Mario Cappy Hat

Mario Kart [a] is a series of go-kart racing video games developed and published by Nintendo, as a spin-off from its flagship Super Mario series. Its characters include those from the Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon series, competing in races while using various items to gain advantage.

The series was launched in 1992 with Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, to critical and commercial success.[1]
 
 Mario Cappy HatThe Mario Kart series totals fourteen games, with six on home consoles, three on handheld consoles, four arcade games co-developed with Namco, and one for mobile phones. The latest game in the main series, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, was released on the Nintendo Switch in October 2020. To date, more than 150 million copies in the series have been sold worldwide.

In the Mario Kart series, players compete in go-kart races, controlling one of a selection of characters, mainly from the Mario franchise. Up to sixteen characters can compete in each race (the exact number varies between games).
 
 Mario Cappy HatGameplay is enhanced by power-up items obtained by driving into item boxes laid out on the course. These power-ups include Mushrooms to give players a speed boost, Shells to be thrown at opponents, Banana peels, and Fake Item Boxes as hazards. The game chooses an item based on the player's current position in the race. For example, players lagging far behind may receive more powerful items, such as Bullet Bills which give the player a bigger speed boost depending on the place of the player, while the leader may only receive small defensive items, such as Shells or Bananas. Called rubber banding, this gameplay mechanism allows other racers a realistic chance to catch up to the leading racer. They can perform driving techniques during the race such as rocket starts, slipstreaming, and mini-turbos.

Each new game has introduced new gameplay elements, such as new circuits, items, modes, and playable characters.

    Mario Kart 64 introduces 3D graphics, 4-player racing, slipstreaming[citation needed], Wario and Donkey Kong, and seven new items: the Fake Item Box, Triple Red Shell, Triple Green Shell, Triple Mushroom, Banana Bunch, Golden Mushroom, and the infamous Blue Shell. In addition to the three Grand Prix engine classes, Mirror Mode is introduced (tracks are flipped laterally) in 100cc.
    Mario Kart: Super Circuit introduces Super Mario Kart unlockable tracks, as both games use the same mode 7 principle.
    Mario Kart: Double Dash!! features co-operative LAN play and two-player karts. It introduces eleven new playable characters: Daisy, Birdo, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Paratroopa, Diddy Kong, Bowser Jr., Waluigi, Toadette, Petey Piranha, and King Boo. It features character-specific special items, and introduces unlockable characters and karts. Mirror mode is now played on 150cc.
 Mario Cappy Hat    Mario Kart DS features dual-screen play. It introduces online multiplayer mode, mission mode, retro tracks, playable Shy Guy (exclusive to DS Download Play), Dry Bones, R.O.B., and Blooper and Bullet Bill items.
    Mario Kart Wii introduces motion controls, performing tricks, 12-player racing, and bikes.[3] It introduces six new playable characters: Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, Rosalina, Funky Kong, Dry Bowser, and two Mii outfits. It introduces three items: the Mega Mushroom, Thunder Cloud, and POW Block, the last two of which are exclusive to this game. This game is the final appearance of the Fake Item Box.
    Mario Kart 7 features stereoscopic 3D graphics. It introduces gliding and submersible karts, an alternate first-person perspective, and kart customization. It introduces playable Metal Mario, Lakitu, Wiggler, and Honey Queen. It re-introduces collectible Coins for a small speed boost.
    Mario Kart 8 introduces 200cc mode, anti-gravity racing, ATVs, uploading highlights to YouTube, up to four local players in Grand Prix races, downloadable content, HD graphics, and the Koopalings, Baby Rosalina, Pink Gold Peach, Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach, Villager Isabelle from Animal Crossing, and Link from The Legend of Zelda as playable characters.[4]
    Mario Kart 8 Deluxe adds the Inkling Girl and Inkling Boy from Splatoon, an alternate skin for Link that depicts his Breath of the Wild appearance, and "Renegade Roundup", a new battle mode similar to cops and robbers.
    Mario Kart Tour is the Mario Kart debut on non-Nintendo devices, and introduces a points-based system for certain racing actions. It introduces Peachette, Pauline, Hammer Bro (and their boomerang, fire, and ice versions), Monty Mole, Dixie Kong, Kamek, Nabbit, King Bob-omb, and many alternate outfits for characters. The alternate outfits are rare items. It introduces Frenzy Mode, gacha and loot box mechanics, and continuously-renewing character outfits and karts. Character-specific items and increased item probabilities have been re-added. It reintroduces the Mega Mushroom.
    Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit uses a combination of augmented reality (AR), remote-controlled karts, and cameras, to create tracks using markers in the physical world, on which onscreen opponents are raced.
 
 Mario Cappy HatCharacters

Mario Kart mainly features characters from the Mario franchise, such as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Bowser, and Donkey Kong. The Mario Kart Arcade GP series features Bandai Namco characters from the Pac-Man and Tamagotchi series.[5] Mario Kart: Double Dash!! introduced a number of characters to the series that are partners to the more common characters, such as Waluigi and Diddy Kong. Some of these would appear in future instalments. The DLC for Mario Kart 8 added Link from The Legend of Zelda, and Villager (male and female) and Isabelle from Animal Crossing.[6] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has 42 playable characters, including the Inklings from Splatoon.[7] Mario Kart Tour features 128 characters, the most of any Mario game, and is the first Mario Kart to include Peachette, Pauline, Hammer Bro (and their boomerang, fire, and ice versions), Monty Mole, Dixie Kong, Kamek, Nabbit, and King Bob-omb.
Courses

Many recurring course themes are based on the Mario franchise, such as Bowser's Castle. Unique courses inspired by the Mushroom Kingdom include Rainbow Road, above a city or in space. Each game after Super Mario Kart includes at least 16 original courses and up to 6 original battle arenas. Each game's tracks are divided into four "cups" (except Mario Kart: Super Circuit, which has five), or groups in which the player has to have the highest overall ranking to win. They are the Mushroom Cup, the Flower Cup, the Star Cup, and the Special Cup (and the lightning cup in Mario Kart: Super Circuit). Most courses can be done in three laps, except in the original game where all circuits required five laps to finish, the unlockable tracks in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, seven in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! when racing on Baby Park, and two in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! when racing on Wario Colosseum, 5 laps in Mario Kart DS when racing on GCN Baby Park, 1 lap split into 3 parts in Mario Kart 7 when racing on Maka Wuhu (Wuhu Mountain Loop in PAL regions), Wuhu Loop (Wuhu Island Loop in PAL regions), and Rainbow Road, 1 lap split into 3 parts in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe when racing on Mount Wario, N64 Rainbow Road, and Big Blue, 7 laps in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe when racing on GCN Baby Park, and in Mario Kart Tour, where all tracks are two laps. The first game to feature courses from previous games was Mario Kart: Super Circuit, which contained all of the tracks from the original SNES game. Starting with Mario Kart DS, each entry in the series has featured sixteen "nitro" (brand new courses introduced for said game) and sixteen "retro" tracks (reappearing courses from previous Mario Kart games) (not including DLC tracks and games from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe), spread across four cups each with four races. The four Retro Grand Prix cups are the Shell Cup, the Banana Cup, the Leaf Cup, and the Lightning Cup. In Mario Kart 8, sixteen additional tracks are available across two downloadable packages, eight for each package downloaded, including seven retro courses, four original courses, and five courses based on other Nintendo franchises, including Excitebike, F-Zero, The Legend of Zelda, and Animal Crossing divided into four additional cups; the Egg Cup, the Triforce Cup, the Crossing Cup, and the Bell Cup.[4] Mario Kart Tour introduced courses themed from places around the world including New York City, Tokyo, Paris, London, Los Angeles, Berlin, Vancouver and Sydney, and variant courses raced in reverse, with additional ramps and elevation, and a combination of the two.
Modes
 
 Mario Cappy Hat Each game has a variety of modes. The following five modes recur most often in the series:

    Grand Prix – Players compete in various "cups," of four courses each (five in Super Mario Kart) with difficulty levels based on the size of the engine, larger engines meaning faster speeds. Before Mario Kart 8 there were four difficulties: 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and Mirror Mode (courses that see their tracks flipped horizontally; played on 100cc in Mario Kart 64, but 150cc in all other games with Mirror Mode). Mario Kart 8 added a fifth difficulty level: 200cc. Players earn points according to their finishing position in each race and the placement order gets carried over to the next race as the starting grid. At the end of the cup, the top three players with the most points overall will receive a trophy in bronze, silver, and gold. This was renamed to Mario GP in Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit and then to Grand Prix from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! onwards.
    Time Trials – The player races alone in order to finish any course in the fastest time possible. The best time is then saved as a ghost, which the player can race against in later trials. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! introduced Staff Ghosts, which are ghosts set by members of the Nintendo development team. This was renamed to T.Trials in Mario Kart 64 and then back to Time Trials from Mario Kart: Super Circuit onwards.
 Mario Cappy Hat    Match Race – Multiple human players race on any course with customized rules such as team racing and item frequency. Mario Kart: Super Circuit has a similar Quick Run mode for only one player. This was renamed to VS in Mario Kart 64, then to VS. in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, then to Versus in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, then back to VS from Mario Kart DS to Mario Kart Wii, and then to VS Race from Mario Kart 8 onwards.
 Mario Cappy Hat    Battle – Multiple human players use in-game offensive items (shells, etc.) to battle each other in a closed arena. In the most used battle type, balloon battle, each player starts with three balloons and loses one per hit; the last player with at least one balloon wins. Various battle types have been added to the series, and single-player battles with CPU controlled players. Since Mario Kart Wii, there is a time limit for each battle. For Mario Kart 8, the battles take place on race courses. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe reintroduces dedicated arenas.
    Online Multiplayer – Players compete in races and battles through online services, such as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo Network, and Nintendo Switch Online. Players can share Time Trial ghosts, and participate in tournaments. In races and battles, players are matched by VR (VS Rating) and BR (Battle Rating) respectively, which is a number between 0 and 99,999 (9,999 in Mario Kart Wii). Players gain or lose points based on performance in a race or battle. The game attempts to match players with a similar rating.a 
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