All Mario Kart Games Ranked from Least to Most Fun

Mario Kart Live Home Circuit cropped processed by imagy

10. Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (2020)

Turning the living room into a racetrack sounds like exactly the sort of wonderfully unnecessary idea Nintendo would commit to, and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit really does pull it off. A camera-equipped physical kart follows courses you build with cardboard gates while digital hazards appear on the Switch screen, creating an impressive augmented-reality trick. The catch is that the fun depends heavily on having enough open floor space, good lighting, and patience for setup. Brilliant toy, fascinating experiment, slightly awkward Mario Kart. | © Nintendo

9. Super Mario Kart (1992)

Every banana peel, friendship-ending Red Shell, and Rainbow Road disaster traces back to Super Mario Kart, so criticizing it feels a little like complaining that the wheel lacks Bluetooth. Its Mode 7 presentation was dazzling at the time, while Battle Mode and the character roster established ideas the series would spend decades refining. Returning to it now exposes narrow circuits, stiff cornering, and some aggressively unforgiving computer opponents. Historically, it is untouchable. As something to casually throw on for an evening, its descendants simply became much easier to love. | © Nintendo

8. Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001)

Putting a convincing Mario Kart game on the Game Boy Advance was already a minor technical miracle, and Mario Kart: Super Circuit packed in far more content than its tiny cartridge suggested. Alongside 20 original courses, players could unlock all 20 tracks from the SNES game, giving this handheld entry an enormous selection for its era. The problem comes when actually driving: the flat tracks and twitchier handling have aged noticeably. It remains impressive, but admiration and wanting another race are not always the same thing. | © Nintendo

7. Mario Kart DS (2005)

Nintendo somehow squeezed one of the series’ most feature-packed entries into a handheld with two tiny screens. Mario Kart DS brought 32 courses, introduced retro tracks as a regular series fixture, offered proper online racing through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, and even included the still-missed Mission Mode. Waluigi Pinball alone has probably justified millions of nostalgic arguments. What drags it down slightly is snaking, the repeated mini-turbo technique that dominated higher-level play and could make serious races feel like thumb gymnastics. Everything else remains remarkably easy to revisit. | © Nintendo

6. Mario Kart Wii (2008)

Fairness occasionally takes the evening off in Mario Kart Wii, and that is arguably half the attraction. Twelve-driver races created wonderfully crowded disasters, motorcycles introduced wheelies and a completely different competitive dynamic, while tricks made ramps feel more satisfying than ever before. Then there was the Wii Wheel, which let practically anyone join without learning a traditional controller first. Item chaos can become downright vindictive, especially when the game decides first place has been comfortable for several consecutive seconds. Still, few Mario Kart entries produce louder rooms or better grudges. | © Nintendo

5. Mario Kart 64 (1996)

Ask four people who owned a Nintendo 64 what ruined their friendships, and somebody will eventually mention Mario Kart 64. Four-player split-screen transformed the series into a genuine party institution, while Yoshi Valley, Royal Raceway, and that absurdly long Rainbow Road became permanently lodged in gaming memory. The jump to 3D courses gave races a sense of scale the SNES game could never manage, even though the racers themselves were still rendered as sprites. Its rubber-banding is shameless and several tracks feel sparse today, but multiplayer remains dangerously effective. | © Nintendo

4. Mario Kart 7 (2011)

The number in the title may be hilariously functional, but Mario Kart 7 quietly redesigned the series more than its reputation suggests. Gliders opened tracks vertically, underwater sections changed how courses flowed, and customizable kart bodies, wheels, and gliders gave players control over their setups. Those ideas became so fundamental that later Mario Kart games almost make them feel inevitable. Being confined to the 3DS means it lacks the couch-multiplayer spectacle of its console siblings, yet the racing itself is wonderfully clean. This is Nintendo refinement mode operating at full efficiency. | © Nintendo

3. Mario Kart World (2025)

After years of polishing essentially the same structure, Mario Kart World finally decided the roads between the tracks should matter too. Its interconnected environment supports Free Roam, while Grand Prix races spill across different locations instead of treating every circuit like an isolated theme park attraction. Twenty-four-driver races push the usual item chaos into borderline traffic disaster, and Knockout Tour turns survival into its own source of panic. Not every stretch of the enormous world is equally exciting, but the ambition is unmistakable. Mario Kart suddenly feels interested in getting lost again. | © Nintendo

2. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003)

No sequel has ever fully copied Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, which is probably why people have spent more than two decades asking Nintendo to bring its gimmick back. Every kart carries two characters: one drives, one handles items, and players can swap them during the race. Character-specific special items make team selection genuinely meaningful rather than purely cosmetic, while two-player cooperative driving introduces exactly the sort of communication that eventually becomes yelling. It is heavier and stranger than modern Mario Kart, but that odd personality has aged into one of its greatest strengths. | © Nintendo

1. Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2014 / 2017)

It is almost rude how little Mario Kart 8 Deluxe leaves for a sequel to fix. The original Wii U release introduced gorgeous anti-gravity courses that twist across walls and ceilings, while the Switch version refined the package with a proper Battle Mode, expanded roster, and smarter item options. Add the Booster Course Pass and Deluxe balloons into a ridiculous 96-course celebration of the entire series. More importantly, the handling hits that elusive middle ground where newcomers survive and obsessive players still find techniques to master. One race becomes twelve with alarming efficiency. | © Nintendo