Mario Kart 1 through 8

 Well, having played every Mario Kart, it was 'bout time to rank them.


8)

 I'm always baffled by how people might prefer Super Mario Kart over the other, better, games. But I guess I can understand it, they grew up with it, I didn't. The CPU cheats by having access to items the player doesn't, the stages are as flat as the items laying on top of them and I hate having the screen perpetually divided with the map. Super Mario Kart is just no fun when you compare it with future games that would featured multi-layered tracks that just weren't possible on the SNES.

7)

 Mario Kart Super Circuit was the first Mario Kart to feature retro tracks, and that was a great bonus for when you were done with the game for the first time. I didn't expect to like Super Circuit as much as I did when I first played it, but it suffers from the worst drawback that Super Mario Kart had: Flat stages. It's the hardware's fault, yes, but it does put it behind the games that were to come, games with much more interesting track designs.

6)

 I came late to the party when it came to Mario Kart Double Dash, and that probably colored my impression negatively. The double-driver mechanic was a bit half-baked, but I really liked the concept behind characters having exclusive power-ups. I also felt disappointed with the track selection, since I had played most of them before via retro-tracks! That said, I guess it speaks to the game's quality how most of its stages have already been remade!

5)

 Yes, Mario Kart 64 was my first experience with the series. And I found it boring to death! Seriously, I remember enjoy Diddy Kong Racing much, much more than this one. Luckily, my tastes grew up with me and I learned to enjoy Mario Kart 64, even if it took me a few years. All the tracks are very memorable, and I found the 2-D sprites on 3-D stages fairly charming. Plus, Wario's first playable appearance in the series!!

4)

 Mario Kart 7 was a fun but somewhat disappointing entry into the series. Gliding and underwater racing felt so barebones, they removed bikes, the new tracks were a bit forgettable(But man, were the retro tracks  fantastic picks!) and the character roster was weird, to say the least. Luckily, gameplay was pretty fun, and kart customization added a new layer of depth to the game. I can't forgive the lack of VS CPU random-racing though, something that killed my enjoyment of the game.

3)

 Mario Kart Wii was phenomenal. The new tracks as well as the retro tracks were fantastic, the addition of bikes was fantastic and the character roster was massive(For its time). It had a lot of modes, and a surprising amount of stuff to unlock. Motion controls were optional, for the most part, and it introduced the ability to get a boost from a jump, which I believe added more interactivity, and fun, to the game. Proof of this being the fact that this feature made it over every other subsequent game.
 I've fond memories of playing online, and having the option of taking another local player with you in online matches. Mario Kart Wii was a blast, through and through, and it's one of the best games in the series.

2)

 For a long, loooooooooong while, Mario Kart DS has been my favorite entry in the franchise. It was the first game to have proper Retro tracks(Super Circuit only had the SNES tracks), and boy, was it a treat to tread on nostalgia like that! The gameplay was fast and frantic, the courses were brilliant(C'mon, Bowser's Ship stage is, probably, the best course in the entire series) and the character roster had a ton of interesting surprises, like Drybones and R.O.B. the robot!.
 While Kart customization wasn't a thing, yet, the game had a ton of different vehicles, way more than Double Dash, and they were as creative as they were fun. The game was the first to have Online, even if it was full of cheaters, and you could draw your very own emblem, which was a fun diversion. Lastly, it's the only Mario Kart game with a 'Mission Mode', full of different objectives and what not. Mario Kart DS was the full package and then some.

1)

 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is brilliant. It has fantastic gameplay and a massive amount of content to go through. The new tracks are fantastic, and I never knew I wanted a racing crossover between Nintendo franchises until Link and the Inklings were brought in. I don't know when was the last time that the latest entry in a franchise was also the best, but dammit, does Mario Kart 8 deliver by building into what worked so well and adding a bunch of things that we didn't even know we wanted, like the Renegade Round-up mode or the crossovers with other Nintendo franchises.