The Tuesday 10s - Under-appreciated Kart Racers

The kart racer: a sub-genre in the racing game genre that generally features video game mascots and colorful cartoon characters competing in speedy races against one another for the sole goal of crossing the finish line in first place. No doubt Super Mario Kart made this sub-genre popular and put it on the map, but for every well-done Mario-branded racer, there are countless others that fall through the cracks. For this purpose SPC brings back The Tuesday 10s to list ten underrated and under-appreciated kart racers from a wide swath of developers and franchises. After you've checked out these ten, relatively unordered picks on this list, I encourage you to let the community know which ones you agree and disagree with.

Mario Kart Tour (iOS, AND)

I know what you enter this article to say, "Phil! How can a game in the Mario Kart series be under-appreciated? It's only the most popular kart racing franchise in existence!" Well, my answer is pretty easy. Mario Kart Tour is often maligned, and it no doubt deserved that contempt when it launched with bare-bones features (including a total lack of competitive multiplayer), a disgustingly aggressive series of microtransactions, and a limited amount of ways to earn rubies, the premium currency of the game. Heck, I even roasted the game as if it were a nasty-tasting marshmallow when I played it for my review way back when. 

However, Mario Kart Tour has only since improved since launch. Adding more ways to earn rubies than ever before, offering free pulls for participating in tours, implementing rather enjoyable online play with friends and randoms, and throwing in several updates and upgrades have made Mario Kart Tour a worthwhile game. It still won't sway those who loathe gacha-style games, but for those who enjoy the base gameplay of the Mario Kart series and adore the charm of the series, these are still present in Mario Kart Tour.

LittleBigPlanet Karting (PS3)

We move on from Mario to a pair of PlayStation first party racing games, the first of which being LittleBigPlanet Karting. Following the "Play, Create, and Share" mantra that the mainline LittleBigPlanet games showcased, LittleBigPlanet Karting not only brought racing to the LittleBigPlanet series, but also brought an overwhelming amount of creation tools to craft involve tracks and creations in its editor. From designing the track layout to even setting off triggers for special effects and camera angles, LittleBigPlanet Karting's creator was incredibly intricate, allowing an unprecedented amount of creation tools for a home console kart racer. The racing itself was also solid, implementing several story elements and mechanics from the LittleBigPlanet series to craft one really cool kart racer.

ModNation Racers: Road Trip (Vita)

If creating a compelling enough track in LittleBigPlanet Karting was too difficult for the average creator--and quite frankly, it was for most players--then my recommendation would be to take a peek at the ModNation Racers franchise, another PlayStation-produced kart racer. You could not only create a complex track, but you could do it rather easily, especially with ModNation Racers: Road Trip, a PlayStation Vita launch title. Even with the servers offline, I still find myself returning to Road Trip to create courses and tracks, karts, and drivers for the sheer enjoyment of racing and using my own creations. The kart racing gameplay, much like LittleBigPlanet Karting, is top-notch, too, and perhaps even better due to the fact that the rubber-band AI is nowhere near as severe. Considering it's dirt cheap to pick up nowadays and features a fully featured and fleshed out campaign filled with fun races and events, there's really no excuse to miss out on ModNation Racers: Road Trip if you have a PlayStation Vita and a love for kart racers.

Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix (PS4, XB1, NSW, PC)

The first Nickelodeon Kart Racers game was a pretty shoddy effort. The racing was okay, but everything else about the game seemed a bit off. The lack of online limited the longevity of the game, the assortment of characters and tracks didn't really dig deep into Nickelodeon's rich brand history, and the game just wasn't too enjoyable. Believe it or not, Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix improves upon the original in pretty much every way possible. It added online, it beefed up both the amount of playable characters and Nickelodeon properties represented--including Ren & Stimpy, Double Dare, Rocko's Modern Life, Catdog, among many others--and the track design was much more inspired. The included mission mode, titular Grand Prix events, and aforementioned online made for a much improved kart racer. Sure, the rubber-band AI and item spam in later difficulties will make you wonder why the developer hates its target audience so freaking much, but overall, Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2 earned a wave of the checkered flag.

Mickey's Speedway USA (N64)

Let's move from Nickelodeon to Disney with a kart racer that came from the masters at Rare. However, Mickey's Speedway USA--specifically the Nintendo 64 version--released late in the console's life. Not only that, but it failed to reach the same levels of greatness as Diddy Kong Racing--which I would peg as one of my favorite kart racing games of all time. Despite these factors, Mickey's Speedway USA is still worth checking out if at all possible. The game features stellar kart racing mechanics, inspired tracks that take Mickey and pals across the United States from locales like the Grand Canyon and San Francisco, to name a couple, and includes an enjoyable story mode as well. The game also looks rather great on the Nintendo 64, even  tas a release that didn't utilize the Expansion Pak, when so many titles from Nintendo and Rare near the end of the N64's life seemed to do. At any rate, Mickey's Speedway USA is a fast and fun trip across the U.S. of A that will make any Mouseketeer beam from ear to ear with delight.

MySims Racing (Wii)

Let's look at two Wii kart racers from Electronic Arts. First, MySims Racing brought some uniqueness to the kart racing genre with full-blown character and kart creation. Using the MySims series'--and Sims series in general--penchant for creation and customization, MySims Racing brought full customization of one's character and kart to the game. It's something that even the Mario Kart series wouldn't see until Mario Kart 7 on the Nintendo 3DS in 2011! As you played through the campaign, you earned kart parts to further customize your kart to make it one impressive and stylish beast of a vehicle. The game's 15 tracks offered colorful tracks with multiple places to take advantage of the game's boost functionality to cut across ground conditions that would otherwise slow one's kart down, as well as plenty of opportunities to shave precious seconds off of one's laps. It's by no means the best kart racer on the Wii, but MySims Racing did bring a fun, family-friendly alternative to Mario Kart Wii on Nintendo's motion-control-centric hardware.

NASCAR Kart Racing (Wii)

The other kart racer released by EA during the Wii years is an unexpected one, and one that from reading the title might make you assume it was yet another game to add to the pile of seemingly endless shovelware that plagued Nintendo's revolutionary system. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, NASCAR Kart Racing is a strong kart racing game using a partner-based system. When in the vicinity of your racing partner, you produce boost energy. When one of the two of you uses their boost from behind the other, they slingshot ahead of them. It's possible to chain slingshots together for an impressive speed boost. Featuring 12 tracks, almost two-dozen racers, a competent campaign, and more product placement than a traditional NASCAR race, NASCAR Kart Racing is an entertaining cartoon-y arcade kart racer that more people should know about and play.

Crash Nitro Kart (PS2, GCN, XBX)

Let's now go back a generation of consoles from the Wii era to the PlayStation 2, GameCube and original Xbox era with Crash Nitro Kart. There's no question that many fans of Crash Bandicoot's debut racing game were perplexed on how to feel about this particular kart racer. After all, the series had long since been out of Naughty Dog's hands, but overall, Crash Nitro Kart shined brightly on its own, even in the shadow of the original Crash Team Racing. Crash Nitro Kart's greatest achievement was possessing tracks that in some ways rivaled those seen in CTR, and delivering some impressive mechanics in them, too, such as some featuring loop-de-loops. Thus, it was great to see that CNK had not been fully forgotten, implementing all of the characters and tracks into Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, CTR's remake that is without question the most feature-packed and content-rich kart racer in genre history. 

Pac-Man World Rally (PS2, GCN, XBX, PSP, PC)

Namco could not resist entering into the foray that was the kart racer, and it did so with its starring mascot, its pride and joy Pac-Man. There were some clever ideas in Pac-Man World Rally, such as collecting fruit that would open up alternate shortcuts and paths, as well as the ability to gobble up other racers by collecting Pac-Pellets in true Pac-Man fashion. It also helps that World Rally was ultimately a well executed racer as well, feeling tight and enjoyable to control. While it didn't necessarily push the genre forward in any meaningful way, it did bring those who played the game, including yours truly, some joy. And hey, any kart racer that allows you to play as the Prince from Katamari Damacy (including having his own themed track as well), can't be appreciated enough!

Konami Krazy Racers (GBA)

Before Mario Kart: Super Circuit stormed onto the Game Boy Advance, GBA owners at the system's launch had the choice of picking up a bit of an appetizer to the Mario Kart series' handheld debut. That kart racer using a Mode 7-like approach to its visuals was Konami Krazy Racers. For fans of Konami, this kart racer is of special interest due to how many Konami franchises were featured in the game. The likes of Goemon from the Mystical Ninja series, Dracula of Castlevania fame, Gray Fox of Metal Gear Solid notoriety, and Vic Viper from the Gradius series, were but a third of the 12 playable racers in the game. That says nothing about the various tracks that were themed after numerous Konami games as well. No doubt Konami Krazy Racers was all but a Mario Kart clone in name, but this handheld kart racer offered lots of entertainment leading up to Mario Kart: Super Circuit's launch and remains an excellent game.

Three Mario Games That Really Turned Things Around with Updates

With the advent of patches and updates to video games, games can now have new additional modes, characters, and enhancements added to them. While that is a pro, there is also a con of having certain games shipped incomplete or bugged, with a later promise of fixing said issues in a future update or patch. Not even Nintendo, one of the most prolific (if not THE most prolific) publishers around, escapes this issue, nor does its main mascot, Mr. Video Game himself, Mario, evade having games that require updates to end up in a satisfying condition. 

While there is a motley crew of Nintendo titles that started off weak when they released, this particular article focuses on a trio of Mario games that began rather poorly or not up to their potential when they launched, but have since become pretty great games now, even better than they were when they originally released.

The most Mario recent game to get an update is one that was quite a surprise. Not only was the update significant, but it was a long-requested one for the franchise that finally came over two years after the game released. I'm of course referring to Super Mario Party. In the original SuperPhillip Central review, I ended up really enjoying the latest entry in the long-running series of party games, but there was one major caveat. That caveat was the haphazard, half-hearted implementation of online to the series. 

Fans, such as myself, have been clamoring for online for the Mario Party series for over a decade now, and Nintendo and developer ND Cube's approach to finally implementing it into the series with Super Mario Party was less than satisfying. That's a charitable statement, as well. The Online Mariothon originally was the only online play available in Super Mario Party, offering five random mini-games for four players to compete against each other for the highest score. 

Of course, that's not really what fans wanted from the series' online. It was somewhat of a monkey's paw wish gone bad. No, the real wish was for the boards of Mario Party to become available to play online, and as of last week, Genie Nintendo made that wish come true. 

Not only is the board game mode, whether the free-for-all traditional Mario Party mode or the Partner Party mode--which pits two teams of two against one another on a grid-like board--now available to play online, but so, too, is the ability to play the majority of mini-games online with friends as well. The only caveat now is that there isn't any matchmaking, but you can simply tell total strangers online your three-digit room code to have them join--thus it's not just limited to playing with your friends.

Last night I was able to finally try out the Mario Party mode online with a dear friend of mine who lives in the same state as I do. Now, I live in the suburbs while we lives more in the rural country part of the state. I'm pleased to say that the online connection was pretty much flawless for the two of us. The only lag present was during a random board sequence rather than an actual, much more intensive mini-game. We both enjoyed ourselves, and are both interested in playing another board really soon.

And really, this update is perfect for the current harrowing times we find ourselves in, what with the pandemic and all. Despite some parts of the world seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel in some ways with mass vaccinations, the timing is still rather great. Of course, it would have been better if Nintendo had this online update for Super Mario Party earlier in the pandemic, but perhaps this update itself was built out of necessity, made during the pandemic so people could continue to enjoy Super Mario Party while staying apart from one another. Either way, it's a most welcome addition, and one that will keep me coming back and partying like it's 1999 all over again, only this time I'm enjoying the party online with friends as opposed to at a sleepover.

While Super Mario Party is the most recent game to get a major update, Mario Kart Tour, meanwhile, is a game that is perpetually getting updates since it's a live-service game. I was pretty harsh on the game in my review around this mobile racer's original launch, but I have to admit that after returning behind the steering wheel with Mario Kart Tour, I discovered a game that was much improved and decidedly rather enjoyable now.

For one, the amount of characters and more importantly courses to Mario Kart Tour has increased considerably. For the former, characters are less of a challenge to acquire. Now, there's certainly still dreaded, scummy "gacha" elements present in the game, but there are both more opportunities to acquire the rubies needed to pull from the game's pipes, as well as more opportunities to earn characters without rubies as well. One of the best things implemented now in Mario Kart Tour is how the game awards you with pipe pulls from simply earning Grand Stars, won from performing well in offline races and completing challenges. There are four green pipes that give you one free pull apiece, which can sometimes reward you with a High-End pull if you're fortunate enough, but there's also a All-Clear Pipe now, which automatically rewards you with a High-End character, kart, or glider for completing a given cup. Since all cups last two weeks, that's a free High-End each week.

Furthermore, there is a Medal shop now, which doesn't require you to spend money at all to earn the wares inside. The shop is updated with each cup, presenting goods like characters, karts, gliders, tickets (which are used to enhance your characters, karts, and gliders), as well as rubies and coin bundles. These are purchased with medals collected in races, and how you earn medals changes with each cup. Sometimes they're lying on tracks like regular coins, while other times you earn them from hitting opponents with a specific item like a green shell or a banana, for instance.

The amount of tracks has increased immensely as well, offering the enjoyable city-themed tracks, such as the most recent Sydney Sprint, but there's also now wholly original tracks not based off of any real world city at all. While there's just been two of these thus far with Merry Mountain and Ninja Hideaway--the latter of which is one of the most impressive tracks in Mario Kart series history with all of the routes incorporated into it--they are a ton of fun to race on.

Finally, there's the addition of something that was greatly amiss at the launch of Tour: online multiplayer. This allows multiple players to join either matchmaking races or friend-based races, and compete against one another. Of course, this type of competition does not rival Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, as you might expect, but it's an entertaining enough distraction--well worth checking out at least once. 

I'm pleasantly surprised by the 180 I've had with Mario Kart Tour. It was a game I found detestable at launch and promptly deleted it off my phone (of course, that was partly due to the game always crashing on my old phone after a race or two), but now not only do I participate in every Grand Prix in every cup every two weeks, but now I even subscribe to the Gold Pass, that $5 susbcription each month. It's not because I feel I need to in order to have an advantage or to keep up with the whales (good luck with that, by the way), but it's more due to the fact that I'm actually loving Mario Kart Tour that much.

Moving on from parties and kart racing, we turn to our final Mario game that most certainly turned things around with its updates: Mario Tennis Aces. This game seems timely to talk about as the game I'm honestly most anticipating that has a firm release date this year is Mario Golf: Super Rush. That's another Camelot game, and no doubt as soon as Mario Tennis Aces finished development, Camelot went directly on to start work on the latest Mario Golf while a skeleton team worked on some much needed updates for Mario Tennis Aces. 

Aces was another game I didn't take too much of a shining to, as it was rather bare-bones and lacking in content. My review tagline pretty much said all you needed to know about my opinion of the game at the time. However, like Mario Kart Tour, I did a 180 with Aces, essentially moving to the other side of the court--to use a tennis analogy. Now don't get me wrong--I enjoyed the tennis gameplay for the most part of Aces, but characters weren't very balanced. The fighting game analogy for Mario Tennis Aces is really apt, as matches really are like battles where you duke it out on the court and try to outsmart and outplay your opponents. Heck, you can even break their rackets with well timed power shots, even K.O.ing them--immediately disqualifying them from the match!

Thankfully, Camelot worked extra hard to make Mario Tennis Aces a terrific tennis game instead of a middling one. It took some effort and some time, of course, but the addition of a new character each month for over a year, the inclusion of some fine-tuning to all characters so not one of them was broken (looking at you Waluigi, Boo, and especially YOU, Bowser Jr.), and the appearance of new modes like a Yoshi-based Ring Shot and even an addition to the Story Mode made all the difference. If I ever decide to go back to Mario Tennis Aces for an updated review, my tagline would have to be updated, too. No longer would it be "Game, Set, Suck", instead it'd most likely be "Game, Set, Wow!"

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Have you played any of the three games I mentioned in this article? If so, did you play them before or after their patches/updates? Do you still play any of these games? Let the SPC community know your thoughts in the comments section below!

What A Future Mario Kart Could Take from Mario Kart Tour

SuperPhillip Central continues this impromptu week featuring Mario by pondering about what could be in the works for the next Mario Kart. It seems that a theoretical Mario Kart 9 won't happen for a while--at least not until the Switch's successor, as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continues to burn rubber up the sales charts in utterly impressive fashion. After all, why cut off the legs (or in this case, slash the tires) of an evergreen title like Deluxe with a new entry while the old game is still selling immense amounts? Well, other than to satiate the thirst of players like myself who yearn for a new console-based entry in the series, of course!

While Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the most recent console release for Nintendo venerable kart racing franchise, it's certainly not the latest in the series. No, that title goes to Mario Kart Tour, which despite my criticisms with the game as seen in my review, has improved substantially since launch. In fact, there are a fair number of things that I think a possible Mario Kart 9--or whatever the next entry is named--could borrow from Mario Kart Tour. And, no, I'm not talking about the horrid, aggressive and disgusting Gacha mechanics or micro-transactions like $40 for one character, kart, and glider. 

For one, Mario Kart Tour's roster of characters is the most fully featured yet. Now, obtaining all of the characters in the game is truly a challenging task unless you're a whale, but the size and scope of the roster are certainly amazing. For one, new characters that have never before appeared in the Mario Kart series are featured in Tour. These characters include Hammer Bros, Dixie Kong, Captain Toad, Monty Mole, Nabbit and King Bob-Omb, for starters. Just as notably though, from Mario Kart Tour is that several characters have alternate costumes. While they're listed as separate drivers entirely in Mario Kart Tour, in Mario Kart 9 they could function like the Mii racer costumes as seen in Mario Kart 8 and its Deluxe version on the Switch. Imagine Nintendo trotting out unlockable costumes for Mario and friends, such as Builder Mario, Penguin Luigi, Festive Yoshi, among many others. 

Moving on from characters to tracks, Mario Kart Tour possesses the most racetracks and circuits out of any other Mario Kart game, although in MKT these are rotated in and out with each biweekly tour. Regardless, my desire for the next Mario Kart game isn't so much for the game to have the most tracks of any Mario Kart game. Instead, I'd like the next game to utilize Mario Kart Tour's track variants. Plenty of tracks in Mario Kart Tour have four variants to them: the normal version of the track, the reverse version of the track where drivers race the track in the opposite direction, a trick version with multiple ramps and different paths to take off the normal version, and a combination of the reverse and trick variants. This adds a lot of variety in the tracks of Mario Kart Tour, and it would add the same to a future Mario Kart game. 

Another addition that Mario Kart Tour introduced to the series is an arcade-like points system for races. Upon performing tricks, collecting coins on the track, successfully hitting other players, and completing other actions, drivers gain points, and for each action they complete within a certain time frame, they achieve a combo multiplier. The multiplier increases for each action they perform. Grand Prix cups in traditional Mario Kart games usually don't have much replay value, other than aiming for three stars on each cup by winning first place in each and every race (and up until Mario Kart 8, doing so in a dominant fashion). 

Using this formula and foundation from Mario Kart Tour, a future Mario Kart could lift this points system and use it to not only serve as a means of replay value--to increase your high scores on each racetrack and each cup--but also perhaps serve as a method to unlock new content like kart parts from reaching certain point thresholds. Furthermore, high scores could be compared and contrasted with others in a competition-like setting, much like Mario Kart Tour has already, where weekly leaderboards show which players have the top scores for a given cup among friends and worldwide. 

Finally, speaking of modes like the Grand Prix, Mario Kart Tour reintroduced mission-like challenges as seen with Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii. Mario Kart 9 (or again, whatever the newest game would be called) needs to have a Mission Mode with clever challenges as seen in not only Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii, but also as seen in Mario Kart Tour. Such missions/challenges include keeping a combo going for as long as possible, steering clear of all enemies and obstacles, gliding as far as you can possibly glide, or running over as many small enemies as you can during one lap of a race, to name just a handful of ideas lifted from Tour. 

It's obvious what Mario Kart fans wouldn't and don't want from Mario Kart Tour, but hopefully we can all agree that these aforementioned additions to future Mario Kart games would be most welcome ones. What would you like to see in a future Mario Kart game? Is there anything from Mario Kart Tour that you would like a possible Mario Kart 9 to directly lift? Let the SPC community know in the comments section below!

Top Ten Winter-Themed Mario Kart Tracks

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through SPC, 

Not a creature was stirring, save for little ol' me. 

A new article is here on the front page with care,

Hoping that viewers will stop by and give it a stare.

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! It's almost customary for SuperPhillip Central to provide some kind of winter-themed video game list around this time of the year, so let's do that again. This time, though, let's be a little more specific with a look at one of SPC's favorite racing franchises, Mario Kart. The series is renowned for being incredibly accessible to almost all types of players, and its assortment of tracks are seldom dull and ordinarily exciting. 

This top ten list is themed after the latter, those exciting tracks, though those that have a winter theme. We are in a new season here in North America, the winter season, and with Christmas quickly approaching, there's no better way to celebrate both Mario Kart and the holiday season than with a list featuring SPC's favorite winter-based Mario Kart tracks! Let's get to the countdown!

NOTE: For an updated list for 2025, check out this video top ten!

10) Sherbet Land - Mario Kart 64 (N64)

We begin this countdown of winter-based Mario Kart tracks with the first fully 3D entry in the series, Mario Kart 64 and its Sherbet Land track. It was a tough challenge to leave one of the two snow and winter-themed Mario Kart 64 tracks off of this list, but ultimately, Frappe Snowland was the victim. No offense to that track or its fans, as I really enjoy that one, too. Regardless, Sherbet Land in Mario Kart 64 sees Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom crew visit a massive lake-like track, similar to Vanilla Lake from Super Mario Kart. There's cracks in the ice that can be leaped over with proper timing and speed, and the closer to the center of the lake you are when you leap, the more seconds you can shave off your time--though it's also riskier. Penguins surround the lake, sliding around back and forth, and also calling a column-filled cavernous corridor their home. Racers would do well to not bump into one as they waddle around each icy pillar in the cave. Sherbet Land would return in Mario Kart Wii as a retro track, and it allowed players like myself to appreciate this icy race course once again.

9) Rosalina's Ice World - Mario Kart 7 (3DS)

Whether in its Mario Kart 7 original form or more notably in its Mario Kart Tour glow-up, Rosalina's Ice World is a track full of hazards and slippery goodness to enjoy. From the start of the track you can see planets in the sky. This particular track has a cold, lonely feel to it, even with the penguin town full of igloos and other homes halfway through it. One can stay on the top of the ice for a slippery ride, or opt to travel underwater and sea the aquatic life underneath, such as the aforementioned penguins. The home stretch features a cavern of icicles, stalagmites, and more, all leading back into the open outside air where the finish line greets racers. I wasn't originally too keen on Rosalina's Ice World, especially as a Mario Kart 7 Special Cup track, but I eventually warmed up to it. Its Mario Kart Tour version is more enticing, so that might be a cause for my turnaround in opinion.

8) Ice Ice Outpost - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NSW), Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)

As you'll see from this list, Mario Kart 8 and its Deluxe edition have no shortage of excellent tracks to choose from. Of course, when a game has 48 tracks, it sort of makes sense! Regardless, one of the then-new tracks featured in one of the two DLC packs of the Wii U original Mario Kart 8 and included wholesale as part of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is Ice Ice Outpost. This is a unique track located at an arctic outpost surrounded by icebergs, ships, and ocean. The uniqueness of the track comes from how almost the entire track is made up of two paths that cross over one another multiple times. There are plenty of points where you can change paths, and even some dangerous shortcut possibilities to take in the process. Then, there's the enjoyable anti-gravity to engage with, making for one race that seldom lacks challenge and fierce competition!

7) DK Pass - Mario Kart DS (DS)

The lone track example from the Nintendo DS's "cleverly" titled Mario Kart DS, DK Pass is a ride through the snowy mountainside pass filled with snow, snowmen, and racers to overcome. DK Pass features a multitude of twists and turns, some without railing to save you in case you monkey around too much, and hazards to avoid. The most notable of which are the gigantic rolling snowballs that can clobber unassuming racers like a bowling ball knocking down pins. Sometimes you're going against the path of snowballs, like on the ride up the pass, while on the ride down, you're driving with them. Either way, it's a precarious place to be! DK Pass is especially enjoyable in Mario Kart 7 for how in the first two laps the race is covered with a blanket of fog, but by the third, the sun pierces through the clouds and fog, dissipating both, and reveals a clearer and brighter view of this rocky and rowdy winter-based track.

6) DK Summit - Mario Kart Wii (Wii)

Another DK-based winter-themed track, DK Summit comes from Mario Kart Wii, and this game in the series introduced the ability to trick off ramps and other elevation changes to get a speed boost. What makes DK Summit so much fun is that it gives ample opportunity to try out this new mechanic, and does so with great generosity! Almost immediately after the starting line, you're rocketed through the air to the top of the summit through a large barrel cannon. Then, you're only recourse is a windy and equally wild ride down the slopes, avoiding chasms, players, and other dangers as you trick off slopes, halfpipes, and more. It's riveting to say the least, and makes for one seriously enjoyable track to go "ape" on!

5) Vancouver Velocity - Mario Kart Tour (iOS, AND)

Let's move to Mario Kart's premier mobile outing with a game that I have certainly warmed up to since my rather scathing review back near its launch. It's Mario Kart Tour, and despite my myriad issues with the game, there are several bright spots, and one of them is the amazing track design on display. The new city-based courses based on real life locations offer a taste of the real world in Mario Kart, though of course with a Mushroom Kingdom spin! Vancouver of Canada is one of such cities, and Vancouver Velocity is a stellar track from the game. However, this time around the snow and ice are merely for aesthetics as you never really interact with them in the actual race from the bright neon lights of the city, where the starting line begins, to the trek through the surrounding forests across thin bridges and then a windy road of wooden planks. It's a gorgeous track with a great deal of challenge to come in first on.

4) Sherbet Land - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GCN)

It wouldn't be a Mario Kart list with mentioning the unique experiment in the series, Mario Kart: Double Dash. Whether playing the GameCube original version of Sherbet Land (not to be confused with the previously listed Nintendo 64 track of the same name), or diving (literally at times) into the track's retro revival in Mario Kart 8, Sherbet Land is a slippery ride through a Shy Guy skating rink and then a crystal cavern, out to a curvy patch of road surrounded by thick snowbanks, and finally weaving through a giant patch of ice where Freezies from Mario Bros. make their homes. It's a particularly festive track with Christmas lights flashing around, and the song played only amplifies this feeling.

3) Merry Mountain - Mario Kart Tour (iOS, AND)

Why, hello there again, Mario Kart Tour! Speaking of feeling particularly festive, we move on to a track that is the newest and most recent of the bunch on this list. It's so satisfying of a track that it arrives at the number three spot on this list! It's Mario Kart Tour's Merry Mountain, a wholly original track that first appeared in the Winter Tour this year in the game. Nothing else rivals the festive feel of this track, whether you're starting out in the Christmas village where the start/finish line is, weaving through the windy paths, either taking the ground path or the more elevated wooden plank path to reach the top of the mountain. At the top, you of course have nowhere to go but down, offering plenty of opportunities to trick off ramps, collect coins being tossed out by a Toad-driven sleigh in the sky, and making your way back down to the finish. It's a delightfully fun track, and the only caveat here is that you have to play Mario Kart Tour to experience it!

2) Animal Crossing (Winter) - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NSW), Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)

If there was one track that especially gives off a comfy and cozy feeling it's the Animal Crossing track, specifically the winter variant of it. This track is notable for, like Animal Crossing, having four seasons to it, and one track variant attached to each. With the winter version, you get a warm feeling even in the coldest season of them all. The town is lit up and decorated with Christmas lights, snow blankets all, and the nighttime sky illuminates the ground to make for an especially lovely looking place. It's homey and remarkable to look at, but it's also a great deal of fun to race on, too, whether you're in town or riding along the beach with stars in the sky and snow on the ground. This is all the while animal villagers cheer you on to [hopefully] victory. It also doesn't hurt that Animal Crossing is one of my favorite Nintendo franchises, either, so that might sway my opinion on this pick... a little.

1) Mount Wario - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NSW), Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)

Not just my favorite winter-themed Mario Kart track, but one of my favorite tracks in any Mario Kart period, Mount Wario, which debuted in Mario Kart 8, is unlike any other track on this list. Rather than being three laps it's divided up into three parts, as racers start at the top of the titular mountain, dropping in from the back of an airplane and drive all the way down to the base. Along the way are slippery slopes, a river running through a cavern, a dam, a dangerous section filled with trees to weave through, and the final section, a segment made up of ski jumps and moguls to traverse as you make your way to the finish line where your adoring public awaits to cheer you on. The entire race is like an adventure, one pulse-pounding thrill ride that like a great ride at an amusement park, one that you'll want to immediately go on again after completing it. This is how the best Mario Kart tracks make me feel, and Mount Wario is one of the tops in this department, and tops this list of winter-themed Mario Kart tracks.

Honorable Mentions: Frappe Snowland - Mario Kart 64, Snow Land - Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)

Review Round-Up - December 2019

December gifted SuperPhillip Central with a triple play of Mario games of varying quality.

Happy New Year from SuperPhillip Central! Here's hoping your 2020 is a good one. With a new decade and new year, it's almost easy to downplay that it's a new month--meaning it's time for a new Review Round-Up! Let's check out all seven games that were reviewed throughout the course of the last month of 2019.

We started off with a triple play of Mario games. Mario Kart Tour was hammered for its scummy microtransactions among other issues, spinning out to a C- grade. Meanwhile, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 improved on past games in some ways, but was a step back in others, earning a B- for its effort. The last of the trio of Mario games was Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey for the Nintendo 3DS. These titles just seem to be getting progressively longer, don't they? Well, the quality of the games is, too, as it reviewed well with a B+ grade.

Moving on from Mario to mechs, we took on colossal Immortals in Daemon X Machina, which blasted its way to a B-. Then, we moved on to more casual fare with America's Greatest Game Shows: Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy!, which suffered from presentation problems that distracted from the fun of both classic game shows. The compilation got a C- for this reason.

Meanwhile, New Super Lucky's Tale arrived on the Nintendo Switch, much to my delight, and it ran, jumped, and spun its tail to a B-. Finally, we sort of ended the month, year, and decade on a downer review-wise with Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD, which fell off the course to a D+.

2019 saw the posting of SuperPhillip Central's 900th review. Let's see if we can reach 1,000 in 2020! As an aside, check out every review ever posted on SuperPhillip Central with the SPC Review Archive!

Mario Kart Tour (iOS, AND) - C-

Overall, it says more about how much I love Mario Kart that I can put up with the slimy Gacha and microtransaction practices than it does my delight for Mario Kart Tour. While the game is structurally sound on a gameplay note, the systems designed to inhale all of the contents from players' wallets are just horrid and completely disgusting to me, especially coming from family-friendly Nintendo. For most players, I feel Mario Kart Tour makes for a stopgap as they wait for Mario Kart 9 to come out (whenever it does--maybe even Nintendo's next system at this rate), and even then, it's a poor one. You'll most likely find yourself wishing to go back to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. As for me, I see myself sticking with Mario Kart Tour for a little while longer, hoping I don't get to a point where I'll get truly repulsed and put off from playing the game for good--but deep inside knowing that I probably will.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 (NSW) - B-

Like some of the events in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020, some elements of the game just seem half-baked. The amount of content is a major one, especially when you're comparing it to past entries in the series. This seems like a step back in that regard. That notwithstanding, Mario and Sonic's trip to Tokyo to compete ahead of the official 2020 Olympic Games nails the landing when it comes to being enjoyable to play. While you will find yourself scrambling to the menus to read up on a given event's controls more times than you might care to admit or care to like, the actual events are mostly entertaining, and the retro-themed events and minigames also sport plenty of opportunities for fun as well. It wouldn't be a review about a game set in the Olympics without a cliche reference, and while the review tagline already took care of that, here's a second one for you: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 goes for the gold, but winds up with silver instead.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (3DS) - B+

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey doesn't completely replace the need for the Nintendo DS original Bowser's Inside Story, but also adds enough content and updates to the game that it makes for a nice supplement all the same. Bowser Jr.'s Journey is a disappointment in how "hands off" the experience is, but considering it's an extra mode to a game that would otherwise already be full-featured, it's hard to knock it too much. After all, when you have the excellence that is the 25-30 hour adventure of Bowser's Inside Story, not even Bowser could find too much to complain about... other than some filler and padding in the form of repeated mini-games, of course!

Daemon X Machina (NSW) - B-

Daemon X Machina will most assuredly find its niche with a subset of mech game-loving Nintendo Switch owners. (There are dozens of us!) That said, the game isn't at all beginner-friendly, and will even put off some seasoned gamers as well with its complex controls and systems. For mech lovers, there's nothing like upgrading your Arsenal, prettying it all up, and then taking it out on the battlefield, whether online or off, and shooting and slicing the hell out of enemies on the battlefield. If you liked Armored Core or have any interest in mech games--while also having the patience to learn the ins and outs of its gameplay mechanics--then mecha no mistake--you should play Daemon X Machina.

America's Greatest Game Shows: Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy! (NSW) - C-

America's Greatest Game Shows: Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy! do offer a competent version of these two enduring game shows. They're serviceable enough, accessible enough for beginners, and entertaining enough to give some short bursts of game show goodness here and there. It's just a bit of a disappointment that game shows deemed as "America's Greatest" don't have truly great enough video game representations. Because this package certainly isn't.

New Super Lucky's Tale (NSW) - B-

Overall, my happiness that Super Lucky's Tale was brought to the Nintendo Switch didn't diminish through playing the final game. Sure, there were headaches here and there while playing the game to full completion (I'm looking directly at you, marble puzzles), but I had more good times and favorable moments with New Super Lucky's Tale than bad. While I doubt I'll want to return to the game often due to the unskippable story sequences in levels and all of the non-platforming gameplay, I do think pretty highly of the game. That's because ultimately, New Super Lucky's Tale is a solid platformer, a definitive version of Lucky's adventure, and most welcome in any run and jump fan's ever-expanding collection of Switch games.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD (NSW, PS4, XB1, PC) - D+

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD gives me a lot of questions. The top question being: Of all the Super Monkey Ball games that could have been remade, why this particular one? Other questions include: Why does this game exist? Who asked for it? Will SEGA be surprised when this poorly received remaster bombs at retail, and when it does, will SEGA think that means no one wants new games in the series instead of thinking, "Hey, maybe Banana Blitz was a bad game to revive?" Ugh. All of these questions are driving me bananas, so just take your review grade, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD, and then make like bananas and split.

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Meanwhile, New Super Lucky's Tale was a fun if not occasionally frustrating game,
but not because of its platforming, fortunately enough.

SuperPhillip Central Best of 2019 Awards - Top Five Most Disappointing Games

As SPC has stated so many times when bringing up subjects like this, you gotta take the good with the bad, and while we've all enjoyed a lot of great games so far during the SuperPhillip Central Best of 2019 Awards, now we take a slight detour from our highway of positiveness to a negative back road. It's time for the Top Five Most Disappointing Games of 2019. These were games that didn't meet expectations, were plagued with plenty of problems, or were just outright baaaad. Let's get to the list of "winners" with the countdown.

5) Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD (PS4, XB1, NSW, PC)

We kick off this list of disappointing games with Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD. The original Banana Blitz was a Wii launch title that incorporated some wacky and imprecise motion controls, bad, sometimes infuriating boss battles, and a jump button. All but the first returned with Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD, instead having players use a traditional analog stick for movement as opposed to motion controls. This meant that many of the level layouts were altered and remixed somewhat to make for a more challenging game. Sadly, beyond the relatively short adventure mode, there is a dearth of content available here. It's a shame that more substantial and quality content weren't put into this game, as the failure of the game might put off SEGA from returning to the Super Monkey Ball series for a while.

4) Contra: Rogue Corps (PS4, XB1, NSW, PC)

Speaking of games that might have spoiled the chance at a franchise's future, we have Contra: Rogue Corps. Apart from the grotesque art style that takes Contra and tries to give it an overly edgy makeover (what is this, 2005?), Contra: Rogue Corps played horribly with its massive performance problems and sub-par gameplay that worked about as well as a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest, pardon the cliche analogy. Make no mistake, though--Contra: Rogue Corps kicked no butt whatsoever. The game was an utter bastardization of the Contra franchise, and one that might have put the franchise to rest for good.

3) Mario Kart Tour (iOS, AND)

Nintendo's mobile offerings have been less than stellar, and that trend continued with the scummy business practices offered in Mario Kart Tour. The actual racing was fair enough, but all of the trappings on top of that were not. For one, the rates for acquiring characters is ridiculously low, meaning that you can blow through plenty of the in-game currency and have little to show for it. Given that these Rubies are difficult to come by in the first place, and you have a game that's sensationally stingy. Throw in a subscription pass that's more expensive per year than a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, and you have a great reason to stick with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe over this shameless cash-grab.

2) Crackdown 3 (XB1, PC)

Gears 5 was a fantastic success story for the Xbox One, as it was a high quality first-party effort, which as we all know and have been beaten over the head with multiple times is something that the Xbox brand is currently short on. While Crackdown 3 is hardly a bad game, the extended wait time from multiple delays really made it so the final product wasn't really worth the aforementioned wait. There was potential here, but at the same time, that just makes the final result of the final product that much worse. In the end, Crackdown 3 still feels like it's stuck in the past with regards to its gameplay. Really, in the almost decade span between Crackdown 2 and Crackdown 3, it seemed like the latter was a product of a lost time in gaming, one in which the industry had long since moved on from.

1) Anthem (PS4, XB1, PC)

The "winner" of this awards category is a game from a prestigious studio which has provided a plethora of quality games. Unfortunately, Anthem was not one of them. After the disappointment that was Mass Effect Andromeda, developer BioWare had a lot to prove with its next project. The unfortunate thing of this was that with Anthem, nothing positive was proven--at least from the outset. Instead, the Destiny-like Anthem failed in most regards, whether it was the immense amount of grinding one had to do to make progress, the story--one which was unusually lackluster for a BioWare game, and an exhaustive amount of technical glitches and issues. While the game has gotten considerably better, most of the gaming world seems to have moved on from Anthem. To further twist the knife, Anthem did not meet EA's sales expectations, despite the game's success right from the starting gate. BioWare has essentially had two stinkers in quality in a row now, and perhaps that is the most disappointing aspect of them all.