Baby Mario

History:

Baby Mario is the same Character as Mario, merely a younger version. In the late 60s Mario and Luigi were attacked by Kamek, Major Domo to Lord Bowser. Kamek was a very powerful Wizard who foresaw (correctly) that the Brothers would spell doom for the Koopa Kingdom and their aspirations of dominating the Mushroom World. When he was still a baby flying over Dinosaur Land Kamek struck and managed to kidnap Luigi, but Mario fell to earth and eventually found Yoshi. Through their teamwork they eventually managed to rescue his brother, but Kamek, seeking to displace them in time launched Baby Mario far into the future. Now Baby Mario has spent time playing sports with his Older Self and has proven to be nearly as adept of a Racer as he would grow to be. He's still seeking a means to travel back to the past in order to avoid a Paradox.

Double Dash:

Baby Mario first appeared in Double Dash, which had a huge cast of new characters to fill out its promise of tons of wacky Partner possibilities. Baby Mario and Waluigi? Yes please. Despite this Double Dash had more insistence on Kart differences than character differences to determine how well they could drive. Each character merely chose the player's weight class and Special Item, but everyone did have a specific Kart, though it could be used by anyone in their weight class. Baby Mario drives the Goo Goo Buggy, a fairly useless Vehicle.

The Goo Goo Buggy actually handles pretty nicely, its turn speed is fairly high and it has average shocks. However, there are so many better Light Karts to choose from. Its Acceleration is 7th in the Game, which seems great until you realise that it's 6th among Light Karts. Despite this it also has one of the worst Top Speeds in the game at 55 mph. It's average in weight for a Light Kart but 17th overall, meaning it's going to get rocked. Its only other outstanding stat may be its High Offroad Speed, which is necessary only because it's going to be knocked all around the course because it can neither accelerate fast enough to escape other Bigger Karts nor maintain a good speed.

Baby Mario and Baby Luigi in this game both use the Chain Chomp as an Item, which at first seems awesome. It creates a huge monster that tows your Vehicle, destroying all in your path and rapidly pulling you along. It's tough though because when the Chomp lets go is basically up to him and could be straight into a nasty Offroad patch or even off a cliff on a turn, which you'll hit at full speed. It will also only come up if you're deep near the back of the pack, meaning if you're a good racer at all you'll never see it. Sometimes it can be tricky too - if you release it at a funny angle or behind you it's possible that the Chomp will actually take you out and then keep going without you. That's awful. I think it's more trouble than its worth but lots of people enjoy it.

Double Dash had Secret Staff Ghosts. Baby Mario always uses the Goo Goo Buggy and partners with Baby Luigi. He takes the lead on their signature track, Baby Park in 1:11:108. He follows Baby Luigi in Sherbert Land though, with a time of 1:25:904.

Wii:

Baby Mario comes back in the huge cast of Wii. This time each Size Class has Six Karts and Six Bikes to choose from, each of which has a very specific set of stats. In addition, each Character adds his or her own Bonuses to each stat, making everything very customizable, although there are still only a few obvious choices. Baby Mario has some great bonuses. His +6 gives him the Best Handling in the Game and even though his +8 Weight is tied with Baby Luigi as the biggest Bonus possible, it still makes most of his rides only barely equal to the lightest Middle Karts. Still, this makes him a powerhouse amidst the other Lightweights. Here are his stats, the Max of any category is 80:

Fearsome.

When using the Bit Bike Baby Mario has the Best Handling in the Game at 73. His weight boost also makes the Tiny Titan and Mini Beast pretty formidable among some of the Middleweights. Baby Mario is basically the king of the Lightweights, his Kart Design is almost always the default for the Little Guys. There are also some interesting results of his colour schemes - his Magikruiser most resembles his nemesis Kamek and his Blue Falcon most resembles its inspiration, Captain Falcon's F-Zero vehicle. He's also most associated with the Baby Booster, his signature Kart.

Baby Mario has two Ghosts in the game, thanks to there being a ton of Mario Circuits. On the 64 Mario Raceway he does a 02:14.799 in the Bit Bike, then the Expert goes 01:59.053 in the Mini Beast. On the SMK Mario Circuit 3 he does a 01:38.880 in the Standard Kart S and then upgrades to the Bullet Bike in 01:26.659.