Mario

History:

Mario has always been the go-to-guy in the Mushroom Kingdom. From rescuing Princesses to defeating Giant Turtles, this guy can do everything. Well, he can do both of those things. Throughout his adventures and continuous Coin Collection Mario was eventually able to purchase an old Racetrack built in 1956 and re-shape it in his image, the Mario Circuit. It was once the proudest of all Raceways. Mario began his life as a simple plumber, but after he realised he was one of only a handful of Humans in a Kingdom populated by Tiny Talking Mushrooms he found a chance for Glory. In these Racing Games he's typically the first choice in the Menu and one of the more well-rounded Drivers.

Super:

Just happy to be alive.

Mario is statistically identical to his brother, Luigi and classified as one of "The Bros." SMK ranked its eight drivers in four categories - Acceleration, Top Speed, Handling and Weight. Mario is in the middle of all these categories, neither having an advantage or disadvantage. Through the Rival System of SMK Mario's chief opponents in order of fastest to slowest are: DK Jr, Peach, Yoshi, Luigi, Toad, Bowser, then Koopa Troopa. Clearly there is some bad blood leftover between him and DK Jr after what he did to his father. It's interesting that he doesn't have much of a rivalry with Bowser. As a computer player he uses the Invincible Star a ton.


64/Super Circuit: 

Mario also appeared here and his Kart was red. Yippee. He's identical in both of these games, a Middleweight, a distinction he again shares only with his brother, Luigi. He's average in just about everything. His primary goal, obviously, is to win the Gold in each Cup, thus allowing him an easy segue into Peach's castle so he can bury his shroom in her garden, if you get my drift. C'mon, a Cake for all that work? Gimme a break. This man's got a Moustache Ride with that Blonde's name on it.

Double Dash:

Double Dash is a unique Mario Kart game not only for the obvious reason that you picked two drivers, but the only difference between the 20 Characters was the weight class. Otherwise Karts made up the distinction, along with what Special Item you'd be likely to receive. Mario's Item is the Red Fireball, which can be used equally effectively as an Offensive Weapon thrown in front or a Defensive one thrown behind. Its advantage over shells is the same as its disadvantage: It attacks a wide path but there is equally wide gaps in between each. So while there's a ton, there's a ton that isn't difficult to dodge. They also don't survive that long.

That's more like it.

Mario uses Middleweight vehicles except when paired with Kong, Wario, Bowser, Petey and Boo. Thus the fastest Karts he may use are the Green Fire, DK Jumbo, Koopa King and Piranha Pipes, the Best Accelerating Karts he may use are the Boo Pipes, and the Best Offroad he may find is the Waluigi Racer and Boo Pipes. The Least bounciest he may use is also the Boo Pipes, the narrowest is the Bloom Coach, and the most Turn Speed is the DK Jumbo.

Mario's Signature Kart is the Red Fire. For a Middle Kart it's one of the fastest, but also the second-slowest to accelerate. It also has the slowest Offroad of all the Middle Karts. It has one of the worst Turn Speeds of all the Middle Karts, and is one of the more bouncier Karts overall, but is still beaten by the Waluigi Racer, Turbo Yoshi and Turbo Birdo in this regard. It's size is average. In general it's only beneficial nature is really its speed, overall it's not that great, and handles more towards a Heavy Kart would but without the necessary weight.

There were secret Staff Ghosts in Double Dash, through which Mario is involved on three tracks. He's a passenger on Luigi Circuit with Luigi in 1:26:277, he drives Luigi on his own Mario Circuit in 1:41:384 and comes back on Rainbow Road with Peach in the back at 3:16:476. He steers the Red Fire for all of these.

DS:

DS further pushed the idea of Karts making the ride, not the driver. Mario's specific Karts include the B Dasher, the Shooting Star and of course the Standard MR. The only stat that varies between drivers is their weight. Mario adds about 1.8 to the weight of all his vehicles. The stats for his signature Karts are as follows:

DS started this idea of having something for everyone. While the Standard MR is just about in the middle the Shooting Star has much better Speed, Acceleration and Handling at the expense of a terrible Item ranking. The B Dasher is the other side of the spectrum. While it looses stats from the MR in every category, its Item goes way up. If only the Shooting Star looked cooler, it'd be a hot Kart to pick. It also suffers from very low weight while the B Dasher is a bit heavier.

His Ghost Courses are the Figure-8 Circuit in the Standard MR in  1:36:481, the Mario Circuit in the Shooting Star in  1:56:533 as well as the SMK Retro Mario Circuit 1 in  0:50:688.

Wii:

Cruisin' on his Turf

The Wii took DS' simple Kart-specific idea and went absolutely insane with it. Whereas characters made the difference in games like SMK, 64 and SC, and Karts made the difference in DD and largely DS (besides weight factors), Wii races are decided by both Drivers and Karts. Each Kart has a very specific stat and each Driver adds different bonuses to each. Mario adds a lot of weight to each Kart (he needs to lay off the cannolis), along with modest Acceleration, Handling and Drift boosts. Here is a nifty Mario-Specific Chart to memorize for you Plucky Plumber Fans out there:

His fastest vehicle is the B Dasher Mk 2, he gets best Acceleration out of the Classic Dragster, best handling out of the Sugarscoot, best drift and Mini-Turbo from the Mach Bike, best weight from the Wild Wing and the best Off-Road from the Zip-Zip. All of these Best Stats are in the high fifties or low sixties, so there's no Kart for Mario that's terrible in all areas. I think the Classic Dragster, despite its low speed is the best fit for Mario.

For Normal Staff Ghosts, Mario is feature on the Mario Circuit with the Rapide at 01:44.777 and on the GCN Version with the Standard Bike M at 01:59.771. The Expert Staff Ghosts upgrade to the B Dasher Mk 2 at 01:33.702 and Wild Wing at 01:49.939 respectively.