In my baby kick start for games I mentioned Mario Kart. I’m not real big into the whole Grand Theft Auto and other racing games, but Mario Kart was always a fun and addictive favorite.

The original incarnation of Mario Kart came out on the Super Nintendo and gave you three circuits (I think… writing from memory here) to race within allowing you to win the Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup and Star Cup. Once you placed Gold in those three circuits you were given entry to the Special Cup with the infamous Rainbow Road (I hate that track!!). Defeat that and you win the game.

What I enjoyed most about Mario Kart was the character selection and the things you could do to your opponents. In the original version you were allowed to select from Mario and Luigi, Toad and the Princess, Yoshi, Bowser and Donkey Kong Jr. I’m probably forgetting someone here, but I’m not sure who.

As for what you get to do to your opponents, that was just fun. You could throw banana peels at them, knock them around with aimed and/or heat seeking shells, shrink them, even blow past them using one of the Invincibility Stars, and that’s not even all of it.

The glory of the game is that it went with Nintendo as they upgraded consoles. It’s made appearances on the Nintendo 64 and many of the Gameboys. Most of those I whimpered and moved on, consoles I never got my hands on and a favorite game going on without me.

The DS however… (that would be Nintendo Dual Screen)… made a bundle pack when Mario Kart DS came out and well… I admit I almost knocked over an employee at a Game Stop when I finally found one.

The DS version of Mario Kart is simply awesome. And I’m talking the original meaning of Awesome. It doubles the amount of circuits you have, giving you original tracks for four circuits and classic tracks from the other incarnations of the game in the other four. You get the collection of drivers from the original, plus ones like Wario, Waluigi, and one of the bony turtles you find in the dungeons, but these extra characters have to be unlocked from defeating the circuits with every speed class.

I, however, played my thumbs off when I found out you could unlock someone not from the Mario universe. You have to go through every track on every speed class and finally, after you’re almost sick and tired of the game no matter how much you enjoy it. You get R.O.B.

Now, I’m hoping I’m not the only one in this world who remembers R.O.B. He was the little robot that came with the absolute original Nintendo but wasn’t popular enough to be continued. He had two awesome games called Gyromite and Stack-up. And within the confines of the Mario Kart DS game you can unlock him, along with the old Stack-up configurations as one of his karts.

The game is just mindless fun and you’ll callous a thumb or two enjoying it. But, for the light of heart and for children especially, Nintendo excels with the reproduction Mario Kart in its finest display.

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