What is the worst Mario Kart game?

[64-Bit Nintendo Machine]

All the Mario Kart games are good, but some are not as good as others. Which one got you pissed about it?

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Only one of them is an exploitative glorified gambling for kids where...

• most content requires rng to get and is infested with dupes
• most content is already recycled from legacy games
• new worthwhile content is gated behind really lucky roll chances
• the economy is plagued with the bog standard standard worthless currency and premium currency that is available only in bundles sometimes costing way more than a full-fledged console game.
• one character that the series is named after has costed $20 or requires hours of hours of grinding
• the secondary character wasn't in the base game despite being in the beta
• the Battle Pass subscription is horrid and it's also a way for people to basically pay Nintendo for beta testing for a basic feature
• its controls are abysmal and the railroad auto-trick gameplay is just extremely unrewarding
• it's a single player experience that actively tricks people into thinking they're racing with other humans and helps people engage with the game since they think they're good at it.
• it tried skirting strict gambling laws but was fortunately banned in Belgium

 

[Ray Trace]

To add onto points said about Mario Kart Tour, it's a game developed by Nintendo that follows rather than leads anything. It's Nintendo we're talking about, the publishers behind fantastic games on the Switch, proving you don't need aggressive monetization on premium 60 dollar games to be successful and widely popular, yet on mobile, they stick with the same tired multiple currency systems and grinding to prey on your wallet, being just another greed-economy game on a market flooded with them.

This is especially jarring when we have plenty of fantastic mobile games that are successful and DON'T use the stupid gacha economy. Nintendo tried with Super Mario Run, but even though it sold 60 million dollars and was profitable, it wasn't profitable enough for them, not at least compared to Fire Emblem Heroes, so that's when they ditched the one-time fee and got this shit system we have today. And yeah, unfortunately, Mario Kart Tour generated over 30 million dollars already so fuck that game.

 

[Vivian]

I think putting Tour on here is going to make a landslide

 

[Zelda and Tri]

Tour. Enough said.

 

[Mcmadness]

I'm ignoring Tour because that's too easy.

Of the ones I've played, Super circuit.

 

[Toka Hebizuka]

7 is a disappointing follow up to the best game in the series and I consider it to be the start of the downfall of the series.

Tour is truly the worst game, but I feel that it will win the poll, so I wanted to focus on the main series games instead.

 

[Ray Trace]

Well if Tour is to be left out, I'd easily vote for Mario Kart 64.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

You can vote Tour and then just disqualify it in your comments.

Mario Kart 64 would be my pick for second worst Mario Kart game. The gameplay is horrible as well. The course layout is okay, but it really pales with the contemporary Nintendo 64 racers including Diddy Kong Racing. It's home to some of the worst tracks in the series though being Sherbet Land, Banshee Boardwalk, Rainbow Road, and Yoshi Valley. The characters, being prerendered sprites, look ugly as sin. The trophy cutscene takes forever to complete and it's totally unskippable. The gameplay is horrendous, as the karts are slippery, drifting is weird to manage, and there's no indication you've drift-boosted aside from a character making stupid noises and the engine sounding higher pitched briefly. The items are relentless as even a hit from a green shell will stop you dead in your tracks for several seconds as you fly several miles into the air and bounce several times and your acceleration hits zero. The bananas also stop you cold too. Green Shells also take forever to expire (and the AI doesn't throw any shells) so things you fire can end up hitting you on the 2nd lap.

The AI might not have any access to shells whatsoever but their rubber banding is infamous. It's broken in a bad way. You hit an enemy with an OP Green Shell, they will rapidly rebound. But the AI can get ridiculously far ahead and even a shell won't stop them, they don't even fly in the air as they're supposed to. That's *if* you manage to hit them with a red shell as red shells are atrocious in this game, where you shoot them and they meander into a straight line before homing in an enemy, and they tend to crash into obstacles or completely miss. The physics are also stupidly broken, as steep cliffs can stop you cold and the character makes a noise unique to it. The weight mechanic also sucks ass especially since you start 8th, so boosting makes you smack into some fatass heavyweight in front of you.

The item system is interesting though, I give you that. 2nd place thunderbolts and 1st place Super Mushrooms are fun I guess.

The character stats are positively broken too. It's just stupid that middleweights accelerate slower than heavyweights yet have the same speed as heavyweights.

The game's content isn't even that great when you see its competition like Diddy Kong Racing. All you get are just some tracks, a barren battle mode, and time trials, and that's it. It's bare bones, which is a recurring problem in this series/

Best thing about the game would be the announcer and the cute character select screen with fluid prerendered animation, which just is nostalgic for me.

It also has one of the best reward title screens too

And finally that noise when you hit someone with a dragging banana bunch is some of the most satisfying moments in that game.

 

[Ray Trace]

exemplifies why i hate mario kart 64 so much

 

[YoshiFlutterJump]

I was going to vote SMK.

Then I remembered Tour.

 

[Bowser II]

I was psyched when I first heard about Mario Kart Tour. I have an unhealthy addiction to Mario Kart, so when I heard I could play it even more without toting my Switch or DS around, I was excited out of my mind. So, of course, I was really disappointed when it came out.

The gameplay is fine, I guess. It could've been so much better, but now that I've adjusted to the differences, the races are pretty fun. It's just... unfulfilling. My high scores mean absolutely nothing after 2 weeks. I can save up coins and rubies in hopes of a good shop selection or a good pipe pull, but what good does that do? There's no guarantee that the things I buy will be useful for the next tour. The only real goals are the challenges and the ranked cup. Too bad the challenges all require a long wait or a ridiculous grind at this point. And the ranked cup? Forget it, if you don't spend hundreds on the game, you're gonna get trampled by those who do.

But hey, at least we're getting multiplayer! (Eventually....)

Despite my gripes with Tour, I still voted for Super Mario Kart. I can't stand that game. I get that it was probably great considering the technical limitations of the time. I get that it was the game that started it all. I know I'm just biased towards modern Mario Kart. But I just can't get any enjoyment out of that game. At least Tour is kinda fun to play. But that's just my opinion.

 

[JBX9001]

Easy answer is Tour. But going by the main line Mario Kart titles... It's a tough choice for me... Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64 have their issues, sure, but they're very nostalgic to me. I can see why others would dislike them and can totally understand that, but I can't help but love those early entries to this racing series (I can't excuse the unbalanced nature of them though, so they're not the best either)! After all, those two and a few other Mario titles are what introduced me to video games as a whole!

I guess if I HAD to say which one was the least impressive, I'd have to say Mario Kart: Super Circuit. There's nothing inherently wrong with the game on every aspect I can think of... I guess... It's presentation just pales compared to later titles in the series...? Again though, that's just me. Except for Tour, I enjoy all the games in this series.

 

[Vivian]

I'm gonna have to go with 64, although the game does have some features I like (comic exclamations, bombkarts), the console itself I have a distaste for (choppy graphics, clunky controller), and there isn't really a MK game I don't like.. so I have to choose the console I like the least.

 

[Dr. Peach]

Mario Kart Tour seals the deal for me. It's the biggest money grab of a Mario Kart game. It's the bottom of the barrel, even below Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Wii. I've complained a shit ton about the game. I even made a review about the game.

 

[MnSG]

Mario Kart Tour comes to mind when microtransactions come to play.

 

[Fawfulthegreat64]

Tour may be riddled with bad practices in its gacha elements but the gameplay itself feels fine enough, more than I can say for what I played of Super Circuit.

 

[Noct]

Tour so far has been the only Mario Kart that I've actively disliked.

 

[Mount Wario]

I see no reason to say Super Circuit is worse than Super Mario Kart when its basically a a good version of that game. I'm still puzzled as to why it is considered the worst of the worst in these polls sometimes.

MK64 has a divine soundtrack. Character sounds are also a classic, possibly more so than in any other game.

@LeftyGreenMario, don't you feel tears of joy when hearing "WELCOME TO MARIO KART "?

 

[Alex95]

Tour wins, even if the poll says otherwise.

But ignoring that, Super Mario Kart of the others I played.

 

[Yoshi the SSM]

I voted Super Circuit. But that is of the ones I played and can really judge them. Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart Tour I haven't played yet so they can't really be judged fairly as Super Circuit. Mario Kart 64 is one that I have played. But since it was on an emulator with a bad control scheme or an emulator that plays slowly, I wouldn't compare it to the others. So I am not considering it either.

 

[winstein]

I am hesitant to make my choice, because while Mario Kart Tour is clearly going to be the logical choice for its departure of its economic systems from past games, its gameplay system isn't that bad since it's supposed to be a mobile game. The game that is in the forefront of mind on the "worst Mario Kart game" is also one of the few games that sold more than 15 million (Mario Kart 7) because its features doesn't go above and beyond (no VS mode is a big one) although my bias for the lack of playable Waluigi would account for this. Mario Kart Super Circuit a contender for its unforgiving GP mode in relation to its controls.

I suppose I will put it into Mario Kart Super Circuit, then.

Thank you for reading.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

@LeftyGreenMario, don't you feel tears of joy when hearing "WELCOME TO MARIO KART "?

Yeah, especially after that high-rest spinning logo with the giant VROOoOM and there's that epic-sounding music for a few seconds while everyone spams the start button and Fatso's voice trails into the main menu popping up.

I still prefer the one in Mubble Cash though since it's a lot more spammable (as you scroll through mono, stereo, and surround) and Fatso does pause for dramatic effect in that one. "Welcome.... TO MAH_DIO KART"

I really like the "select yor playah" too and the nice ambient music too, which has more of an pumped-up atmosphere compared to the other games. Fatso's voice adds a lot of character IMO, it's a real, real shame they don't have him announce anything any more.

 

[Moldomré]

OK so besides the obvious mess that Tour is, my vote goes to Super Mario Kart or Super Circuit, since they basically have the exact same horrifying gameplay. If I look past my nostalgia then Mario Kart 64 is probably down there with them as well (even though it gave me my favorite Mario Kart tracks, Rainbow Road and Yoshi Valley). And like LGM said, hearing Mario talk is great. But hearing him pester you if you don't select something (I think he keeps saying "...OK?!") is so cool.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

I struggle to understand how people think Tour controls fine but Mario Kart Super Circuit is bad. In Tour, you either use the default control system and lose on a bread-and-butter aspect of the game or you use drifting and you lose out on micro-steering and you end up hopping around and you slam into walls. Entire tracks are on a railroad so you have little control over where you go. Super Circuit does take time getting used to, but it's not that bad and still controls better than Tour, controls similar, but not same, to Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario Kart (though I argue better than 64 because geomtery interfering with hopping doesn't get in the way and iirc it feels more responsive and doesn't punish you as harshly if you mess up) and it actually shows visual feedback when you successfully do a drift boost. Items in Super Circuit are far more responsive than Mario Kart 64 for sure and they're more fair (getting hit by Boo isn't fun though). Some courses are really fun to drive in like Sky Garden, Snow Land, Rainbow Road (nitro), Cheese Land. From my own experience, it's more fun I had than with Mario Kart 64. Also, the AI in Super Circuit is very fair if not quite passive.

Anyway, that might be just me in the end but Super Circuit is still a superior game to me, at least to Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario Kart, in my eyes.