In my opinion, in the top 10 greatest games / game series of all time.
1. Halo combat evolved
2. Super Mario Kart
3. Tetris
4. Goldeneye 007
5. Super Smash Brothers: Meele
6. Gears of War
7. Super Mario World
8. Halo 2
9. Counter Strike: Source
10. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
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In my opinion, this is the first "great" racing game. To this day I still play this game because of its revolutionary graphics (at the time 1992) and gameplay. Basically, you get a choice of 8 characters, each having their own atrributes, and abilitys. But what makes this game great is the powers that each driver posses and can get.
The main powers are listed below
Mario: Star Power (super fast and makes you wipe out and lose coins)
Luigi: Star Power (super fast and makes you wipe out and lose coins)
Princess Peach: throws muffins (which shrink you if you drive over them)
Yoshi: Lays an egg which makes you lose coins and wipeout
Bowser: throws moving fire balls
Donkey Kong: Throws banna peels
Koopa: best in game, (my opinion =p) throws green shells
Toad: throws muffins like peach
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Each player is not limited to those powers though, there are 9 different power ups you can get that help you take advantage they are: green shell, red shell, star power, lightning (shrinks all players (not you)) mushroom (speed boost), throw bannana, feather (makes you jump), ghost (makes you invisible and steals someone elses power) coins, gives you coins. All of those powers increase the pwnage of the game, and give it a unique flavor
You have 3 different types of gameplay. Head to head battlemode, time trials, and straight racing. Each of these has its moments, and are fun in their own ways. Battlemode you fight head to head against one of your buddies, picking up powers and trying to pop your opponents balloons on the side of their kart. The cc races are pretty straight forward, just racing against 7 computers or 6 computers and a friend. Hint: if you beat 100 cc and get gold in all cups, you get to unlock 150cc.
Time trials are a little different than the cc races in a couple of ways. one way is that you cannot get any powers, as it may give you an unfair advantage, and the other way how it differs is that you race alone.
All in all this is one of the greatest games of all time, and is a must own for anyone with a wii, or a SNES.