Play Mario Kart R1 Online

Mario Kart launched on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992, developed and published by Nintendo. It arrived during a time when the SNES was establishing itself with games that pushed beyond what the NES could do, offering a new kind of competitive experience right in your living room.

You control one of eight characters from the Mario universe, racing against the others on twisting tracks. The main goal is simple: finish first. The signature mechanics are using items you pick up from question blocks, like green shells to fire ahead or bananas to drop behind, and mastering the drift to slide around corners for a short speed boost. The pacing is frantic, especially when a red shell is locked on your tail, and the difficulty can spike sharply on later cups. It feels like controlled chaos, where a single well-placed item can completely flip the race.