Mario Kart is one of Nintendo's best-selling franchises with its origins stemming back from the original F-Zero games. Meanwhile, fans have been wondering whether the iconic series should change its name.
The Origins Of Mario Kart
According to My Nintendo News, MK producers Shigeru Miyamoto and directors Hideki Konno and Tadashi Sugiyama recently sat down for an interview regarding the racing game. They claimed that the original plan for the game never involved Mario nor karts as its roots lie with Super Famicom's F-Zero. The game was supposedly designed for single-player gameplay with the main focus on getting across the "sense of speed and the size of the courses."
However, the Kart idea came to them when they were designing a prototype for a multiplayer version of F-Zero. They held plenty trial and error periods with Mario eventually being added in during one of the sessions. Back then, they came across several hardware limitations they did not meet their standards for a proper multiplayer F-Zero game.
Because of this, they turned to the only choice left which was kart racing. They found that this type of game could easily work with the limitations they had at the time but another problem was giving each driver their own identity. In the end, they ended up bringing in Mario as he is a recognizable character even from behind during races. They eventually brought in more characters from the franchise which ended up becoming the series fans love and know to date.
Changing The Name Of The Franchise?
However, Polygon shares than fans are now questioning the franchise's name as characters from all different games have made their way into the game. Similarly, the new maps are also locations from different titles like The Legend of Zelda. Some players have been comparing the game to Super Smash Bros. for its diverse roster with some netizens jokingly suggesting the racing game's title be changed to Super Smash Racing/Kart.
Although, the game is already famous for its current title and changing it would more or less make it feel like a different game. Similarly, without the hardware limitations in the past, Mario Kart might be a completely different franchise today.
