Super Mario Kart

Date played: August 30th
Platform: SNES
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Holy fuck, this game still holds up today.  My brother and I played five or six races against each other in various tracks.  He used Toad a lot and I used Bowser, Peach, Yoshi and Mario.  I was most comfortable with Peach and Yoshi.

Mario Kart has never gone back to this great art style

It's easy to see why this game spawned a seven game franchise and created a whole genre.  The items behave a bit differently than I remember.  For example, the red shells cannot be fired backwards but if you are in first place, the shell will attempt to turn around and hit the person behind you.  There is also the infamous leaf item which has been missing in action since Mario Kart 64.  That thing lets you jump over obstacles, gaps and can even create massive shortcuts.  It would fit in the newer MK games I think.

Interestingly, my SNES cart still has the time trial data in it.  There are some times in there that I did over 15 years ago that I still cannot beat today.  It's amazing how fast me and my second brother were back in the day.  I hope it's just a lack of practice and not my skills that are deteriorating with age.