What is the Greatest Mario Kart of All Time?

Mario Kart is the reigning champion of kart racers. Regardless of what new features and innovations its competitors bring to the table, it seems that the Italian plumber keeps us crawling back for more every time. Some titles like Diddy Kong Racing and Crash Team Racing offer experiences that Mario Kart lacks like story or other unique content. However, the higher quality of control, well-balanced characters and ease of play of Mario Kart are too enticing to put down. So, of these high-quality racers, which is the best? Let’s discuss!

8. Super Mario Kart

Everyone has to start somewhere, and Mario Kart had its humble beginnings on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. The idea spanned from wanting to take F-Zero, and make it multiplayer. But the poor SNES couldn’t handle it and the game played too slowly for the high-speed visceral experience that the original game offers. So, they went back to the drawing board and came up with a go-karting idea, slapped Mario in as a placeholder and the rest is history. While yes, Super Mario Kart is an impressive feat, it is still the worst-to-play game in the series to date, which in my opinion is totally fine.

The drifting often feels confusing and convoluted, and the enemy’s weapon usage is horribly unbalanced. It does have its good elements in retrospect; multiplayer is still an impressive feat for the SNES and the character balancing is much better than its contemporaries. This placement is certainly not to say Super Mario Kart is a bad time. If anything, it is a testament to just how good the Mario Kart series is. But if I ever have to see ‘Vanilla Lake’ again it’ll be too soon.

7. Mario Kart Super Circuit

The GBA has a lot of parallels with the SNES. It was often called a handheld Super Nintendo in its heyday, and with all the ports it had, who could blame you for making the comparison? Mario Kart is no stranger here; Super Circuit takes the formula established in Super Mario Kart. It cleans up the sprite work and reserves multiplayer for a link cable making it a tried and true sequel to the original title. It even goes as far as to remake the entire original game as secret unlockable stages way before Retro Cups were a thing in the series.

My favourite stage here is definitely ‘Sunset Wilds’, which progressively gets darker as the sun sets (a notable downgrade on the Switch version). As the series’ introduction to a handheld console, it’s an incredible opener but suffers from similar failings to the original: it’s dated, hard to control and the stage variety is a bit lacking. But for 2001, this was a great way to play Mario Kart on the go!

6. Mario Kart 64

Now I think this is the entry that will land me in hot water with the die-hard fans, but personally I find Mario Kart 64 a chore to play consistently. I didn’t grow up with a Nintendo 64, and whilst the four-player mayhem many grew up with isn’t alien to me as I had its competitor, Crash Team Racing, I harbour no nostalgia or fond memories to fall back on here. I recently got to play Mario Kart 64 on original hardware for the first time recently, and while the Nintendo 64 controller does help mitigate some of the issues I have with the game, it also made me realise the fun factor comes from playing with friends.

Especially when you consider this game was the introduction of the infamous spiny shell. Whilst I can appreciate what this game did for the genre, and some of the stages introduced here are iconic and favourites of mine, the game itself is the worst 3D one for me. Not to say it’s bad, just that it got so much better in the future.

One thing to note that I absolutely adore about Mario Kart 64 though, is the Easter eggs. Take ‘Royal Raceway’, which includes a fully explorable courtyard and Peach’s castle directly from Super Mario 64. You don’t quite get that level of detail in the modern games, which is such a shame.

5. Mario Kart 7

Everyone has a favourite Mario Kart game, whether that be for nostalgia or mechanical depth. You can usually find someone who will vouch for one of the games, but I never see anyone get excited about Mario Kart 7. This is a shame, as between its new and retro picks it boasts some of the best tracks in the series. It also introduced gliding and underwater driving, which added two new ways to traverse these tracks.

It was also the introduction to kart customisation, which has been a series mainstay ever since as well as segmented tracks. I feel like this game feels too safe, from a small (but strange) roster to driving that feels too smooth and limited, the stakes never feel that high. Whether for better or worse, it’s a safe, smooth drive across familiar territory that doesn’t try to push the concepts of the genre as you’d expect, so I’d rank it safely in average territory.

4. Mario Kart Double Dash

This is almost the polar opposite of Mario Kart 7. This game dares, risks, experiments and feels like a chaotic jaunt through unfamiliar and jovial territory. From the insane character items hurtling through the tracks like a giant Bowser shell or chain chomp, to the “double dash” system allowing two characters to work together in one kart, there’s something different about this one.

This has nothing to do with the kart racing, but this is from the era when everything in the Mario world was trying to feel connected and alive. Everything has faces and you’re able to loosely put stages together by observing the matching background elements. The Daisy Cruiser shows up absolutely everywhere! The stages themselves are varied and fun, some of the best to this day, and the difficulty presented by the chaos of the items makes this tough yet rewarding to master. I always look forward to returning to this one, it has something that each new iteration of the series hasn’t really returned to and therefore truly stands out.

3. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

This one is by far the most polished, balanced and content-filled entry on this list by a significant degree, but it’s not the best. It may have perfected the Mario Kart formula in movement with drifting and cornering being effortless but skill-driven. The item balancing brings light but fair chaos to the RNG-filled hellhole. But it is lacking something.

The stage selection here is one of the best we’ve ever had, with excellent additions in the Nitro cups, and the return of fan favourites in the Retro cup, it is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to content (that playable roster is phenomenal!) But to me, there’s a certain lost charm to the games. They feel too polished, too calculated and the backgrounds are detailed but lacking the Mario cartoonishness that we’ve known and loved. There’s a certain sanitised feeling to it that I can’t quite describe.

On the one hand, if you also consider the fact that the stage roster was doubled and fan-favourite characters returned with the booster pack, there’s a lot to love. On the other, the new stages feel weirdly plastic and like a downgrade of the base roster. There is a good reason for this, the stages were ported and upscaled directly from Tour, and this content is better than no content. It does feel jarring moving from ‘Moo Moo Farm’ and its realistic dirt, over to ‘Shroom Ridge’ and its plastic flat dirt one race after another. It’s a small complaint most players probably won’t be too invested in, but one that makes them feel inferior to me.

2. Mario Kart DS

This was my first Mario Kart game, so while I will try to maintain some level of objectivity here, nostalgia may affect my opinion. Mario Kart DS is the first 3D handheld game that felt on par with a console experience, even including online multiplayer. It was also the first game to include Retro Cups which doubled the total courses in the game with fan favourites from older titles (and some questionable ones). The roster felt solid and the unique karts felt tailor-made for each character. From Luigi’s poltergust car to Waluigi’s crane, each vehicle oozed personality.

Due to the online mode, Nintendo also added a custom emblem creation tool that allowed you to create a 32×32 pixel art avatar for use online. What was even better about these avatars is that they would physically appear on the karts themselves too, adding another layer of customisation. Another thing Mario Kart DS does that sets it far apart from the others is its mission mode: 49 unique challenges to complete that really put your skills to the test.

Each mission list also has a boss, which Mario Kart has never had before this point, such as Big Bully, King Goomba and King Boo. The best part about missions, is that each is ranked up to 3 stars, and if you get all the stars you can show this off online too, really flex those mission mode skills!

1. Mario Kart Wii

To no one’s surprise, Mario Kart Wii is the cream of the crop and it’s easy to see why. From entertaining new items such as the Mega Mushroom and the POW block to motorcycles and the ability to wheelie. The stages introduced here are some of the most prolific and popular in the franchise, and there’s a reason they keep returning—they are just that good. ‘Coconut Mall’, ‘DK’s Snowboard Cross’, ‘Maple Treeway’ and ‘Koopa Cape’ are all consistently great and contain enough complexity to continue to be entertaining on the 100th+ jaunt around them.

Online on Wii felt different. 12-player races with no latency and the chaos of Mario Kart Wii item distribution was surreal, especially in 2008. You had the chaos of Miis, the monstrosities that online players would make, and a random Japanese Funky Kong half a lap ahead of the rest—good times! They even included a mode that was similar to Mario Kart DS‘s Mission Mode, on an app called the Mario Kart Channel. Once a month or so, a random online challenge would appear for players to compete in, from time trials to item challenges and players would be able to see their worldwide rank.

Nothing quite beats getting a group of friends together, knocking the difficulty up to hard with frantic items and just letting chaos ensue. I have spent more time playing Mario Kart Wii than all other Wii games combined, and that’s no contest.

Thanks for reading. With Mario Kart World around the corner, it’ll be quite interesting to see where it holds up in comparison to the high quality we’ve come to expect from the franchise. I realise I didn’t even touch on battle mode, that could be an article in and of itself! What is your favourite Mario Kart? What are some of your favourite memories? And, are you getting Mario Kart World? Let us know!