Süper Mario Kart

• Download and play / Build it yourself / Create your own circuits!

Authors: Diego Royo, Víctor Martínez and Javier Giménez

Süper Mario Kart is an C++ implementation of Super Mario Kart, a kart racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. The purpose of this project is to understand the basic components of a real videogame. The authors do not aim at any commercial profit and release the source code for the general public under GPLv3 license.

Available circuits

Donut Plains 1

Mario Circuit 2

Ghost Valley 1

Bowser Castle 1

Rainbow Road

1. Game download

Pre-built binaries (Windows-only) of Süper Mario Kart are available for download in any of the following:

• In the releases page
• Also, in our website
• For macOS/Linux users, check the building section

1.1. Tips for playing

• You can take a look at the controls (and change them as you like!) in the "Controls" section of the Start Menu.

• Each vehicle has different properties. Please note that they also have some drawbacks, so choose carefully!

  • Yoshi and Peach: Greater acceleration, to reach its maximum speed earlier.
  • Koopa and Toad: Higher turning speed, to take better turns.
  • Bowser and Donkey Kong: Higher top speed and higher weight to hit other runners.
  • Mario and Luigi: Balanced vehicles, with a mixture of these factors.

• If you start to accelerate when the second traffic light comes on, you will start the race with a little boost of speed. Be careful, because if you accelerate prematurely, your motor may overheat too much and you could be incapacitated for a few seconds.

• Getting coins is more important than it seems. Each increases your maximum speed, which makes a difference. There is a limit of 10 coins per player.

• By turning for a while you can drift, allowing you to make sharp turns without problem. Using the drift key (C by default) you can enter "drift mode" much earlier, giving you more control over your turns. This is especially useful in 100cc and 150cc modes.

• If you take a very tight curve and think you are turning too much, you can press the skid key (C by default) one or many times. The jump causes you to stop turning for a while, allowing you to open up your trajectory a bit before continuing to skid.

• On more complicated circuits, such as Bowser Castle 1 or Rainbow Road, it is a good idea to brake in curves. We also have to be careful with some objects, like the mushroom, since the speed boost can be difficult to control.

2. Building Süper Mario Kart

2.1. Prerequisites

We have tested the game in Windows 10 and some Linux distributions. For building your own executable file, the following are needed.

C++11 Compiler

We use MinGW32 (posix) 8.1.0 by MinGW-W64 for Windows and GCC 7.5.0 for Linux.

Simple and Fast Multimedia Library (SFML)

We use SFML 2.5.1 for graphics generation and audio playback.

Open Audio Library (OpenAL)

We use OpenAl as cross-platform API for 3D audio.

2.2. Building

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/vmbatlle/super-mario-kart SMK

We provide a Makefile to build the source and link needed libraries statically (Windows only). Please make sure you have installed all required dependencies (see section 2). Execute:

cd SMK/src
make -j8 release  # change -j option according to your CPU threads

This will create a bin folder with compiled files and the executable super_mario_kart in the parent folder.

3. Creating new circuits

Some utils are provided for semi-automatic generation of new circuits. For this process the following requiremenst are expected:

• Python 3.X interpreter.
• Python libraries: Numpy 1.16.1 and Matplotlib 3.1.3. Other versions may work.
• Assets of the circuit: with and without floor objects.
• (Optional) Add new land params to generate_map.py. Land types for Donut Plains, Mario Circuit, Ghost Valley, Bowser Castle and Rainbow Road are already implemented as invocation flags.
• (Optional) Add wall sprites next to the scripts.
• Background and final lap music, if not yet present.
• Edge material, for texture out of circuit bounds.
• Sky back and front assets.

Steps

1. Prepare plain circuit asset (without floor objects), and execute:

python ./generate_map.py -f PATH_TO_ASSET -w WALL_TYPE_FILE -t CIRCUIT_TYPE

Then, base.txt will be generated next to the asset file.

Example:

python ./generate_map.py \
    -f ../assets/circuit/mario_circuit_2/base.png \
    -w walls.png \
    -t mario_circuit

2. Find the circuit asset with floor objects, and proceed:

python ./generate_floor_objects.py -f PATH_TO_ASSET -o OBJECTS_FILE

Then, objects.txt will be generated in the same folder.

Example:

python ./generate_floor_objects.py \
    -f ../assets/circuit/mario_circuit_2/objects.png \
    -o floor_objects.png

3. Add the new option to the game menu, at racemanager.h:

CIRCUIT_DISPLAY_NAMES = {"name_of_the_circuit"};
CIRCUIT_ASSET_NAMES = {"path/to/circuit/folder"};

Example: Note: some aspects of the game (menus, etc.) are made with five circuits in mind (not six), so it's easier to swap your new circuit for an old one.

constexpr const int NUM_CIRCUITS = 5;

const std::array<std::string, NUM_CIRCUITS> CIRCUIT_DISPLAY_NAMES = {
    "donut plains 1",  "mario circuit 2", "ghost valley 1",
    "bowser castle 1", "rainbow road",
};

const std::array<std::string, NUM_CIRCUITS> CIRCUIT_ASSET_NAMES = {
    "assets/circuit/donut_plains_1", "assets/circuit/mario_circuit_2",
    "assets/circuit/ghost_valley_1", "assets/circuit/bowser_castle_1",
    "assets/circuit/rainbow_road",
};

4. Rebuild target (see section 2)

5. First time the new circuit is loaded gradient.txt and position.txt will be generated from the base.txt file.

Please, keep the folder tree as follows:

• assets/
  • circuit/
    • circuit_name/
      • base.png
      • base.txt
      • edge.png
      • final_lap.ogg
      • gradient.txt
      • music.ogg
      • objects.png
      • objects.txt
      • position.txt
      • sky_back.png
      • sky_front.png