Board 8 > Kotaku ranks the Mario Karts

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://thebests.kotaku.com/lets-rank-the-mario-kart-games-worst-to-best-1842892038/slides/11

9. Tour
8. Super Circuit
7. Wii
6. Super Mario Kart
5. 64
4 .DS
3. 7
2. Double Dash
1. 8/8 Deluxe

Pretty close to my own list. I personally feel the series has only gotten better over time and I really didn't *love* the series until Wii.

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also the Arcade GP games are super fun but I understand why they're not ranked.

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I'd probably be lazy and rank Wii, 64 and DS evenly at 4th, but otherwise this is spot on for me.

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1. Wii
2. 8
3. DD

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gonna be the only one to ever say this i'm sure but i like absolutely none of the mechanical changes introduced in 8 and will never consider it anywhere near the best game in the series whatever the version. 7 was still very good though. and mkwii's wiimote controls are perfectly fine, in fact they're well above average for wii or wii u racing games and i still use the steering wheel once in a while

also sc > smk i'm totally not saying this because of nostalgia bias

this is...mostly correct

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UF8 posted...

gonna be the only one to ever say this i'm sure but i like absolutely none of the mechanical changes introduced in 8 and will never consider it anywhere near the best game in the series whatever the version.

I'm not a massive fan of the gliding or gravity stuff either tbh. Although it has online multiplayer and loads of tracks so it's still up there for me.

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This is...horribly incorrect.

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Just switch Double Dash and 7 (which are only one apart) and I think that is my ranking exactly. GJ Kotaku

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Wii needs to be higher while Double Dash needs to be lower.

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C'mon Kotaku, shitty motion controls weren't the defining feature of mario kart wii, the bikes were!

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Double Dash too low, but otherwise fine

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0.Crash Team Racing

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WazzupGenius00 posted...

0.Crash Team Racing

it definitely warrants a 0
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South Park Rally was also another great kart racer.

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Ill never understand the MKWii hate. I had such good times with it.

8 > 64 > DS > Wii > 7 > DD > Kart > SC


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Everyone hates MKSC, don't they?

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Yikes. I hate this list.

• Double-Dash should never be above 64. Never. 64's tracks were much more challenging and inspired. Other than DK Mountain, Baby Park, and Yoshi Circuit, DD was a massive disappointment from a track standpoint.
• SMK is archaic and should not be above Super Circuit (which contains all the SNES tracks anyway)
• DS destroys 7. It's not even a discussion.
• Wii should be higher. That game was fun as hell when it came out, and the online was actually decent (bonus points if you did online co-op).

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StifledSilence posted...

Ill never understand the MKWii hate. I had such good times with it.

8 > 64 > DS > Wii > 7 > DD > Kart > SC

Same. Maple Treeway remains one of my favorite tracks to this day.

bwburke94 posted...

Everyone hates MKSC, don't they?

Definitely a weaker entry, but I thought it was solid for a GBA racer.

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bwburke94 posted...

Everyone hates MKSC, don't they?

I dont hate it. Its pretty fun. Its just very clearly bottom 2 for the franchise.

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Well they got the bottom 2 correct. The rest looks close to how I'd have ranked them.

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Close to my list but I probably would swap MK Wii and MK7.

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Wii way too low
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i think wii's underrated, but they nailed the top two

double dash still holds up amazingly in 2020, which is a testament to the quality of both its tracks and unique gameplay elements. not to mention, the mini-turbo system that was adopted in this game (largely just a streamlined mk64 design) has been in every game since.

mk8 has its critics but imo the game is just packed with both content and polish from top to bottom, and it shows. the fact that it landed so strongly despite debuting on nintendo's least successful ever console speaks volumes to how much they nailed it.

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Yeah I personally do not like DD but I can see the appeal. But 7 and 8 are tops and MKDS deserves the love.

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64 is uniquely the best in one way.

And that is its quick menus and overall simplicity.

Only Smash 64 rivaled it as the perfect dorm game for my roommate and me. Do you know how long it would take to go from a turned-off 64 to the start of a Grand Prix race? Literally 20 seconds. And grand prixs themselves are about 12 minutes. What an awesome quick sit-down experience. Crack open a bud ice and enjoy a Grand Prix or two before getting back to an essay thats due tomorrow...

All the Kart games have their merits, but no game ever made is as perfect as Kart 64 was for that living arrangement. Good times.

Just switch Wii and 7 around and I think the list is pretty good. I'd put 64 as #1, as well.

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i still think 64 has the best battle mode

none of the other subsequent games match (or have tried to match!) its endurance, war-of-attrition, player-elimination style - instead focusing on quicker battles in smaller arenas.

which is fine, but not what i loved about mk64 battles in, say, block fort - there's still no other mk game that gives that kind of experience.

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slides

My favourites are SNES, 64 and Wii

Classic game that started it, 3d and 4 player multiplayer, online play 32 tracks

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Aside from the original being too low the list seems reasonable enough. I approve of Wii being relatively low in particular, it's the only one I feel is clearly a step back besides 64, and in 64's case it at least has an excuse of re-imagining the series as a more casual racer.

Kirby6417 posted...

64 is uniquely the best in one way.

And that is its quick menus and overall simplicity.

Only Smash 64 rivaled it as the perfect dorm game for my roommate and me. Do you know how long it would take to go from a turned-off 64 to the start of a Grand Prix race? Literally 20 seconds. And grand prixs themselves are about 12 minutes. What an awesome quick sit-down experience. Crack open a bud ice and enjoy a Grand Prix or two before getting back to an essay thats due tomorrow...

I mean this describes pretty much every game in the series! The biggest difference sounds to me like the time of your life when you played each one. The load times on 8 are a bit worse but not much, Nintendo wisely keeps them down in this series.

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This is... pretty much my ranking. Nice job by Kotaku.

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NeoElfboy posted...

Aside from the original being too low the list seems reasonable enough. I approve of Wii being relatively low in particular, it's the only one I feel is clearly a step back besides 64, and in 64's case it at least has an excuse of re-imagining the series as a more casual racer.

64 is a step back from SMC? Are you Jeff Gerstmann? Why does anyone think this?

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Yeah this is actually probably mine verbatim. Never played Tour though.

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I liked Double Dash because each character had a unique special item. I understand why they'd remove something like that so people can play their favorites instead of picking the best character but I wish they'd bring that back.

They went and added something similar to the new Mario Party game with the character specific dice and I think that was like 100 times a worse.

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8 > 64 > DD > Wii > 7 > DS > SC > SMK

Approximately. I used to have DD in first but dropped it after playing it again a couple years ago. It was nostalgia talking but it's still high tier.

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hot takes incoming

8 > 7 > DD > Wii > SC > SMK > DS >64

MK64 is a huge sentimental favorite for me, but it really doesn't hold up

I really liked super circuit back in the day, alot of fun playing my friends with the link cable

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i could never get into super circuit, and i bought it on release. for some reason it felt dated and slow, even for the time, and despite (as the article states) its lovely sprite-based pixel art worlds.

and i loved f-zero maximum velocity, which also was stuck in flat snes-style mode 7 purgatory! i'm not sure it's an entirely fair take, but SC never resonated with me strongly in any way

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I'm glad 64 is as low as it is. A peak nostalgia game if I've ever seen one. I didn't grow up with it and playing for the first time a couple of years ago...yikes. The maps are empty, there's nothing interesting in them and in the single-player the rubber banding is so insane you might as well spend half of the races in 8th so you can at least get the fun items.

Double Dash, now that's a great one and one I'm happy to see represented well.

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shane15 posted...

I'm not a massive fan of the gliding or gravity stuff either tbh. Although it has online multiplayer and loads of tracks so it's still up there for me.

7 was the one that introduced gliding (along with the return to coins) and again i didn't mind those ones but yeah gravity and more so the spin boosts are pretty not my thing and idunno i just don't like its tracks that much

DD > Wii > 8 > other

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Double Dash should never be up high.

The low point of the franchise.

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