When Mario Kart was introduced to the world in the 90s, I wasn’t a fan. I didn’t hate the game, or anything so petty as that. If anything, I was just indifferent. My main jams were RPGs, Sword n’ Sorcery, and the plethora of beat ‘em ups where the handsome, kind hearted vigilante had to save the day from countless stereotypical (nearly all cliché) 80’s to 90’s street punks. And Ninjas. Oh, how I loved me some Ninjas!

Needless to say, Mario Kart failed to keep up with the competition and fell many laps behind. (I see what I did there.)

Fast forward about a decade or so, and the slightly revamped version of the game that younger me so quickly dismissed found its way to the front of my playlist thanks to Super Circuit, a newly acquired GameBoy Advance, and a more open, albeit probably nostalgic, look back at the simplistic gaming styles of my younger days. It was like I’d found love at first… well, second sight! And with Double Dash, Wii, 7, 8 and now Deluxe, that blissful feeling of a barely controlled high speed drift, sparks flying from the wheels while your banana peel plops to cover your rear – may that love never grow cold.

P.S. Damn the blue shell!