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Miyamoto on the inception of Mario Kart, decision to include items
The following comes from a Retro Gamer interview with Shigeru Miyamoto plus co-directors Hideki Konno and Tadashi Sugiyama.
On Mario Kart's F-Zero roots:
“Our original plan didn’t include Mario or karts. The game’s roots lie in one of the launch titles for the SNES: F-Zero.
The game was designed for single-player gameplay because of our focus on getting across the sense of speed and the size of the courses. It was a prototype for a multiplayer version of F-Zero that ended up being the starting point for Super Mario Kart, and from there we went through a period of trial and error to find what worked.
You could say that Mario was added to the racing game as a result of this trial and error. F-Zero displays the layer for the course over an area of 100 screens in order to create a feeling of speed and scale. However, because of hardware limitations, splitting the screen for multiplayer required the courses be displayed within an area no more than four TV screens wide by four screens high, i.e. 16 screens.
We tried creating an F-Zero style circuit within that limitation, but found it too difficult to race in with an F1-type vehicle, making it impossible to create a course that could give you a feeling of speed.
In a last-ditch attempt, we came up with what we felt was our only choice: kart racing. Karts were a great fit for these compact courses. However, with the drivers wearing helmets and racing suits, they all looked the same from behind and lacked individuality. It’s hard to tell who is who, so we ran into another problem there.” – Konno and Sugiyama
On the decision to include items:
“When we decided that we would be making Mario Kart as a racing game, I thought that we shouldn’t make a normal car-racing game, but instead create something based around the fun of competing for position, using karts as the medium. It was a natural development that we would use items so that players who aren’t as good could still have a chance to win, or that players who were behind could have something to give them a helping hand.” – Miyamoto
“The first item we made in the prototype was oil, which became the Banana. We created items making sure they would fit with the Mario setting. In order to add offensive, defensive and unique elements to the gameplay while making sure these remained balanced, we added items with a Mario-esque design, such as Shells for attacking, Stars for invincibility and Ghosts for stealing other items, all while still prioritizing the game processing.
Before this game was completed we went through thousands of tests to balance the items It was really exciting during the test plays when we would win or lose thanks to the effects of the items.” – Konno and Sugiyama