I love Mario Kart. Yea, I bet you didn’t see that one coming, did you? At first, I considered writing about another one of my loves: fantasizing. Then, it hit me that I wasn’t doing much to make this piece personal and that’s sort of the point, now isn’t it? I mean, I could write about something sex related or talk about my blog and I obviously enjoy those things quite a bit, otherwise I wouldn’t do them. Yet, you probably already know that and it doesn’t really tell you anything about me. And when you’re a contributor to a site which focuses on sex toys, fantasizing isn’t really a stretch.

So, I love Mario Kart, you know, the game with Mario and Luigi and Princess Peach and Yoshi and the like race each other in cute little go karts around fantastical tracks and pelt each other with different items (I actually considered making a blue versus green shell analogy in a recent review but decided most people wouldn’t get it). It’s totally fun (I actually like to have fun. I know, crazy, right?). The useable items make much more exciting than most racing games and the characters are just plain fun. Some I remember from my younger days and others are new additions to the game.

The cartridge for the game is sitting in a bright pink, squishy (silicone, I think!) game case on my desk in front of me. If I hadn’t just bought a new game, it would be in my DS already, where it sat for months. Every time I would turn on the system, I would play Mario Kart, without fail. I used to play the game everyday on the bus for work, too, so I played around an hour a day and became quite good. I’ve unlocked all the extra tracks and characters at this point. In fact, I may have unlocked everything (although there are still some badges to earn). I prefer to play as Dry Bones or ROB 63, both of whom are untraditional characters but have awesome skills for racing. It’s rare that I don’t finish in first place but that’s just the draw of the game. Just when I think I’ve got it down and the finish line is in sight, I look back and there’s a blue shell or a missile heading straight toward me and I’m blown off the track. No more than a few seconds pass and I’m already in fourth place – or worse! – when I cross the finish line. It’s frustrating yet exhilarating, both.

I love playing against people who are actually in the same room with me – which is probably why I fell in love with Mario Kart the first time I played it. It was the first game I ever played for hours on end and that I still love the series but don’t consider myself a gamer is no big feat! I never played the original version on the SNES; I was first exposed to the game when I was in middle school and the Nintendo 64 version was released. This is still probably my favorite and I have many fond memories of playing with my friends after school and on the weekends. Playing against real people is always so much more exciting than playing the computer and it always adds a bit of variability to the game.

This feature is still available with newer versions. The WiFi capabilities of the DS mean I can play with up to 7 other folks; it’s limited to certain tracks (and they can only play as a ShyGuy) if they don’t have the game but it’s fully capable if they do. I bought my sister Mario Kart the last time I visited and we played against each other for hours. I forced my good friend to buy it so we could all play together as well. Why? Because I totally love it and while playing against the computer is fun, it’s even greater to play against the people I love (even if I may hate them momentarily; that was my win, dammit!).

As I write this, I am working on my mother to give up her Nintendo 64 which is covered in several years’ worth of dust. She’s almost caved in. If she does, you should come over and play Mario Kart with me.