What was the first game in Nintendo’s Mario Kart racing series?

Super Mario Kart was the first game in Nintendo’s Mario Kart racing series.

Nintendo released Super Mario Kart for the Super Famicom in Japan in 1992 and for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in other regions later that year. It established the series’ combination of kart racing, Mario characters, item-based attacks, and themed courses.

The game included a Grand Prix mode, time trials, versus racing, and the battle mode that became a recurring feature. Its Mode 7 graphical effects helped create the impression of a three-dimensional track layout on the SNES’s two-dimensional hardware.

Mario Kart 64 was the second main series entry, not the original. The franchise later expanded to handheld systems, home consoles, arcades, and mobile platforms.