Super Mario Kart review by Tyson
Overall
Buy
Super Mario Kart is a game with an awesome idea and its execution is a bit frustrating but is still fun
Gameplay
Super Mario Kart is racing game where characters from various Super Mario games have come together to have a go kart race. The actual racing in Super Mario Kart is pretty fun and works well. You start out by choosing your difficulty (aka speed), a various Mario character, and then what cup you want to race in. Each cup will consist of 5 Super Mario themed courses. I found the overall racing to be fun but with a few frustrations. I liked how each character had their own feel to them and how some would be better at certain courses then others.
So you are probably wondering what makes the game so frustrating for me. Well for starters its how the A.I. is handled. The game is setup so certain characters will always place in a certain position. This means that A.I. characters can get temporary speed boosts if needed as well. I just find this method as cheap and it makes the game feel a bit stale when its always say Bowser coming in 2nd and Mario coming in 3rd and so forth. I also found it frustrating when the A.I. will constantly throw things like fireballs, eggs, or mushrooms at you too. It also gets a bit frustrating when courses are filled with various obstacles as well. What really sucks about Super Mario Kart is that one mistake can take you from first to third and in some cases with no way to catch back up.
What sets Super Mario Kart apart from other racing games is that it features items that you can pick up from question mark blocks on the course. These items will give you a temporary power up like being able to shoot a koopa shell at an opponent, get a short speed boost, or place objects like banana peels on the course. I will say that I did like the items and I would really have enjoyed the game more if the A.I opponents didn’t get their own items to throw at you as well.
Control
I found the control aspect of Super Mario Kart to be really responsive and work well with what they were doing. I liked how you could do things like hop with the L and R buttons. I also liked how you could place some items like koopa shells on the ground by using down and the A button as well.
Graphics
I think that Super Mario Kart is a fine example of how the SNES should be used. The Mode 7 graphic effect looks good and the graphic are very bright and colorful. I came away really enjoying the graphics.
Sound
I found the audio in Super Mario Kart to be excellent. I like the background music of each track and the various sound effects of the items is nice too.