Super Mario Kart F1 Tracks is a ROM hack, created by MarioDesigner, of the SNES game Super Mario Kart which alters the track in the game to look and feel similar to F-1 racing tracks.
Created in 1992 for the SNES by Nintendo, Super Mario Kart is a kart racing game and the first in a long line of Mario Kart games to come following Super Mario Kart‘s groundbreaking success. It is credited for creating the “kart racing” subgenre spawning an influx of similar games such as Sega‘s Sonic Drift, Ubisoft‘s Street Racer, and Atari‘s Atari Karts, to name a few. Super Mario Kart changed the rules of driving games and provided the world with one of the most addictive multiplayer experiences ever.
New Game Features
This game has the following new features
- All New Levels Fashioned After F-1 Tracks
Game Description
If you want to see a video of Super Mario Kart F1 Tracks in action, check out the video below.
Super Mario Kart F1 Tracks takes the basic game of SMK and changes all of the tracks so that they are fairly faithful remakes of real Formula One tracks.
Not being a person knowledgeable of F1 myself, I had to do some poking around to see if the maps were really that close to the real life tracks. Putting them side by side, you can see what the creator was able to do within the limitations of the game. Many of the tracks had to be squeezed and shortened but overall are pretty similar.
If you have already played Mario Kart do death, or are suffering from “I’m too good at this game and now my friends won’t play with me” syndrome, you can certainly give this hack a try and see how you hold up to authentic racing tracks.
Title Screen
The title screen for this hack remains the same as the one presented in the original game. There is few frames just before the title screen that appears that lets you know you aren’t playing a normal version of SMK, though.
Graphics
The game focuses entirely on recreating real Formula One tracks and implementing those tracks into Mario Kart. In doing this, the hack creator has made palette changes to a number of the tiles from the game
Gameplay
F1 Tracks plays just as normal SMK plays. New players may get a kick out of the altered challenge of the maps due to the difference in turns and corners that are atypical of the classic SMK. Players will notice that all the gimmicks and tricks that come with SMK have been removed and, most importantly, it is impossible to fall off of the track. Also, it is much harder to skip portions of the map via shortcuts.
Sound
There were not changes made to the music or the sound effects for this hack.
Download
If you wish to play this game you can download the Super Mario Kart F1 Tracks Rom by clicking here.
Conclusion
So is this game worth a try? Super Mario Kart F1 Tracks is a simple hack which replaces the tracks of SMK with tracks representing real life F1 tracks. This simple concept alters the game to be slightly more difficult as it largely removes the ability to use shortcuts and instead emphasizes driving ability. It would have been interesting to see the removal of items as well, however, they may have potentially made the game a little too stale and too close to any other driving simulator effectively breaking the kart-style aspect.
If you have played this game please let us know what you thought of the game by leaving us a comment.
