“[Super Mario Kart] is not like in the recent Mario Karts where you can be trolled by blue shells and be successively hit by 11 opponents. The fact that we still discover new strategies and beat the World Records on a weekly basis makes it really attractive.”

– Super Mario Kart world champ Julien “ScouB” Holmière, speaking to Polygon.

What makes a game like Super Mario Kart timeless?

According to devoted player Sami Cetin, at least part of it has to do with the fact that the 1992 SNES racer doesn’t have a blue shell, which first debuted in Mario Kart 64 and has since inspired much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Cetin has been played Super Mario Kart competitively for decades, going so far as to establish a website dedicated to tracking Super Mario Kart time trial world records (in 1998!) that has since inspired an annual Super Mario Kart World Championship to see who’s the fastest of them all.

Cetin himself won in 2012, and in a new Polygon feature he and current world champ Julien Holmière explain why players continue to find new depths to this 25-year-old game.  

“Being a top player in [Super Mario Kart] requires a huge effort, because there are so many techniques to familiarize yourself with,” Holmière told Polygon. “The handling is much harder than on the recent Mario Karts. When you first play Super Mario Kart you will barely go full speed and barely stay on the track.”

The World Championship isn’t just about racing, either; it requires would-be champions to compete in a variety of game modes, including head-to-head Battle Mode. 

“It all ties in together,” Cetin explained. “A good racer can be a better racer if they have mastered Time Trials; otherwise if their opponent gets out of sight then they [will] have to rely on powerful weapons which may have a very low probability. Similarly, a tactical racer can cause problems for a Time Trial player, providing they are not too much slower. It is a game of chess in a way when playing competitively.”

To read more about how the Super Mario Kart competitive scene works, and what it means to those who participate, you can (and should) read the full article over on Polygon.

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Nintendo often finds a way to surprise its fans and throw a curveball, and so in the most recent Nintendo Direct it didn’t unveil the Switch Virtual Console, as such, but the ‘Arcade Archives’ series. It started this week with Arcade Archives Mario Bros., and the following are still on the way.

• Vs. Super Mario Bros.
• Vs. Balloon Fight
• Vs. Ice Climber
• Vs. Pinball
• Vs. Clu Clu Land
• Punch-Out!!

The names are familiar, but these are all reproductions of arcade cabinets, as made clear with the ‘Vs.’ moniker, for example. In some cases they’re relatively similar to the games that ended up on NES and multiple Virtual Consoles, in others there’s quite a notable difference in terms of content, while the Punch-Out!! arcade is an example of a game quite far removed from the NES equivalent. We’ve reviewed Mario Bros. and quite enjoyed it, while being impressed with the authenticity of the port and the extra features that are available. That’s no surprise, as HAMSTER has been releasing ‘ACA’ Neo Geo titles with the same principles for months and has simply continued the good work.

The reception has been relatively positive, in some respects, but also quite muted. Mario Bros. isn’t burning up the eShop charts after over 24 hours on the store, sitting in 9th in North America and Japan (at the time of writing) and 14th in the UK. In the UK chart, for example, Golf Story is already up to 5th place and has only been out a matter of hours as we publish this.

In some respects the Arcade Archives range feels like a middle ground – it’s not the ‘Virtual Console’, and we still don’t know when (or if) that’ll be fully realised in its traditional form on the Switch. Is the rumoured GameCube actually on the way, or will the ‘Classic Game Selection’ in next year’s full Nintendo Switch Online service fill the gap? Some people are undeniably underwhelmed and questioning the $7.99USD / €6.99 / £6.29 price tag for Mario Bros, while others argue it’s a more than fair price to pay for an official ROM that’s rather unique. On the one hand it’s a faithful reproduction of an arcade cabinet that’s now expensive to acquire, but on the other it’s the same price as (arguably) far more complex and advanced ACA Neo Geo games on the eShop.

We’re curious about what you think of the Arcade Archives range, and whether you’re planning to add many of them to your collection. Are you in the same camp as those posting rather gloomy “RIP VC” messages, a bit more optimistic that a full VC is still coming and that these are an extra treat, or simply pleased as punch with the release schedule and the fact these downloads are coming?

Let us know what you think in the polls and comments.