Lakitu will transport the racer back onto the course at the price of two Coins.

Drivers

Super Mario Kart has eight available drivers, divided into statistically identical pairs of two. These four categories have no official name, but are referred in the manual as different classes. Later Mario Kart titles categorize characters into weight classes to organize their stats. The stats presented here are derived and inferred from the manual.

Each pair of characters has different engine sounds for their karts, which reflect their appearances and characteristics.

On a side note, this is the only Mario Kart game to feature Donkey Kong Jr. as a playable character (subsequent installments have replaced him with Donkey Kong).

The Bros SMKMario.png Mario CPU Item: Star SMKluigi.png Luigi CPU Item: Star Acceleration Top Speed Weight Handling Medium High Medium Medium

The Dragon and The Lady MKToadstool.png Princess CPU Item: Poison Mushrooms MKYoshi.png Yoshi CPU Item: Eggs Acceleration Top Speed Weight Handling Very High Medium Medium Low

The Showdown MKBowser.PNG Bowser CPU Item: Fireballs SMK Donkey Kong Jr Artwork.png Donkey Kong Jr. CPU Item: Banana Peels Acceleration Top Speed Weight Handling Low Very High High Low

The Small Guys SMK Koopa Troopa Driving Artwork.png Koopa Troopa CPU Item: Green Shells MKToad.PNG Toad CPU Item: Poison Mushrooms Acceleration Top Speed Weight Handling High Low Low High

Maximum Speed

The Japanese Official Nintendo Guidebook of the game lists the maximum speed in the 100cc engine class in various conditions. This maximum speed is increased by 1 km/h per each coin collected, until 10 coins are collected.

Maximum speed in the 100cc engine class
Driver	Maximum speed (km/h)
	Normal road	Circuits' sand	Choco Island's rocks	Choco Island's mud	Donut Plain's grass	Koopa Beach's water	Vanilla Lake's snow
Mario Luigi	130	84	40	90	82	82	76
Princess Yoshi	125	88	44	94	86	86	70
Bowser Donkey Kong Jr.	135	86	42	92	80	88	74
Koopa Troopa Toad	120	90	46	96	84	88	72

Acceleration

A graph showing the speed as a function of time when accelerating from a standstill with various characters. The horizontal axis shows the time in seconds. The red line refers to Mario and Luigi, the green line refers to the Princess and Yoshi, the light blue line refers to Bowser and Donkey Kong Jr., the yellow line refers to Koopa Troopa and Toad.

Non-Playable

Flopping Cheep Cheeps Ghosts

Gophers Lakitu

Piranha Plants Thwomps

씨발뒤졌냐엠창찐따

Items

Items are obtained through ? Panels, scattered around the track. When the player passes over one, it will turn red (used) and not return orange (though in Battle Mode they did). Once a racer passes over one, with a few exceptions, they will receive an item in their box from the following:

Item	Description	Notes
Banana Peel	When a kart hits a Banana Peel, it will spin out.	Can be thrown backward and forward. Also used by Donkey Kong Jr. if he is CPU-controlled.
File:SMKGreenShell v2.png Green Shell	The Green Shell will send an enemy into a spin if they are hit. Green Shells can bounce off barriers. Throwing it backwards will cause it to remain stationary.	Can be thrown backward and forward. Used by Koopa Troopa if CPU-controlled, but they will behave similar to Banana Peels even when thrown forward, and remain stationary.
File:SMKRedShell v2.png Red Shell	The Red Shell acts similarly to a Green Shell, but homes in on the target instead. It will not bounce off walls, however.	Can only be thrown forward.
Feather	A Feather allows the user to perform a high jump, high enough to make shortcuts normally impossible and to sail over obstacles and other racers.
Mushroom	The Mushroom is a more common item than a Feather or a Star, and grants the user a slight boost. It can either be used to slam an opponent or drive over hazards such as sand and grass without losing speed.
Star	The Star provides two benefits, allowing the user to receive a small speed boost and to become invulnerable to everything. Contact with other racers will cause them to spin out.	Used also by Mario and Luigi if they are CPU-controlled. They will not receive a speed boost, however, and the effect does not last as long.
File:SMKGhost.png Ghost	The Ghost turns the user transparent for a few seconds and steals an opponent's item.	Only appears in Battle Mode and Match Race.
File:SMKCoin.png File:SMKCoin v2.png Coin	The Coin adds two coins to the total coin count, increasing the user's overall top speed.	Doesn't appear in Battle Mode. Maximum benefit is achieved with 10 coins.
Lightning	The Lightning Bolt shrinks all the racers except for the user, making them slower and vulnerable to being squashed by normal sized racers. The effect will wear off after a brief period of time.	Doesn't appear in Battle Mode.
Egg	Works similar to a Banana Peel.	Usable only by Yoshi if he is CPU-controlled.
Fireball	Similar to a Banana Peel, but oscillates from left to right on the spot, making them harder to pass safely.	Usable only by Bowser if he is CPU-controlled.
Poison Mushroom	A stationary item. If one is run into, the victim shrinks as if hit by a Lightning Bolt. The racer who is already shrunk and runs into it returns to normal size.	Usable only by Princess and Toad if they are CPU-controlled.

Probabilities

The following tables are derived from the Japanese Nintendo Official Guidebook of the game and report the probability of obtaining each item in the various modes with letter codes ranging from A (most likely) to F (unlikely). In the races, the probability of obtaining an item depends on the track theme, on the current lap and on the rank of the driver, while in Battle Mode the probability is not affected by any factor.

Mario Kart GP

In Mario Kart GP races, during the first lap all the drivers receive items with the same probabilities they would obtain if they were in first place, regardless of their rank.

Track theme	Rank							File:SMKGhost.png	File:SMKCoin.png
Mario Circuit	1st	C	F	F	B	C	B		D	F
	2nd-4th	E	F	F	A	B	E		A	F
	5th-8th	A	F	D	E	E	A		F	E
Donut Plains	1st	B	F	F	C	C	B		D	F
	2nd-4th	E	F	F	B	A	E		A	F
	5th-8th	A	F	C	E	E	A		F	E
Ghost Valley	1st	C	B	F	D	C	D		D	F
	2nd-4th	E	E	F	A	C	E		A	F
	5th-8th	A	B	C	E	E	D		F	E
Bowser Castle	1st	D	D	F	C	C	D		D	F
	2nd-4th	E	E	F	C	A	E		A	E
	5th-8th	A	D	C	E	E	B		F	E
Choco Island	1st	B	E	F	C	C	C		D	F
	2nd-4th	E	E	F	A	A	E		C	F
	5th-8th	A	E	D	E	E	A		F	E
Koopa Beach	1st	B	E	F	F	C	C		D	F
	2nd-4th	E	E	F	A	A	E		C	F
	5th-8th	A	C	D	E	E	C		F	E
Vanilla Lake	1st	C	C	F	C	D	C		D	F
	2nd-4th	E	E	F	A	A	E		C	F
	5th-8th	A	C	D	E	E	C		F	E

VS Races

Track theme	Lap/Rank							File:SMKGhost.png	File:SMKCoin.png
Mario Circuit	1st lap	C	F	F	B	B	C	E	E	F
	1st place	E	F	F	A	A	E	F	B	F
	2nd place	A	F	D	E	E	A	E	F	E
Ghost Valley	1st lap	C	B	F	B	E	D	F	E	F
	1st place	E	D	F	B	B	E	B	B	F
	2nd place	B	B	E	E	E	D	E	F	E
Donut Plains	1st lap	B	F	F	B	C	C	E	E	F
	1st place	E	F	F	B	A	E	F	A	F
	2nd place	B	F	C	E	E	B	E	E	E
Bowser Castle	1st lap	C	F	F	C	C	D	E	E	F
	1st place	E	E	F	C	A	E	F	A	F
	2nd place	A	E	D	E	E	B	E	F	E
Choco Island	1st lap	C	D	F	C	C	C	E	E	F
	1st place	E	E	F	A	B	E	F	B	F
	2nd place	A	E	D	E	E	B	E	F	E
Koopa Beach	1st lap	C	D	F	C	C	D	E	E	F
	1st place	E	E	F	A	B	E	F	B	F
	2nd place	A	E	D	E	E	D	E	F	E
Vanilla Lake	1st lap	C	C	F	C	C	D	E	E	F
	1st place	E	E	F	A	B	E	F	B	F
	2nd place	A	D	D	E	E	D	E	F	E

Battle Mode

						File:SMKGhost.png	File:SMKCoin.png
E	D	E	E	A	A	E

Rivals

The rivals always finish in a particular order. In this case, though, Princess got a lower spot than normal.

Super Mario Kart has a different rival system from the rest of the series (except for Mario Kart: Super Circuit); the rivals contain one very fast driver, one fast driver, one medium driver, one slow driver and three very slow drivers. It is notable that when one of the three slowest drivers gets hit, that kart will keep its place, while when one of the faster cars gets shot, it will usually resume its previous place very quickly unless unable to catch up fast enough before the race ends. For this reason, the drivers (except the human racer) will (if unaffected) always finish in the exact same order. Also, if the player tries to hit an opponent, the opponent jumps over the item a majority of the time. Also, the rivals are not determined in pairs, so that even if Donkey Kong Jr. is Mario's rival, Mario will not be Donkey Kong Jr.'s rival, as shown in the table below.

The rivals for each driver are always the same, the list will be in the order the line up for the first race. It is possible to change the order if the rivals can't recover their place at the end (for example, if someone is playing as Luigi and Yoshi finishes last, Yoshi will then become one of the three slower drivers while everybody takes the next position up). It happens mostly on 100cc and 150cc.

The rivals are determined by the current points standing, meaning that if Yoshi was still only second to the player, he will boost back to first position from the start.

Character	Rival Order
	Very Fast	Fast	Medium	Slow	Very Slow
Mario	Donkey Kong Jr.	Princess	Yoshi	Luigi	Toad	Bowser	Koopa Troopa
Luigi	Yoshi	Mario	Bowser	Koopa Troopa	Princess	Donkey Kong Jr.	Toad
Princess	Bowser	Toad	Mario	Donkey Kong Jr.	Luigi	Yoshi	Koopa Troopa
Yoshi	Koopa Troopa	Donkey Kong Jr.	Princess	Bowser	Mario	Toad	Luigi
Bowser	Mario	Luigi	Princess	Yoshi	Donkey Kong Jr.	Toad	Koopa Troopa
Donkey Kong Jr.	Toad	Bowser	Koopa Troopa	Luigi	Princess	Mario	Yoshi
Koopa Troopa	Luigi	Yoshi	Princess	Mario	Bowser	Donkey Kong Jr.	Toad
Toad	Princess	Donkey Kong Jr.	Mario	Yoshi	Luigi	Koopa Troopa	Bowser

Development

Super Mario Kart was born out of the idea of making a two-player racing game following F-Zero, which was exclusively single-player. The prototype initially only featured a generic "guy in overalls". The decision to include Mario characters and concepts was made three to four months in development, when the developers added Mario driving one of the karts because they were curious about how the game would look, and decided that it looked better. The battle mode was implemented because the developers thought it would be a good idea to include a form of one-on-one battles that didn't involving competing for ranks during the races.

Arcade adaptation

Super Mario Kart was adapted into a Japan-only arcade game developed by Banpresto and Atlus called Super Mario Kart Dokidoki Race, released in 1994. It was the first Mario Kart game to be released for arcades, predating Mario Kart Arcade GP by eleven years. The playable characters are Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, and Bowser. The game requires a lot of yen to play and seems to operate on magnets to move the karts. The game also has a Cheep Cheep, Monty Mole, and Lakitu. There are five tracks in total, two in particular being the title screen music and Mario Circuit music. The latter track is sped up and has additional notes that play throughout the track as well as an ending note, while the former is slightly altered. A male announcer voice can also be heard throughout the gameplay. The other three tracks are a preparation track and two different victory themes. It was also the first Mario Kart game to only have 5 playable characters.

Pre-release and unused content

Main article: List of Super Mario Kart pre-release and unused content

In addition to the above, a prototype cartridge of the game features several differences, such as the presence of animations on the podium screen when the player ranks 2nd or 3rd place, a music track for Vanilla Lake 1 that does not appear in the final build and a different Battle Course 3 set in Choco Island.

Reception

Super Mario Kart met with very favorable reviews. The game was placed 32nd in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997. In the book, Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition for 2009, Super Mario Kart was placed as the #1 best console game. The game was placed 33rd in the 200th issue of GameInformer's "Top 200 Games of all Time" in December 2009. The game was awarded the Most Critically Acclaimed Mario Kart Game by Guinness Book of World Records Gamer's Edition 2009 - 2014.

Reviews
Release	Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
Wii	Lucas M. Thomas, IGN	9/10	"Where each of the N64, Cube and Wii installments of the series have focused on multiplayer, more characters and more crazy items, though, this SNES original keeps things simpler -- emphasizing, instead, the actual racing instead of the combat within each race. It's a different take on the same idea, which is interesting since it's the original take on that idea. So stick with the other Kart games if you want the multiplayer chaos, but come on back to this very first racing adventure with Mario and his crew. It's absolutely worth 800 of your Wii Points to re-experience, or to play for the very first time."
Wii	Nintendo Life Staff, Nintendo Life	9/10	"Super Mario Kart has certainly made its mark on gaming history, spawning several sequels on successive Nintendo consoles, not to mention many imitators. To play it today is every bit as enjoyable as it ever was; sure the graphics and sound may have dated, but the core gameplay is still top notch. This is one hell of a fun racing game with enough playability to keep you coming back for more. It’s amazing that Nintendo chose to wait three years before treating us to this seminal game on the Virtual Console, but we’re glad they finally saw sense!"
Aggregators
Compiler		Platform / Score
GameRankings		93.60%

Sales

Super Mario Kart is the 4th best selling game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, selling 8.76 million copies worldwide as of December 31, 2009.

Staff

Main article: List of Super Mario Kart staff

References to other games

• Super Mario Bros.: Mario's theme is a remix of part of the overworld theme from this game.
• Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels: The computer-controlled Toad and Peach are able to throw Poison Mushrooms, which are not usable by the player.
• Super Mario World: Several sound effects from this game are reused. The music for the Ghost Valley and Bowser Castle courses are remixes of the music from the Ghost Houses and the final boss theme, respectively, in this game. Most of the races take place on Dinosaur Land. Also, sprites such as Lakitu's bear a resemblance to their Super Mario World sprite. The Cape Feather appears as a usable item.

References in later games

• Mario Kart 64: The title music from Mario Kart 64 is a slower and elongated remix of the title music from Super Mario Kart. Also, part of Banshee Boardwalk's music is a remix of the music used for the Ghost Valley courses in Super Mario Kart.
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit: All twenty courses appeared in this game, but all of their track hazards have been removed, Item Boxes are at different places than where ? Panels laid and some tracks changed a little. The music for all tracks is redone for the Game Boy Advance. Also, part of the music for Boo Lake/Broken Pier and Rainbow Road is a remix of the music from the Ghost Valley and Rainbow Road courses in this game, respectively.
• Mario Kart DS: Mario Circuit 1, Donut Plains 1, Koopa Beach 2, and Choco Island 2 all return to this game.
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl: An arrangement of the Mario Circuit theme plays on the Mario Circuit stage. Many trophies are from this game. The Banana Peel and Lightning Bolt appear as items in this game.
• Mario Kart Wii: Ghost Valley 2 and Mario Circuit 3 return as retro tracks and Battle Course 4 returns as a retro battle stage.
• Mario Kart 7: Collecting coins also returns from this game. Mario Circuit 2 and Rainbow Road return as retro tracks. Also, the rival system returned in this game. The kart now called Pipe Frame, returns in this game as an kart body, however it uses the dual exhaust design from Mario Kart 64 instead of the single exhaust from Super Mario Kart.
• Fortune Street: The theme for the Mario Circuit board is an arrangement of Mario Circuit's music from Super Mario Kart.
• Super Mario 3D World: The level Mount Must Dash is based on the Mario Circuit courses from this game. The music from the Mario Circuit courses also is remixed for that level.
• Mario Kart 8: Part of the main theme is an orchestrated version of the main theme of Super Mario Kart. The Pipe Frame returns with the single exhaust design. Also, the Coin item returns with the same function as it did in this game. Donut Plains 3 returns as a retro track. The design of N64 Rainbow Road and Rainbow Road for this game are very similar to Rainbow Road, which also appears in this game in the DLC cup, Triforce Cup.
  • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: The Feather item returns with the same function. Battle Course 1 reappears as a retro battle stage; a billboard in the course background is modeled after the player select screen from Super Mario Kart.
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: Super Mario Kart appears as a masterpiece in this game.
• Super Mario Maker: The invincible theme from Super Mario Kart is used when the Mario Kart costume uses a Super Star. Also, the race start fanfare is heard when Mario picks up the Mystery Mushroom. The 1st-4th place (course clear) and 5th-8th place (death) jingles are also heard. Ironically, when Mario is moving, the kart's engine sound is actually coming from Bowser and Donkey Kong Jr.'s karts, rather than his and Luigi's.
• Super Mario Odyssey: An arrangement of Mario Circuit's music is used during the RC Car Challenge in New Donk City.
• WarioWare Gold: This game contains a microgame that is based off of Super Mario Kart, which involves Mario staying on Rainbow Road while avoiding items that are on the track.
• Super Mario Maker 2: One of the sound effects replaces the level music with the Mario Circuit theme.
• Mario Kart Tour: Mario Circuit 1, Ghost Valley 1, Mario Circuit 2, Choco Island 2, Mario Circuit 3, and Rainbow Road appear as returning courses.

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Super Mario Kart.

• MKMario.png

  Mario

• 

  Mario and Bowser

• LakituSMK.png

  Lakitu

• 

  Yoshi

• 

  The game's logo.

Media

Main article: List of Super Mario Kart media

Help:Media • Having trouble playing?

Glitches

Main article: List of Super Mario Kart glitches

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	スーパーマリオカート[?] Sūpā Mario Kāto	Super Mario Kart
Korean	슈퍼 마리오 카트[?] Syupeo Mario Kateu	Super Mario Kart

Trivia

• In Super Mario Kart, every character has a winning animation that involves a bottle of champagne. In the Japanese version, Bowser and the Princess drink champagne in their animations (with the latter becoming drunk in the process), which goes against Nintendo of America's policy on the depiction of alcohol, as it was considered inappropriate for younger children. In the Western releases of the game, Bowser merely poses happily and Peach tosses and catches her bottle.
• This is the only game in the Mario Kart series to have five courses per cup, as opposed to four in later games.
• Yoshi, Bowser, and Donkey Kong Jr. are the only drivers in this game to have their own taunts when surpassing other racers regardless if they are being used by the player or CPU. The others do not have their own taunts and instead the standard beep is heard when surpassing other racers but can only be heard when used by the player.
• This is the only game where the Mushroom Cup has two Mario Circuit courses. They both share the same background and theme.
• The number of coins found on each courses varies from one course to another. However, when all tracks in the game were remade in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, the number and placements of coins were altered so that every track would have exactly 50 coins for each.
• In all versions of Super Mario Kart except the Japanese version, if the player enters the cheat code L, R, L, R, L, L, R, R, A on the cup selection menu in Time Trial, the Special Cup is unlocked. In the Japanese version, a "Boo" sound is heard instead.