Mario Kart

In the Mario Kart series of games, the Mario characters drive small vehicles called Karts and race themselves on Mario-themed courses such as Donut Plains, Delfino Plaza or Bowser's Castle. Racers can grab items from the item boxes on each track, and use them to boost themselves or hinder other racers.

Mario Kart games belong to the Mario universe; also Yoshi and Donkey Kong appear in these games.

Five Mario Kart games appeared before Super Smash Bros. Brawl. They are:


 * 1) Super Mario Kart (for Super NES)
 * 2) Mario Kart 64 (for Nintendo 64)
 * 3) Mario Kart Super Circuit (for Game Boy Advance)
 * 4) Mario Kart Double Dash!! (for Nintendo GameCube)
 * 5) Mario Kart DS (for Nintendo DS)

A sixth game, Mario Kart Wii, appeared after Brawl.

Super Smash Bros. series
Mario Kart did not invent the green and red shells; those go back to Super Mario Bros. for NES. All Mario Kart games include both shells as items to attack other racers. A green shell travels in a straight line (bouncing off walls), but a red shell aims for a racer. This behavior carries into Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee; in these games a Green Shell goes straight but a Red Shell aims to hit players.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl introduces the Mario Circuit stage. This stage does not seem to come from any specific Mario Kart game, but it represents the Mario Kart series in Brawl. Though Brawl lacks the Red Shell, it retains the Green Shell and adds the Banana Peel.

All Mario Kart arms include the banana peel, an item to drop on the track and cause racers to spin out. However, Brawl classifies the Banana Peel as an item from the Smash universe, not the Mario universe.