Before Super Smash Brothers there was Kart Fighter

A Super Mario Brothers based fighting game on the NES, hard to believe isn’t it? While the game did come out for the Famicom it wasn’t developed by Nintendo, it wasn’t even licensed for the system. Kart Fighter is actually a bootleg cartridge that began circulating after Super Mario Kart was released for the Super Famicom. The game has eight different characters to select from Koopa (Bowser), Nokonoko (Koopa Troopa), Peach, Mario, Luigi, Toad, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi (spelled Yossy). Each character has a basic move set clearly inspired by Street Fighter II. Pressing b does kick attacks or in the case of Bowser and Yoshi tail swipes. The a button is used for punches. If you do the forward roll and press A most characters will use a projectile attack. Bowser spews fire, Yoshi shoots a green blast of energy, Mario puts his hands in the hadoken position to shoot a red wave and Donkey Kong throws a banana peel that skims the ground. Mario and Luigi also have Shoryuken style punches. Nokonoko can curl up into his turtle shell for a dash attack. Peach has a similar dash attack, except she does a spinning dance. The group that made the game picked some Mario themed locales like a desert complete with Pokeys in the background, Bowser’s castle and a forest that looks like it was from Zelda II: Link’s Adventure. As a pirate NES game Kart Fighter is fairly advanced. It has large sprites, OK graphics and decent controls. Check below more some more screenshots of Kart Fighter.