Mario Kart is a series of go-kart-style racing video games developed by Nintendo as a series of spin-offs from its trademark Mario series of platformer adventure-style video games. To date, there have been four Mario Kart games for home consoles, two portable games, and two arcade games. The eighth and latest installment, Mario Kart Wii, was released in Japan on April 10, 2008, in Europe on 11 April 2008, in Australia on 24 April 2008 and in North America on April 27, 2008.

Gameplay

In Time Trial or Time Attack the goal is to achieve the fastest time in the selected track. Players are usually given up to three mushrooms (speed boosts) which they can use any time during the race against time. Once a record is set, the game saves a "ghost," a replay of the set record, to compete against. In Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart DS, and Mario Kart Wii, the developers put in their own "Staff Ghosts" for the player to race against. They must be unlocked by achieving a certain time which differs on each track. In Mario Kart Super Circuit and Mario Kart DS, it is also possible to download a ghost from friends. In Mario Kart DS, two ghosts (the player's own and a friend's) can be saved. In Mario Kart Wii, ghosts can be downloaded from across the world via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. There are two sets of staff Ghosts in-game--one available at the start and a faster ghost that is unlocked after the player achieves a certain time in the Time Trial or Time Attack.

In Grand Prix, the characters compete against each other in a themed cup. There are usually four cups: Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, Star Cup and Special Cup.

• Super Mario Kart features the Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, and Star Cup in the three engine classes (50cc, 100cc, 150cc) and Special Cup in the 100cc and 150cc. 150cc mode must be unlocked by beating the 100cc cups first, while the player must clear each of the other cups to unlock the Special Cup. Each cup in this game holds five tracks for a total of 20 tracks in the game.
• Mario Kart 64 has the Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special cups available in all three (50cc, 100cc, and 150cc) classes. This game adds a Mirror Mode to the series (called "EXTRA" in this game), which is unlockable by beating the 150cc cups. It also features four tracks to a cup, which has been repeated in each game since.
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit adds in a fifth cup (the Lightning Cup), which is between the Flower and Star cups. The player must beat the four cups (Mushroom, Flower, Lightning and Star) to unlock the Special Cup in that particular class. It also includes an "extra" version of each cup that features all the tracks from Super Mario Kart. There is no Mirror Mode in this game.
• Mario Kart: Double Dash!! starts with Mushroom, Flower and Star cups, with the Special Cup unlockable. This game features an "All-Cup Tour" that has all 16 tracks, which always starts with Luigi Circuit and ends with Rainbow Road, and the 14 other tracks are mixed up in a random order. Like its console predecessor, it also features the unlockable Mirror Mode. It is also the first game in the series to feature unlockable characters and the first to allow multiple kart selection.
• Mario Kart Arcade GP has its cups that start with the names of the characters (Mario Cup, Luigi Cup, Wario Cup, Pac-Man Cup, Bowser Cup, Ms.Pac-Man Cup). It does not have engine classes (cc), but its time trial is called time attack. Many of its items and tracks are not found in the console games. Ex. of items baisin, thumb tacks, oil, tornado.
• Mario Kart DS has two Grand Prix modes: The Nitro Cups (all-new tracks) and the Retro Cups (all classic remade tracks). Nitro Grand Prix features the four standard cups, Mushroom, Flower, Star and Special, while Retro Grand Prix features the return of the Lightning Cup from Super Circuit, this time as the Retro equalvent of the Special Cup. Also featured in the Retro Grand Prix are the Shell, Banana and Leaf Cups acting as the counterparts of the first three Nitro cups. The Retro mode features four tracks each from all four previous Mario Kart games. This game features 50cc, 100cc, 150cc and an unlockable 150cc Mirror Mode. Players can also play mission mode, as for the first time in the series' history can race online using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
• Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 has, like in Mario Kart Arcade GP, its cups that start with the names of the characters, its time trial is called time attack. Features include: an extra challenge at the end of each cup, increased difficulty, Mario coins, and more characters.
• Mario Kart Wii also has cups with all-new tracks and cups with all classic remade tracks. Like Mario Kart DS there are four cups featuring new tracks (Mushroom, Flower, Star and Special), while four other cups (Shell, Banana, Leaf and Lightning) offer four tracks each from the previous five games, with the exception of Super and Super Circuit, which have two each. This game features 50cc, 100cc and 150cc modes and an unlockable Mirror Mode, as well as 13 unlockable characters and online racing using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The game also comes with the Wii Wheel peripheral, which attaches itself to the Wii Remote.