Called rubber banding, this gameplay mechanism allows other racers a realistic chance to catch up to the leading racer.

For example, players lagging far behind may receive more powerful items, such as Bullet Bills which give the player a bigger speed boost depending on the place of the player, while the leader may only receive small defensive items, such as Shells or Bananas. The game chooses an item based on the player's current position in the race.

These power-ups include Mushrooms to give players a speed boost, Shells to be thrown at opponents, Banana peels, and Fake Item Boxes as hazards. Gameplay is enhanced by power-up items obtained by driving into item boxes laid out on the course. Up to sixteen characters can compete in each race (the exact number varies between games). In the Mario Kart series, players compete in go-kart races, controlling one of a selection of characters, mainly from the Mario franchise. Darran Jones of NowGamer suggests that the success of Super Mario Kart resulted from the Super Mario characters, and being a new type of racing game. Its development was overseen by Shigeru Miyamoto, the Japanese designer of many successful Nintendo games including Super Mario Bros. The first game in the Mario Kart series is Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992.

The series logo until Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 More than 150 million copies in the series have been sold worldwide. The latest game in the main series, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, was released on the Nintendo Switch in October 2020. The Mario Kart series totals fourteen games, with six on home consoles, three on handheld consoles, four arcade games co-developed with Namco, and one for mobile phones. The series was launched in 1992 with Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, to critical and commercial success. It features characters and courses from the Mario series, plus Nintendo franchises such as The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing and Splatoon. Players compete in go-kart races while using various power-up items. Mario Kart is a series of racing games developed and published by Nintendo.

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