Every Mario Kart game ranked in order of greatness

Stuff.tv

17-05-2025

Nintendo has experimented with plenty of Mario-related spinoffs over the years, most of them extremely successful. Hand him a football, a tennis racket or even a stethoscope, and the world's most multi-talented plumber will be in his element. But he's never happier than when he's in a go-kart.
The Mario Kart series has been going since 1992, and what might have looked like a shameless cash-grab at first has evolved over time to become one of Nintendo's most popular series. Nearly every Nintendo console to date has a Mario Kart entry in its library, and while advances in technology have enabled them to grow enormously in size and scale, the basic appeal of the series has never changed. It's simply very fun to race around colourful courses in a go-kart as your favourite Nintendo character, drifting and banana peel-dropping your way to the finish line.
With the Switch 2 arriving in just a few weeks time, and with it the first brand new Mario Kart game in over a decade in Mario Kart World, now is the perfect time to reflect on the series as a whole. Here's every Mario Kart game ranked in order of greatness.
10. Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (Switch)
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It's probably a bit unfair to even include Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit in this ranking. After all, how is your messy living room supposed to compete with the likes of Mount Wario and Hyrule Circuit? Home Circuit is less a proper Mario Kart game than it is another fine example of Nintendo showing off during its experimental phase of the Switch's lifespan. Only when your console is flying off shelves can you afford to invest time in making an AR/toy-driven spinoff of one of your most beloved series.
The tech genuinely works, and at the time we called Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit the perfect Christmas present for Mario-loving kids. But as clever as Nintendo's typically innovative take on Scalextric was, it didn't really have the legs to leave its mark on the series.
9. Mario Kart Tour (Mobile)
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Given Nintendo's brief flirtation with mobile gaming, a (legal) Mario Kart game on your phone was probably inevitable. Mario Kart Tour is by no means a bad mobile offering, but it pales in comparison to its console and handheld counterparts. The touchscreen nature of gaming on your phone just isn't as precise or enjoyable as playing with a proper controller, and like many other mobile games, Mario Kart Tour is riddled with microtransactions that sour the overall experience, even if they aren't necessary to just play the game.
There are some decent tracks in here, but you're best playing them in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass.
8. Mario Kart: Super Circuit (Game Boy Advance)
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The SNES experience, but handheld. That was essentially the pitch for Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and like the home console version before it, the appeal of the Game Boy Advance game lies in its simplicity. The colourful courses and vibrant sprite designs leapt of the little GBA display (provided you could find an appropriate source of lighting that is), and while there's a twitchiness to the controls that was ironed out in later entries, there's a chaotic energy to Mario Kart: Super Circuit that ensure it remains fun(ish) to play today.
Not the most memorable Mario Kart by any means, but it'll always be the first one that allowed you to take the game anywhere, and that counts for something alright.
7. Super Mario Kart (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
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What's amazing about the very first Mario Kart game is the extent to which its spirit lives on in every subsequent entry (and pretty much every other kart-racing game to date, given that this one invented the genre). Fire it up today and the simplistic track design, flat visuals and overly sensitive handling admittedly make it a bit of a tough hang, but this is Mario Kart in its purest form.
The basic premise of having all your favourite Mushroom Kingdom residents race each other across multiple courses in a GP was there from the start, the iconic Rainbow Road made its debut in the SNES game, and the power-slide mechanic felt pretty good from the off. The item system was introduced in the first entry too, although Super Mario Kart is notably the only game in the series that doesn't feature the Blue Shell, which for some would argue automatically makes it the best one.
6. Mario Kart 64 (Nintendo 64)
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If you're a child of the '90s there's a pretty good chance that Mario Kart 64 is not only your favourite Mario Kart, but your favourite racing game full stop, such was the impact of the first 3D entry. At the time, the jump up from the pretty barebones SNES offering was mind-blowing, with Mario Kart 64 building on everything that made its predecessor so much fun.
Like a lot of early 3D games, it looks a bit bland in 2025, and was arguably one-upped by Diddy Kart Racing, which arrived a year later and was able to achieve almost fully-3D models, as opposed to the converted sprites in MK64. But there's a reason that courses like Toad's Turnpike and Kalimari Desert, both of which made their first appearance in the N64 game, return in a number of later entries – and as a multiplayer experience it's still very hard to beat.
5. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
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The DS laid the groundwork for online Mario Kart, and Mario Kart Wii built on it, upping the player count from eight to 12 and offering a far more robust way to race against people from all over the world. Mario Kart Wii also added bikes for the first time, while the console's motion controls meant you could put your Wii Remote into the included wheel-shaped dock accessory and actually simulate driving.
Some purists balked at this way of playing, but it was novel at the time and makes it a fun game to revisit, even if the game is famously unbalanced and a little too easy to exploit if you know what you're doing. As for the tracks, well, Coconut Mall was so good that it has returned in every entry since.
4. Mario Kart 7 (3DS)
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On paper, Mario Kart 7 is a step down from its DS predecessor in terms of content. For some reason, Nintendo dropped the excellent Mission Mode and even the basic single-player VS. mode that lets you race computer-controller racers with custom rules outside of the usual GP format. But if we're talking gameplay, the 3DS entry is arguably second only to Mario Kart 8. This was the game that introduced gliders, kart customisation and underwater sections, all of which were carried over to the home console follow-up.
The improved hardware of the 3DS also meant Mario Kart 7 was a big visual step up from the DS game, and while other games on the system show off its stereoscopic 3D magic trick more dramatically, its subtle implementation here really does add something to the experience. Mario Kart 7 is also the only game in the series to feature a first-person mode, if that's your kind of thing.
3. Mario Kart DS (DS)
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Even in the age of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the DS entry still has a lot going for it. Firstly, the titular feature of Nintendo's outrageously successful dual-screen handheld meant you could have a real-time map of your race on the lower display, complete with moving character icons that let you know how precarious your lead was. Then there was Mission Mode, which took the focus away from traditional racing and instead tasked the player with completing objectives, such as collecting a certain amount of coins or going through numbered gates.
It meant solo players had more to do than in other Mario Kart games, and when you factored in online play (a series first), Mario Kart DS was quite the package. Even if you weren't going to do very well in the latter unless you mastered the controversial snaking technique. We don't miss that.
2. Mario Kart: Double Dash (GameCube)
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With several home console outings, plus a handheld Mario Kart under its belt, Nintendo seemingly decided it needed a gimmick for the GameCube entry. Enter Mario Kart: Double Dash, which introduced two-character karts for the first (and to date, only) time. As well as looking hilarious, this also added a fresh layer of strategy to races, especially in the two-player co-op mode, in which one player would assume driving duties while the other focused on lobbing shells at rival racers.
While perhaps not as flashy as flight or anti-grav, both of which would arrive later, Double Dash remains the only truly co-op Mario Kart game, and in DK Mountain it had an all-timer track. We sincerely hope this one shows up on Nintendo Switch Online on Switch 2.
1. Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Wii U / Switch)
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Where to even start. When you're ranking a series, there's often a fair bit of indecision and fretting that goes on before selecting the overall top dog. These are tough decisions we have to make. But not when it comes to Mario Kart. The original Mario Kart 8 rewarded the few people who bought a Wii U with the best-looking game in the series by far, perfect controls, and an incredible selection of tracks, many of which featured anti-gravity sections that meant they could loop and twist all over the place.
Then came the Switch version, which initially just gave us an improved Battle Mode and added some extra characters, but eventually quite literally doubled the number of tracks with the Booster Course Pass DLC. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in its final form is a love letter to the entire series, probably the most purely fun racing game ever made, and somehow the Switch 2's upcoming Mario Kart World has to try and top it. Over to you, Nintendo.