Retro Arena: 5 Karting Games

[Leon Retro]

Super Mario Kart - 1992

Street Racer - 1994

Mario Kart 64 - 1996

Diddy Kong Racing - 1997

Crash Team Racing - 1999

All of them were popular Karting games back in the '90s. Which one is your favourite?

[J0e Musashi]

I got very frustrated with Diddy Kong Racing back in the day.

However the undisputed king of karting games is Rockman Battle & Chase. It isn't actually, but nobody ever mentions it.

[Asura]

Mario Kart 64 - 1996

This is my favourite of the list, despite being quite a controversial title.

I never owned a SNES, and only got to play Mario Kart on other people's machines. The N64 was the first Nintendo home console I bought (and the first console I ever bought with my own money), and this was in the first three games I got for it, right after Shadows of the Empire and Mario 64. I got it very soon after the machine came out, and I owned it right up until I sold the machine years later to buy a PS1.

I must've rinsed it countless times, but even so, I can still play it and enjoy it today. Yeah, it shifted the focus more onto combat than racing and some people disliked it, but for me it remains the de facto Mario Kart game, and the one that I compare to all other similar titles.

[Neon Ignition]

1-Mario Kart 64
2-Diddy Kong Racing
3-Super Mario Kart
4-Crash Team Racing
5-Street Racer

Though I expect many to choose SMK, a classic though it aged a long time ago so I have fonder memories of the other two Ninty ones despite their individual flaws

[wakka]

Of these, I probably enjoyed MK64 the most. But I'd like to give a little love to the PS1 port of Street Racer, which came bundled with my console and which I played loads of. It was actually really fun.

[Team Andromeda]

None, Power Drift one of the 1st and still the best!!!

[dataDave]

Yeah, Power Drift. TA beat me to it by 5 mins.

[dataDave]

I'm actually playing it right now on my way into Amsterdam. The 3D is crazily deep - I can only play with the slider up 1/3 of the way.

[Colin]

Ok, I’ll be the textbook reply. Original SMK. I played the new one on Switch a lot and in the end I don’t really get the love for these new ones and their fancy new clothes. (I’ll spare you the blue shell rant) The first one is more fun than all of them, basic looking though it may be, and more fun than anything else mentioned.

Only my opinion of course, others are available and may vary.

[DeathAdder]

I loved Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong, but couldn't get into Super Mario Kart.

I've never played Street Racer - might pick up a copy or two.

[_SD_]

Never did like DK Racing... something about it that just didn’t click with me. Every time a new Mario Kart comes out I spend two weeks swearing at it until I’ve cained it, then I never touch it again. With exception of 64 as I had mates to play against regularly back when I was a young ‘un. I prefer Double Dash as they actually tried something a little different with the dual drivers.

[dataDave]

I'm the polar opposite when it comes to Mario Kart. I hated the randomness and rubber banding of the earlier games, and never really understood the love for the series, but MK8 allows more of a workaround for item management, track dynamics and fighting your way ahead.

There's a reason the game is played competitively, and why high-ranking players in each lobby always come out on top. Three or four blue shells per race don't make a difference (although well coordinated lightning bolts and boos/ghosts can).

[Asura]

...MK8 allows more of a workaround for item management, track dynamics and fighting your way ahead.

To be fair, I know this often causes an argument but MK8 did fix one thing that I considered a mistake about some of the prior games. I seem to remember that in Mario Kart DS, Wii and 7, there were many situations in which you could lose your power-up. Like if you were hit by certain weapons or if you fell off the track (usually because you were hit by a powerful weapon like a blue shell).

This was really a step down from earlier games in my eyes, because it was similar to what Nintendo were doing to Mario Party, actively trying to remove skill from the game. Once you had power-ups, you had to use them quickly to avoid them getting taken away, which removed a layer of strategy and made it more about the luck of what you gained each time you collected a power-up.

I'm not one of these people who hates the fact that MK8 has loads of features which help beginners, such as the auto-accelerate and guided steering, because I love the idea that it can be a game for all the family, but those games work because they are fun at all skill levels, and Wii-era Nintendo had a tendency to pander to the lowest common denominator at the expense of higher level play, instead of doing the extra legwork to make it fun for everyone.

[charlesr]

I loved Diddy Kong Racing. We set up a projector for a 120" screen and played 4 player spilt screen. Some great tracks. The single player was weird but got pretty exciting later on. The AI wasn't too crazy.

[Zaki]

I loved Diddy Kong Racing. We set up a projector for a 120" screen and played 4 player spilt screen. Some great tracks. The single player was weird but got pretty exciting later on. The AI wasn't too crazy.

Let's not forget the amazing soundtrack too DKR is a very happy game. The single player adventure mode was very unique.