They can come in various sizes and colors, generally regarding to certain character's size and color. The first appearance of the karts was in and consequently, they appeared in every Mario Kart game to thus far. The appearance of the karts also changed considerably lately in each game, coming out in a variety of shapes and features. A key on every kart lies on its stats, engine power and performance. Besides the appearance, each kart is identified by its stats, basically on their size, weight, and speed. Thus, this means a character's kart is not essentially the same as the karts of the others. The Karts also have presented in other game series and media such as in the , comics, and toys. Mario Kart series Super Mario Kart For the first mainstream of the Mario Kart series, Karts appear in Super Mario Kart as simple go-karts with frames of various colors, regarding to the character driving the vehicle. In case the player's character lost a race from fifth place or lower, or attempting to retry the race, the character loses one kart three to start as a life. Losing all the karts quits the Grand Prix. However, it is possible to regain one life more by placing the same position three times in the row. In , Karts appear with a similar appearance to in Super Mario Kart; they have few changes from the 16-bit game but include a redesigned appearance and new sounds. Both characters and karts are classified by three classes of weights: light, medium, and heavy. Lights are karts that show a high speed but a fairly low endurance. Medium karts show all-around traits, whereas Heavy karts have high endurance but poor speed. Mario Kart: Super Circuit Karts, shown in , appear the same as in Mario Kart 64. Their traits are similar to the karts shown before, which the vehicle is classified in accordance to its basic stats: Light for the Kart that shows high speed and low weight, Medium for the kart that shows a balanced ratio in speed and weight, and Heavy for the kart with great weight and low speed. In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, the player can press to sound the horn. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! In , the basic models of the karts, seen from Super Mario Kart to Mario Kart: Super Circuit, are taken out. For the Mario Kart for the , the karts appear in new models and styles. Most of them reflect some character's special characteristics, such as Mario's kart, the , which it is a red and blue-colored all-terrain vehicle, rendering Mario's letter M emblem on its body and wheels. The karts have a seat on the front where a character drives the kart and a platform in the rear of the vehicle where the second character is able to use an , taken from the. Just as in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! The use of these karts is determined by the characters' weights; therefore, while one of the two characters has a higher weight, characters use a kart within the Medium or Heavy weight class. Pairing both lightweight characters results in a vehicle used as a light kart. The breaks this rule, being usable for any character. Every kart has also its own stats. The kart's stats are qualified by the amount of stars on its acceleration, speed, and weight. However, these stars can be misleading. In general, lightweight karts have a high acceleration, but a fair low speed and endurance. Medium-weight karts have balanced stats, whereas heavyweight karts show a high top speed and endurance, and low acceleration. Despite that conventional-looking Karts are absent in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! There are twenty-one karts in all for this installment. However, in , the characters have an option to choose a secondary kart that was made for them, rather similar to Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Just as Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Regarding to the character selected, he or she can be light, medium, or heavy, emphasizing one of these aspects for the vehicle available. These karts are redesigned, having white bumpers and a hood of different color palettes that matches the character's custom color. The decal of the character is shown over the hood, although the player can replace it for his or her own in the. Additionally, every character can select at least one of three vehicles excluding , having only his Standard Kart SG , exclusive for being rather different in design and stats than the character's Standard Kart. While a Standard Kart has plain stats, the other vehicles can have a high speed, acceleration or items ratio, depending on what the vehicle is made for. Lightweight karts like 's Standard Kart YS have the highest acceleration rating. Most of the karts within the heavyweight class show the highest speed rating. When a kart has a higher weight, it is capable of knocking lighter karts further. A high drifting rate makes the kart turn tighter. The strength of the boost caused by drifting also depends on how high the kart's handling is. As the kart's item stat is high, the character can receive more rare items to use. The smaller the kart's wheels, the lower the meter is for the Items stat. Similar to Mario Kart DS, the typical go-karts receive the name of Standard Karts, and are classified according to the size of the vehicle, split in three groups: Standard Kart S for small-sized characters; Standard Kart M for medium size characters and Standard Kart L for large characters. Albeit weight classes are replaced for size classes, the general aspects of the karts are the same as appeared throughout the series. In addition, each racer can vary the kart's custom stats with the bonus points he or she has for each feature and select other five karts in the determined character's size. Unlike their two-wheeled counterparts , Karts cannot perform wheelies. However, they can release a more powerful boost by drifting than a bike, depending how long the respective button is pressed. They are seen to have some new additions: they deploy gliders if a character is propelled in the air from a high place to help them glide, and when underwater, a propeller will appear at the back to help push the kart along. Players are able to customize their karts as well. Some Karts from previous installments also return in the game. They have a similar appearance to the Standards from , but this time they have a new addition for the anti-gravity; the wheels go horizontal. Like in Mario Kart 7, the players are able to choose the bodies, wheels, and gliders for their karts. The Pipe Frame and Gold Standard return from Mario Kart 7 with slightly different appearances. The player can also press the player icon on the to sound the horn or press the item button when there's no item being held , a feature absent since Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. Karts also come equipped with lights, which turn on when karts enter a tunnel or a dark area. Three additional karts are available for free the , and the , while eight more are paid DLC. In the enhanced port , all the kart parts from Mario Kart 8 return as base game content, including the DLC parts. As well, the returns from Mario Kart 7 as the only kart body not present in Mario Kart 8. They compete against and and make another reference to the Mario Kart games by dropping and making them crash. The karts seen in this comic resemble those seen in the then-new Mario Kart 64. Unlike their video game equivalents, though, they can also be turned into jet skis by pushing a button on their steering-wheels. Mario Kirby Meisaku Video A Kart makes an appearance resembling the one in Super Mario Kart in the Mario segment of the where Mario drives it during his pursuit of the mysterious thief. Eventually, after being attacked by some monsters, he spins out near a vegetable garden. The karts' handling differs with the characters driving them, but all of them utilize Mario Kart standards like drift, jump, and turbo. They're extremely durable and impossible to total. Brawl Karts make a brief appearance in. Unlike in Melee, where they appear as trophies, they are obstacles for the battle stage. All the karts are as seen in Mario Kart DS, driven by red competing a race, while characters carry out their battle there. The karts tend to pass in the road where contestants fight, dealing damage to anybody who makes contact with them. Characters can use their moves against karts to send them flying away. Unlike how they looked in Mario Kart DS, Karts come in various colors, and their bumpers and emblems are colored differently as well. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and Donkey Kong were also seen driving karts in Rosalina's trailer. When used, Mario, Peach and Yoshi karts play , , and music, from Mario Kart Wii, respectively.
