How Mario Kart became Nintendo’s biggest franchise

Video Description

Mario Kart got its start back on the NES as a small project by a team of only 8 Nintendo developers. Flash forward to 2025, and Mario Kart is almost certainly Nintendo's biggest and most important game franchise! With Mario Kart World filling the role of the Switch 2's big launch title, I think it's time to take a close look at how Mario Kart became such a massive hit! We'll explore the development history of every single Mario Kart game from the SNES to the Switch 2. This is the complete history of Mario Kart! PATREON - https://patreon.com/ThomasGameDocs BLUESKY - https://bsky.app/profile/thomasgamedocs.bsky.social SOURCES Super Mario Kart - https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2017/October/Nintendo-Classic-Mini-SNES-developer-interview-Volume-4-Super-Mario-Kart-1286739.html - https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mariokart/0/0/ - https://shmuplations.com/supermariokart/ - https://www.snesmaps.com/maps/SuperMarioKart/SuperMarioKartMapSelect.html (Mario Kart level maps) Mario Kart 64 - https://shmuplations.com/mariokart64/ - https://kotaku.com/the-maker-of-mario-kart-justifies-the-blue-shell-5780082 - https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mariokart/0/0/ - https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Kart_64#Differences_in_multiplayer_modes Super Circuit - https://web.archive.org/web/20001003153249/https://pocket.ign.com/news/23952.html (GBA is 2D system) - https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mariokart/0/0/ (Why Hideki Konno wasn’t involved) - https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/06/02/mario-kart-8-speeds-to-over-1-2-million-sales-in-opening-weekend.aspx (Sales data) Double Dash!! - https://web.archive.org/web/20070203224612/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=98090 - https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mariokart/0/0/ Mario Kart DS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE2K8evI5Gg - https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mariokart/0/1 - https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/05/20/e3-2005-mario-kart-ds-interview Mario Kart Wii - https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mariokart/0/2 Mario Kart 7 - https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/mario-kart-7/0/0 - https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/mario-kart-7/1/0 - https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/03/05/why-blue-shells-are-mandatory-in-mario-kart-7 Mario Kart 8 - https://web.archive.org/web/20130622013753/http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2013/06/17/e3-2013-mario-kart-8-interview - https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/05/interview_mario_kart_8_director_kosuke_yabuki_on_key_features_of_the_wii_us_blockbuster_release - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NARhOONsTLY - http://kyoto-report.wikidot.com/mario-kart-8-interview-1 - https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/07/08/miyamoto-admits-nintendo-underestimated-the-switch-to-hd/ - https://www.bandainamcostudios.com/en/products/mario-kart-8.html Misc games - https://nintendoeverything.com/mario-kart-8-deluxe-producer-on-bringing-the-racer-to-switch-new-additions-and-improvements/ - https://nintendoeverything.com/mario-kart-8-deluxe-producer-didnt-anticipate-sales-success-talks-popularity/ - https://nintendoeverything.com/mario-kart-8-deluxe-booster-course-pass-interview-kosuke-yabuki-future/ - https://www.bandainamcostudios.com/en/products/mariokart-tour.html CREDITS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T40XgwgcJww Mario Kart Double Dash footage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2WdHBmJ4tA Mario Kart Wii Online footage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjNTdQHkRJY Mario Kart Wii footage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElKNR3WuAdQ Mario Kart 7 footage - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/52776361319 Bandai Namco convention photo MUSIC Background music composed, arranged and performed by me. Songs can be heard on my Patreon feed. CHAPTERS 0:00 - Intro 0:58 - Part 1: Super Mario Kart 5:29 - Part 2: Mario Kart 64 10:55 - Part 3: Mario Kart: Super Circuit 13:27 - Part 4: Mario Kart: Double Dash!! 18:18 - Part 5: Mario Kart DS 21:20 - Part 6: Mario Kart Wii 25:56 - Part 7: Mario Kart 7 30:04 - Part 8: Mario Kart 8 33:52 - Part 8.5: Spinoffs 39:15 - Part 9: Mario Kart World