Mario Kart All Stars

Mario Kart All Stars
Developers: Nintendo	Nintendo EAD
Publishers: Nintendo	Nintendo
Genre: Racing	Racing
Year: 2020	2021

Mario Kart All Stars is a racing game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo. It is the ninth main installment in the Mario Kart franchise, the eleventh if including the Nintendo Switch Port of Mario Kart 8 and the 2019 mobile game Mario Kart Tour.  The main focus of this game is the introduction of the Litro cups, which allow players to race through Retro tracks that have already appeared as Retro in previous games, the only tracks to have ever done this before being SNES Rainbow Road, GCN Baby Park and GCN Yoshi Circuit.  A secondary focus is the game is the massive increase in items, character selection, vehicles, cups, and courses, with a particular emphasis on returnnig features from other games. Mario Kart All Stars brings back lots from previous games whilst introducing even more.

Gameplay

The game maintains the standard elements from most other Mario Kart titles. Players pick from a seleciton of characters, most of whom have to be unlocked via challenges of varying difficulty, and race through a cup of four unique tracks, using randomly-generated items to ensure they finish in first place. There are twelve racers on the track, although in online play this can be increased to fifteen.

Karts are no longer customisable like they were in the two previous main series titles, and have reverted back to a selection similar to that of Mario Kart Wii, except all karts are driveable with each character. Bikes return from Mario Kart Wii, but the ATVs from Mario Kart 8 do not.

Returning from Mario Kart 7 are the underwater sections of the track, and from Mario Kart 8 is antigravity. Gliders do make a return too, but not to the extent that they once were - now, they are only utilised when players launch from a cannon, and as they are only there for aesthetics can not be customised.

Point Spread Comparison

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th
Single Player	15	12	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	-	-	-
Online Multiplayer	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Game Modes

Grand Prix

Grand Prix works similarly to past installments. 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc engine classes are available by default, with the Mirror Mode being unlockable. Grand Prix rankings do not carry over to lower engine classes, so by unlocking cups on 150cc does not automatically unlock them for 50cc and 100cc.

Players choose a cup and race through all four of the races against eleven CPU drivers. Players cannot play either online or local multiplayer on Grand Prix. 

Time Trials

Time Trial mode lets the player race through a single course without items or other players in order for them to get their best time possible. Like usual, players begin with a set of Triple Dash Mushrooms, and have the opportunity to race against a Ghost of their previous best attempt (provided they have already run a Time Trial on that course), a specially-selected Nintendo Staff Ghost, or from an uplaode of another player's best time.

Versus Mode

Versus Modes work similiary to Grand Prix, except they are entirely customisable. Players can choose which engine class they would like to play in, how many other races there are, the difficulty of the CPU, whether karts or bikes are available, how many races, what items are allowed on the course, whether coins are present, whether racers are split into teams, and can even choose with racers appear as CPUs. Versus Mode can be played on both local and online multiplayer.

Battle Mode

Like most other istallments, Battle Mode takes place on specially-designed Battle Courses, and are customisable to the extent of Versus Mode. These are also playable in both online and local multiplayer.

There are a variety of different Battle games. Balloon Battle, Shine Thief, Coin Runners and Bob-Omb Blast all make a comeback, with Battle Royale being introduced.​​​​​​ In the Battle Royale mode, players use items to knock out other players and ensure they are the last driver standing. Battle Royale games are often very quick.

Characters

There are 42 playable characters, 26 of which are unlockable.

Newcomers to the series are Baby Wario, Cappy, Dixie Kong, Nabbit, Pauline, Kamek, and Hammer Bro.

===All Unlocked Racers===

Baby Mario	Baby Luigi	Baby Peach	Baby Daisy	Baby Rosalina	Baby Wario	Mii
Mario	Luigi	Peach	Daisy	Rosalina and Luma	Wario	Waluigi
Toad	Toadette	Yoshi	Birdo	Shy Guy	Lakitu	Cappy
Donkey Kong	Diddy Kong	Dixie Kong	Metal Mario	King Boo	Nabbit	Pauline
Bowser	Bowser Jr	Kamek	Koopa Troopa	Koopa Paratroopa	Dry Bones	Hammer Bro
Larry	Roy	Lemmy	Wendy	Iggy	Morton	Ludwig

===Starting Racers===

Baby Mario	Baby Luigi	Baby Peach	Baby Daisy
Mario	Luigi	Peach	Daisy
Wario	Waluigi	Toad	Yoshi
Donkey Kong	Diddy Kong	Bowser	Koopa Troopa

Palette Swaps and Alternate Costumes

Several racers have the option to select different coloured variations of that character, and the new selection of colours can be purcahsed as one item from the Shop. Other racers have the option to wear different Outfits, each of which is purcahsed individually from the shop.

Rosalina and Luma's Palette Swaps

Yellow Luma	Red Luma	Orange Luma
Green Luma	Blue Luma	Pink Luma
Apricot Luma	Black Luma	No Luma

Toad's Palette Swaps

Red Toad	Orange Toad	Yellow Toad
Green Toad	Blue Toad	Purple Toad

Yoshi's Palette Swaps

Green Yoshi	Red Yoshi	Orange Yoshi
Yellow Yoshi	Blue Yoshi	Light Blue Yoshi
Pink Yoshi	White Yoshi	Black Yoshi

Shy Guy's Palette Swaps

Red Shy Guy	Orange Shy Guy	Yellow Shy Guy
Green Shy Guy	Blue Shy Guy	Light Blue Shy Guy
Pink Shy Guy	White Shy Guy	Black Shy Guy

Lakitu's Palette Swaps

Red Lakitu
Green Lakitu

Koopa Troopa's Palette Swaps

Green Koopa Troopa
Red Koopa Troopa
Blue Koopa Troopa

Koopa Paratroopa's Palette Swaps

Red Paratroopa
Green Paratroopa

Hammer Bro's Palette Swaps

Hammer Bro
Boomerang Bro
Fire Bro

Mario's Alternate Costumes

Mario	Fire Mairo	Propellor Mario
Tanooki Mario	Wedding Mario	Builder Mario
Doctor Mario	Penguin Mario	Bee Mario

Luigi's Alternate Costumes

Luigi	Fire Luigi
Propellor Luigi	Kitusne Luigi

Peach's Alternate Costumes

Peach	Fire Peach
Wedding Peach	Cat Peach

Wario's Alternate Costumes

Wario
Biker Wario

Bowser's Alternate Costumes

Bowser
Wedding Bowser

Vehicles

There are a total of 40 vehicles in the game, split into 20 Karts and 20 Bikes. 6 of each are unlockable from the start, these being the first three in each column.

Karts and Bikes

NITRO KARTS	RETRO KARTS	NITRO BIKES	RETRO BIKES
New Standard	SNES Pipe Frame	New Standard	Wii Magikruiser
Monster Truck	GCN Wario Car	Honeysuckle	Wii Mach Bike
Megawatt	DS B-Dasher	Log FLume	Wii Dolphin Dasher
Koopa Kart	DS Egg 1	Plessie Plunger	Wii Flame Runner
Spin Drill	Wii Classic Dragster	Star Bit	Wii Shooting Star
Piranha Pot	Wii Offroader	Penny Cycle	Wii U Duke
Crawler	3DS Koopa Clown	Mechabike	Wii U Varmint
Rally Truck	3DS Cloud 9	Tanooki Rider	Wii U Mr Scooty
Scuttlebuggy	Wii U Landship	Boo Bike	Wii U Jet Bike
F-Zero	Wii U Trispeeder	Excitebike	Wii U Yoshi Bike

Courses

There are a total of 60 tracks in the game, creating a record for the series. These are split into five Nitro Cups (featuring brand new courses), five Retro Cup (featuring returning courses from previous installments), and five new Litro Cups (featuring courses that have already appeared as Retro courses in previous games). The fact that the Nitro and Retro selection now includes five Sups instead of four marks a change to the usual Mario Kart formula. These new Cups - the Nitro Bell Cup and Retro Egg Cup - slot between what had been the third and fourth Cups.

====NITRO COURSES====

Mushroom Cup	Flower Cup	Star Cup	Bell Cup	Special Cup
New Donk Drift	Mario Circuit	Cappy Circuit	The Fruitbowl	Wild Wild Jungle
Vanilla Pass	Donut Marina	Toytime Playhouse	Cascade Falls	Shock Shock Rock
Bulldozer Boulevard	Dessert Desert	Boo's Haunt	Koopa Kingdom	Bowser's Castle
Dry Dry Digouts	Static Substation	Casino Waluigi	Peach's Castle	Rainbow Road

====RETRO COURSES====

Shell Cup	Banana Cup	Star Cup	Bell Cup	Special Cup
DS Figure-8 Circuit	DS Mario Circuit	N64 Wario Stadium	DS Shroom Ridge	SNES Ghost Valley 3
SNES Donut Plains 2	Wii U Thwomp Ruins	3DS Shy Guy Bazaar	Wii U Dolphin Shoals	3DS Alpine Pass
GBA Cheep Cheep Island	GBA Broken Pier	GBA Lakeside Park	Wii Dry Dry Ruins	Wii Bowser's Castle
Wii Toad's Factory	Wii DK Summit	GCN Mushroom City	GCN Wario Colosseum	GCN Rainbow Road

LITRO COURSES

Cherry Cup	Turnip Cup	Feather Cup	Heart Cup	Pepper Cup
GBA Peach Circuit	N64 Mario Raceway	GCN Daisy Cruiser	GBA Luigi Circuit	DS Peach Gardens
SNES Donut Plains 1	Wii Coconut Mall	Wii Koopa Cape	GCN Dino Dino Jungle	GCN DK Mountain
N64 Choco Mountain	GBA Sky Garden	N64 DK's Jungle Parkway	Wii Maple Treeway	N64 Bowser's Castle
DS Luigi's Mansion	3DS Piranha Plant Slide	DS Waluigi Pinball	DS Airship Fortress	SNES Rainbow Road

====DOWNLOADABLE COURSES====

Hammer Cup	Spiny Cup	Cap Cup
Giant's Raceway	Koopa Coaster	Freezeflame Star
Shell Petrol	GBA Yoshi's Desert	GCN Peach Beach
Wii U Toad Harbour	SNES Vanilla Lake 2	3DS Wario's Galleon
N64 Frappe Snowland	DS Delfino Square	N64 Banshee Boardwalk

BATTLE STAGES

Moon Games	Shine Games	Kuribo Games
City Spiral	GBA Battle Course 4	SNES Battle Course 4
Sunken Sands	3DS Honeyhive House	GCN Pipe Plaza
Biddybug Woods	N64 Double Deck	DS Palm Shore
Dry Dry Templetop	Wii Funky Stadium	N64 Big Donut
Solar Arena	NX Sweet Sweet Kingdom	3DS Wuhu Town

Items

As in all Mario Kart games, Mario Kart All Stars utilsies the Item Box, which grants the player an item based on their position in the race.

Returning Items

Mushrooms

• Dash Mushroom
• Triple Dash Mushroom
• Golden Mushroom
• Mega Mushroom

Bananaas

• Banana
• Triple Banana

Shells

• Green Shell
• Triple Green Shell
• Red Shell
• Triple Red Shell
• Spiny Shell

Enemies

• Boo
• Blooper
• Bullet Bill
• Bob-Omb
• Potted Piranha Plant

Power-Ups

• Fire Flower
• Boomerang
• Super Star
• Lightning
• Fake Item Box

New Items

• Magnet

Attract nearby coins for a short time.

• Banzai Bill

Fire a raging Banzai Bill that moves forwards through the track like a Bullet Bill and knocks away anyone it hits.

• Poison Mushroom

Leave a fake ‘Dash Mushroom’ on the track that shrinks whichever player runs into it.