Mario Kart makes this a Very Good Friday

It's been a long wait for European gamers to race around those classic 16-bit courses in the original Super Mario Kart: out in North America since November last year, and Japan since June, there's been barely a sniff of it outside those territories. The wait is nearly over though, as Nintendo has confirmed the game will be available to download on Good Friday.

Mario Kart needs no introduction to most of you, but Nintendo has still done its best to explain the concept to every man and his dog via this useful press release. Savour every word: it's as close as you'll get to the game until Friday!

Start your engines for the original, legendary Super Mario Kart, racing onto your Wii on 2nd April 2010, available exclusively on the Wii Shop Channel!

Consistently regarded by many as one of the best video games ever made, Super Mario Kart on SNES was originally released seventeen years ago and has spawned five smash hit sequels.

Burn rubber across 20 tracks rendered in fluid Mode 7 graphics, including many courses so enjoyable and beloved that they are still featured in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart DS today. Take on the original Ghost Valley, Bowser Castle, Koopa Beach and the infamously challenging Rainbow Road!

For only 800 Wii Points you can relive the excitement of going head-to-head with your friends in split-screen, enjoy the multiplayer favourite - Battle Mode or go solo racing against an all-star line-up of Mushroom Kingdom characters.

And it wouldn’t be Super Mario Kart without the sublime controls; power slides are super-precise and outmanoeuvring your opponents is still as fun now as it ever was. The only question left is: do you have the skill to dodge a red shell?

Remind yourself why Super Mario Kart is still as popular as ever, when Mario and friends speed their way onto Virtual Console this Friday!