I've got to balance out this game's average rating 'cause y'all are brutal on this website. This game single handedly invented the genre of kart racers so it gets 5 stars from me for its impact. Took what could be a fun but rather simplistic genre and added things like items and a battle mode to make for a great party experience. The physics absolutely take some getting used to, but once you get used to them this is a lot of fun. I feel like a lot of people who are used to newer entries in the series are going to try this out once, think the physics are awful, and turn it off with a sour taste in their mouth. But back in the day this was it dude, this was the game like this, and you would play it over and over until you got it and it was fun! I mainly did this with Super Circuit on the GBA as a kid, but that skill set translated over to this game once I started playing it. Mode 7 is also dope, this game good.