Mario Kart is a franchise that has proven itself to be a major player in the Nintendo gaming roster.

The Mario Kart franchise isn't quite as old as Super Mario, but it's been a part of the Nintendo stable of properties since the days of the SNES. And while Mario Kart's popularity might not be what it once was, that's never stopped the series from being one of Nintendo's best-selling games, incorporating more Nintendo characters with each installment.

RELATED: 10 Retro Gaming Consoles That Aren’t Classic Minis It's easy to understand why. Nintendo's other major franchise, Super Smash Bros, has some harsh realities for players looking to get into it. Comparatively, almost anyone can get into the fun of the Mario Kart franchise and enjoy a few races with friends. For decades, this popularity has translated into some remarkably solid scores from reviewers across the board.

Nintendo's experiment with mobile gaming has had mixed results, and nowhere is that more clear than with Mario Kart Tour. Available through the Apple App Store and Google Play, Tour changes how Mario Kart typically works, switching from focusing on who wins the race to who can win the most points.

The game's name comes from the new "Tour" mode, where players go through Tours named after real-world cities, gaining special drivers, cups, and more based on those areas. Despite Mario Kart Tour's awful reception, the game generated 200 million in revenue just two years after its release in 2019.

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a reminder that Nintendo hasn't ever forgotten its roots as a toy company. Home Circuit was released in 2020 as part of a Super Mario 35th anniversary celebration. Developed by Velan Studios, the game has players building their own real-life tracks around their homes.

Players pilot radio-controlled cars around their custom-built tracks, viewing the actual game on their Nintendo Switch while the cars run through their homes. Up to four real-life players can participate, likely to make some parents' living rooms a complete mess for at least a weekend. With clever use of augmented reality, Home Circuit received a 75 on Metacritic.

Unsurprisingly, Mario Kart Wii was met with instant acclaim. Nintendo couldn't miss in the Wii era, and everything they did seemed to turn to gold. The exciting thing about Mario Kart Wii was how it relied on the Wii Remote to be placed within a Wii Wheel to allow players to mimic the actions of a steering wheel.

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Smartly, Nintendo included a Wii Wheel with every copy of Mario Kart Wii, so everyone would be able to experience the new control scheme they'd added. With two dozen characters and over thirty tracks to race on, Mario Kart Wii became one of the best-selling Wii games of all time, with 37 million copies sold.

Mario Kart 64 elevated the kart racing idea into a worthwhile genre of its own. After this, everyone wanted in on the kart racing genre, and going forward, it would become part of gaming for the next generation. With the 64 version, Nintendo brought things into the realm of 3D graphics for the tracks, which resulted in fewer but more detailed tracks thanks to the improved graphics.

Mario Kart 64 was a smash hit for Nintendo, becoming the second best-selling game on the console behind only Super Mario 64. From here on, the expectation for the Mario Kart franchise was to be a major pillar in Nintendo's growing collection of series.

The Nintendo 3DS was responsible for carrying Nintendo through the dark days of their home console no one wanted to buy; the Wii U. Mainline entries in certain key franchises suddenly found their way to their handheld system, like the 7th installment in the Mario Kart franchise.

Mario Kart 7 also made significant changes to the formula, with Nintendo adding kart customization, hang-gliding, and a first-person mode. Though some reviewers didn't feel these changes were nearly enough, that didn't stop Mario Kart 7 from being the best-selling game on the 3DS, moving nearly 19 million copies as of March 2022.

With the franchise on its fourth installment, Nintendo aimed to make some major shifts to Mario Kart's gameplay with Double Dash. With Double Dash, players could engage in co-op gameplay as there could be two players per kart. Though it seems weird to have a co-op racing game, Nintendo made it work by having one player in charge of the all-important item attacks, while the other did all the driving.

That said, novel as the idea was, no other franchise has attempted it since. Featuring an expanded roster that added eleven new characters to the franchise, though, Mario Kart: Double Dash was a must-play for fans of the series. The title moved seven million copies for the GameCube, and ranked behind only Super Smash Bros. Melee on the bestseller list.

Though the Wii U was in free fall even at this early point, Nintendo still felt like they had to release a new Mario Kart for it. To their credit, even on the Wii U, this game got a ton of love commercially, selling over eight million copies. That's over half the number of Wii U consoles sold, so people were hungry for the first HD Mario Kart title.

Mario Kart 8 not only included all the features from 7, like underwater racing, but also added anti-gravity, which allowed players to drive on the walls and ceilings of stages for added insanity in the game. Mario Kart 8 also added multiple new items, like the Crazy Eight, which granted whoever owned it eight different items at once, and the best retro courses. With this game, the king was back, and once again, no one could take its throne.

Mario Kart has experienced as much success on handheld as it has on console. Mario Kart DS offered a robust single-player experience for gamers, with both battle and versus modes available for single-player fans.

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That said, it was easy to find someone to play with, as this was the first title to have an online connection, with the game utilizing the DS' Wi-Fi Connection for online play. With so many classic elements available, plus surprisingly gorgeous graphics for a handheld, it's no surprise this was considered by many to be the greatest DS game.

Nintendo was forced to make drastic moves to remain on top after the Wii U, and they went to their one trump card: combining their console and handheld to make a single system. As a result, the Nintendo Switch has been a hit from the moment it launched, thanks in no small part to the monster success of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

This game improved everything that worked in the original Mario Kart 8, adding new characters, new stages for the Battle Mode, and markedly better graphics. Over 40 million copies later, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is one of the Top 10 best-selling games of all time. Fans can only hope some of these tracks appear in the next Mario Kart.

After Mario Kart had proven to be a hit on consoles, Nintendo took the franchise to handheld for their best-received game yet. Mario Kart: Super Circuit kept all the cast of Mario Kart 64, with many of the same races. That's what makes Super Circuit so impressive--for a game on such a tiny handheld, and it's jam-packed with content.

Beating the main single-player mode unlocks all the tracks from the original Super Mario Kart title, dumping a whole new series of tracks to continue racing on. The only downside to this game is how difficult multiplayer was, especially compared to the ease of online multiplayer nowadays, but this was still one of the strongest games on the Game Boy Advance.

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Staff Writer for CBR, Sage Ashford has also written for Comicon as well as other sites such as The Gamer, and has been doing freelance work since 2014, and been working for CBR since 2017. His focus is primarily on spreading the word on obscure anime, comic books, and games whenever possible. Follow him on Twitter @ sageshinigami, or on Twitch @ sageshinigami.