The modern Mario Kart series is widely considered to trace its spiritual origins to the Famicom Grand Prix games, which were released for the Japan-only Family Computer Disk System add-on these were the first Nintendo racing games to feature Mario as a player-character.įollowing the Japanese launch of F-Zero, a Super Nintendo Entertainment System game which was exclusively single-player, Nintendo developers decided to create a two-player racing game for that console as a follow-up.

The classic logo used until Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 The games in the series have sold a combined total of over 150 million copies worldwide. It has also been referenced in the Paper Mario role-playing series and inspired several stages in the Super Smash Bros. The success of Mario Kart has spawned many cartoon-style racing games published by various gaming companies from the 16-bit generation onwards. There have been a total of 15 titles in the series: 5 original home console games, a home console port, 3 portable games, a mobile game, 4 arcade games co-developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment, and an RC-based game.

It was inaugurated in 1992 with its debut entry, Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which was critically and commercially successful. Mario Kart is a series of kart racing games developed and published by Nintendo as a spin-off of its flagship Mario franchise. “Holy smokin' tires! Kart mania is spreading and has invaded the world of Super Mario.” - Nintendo Power Volume 41, October 1992 The current logo used since Mario Kart DSġ5 (9 console, 4 arcade, 1 mobile, 1 RC)

Mario kart switch download