History VideoGame / SuperMarioKart

** The "Super" in the game's title wasn't meant to indicate that it was a Super Nintendo game, contrary to ''Mario Kart'' being a series with several SuperTitle64Advance titles, but a ''Franchise/SuperMario'' one. ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' was going to have a "Super" in its title as well, but it instead was the actual start of the aforementioned Super Title 64 Advance names.

** This is the only game in the series to have Donkey Kong Jr. as a playable character rather than Donkey Kong himself, though this is due to this game predating the release of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'' by a couple of years. Wario is also absent, though this game came out a few months before ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins'', so it's kinda justified.

* PalmtreePanic: Koopa Beach tracks actually lack palmtrees, but happen on a beach, imply to race on water, and deeper water sections are the equivalent of bottomless pits.

* SkillGateCharacter: While Koopa and Toad are perfect for beginners because of their good acceleration and traction, they CantCatchUp at higher levels because of their poor top speed and light weight.

** The game uses lives, and it's possible to not even finish a grand prix due to running out of lives for not placing in the top 4. The following two installments would keep this feature before dropping it altogether in ''Double Dash!!''.

** There are only a handful of racing environments and instead a single setting can host several track configurations. Later games set each course in its own unique environment (the only exception being ''Super Circuit'', which had four Bowser Castle courses). Additionally, all of the tracks except for Mario Circuit, Koopa Beach, and Rainbow Road were explicitly based off settings from Super Mario World, while later games were a bit more creative on where tracks were set up.

* GoKartingWithBowser: The TropeNamer.

* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The two Vanilla Lake tracks are the first installments: while the first is a classical snow level, the second (which is the fourth track in Special Cup, making it the penultimate track of the game) actually features a giant cold water lake which requires precision to not fall in it.

* NintendoHard:
** Due to the awkward drifting mechanic present in this game and ''Super Circuit'',[[note]]You can only make inwards drifting and not switch between inwards and outwards drifting with the Control Pad, and to boost, you must straighten yourself out by allowing the game to gradually straighten you out to receive your boost, signaled by your engine revving up for a second.[[/note]] combined with the slippery controls and limited availability of items (one per lap, unless the player hits a second item panel that are not commonly seen in the tracks of ''Super Mario Kart''), anything past 50cc will definitely prove to be difficult even for players that can master the non-Mode 7 games. 150cc takes the icing on the cake for not only do you go insanely fast (and the slippery controls make it even more difficult), but the AI will go just as fast, if not ''faster''.
** The best demonstration of this trope at work would be Rainbow Road. Completing this track in the 150cc Special Cup is incredibly difficult because the track is surrounded by a {{Bottomless Pit|s}}, and unlike the Ghost Valley tracks it has no paving to stop you driving off the track at any points. Plus, the Thwomps from the Bowser Castle stages with an added bonus - they flash with invincibility, so if you hit them you don't bounce off, you spin out, often all the way off the track. It's incredibly easy to go from 1st place with a flying lead to 8th with no way back in the space of a few seconds.

''Super Mario Kart'' (1992) is a RacingGame for the Platform/SuperNES that started the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series and, with it, a whole slew of MascotRacer imitators.

''Super Mario Kart'' (1992) is a RacingGame for the UsefulNotes/SuperNES that started the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series and, with it, a whole slew of MascotRacer imitators.