Mario Kart Friday! - February 18th

MARIO KART POLL DAY!

It's Friday and you know what that means, Friday Poll Day!  A couple Fridays ago I posted a blog begging you to go and vote for Voltron's Blue Lion and success was had as the Blue Lion won the day.  Well, today's poll is greatest Mario Kart driver.  This one is not so easy. I'm torn between a couple characters.  Do I go with the character I originally loved and used? Do I vote for the character I use now?  Egad, first love vs. current fling?  As I'm writing this I still have no idea who I'll vote for.  Well, easiest way to figure this out is to go through the characters.  So lets go through them one by one.  Here's the list: Mario, Luigi, Toad, Yoshi, Bowser, Wario, Princess Peach.

As I'm sure you are going crazy wondering where you can vote, http://www.susanfujiki.com/2011/02/friday-poll-look-its-me-mario.html click that link and remember vote with your heart not your brain.

Lets start with Wario.  Does anybody like Wario? If so, whats your problem?  Now if we were talking Mario SuperStar Baseball there is only one word to describe him, clutch.  He is one bad ass hitter in Super Star Baseball but unfortunately for him we are talking about Mario Kart and Wario just plain sucks at it.



Holy Cow, look at that nose.  Lay off the sauce Wario.



Next up, Luigi.  I don't get Luigi, I never have and never will.  Sure Mario has the burden of having an idiot for a brother and we all feel bad for both of them but why would you want to use Luigi?  Is it pity?  Luigi always seems to be scared of something and has a horribly annoying voice.  Mario is always better at everything so why not just use Mario?  Sorry Luigi, you just don't compare to your brother so you don't get my vote.

Look at him....Idiot. 

What to say about Bowser?  He's big so he can bully his way around the track, that's a good thing.  He can be deceptively fast, another good thing.  Ah, but now we come to the anger thing.  He cant control his anger and that's the heart of the problem.  I just don't trust Bowser to not jump out of his car in a fit of road rage and beat the crap out of Yoshi for doing something stupid.  You cant win a race if you aren't racing so Bowser, you don't get my vote.

Bowser would move up my list if he just got himself some therapy, just look at him.

I wish I had something positive to say about Yoshi but I don't.  Yeah, Yoshi is cute but not as cute as Toad.  So Yoshi fails the cute category.  Is Yoshi a good driver? No, below average on his best day.  Why? Well, Yoshi is a pet.  Nothing more than a filthy animal allowed to drive around in a go kart.  Would you let your dog kart against you? No, its a stupid idea.  So really Yoshi has no business being on the track.  Its really not even clear if the other characters know that he's there.  Maybe it was an oversight? Maybe Mario just needs to leash Yoshi and get him out of the way.  It would probably be best for everybody involved if he did.  Needless to say Yoshi doesn't get my vote.


Leash this guy before he takes a dump on the track.

I don't really have any problems with Princess Peach.  Sure she is a woman so inherently is a worse driver than the rest but..............ok, ok, I'm joking.  Hey stop throwing stuff. Ouch! that hurt! Eeeeee! IT WAS A JOKE!............Ok, now that that is over back to Princess Peach.  I've never really liked her as a driver.  Not fast enough, bad acceleration.  Just not what I look for in a driver.  What Peach does bring to the table is some kick butt courses.  Some of my favorite courses are in the Princess Peach Kingdom but that's not enough to get my vote.

So now it gets difficult, Toad and Mario.  Lets start with Mario. Mario is as balanced a driver as you need.  Great top speed, acceleration and turning.  You really can't go wrong with Mario, he'll win you most races.  I've used him quite a bit on Mario Kart DS.  Not many character flaws, you wont have a PR nightmare on your hands with him.  Always says the right thing and gives you all he has.  I like him, I like how he drives.  There is one thing missing though, loyalty.  That must be considered, so on to Toad. 

So close Mario but not today.

Toad is freaking cute, if you don't see it you must be blind. He's little, cute and always happy.  Even when he's angry he is adorable.  He's the perfect underdog, you never find yourself rooting against him even when you are playing another character.  Traditionally Toad has a very average top speed but that's made up for by having good acceleration.  You have to work a little harder for the win but it's so worth it just to see that smiling face at the finish line. Toad was the very first character I played in any Mario Kart game and for a long time the only character I played.  I worked at a BlockBuster Video in high school through college and we used to set up these massive Mario Kart tournaments.  I always used Toad and he scored me some major wins.  I think it's only right for me to return some of that glory today.  Toad didn't let me down when I needed him so I won't let him down today.  Toad, you get my vote as Greatest Mario Kart Character.