News Articles
Tuesday25th Nov 2014
News Sami Cetin Breaks The NTSC Super Mario Kart World Record On Mario Circuit 1
He's a Time Trial master
Super Mario Kart SNES has just had another barrier broken on the Time Trial Mode. You may recall us reporting that UK-based Mario Kart expert Sami Cetin was the first person to break the sub-58 second barrier on the PAL Version of Mario Circuit 1 on Christmas Day, 2013. After this amazing Christmas present it was almost...
Thursday21st Aug 2014
Video This Drake-Inspired Mario Kart Rap is For Champion Racers
"Got all these races looking like they're just time trials"
There are only a few Nintendo franchises that can bring on very real trash talk; no, that Nintendo E3 press conference attempt for Wii Sports Resort back in the day does not count. One of these franchises that'll have friends and family boasting red shell success is Mario Kart, to this day...
Saturday9th Aug 2014
News Super Mario Kart SNES World Championships Race Onto The Grid on 12th August
Watch the event live on Twitch
The Mario Kart franchise continues to thrive since the release of Mario Kart 8, but now it is time again for its eldest brother, Super Mario Kart, to hold the annual World Championships this week between 12th – 17th August at La Suze-sur-Sarthe in France. The original game actually has this huge event held every year...
Thursday7th Aug 2014
Nintendo Download 7th August (North America)
Super Mario Kart, Mega Man, Murasame, Cybernator and more
It's that time again, North American gamers, to see what treats are in store in this week's Nintendo Download update. There are plenty of enticing retro options, with three quality entries on Wii U and a North American début on 3DS; elsewhere there are two new download titles on the home...
Wednesday6th Aug 2014
News Super Mario Kart Speeds Onto the North American Wii U eShop
At last!
Earlier today Nintendo confirmed release details for a Mario Kart 8 update and the free Mercedes DLC, with the content arriving on 27th August. That was European confirmation, but now Nintendo of America has confirmed the same date and changes to the game, along with an extra treat. A day before the standard Download Update, Super Mario...
Monday7th Jul 2014
News Four Students Set New Mario Kart Marathon World Record
"As a matter of fact this was an incredibly difficult thing to achieve"
Many of us have had some excessively long gaming sessions, after which we may look back and think "what was I doing?!". They can be fun, though, and there are often teams of people that use gaming marathons to raise money for charity, among other things, taking what is an...
Friday30th May 2014
News If You Like Rainbow Road Music, This Album Is For You
Shiryu brings us Rainbow Road Adventures
As you may have guessed from all the Mario Kart 8 articles, today is the Wii U title's launch day. A happy occasion for many Wii U owners, certainly, and one being celebrated in various ways. One such celebration that we think you'll enjoy is this album, Rainbow Road Adventures from musician and Nintendo...
Friday2nd May 2014
Video Nintendo Minute Kicks Off its Mario Kart May With Some SNES Racing
Back to the beginning
May is a big month for fans of the Wii U and the iconic Mario Kart series, and you can be sure that Mario Kart 8 and its predecessors will get plenty of coverage. Nintendo will be shouting from the rooftops, naturally, and its own weekly Nintendo Minute show will be getting into the act. Somewhat appropriately, the Nintendo of...
Wednesday16th Apr 2014
Video Here's a Comparison of Mario Kart's Donut Plains 3 from SNES to Wii U
Generations apart
Comparison videos of retro tracks in Mario Kart 8 are certainly doing the rounds at the moment, and popular YouTube channel GameXplain has created a nifty split-screen video comparing the classic Super Mario Kart track Donut Plains 3 to its reimagining in the upcoming Wii U title. Check it out below: [ Nintendo EAD and its...
Tuesday8th Apr 2014
News Nintendo Releases An Awesome Mario Kart Infographic
Sorry arcade titles, you're out
With the release of Mario Kart 8 on Wii U preoccupying many minds ahead of 30th May, Nintendo is taking every opportunity to raise awareness and hype. Is there a better way to do this than with a fancy infographic? No, no there isn't. The infographic below shows the eight main series entries to date, spurning the...
Monday24th Mar 2014
Nintendo Download 27th March (Europe)
Mario's karting début, a puzzling court crossover, a skating cat and more
Monday morning can be a time for despair and gnashing of teeth, but not for Nintendo Download gamers. As usual Nintendo has issued its update for the treats on the way to Europe later this week — this includes a classic Super NES kart racer, a skating cat, a delightful...
Wednesday19th Mar 2014
News Super Mario Kart Record Holder Sami Cetin Gives Some Tips and Hits the Track in Mario Kart 8
Niece and world champion Leyla Hasso takes him on
For the vast majority of Wii U owners, we suspect the 30th May release of Mario Kart 8 is a major event on their gaming calendars. It's a franchise that has consistently delivered success for Nintendo, with the most recent iterations uniting experienced gamers and enthusiastic newcomers in some...
Tuesday18th Mar 2014
News Super Mario Kart Action Replay Code Discovered Which Grants Access To CPU Weapons
Payback time
Super Mario Kart veterans will be aware that the CPU-controlled racers in the SNES classic don't always play fair — they've got access to exclusive weapons which aren't available to the player. We've lost count of the number of times we've seen Bowser reach for that deadly fireball and wish that we could get some of those amazing...
Friday14th Mar 2014
News Super Mario Kart Drifts Onto Aussie Wii U Virtual Console on 28th March
Mario Kart 8 discount promotion included
Following the original Nintendo of Europe announcement, Nintendo Australia has now confirmed that Super Mario Kart will also be released on the Aussie Wii U Virtual Console on 28th March. To celebrate the upcoming release of Mario Kart 8 and the VC version of the classic Super Nintendo game that started it...
Thursday6th Mar 2014
News SNES Classic Super Mario Kart Is Racing To The Wii U Virtual Console This Month
Download and get a discount on the cost of Mario Kart 8
Nintendo UK has announced that Super Mario Kart will be hitting the European Wii U Virtual Console later this month — March 27th, to be precise. What's more, as part of a special promotion in the run up to the release of Mario Kart 8, if you download Super Mario Kart you will receive a...
Friday27th Dec 2013
News UK Champion Sami Cetin Breaks World Record Barrier On First Ever Mario Kart Track
21 years after release, the record is pushed even further
On Christmas Day 2013 — 21 years after UK gamers received Super Mario Kart for the SNES — a great Time Trial World Record barrier was broken. The person who achieved this feat is none other than current UK Champion Sami Cetin, who is currently ranked 2nd overall Worldwide on the PAL...
Thursday5th Dec 2013
Weirdness Scrub Up With These Nintendo Cartridges
Promotes gamer hygiene
Like professional athletes, Nintendo gamers are commonly known for generating foul odours during long and enduring marathons. It’s part of the whole experience. Whether it involved gaming with friends back in the day with a copy of GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64, or more recently playing through the latest Zelda adventure...
Monday7th Oct 2013
News Club Nintendo Rewards are Updated for October
Karting! Zelda! Other Things!
Sometimes Club Nintendo sure takes its sweet time, waiting a whole day after the expiry of the last month's game rewards before dishing out a new set. The lovely people behind good old CN in North America may be cheeky scamps, but they have now updated the offerings over which you can mull. This time around we have two...
Friday27th Sep 2013
News Awesome Mario Kart Trophies Added to Club Nintendo Europe
Four available for 5000 stars each
We suspect, based on our community game nights and events — they will return! — that Mario Kart 7 is pretty high on a number of favourite game lists. The franchise is also the classic multiplayer experience on Nintendo systems, successfully bringing out the most competitive instincts in players. Naturally, if...
Tuesday6th Aug 2013
News BBC Warns Of Online Gaming Addiction, Uses Image Of Someone Playing Offline Mario Kart
Nothing like a bit of fact-checking, right?
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games — or MMORPGs — are pretty addictive. The allure of a constantly connected world populated by other players and challenges is often too much for some people to resist, leading to gaming sessions which last for days rather than just a few hours. According...
Wednesday13th Mar 2013
News Sami Cetin Regains PAL Super Mario Kart Time Trial World Title
Niece Leyla Hasso bags the women's world title, too
UK Super Mario Kart champ Sami Cetin has regained the PAL version Time Trial World Title for the second time. Sami previously held the title from September 1998 until April 2004, and beat one of the World Records set by former title holder Karel van Duijvenboden of the Netherlands on Sunday, March...
Saturday20th Oct 2012
News Meet Leyla Hasso, The Fastest Female SNES Super Mario Kart Player
She also bagged the PAL Women's World title at just 13 years old
The original Super Mario Kart may be two decades old now, but it's still actively played on the competitive circuit, with yearly tournaments to establish who is the fastest SNES fan on four wheels. One of the world's most famous Mario Kart players is Sami Cetin, who is referred to by...
Saturday15th Sep 2012
News Want To Guess Which Nintendo Racer Inspired WipEout?
If you said F-Zero, you're wrong
Given that Sony's famous futuristic racer WipEout features craft which float just above the track surface, it's reasonable to assume that Nintendo's F-Zero - which predates WipEout by almost five years and also contains anti-gravity racing - would have provided the main inspiration. However, lead designer Nick...
Friday17th Feb 2012
News Sami Cetin Sets New Super Mario Kart World Record
Yes, another one
Super Mario Kart player extraordinaire Sami Cetin has just set another world record on the classic 1992 16-bit racer. At GEEK 2012 and using the PAL version, Cetin completed a time trial on Rainbow Road in just 1:26.64, only milliseconds quicker than the previous best of 1:26.68, set by Guillaume Leviach less than five days ago...
Monday29th Nov 2010
News Miniature Mario Kart Course Will Bring a Smile to Your Face
The course we've all dreamt of
If you're separated from your beloved Super NES and Super Mario Kart, there may be another way for you to get your fix of its speedy charms by following the example of anime association Motsukora. The Spanish group built a real-life Mario Kart circuit for its remote controlled cars to boost around, displaying it at a...
Wednesday5th May 2010
News Kick Back and Relax with Some Super Mario Kart Jazz
The OneUps take guitars, organs, flute to classic soundtrack
Since Super Mario Kart launched on the European Virtual Console just a few weeks ago we've had those catchy ditties stuck in our heads all over again. Imagine our joy, then, when we stumbled upon a fully re-recorded and rather lovely-sounding soundtrack from The OneUps. Taking ten classic...
Thursday1st Apr 2010
Nintendo Download 2nd April 2010 (Europe)
The original Mario Kart! Oh, and some other stuff.
It took quite a while, but one of the most wanted Virtual Console games has finally been released in Europe, after hitting both North America and Japan last year. This week's WiiWare and DSiWare releases consist almost exclusively of games already released in North America as well, with just one...
Monday29th Mar 2010
News Super Mario Kart Races to Europe on Friday
Virtual Console owners, start your Points cards!
It's been a long wait for European gamers to race around those classic 16-bit courses in the original Super Mario Kart: out in North America since November last year, and Japan since June, there's been barely a sniff of it outside those territories. The wait is nearly over though, as Nintendo has...
Monday23rd Nov 2009
Another mega update for North America.
Multiple games were already announced for release this week, but they don't even make up half of the total releases. Each service gets more than one new game, and almost all of them are (or seem to be) good. The Virtual Console steals the show this time though - Super Mario Kart on the SNES is the long-awaited...
Sunday22nd Nov 2009
News Nintendo Blocking Third Party Releases On Virtual Console?
If your title is in direct competition with a Nintendo one, you may be screwed
If you like to moan about the apparent lack of quality titles coming to the Virtual Console then you may wish to direct your anger at Nintendo itself rather than third party publishers, if this recent piece of news is anything to go by. A poster on NTSC-UK forum has...
