Almost every kid’s childhood had a Wii incorporated into it. There were the classic games: Wii Ski & Snowboard, Wii Sports Resort, and the most essential, Mario Kart. All of my friends and I spent hours as Mario, or another character, racing to the finish line. 

I can safely say that I spent an unhealthy amount of time playing Mario Kart with my sister as a child. It was definitely the most played game on our Wii. We had all the cheat codes, knew the shortcuts in all the races and played as all of the characters available.

Then, the unthinkable occurred. We renovated our house the summer after my seventh grade year and the Wii would not connect to our new TVs. Our world was turned upside down. 

We tried everything. New chords, all the TVs in the house, googling how to fix it a million times. Finally, we realized the sad truth: Hannah and Leah’s Wii days were no more.

At first, it was quite a large adjustment. I remember there were many days I thought, “I could go for playing some Wii right now,” then remembering that I could no longer play.

As the months progressed, it got easier. However, there were still days in which all I really wanted to do was play a certain game on a console that no longer worked in my house.

Then, the news came. My sister was home for a weekend in early October and I saw her looking at her phone seeming very concentrated. I asked her what she was playing and the answer was music to my ears.

The mobile version of Mario Kart was released on Sep 25. Instantly, everyone in the Wii-playing generation had it downloaded and was beating levels left and right. 

Even people who didn’t grow up playing now spend a lot of time on the app. One of Reagan’s very own teachers, John Kirby, has been seen playing at school and talking about what level he was on. 

The minute I heard about the app, I was on the app store downloading it. I was absolutely giddy to test it out and relive my childhood.

The app downloaded; I chose my character and the countdown began before my first race. Then, the unthinkable happened once again: I was extremely disappointed.

When I played on my Wii, the remote would fit into a little steering wheel that controlled the car in the race. I’m not sure what I was expecting for the mobile version, but the steering was the thing that really threw me off. 

That saying “one thing can ruin everything” was not that far off in my mind in this situation. I could not get past the huge difference of the steering and therefore could not enjoy the game as much as I wanted to.

Don’t get me wrong, I still play it every once in a while. I just get a little bit more disappointed every time.

I’m not the biggest fan of change, and even though this seems like a very unimportant thing, it’s still a change. This Mario Kart is not the Mario Kart that is included in so many of my happy childhood memories. 

Nevertheless, I still love the game. The mobile version did not live up to my expectations game-wise, but it definitely exceeded in reminding me of fun times with my sister. Thanks, Mario.

Don’t agree with this article? Check out this article by Carson Keaton: https://reaganrooster.com/4119/opinions/mario-races-to-a-new-platform/