Most of us love a good Mario Kart session every now and then; there aren't many better things in life than ordering in a pizza, having some friends over, and proceeding to throw your controllers at each other in uncontrollable rage as the umpteenth blue shell of the evening comes hurtling towards you. One question always slows things down a little, though: which racer do you pick?
While we suspect many players will simply stick with childhood favourites for the most part, one man has worked out exactly which character is best for the job with real, actual science. The data has been collected by Henry Hinnefeld, who has used nineteenth-century Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto's concept of Pareto efficiency to work out precisely which racer should be number one.
The concept of Pareto efficiency can be used to analyse situations where a limited amount of resources can offer multiple competing outcomes, depending on how those resources are allocated. In this case, those resources are the drivers' weight handling, and traction, as well as the different vehicles, and tyres. The first step of the analysis involves generating figures for the characters' base speed and acceleration stats which you can see below - each character (such as Baby Mario) actually represents a collection of racers who fall under the exact same stats.
From here, further analysis is needed on the individual vehicle setups, and how these (which essentially act like stat multipliers) affect the base stats of each driver. When investigating each potential driver and vehicle part combination (of which there are a staggering 149,760) only 15 provide what Hinnefeld describes as an "optimal combination".
Essentially, what this data is showing us, is that the the best combo for acceleration is Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, Baby Rosalina, Lemmy Koopa, or Mii Light, driving a Biddybuggy, Landship, or Mr. Scooty with Roller, Azure Roller, or Button tyres. The best combo for speed is Wario, Bowser, Morton Koopa, or Mii Heavy driving a Gold Standard, Mach 8, Circuit Special, or Sports Coupe with Slick or Cyber Slick tyres. Phew!
So there we have it - the best Mario Kart character is... actually quite a few of them.
If you want to see the entire report, make sure to have a nosey here. Before then, though, let us know who you usually race with in the comments below. Will you be changing your style now that you know the best picks?
[source medium.com]
Comments (68)
gets number crunched!
Any answer other than this is wrong.
it clearly has "Gold Standard" next to Wario's name.
That makes him the best
Can't stop with those bull clickbait titles, right?
Clickbait is clickable.
@MrBlacky You can't possibly expect me to write "Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, Baby Rosalina, Lemmy Koopa, or Mii Light, driving a Biddybuggy, Landship, or Mr. Scooty with Roller, Azure Roller, or Button tyres Is The Best Option In Mario Kart" as a title...
This is false. Yoshi is the best choice all day long
@ryancraddock That is a really good title
@TommyTLG Maybe next time!
@ryancraddock
"Here Are The Best Mario Kart Characters According To Actual Science"
Only Wario farts sweet melodies into my soul. <3
Amusingly, I do use my Mii with a Biddybuggy and Rollers, because I prioritize acceleration. Good to know science backs me up on that decision. 😆
Wait a minute. This just tells me the highest stat combos for speed or acceleration. WHY are they best though? Most wins / most probable to win because... / etc. Is that explained in the actual report?
Baby Rules / Mii for me !
TODAY IS A GOOD DAY.... FOR SCIENCE!!!
@WiX : You’re correct and honestly, any MK8 players already knew how to max out speed, acceleration, etc. That does not equal wins. One needs to find a balance based upon their skills, their opponents’ tendencies and the track. The best I played with in MK8 (wii u), used rosalina (med heavy), the indy car and the purple tires.
Clickbait:content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page.
This article is not. In fact it informed you in great detail about the science behind the racers chosen to be the best choice. @MrBlacky @gloom
I've always had trouble deciding which Mario Kart character to choose, but I usually go with Luigi, Shy Guy or Wario.
By the way, what's with the people calling this clickbait? Please stop hating on NL for no reason. I can agree with some of Dom's articles, but I don't think this is clickbait.
I use them all in order to extend the games' life, but my favorite is Koopa Troopa. He's cute and I just love him. Unfortunately there are several games where he doesn't appear, although in Mario Kart DS we have Dry Bones as a replacement.
Nintendo is trying to tell you that MarioKart is a baby game.
Metal Mario + P Wing + Retro Off-Road + Cloud Glider.
My favorite combo. Very fast and slick as hell.
(For 200cc just pick Toad instead of MM)
@MegaMari0 misleading titles are still a hallmark of clickbait. It’s a matter of curiosity: there’s more curiosity in the suggestion that there’s just one best character as opposed to “quite a few of them”. But don’t let disingenuousness get in the way of good clickbait spin!
Aren't there more stats for some items, like "water speed", "air speed", "mini turbo" etc that matter?
Also, I don't think all of the characters in a certain weight division have the exact some stats?
@Shiryu I used to dominate with Koopa Troopa in the first Mario Kart. Only driver I used. I recall being able to race Rainbow Road at full speed without having to slow down for any reason on time trials.
Lately my preferred character is Daisy on something with two wheels. I don't get too deep into the stats. Just want to have fun...
I always love your articles, Ry bo!
Ah good, didn't see Shy Guy, Toad, or Larry. Good to know they would be underdogs, just the way I like my characters
If you are playing my video came console, you are not eating pizza while we play. Few things annoy me like junk food covered nasty game controllers!
We will eat first, then play and I am that guy who will make you wash your hands again after you eat if you're using my controllers.
On the other hand. I do love Mario Kart with friends. I just wish my friends and I didn't all live thousands of miles apart. Shortly after high school and/or college we has literally spread out to ridiculous degrees.
Another misleading title.
Also, should be "limited 'number' of resources".
@NinChocolate The thing that the "clickbait" accusers seem to be missing is the obvious humor in the title. To me, the "according to actual science" part of the title was an obvious giveaway that the title was meant to be humorous over-statement, so the actual content of the article was about what I expected. What's more I liked finding out about this info, so the article was actually useful to me, which is a further strike against labeling it click-bait.
@ryancraddock you know you could have just added an "s" to character as to not imply there was a definitive "best character" (because that is clickbait) but nice exhibtion of dramatics there xD
@MegaMari0
@MegaMari0
But the title made me believe, someone has actually gone through the trouble, determining which Mario Kart character is THE best overall.
@Shiryu Mario Kart 64 is my least favorite Mario Kart because of this...
...fight me.
I thought it was going to be Pink Gold Peach. 😂
One hall mark of clickbait is when the article doesn't deliver on the title or answer the question the title poses, but does serve up a few advertising hits regardless.
Was this informative? Not to the levels of the original article you found on medium.com.
@Jansen: Your English is good (and way better than my non-English!). I wish I had some tips for you but I really played a TON of MK8 (WiiU) and very little MK8 Deluxe. There is a difference in the items; MK8 has "killzones" and the items last much longer. MK8 Deluxe items are more frequent but of shorter duration. Did not play long enough to figure out how to adjust to that change.
My Wii U setup was Morton (Heavy), the Indy car (very fast) and the roller wheels (acceleration). This fit my style and I LOVED drifting with it. But honestly, I was a very good racer but not a great one, and it was better on certain tracks (Shy Guy Falls!) than others. So my advice is EXPERIMENT (and make sure you always check the stats using the + or - button, I forget which).
@ryancraddock Can we just suppose for a moment that your title IS clickbait... humor me. Does (or should) anyone actually care if a title is clickbait if it also accurately represents the content of the article? I'm not a journalist, but I've written my fair share of technical papers... Seems to me as long as your title/description is accurate (It is), then coming up with an interesting title to entice people to read isn't just clickbait... it's good journalism.
@riChchestM I agree, and likely, so does NL staff - which is why they linked to the original article if you wanted more details. What's the alternative? Plagiarize the original article in it's entirety?
The non-clickbait version of this title would be "Here Are The Best Mario Kart Characters According To Actual Science"
See how I'm not implying that I list the single best Mario Kart character to play as in this article?
@roadrunner343 Thank you. Yes I agree, titles simply cannot contain all the facts of an article, and usually they have to be as snappy as possible to be attractive. That doesn't mean we lie or give misleading information in them, because that would be against what we stand for, but can mean they can verge on being creative or humorous.
I also agree with that second point. @riChchestM, it would be incredibly unethical to simply rip all of the information from the original article, hence why we have reported on the highlights of the report and provided a link to the full deal to give you more content
Don't make me get my Yoshi out!
Meh, I usually just go for Luigi with the beetle, and those green or purple tires.
@bilboa I can agree with that as much as the ‘clickbait’ argument. There is a statement and there is some humor, and I can’t fault expectations cutting one way or the other
Clickbait, and not even a well-written one. It's like so half-passed, it reads like one of those short essay homework assignments I'd have to write back in high school - the type that I'd have no real interest in doing, but I did it because I felt like I had to. So, I'd do the bare minimum and hand it in and say to myself, "Good enough!" Compared to what is actually said in the article itself, the title is so misleading that it's borderline offensive. That's pretty much the norm on NL these days.
The best character is obviously my mii.
@MrBlacky The title described exactly what the article was about. And it was an interesting read, whether or not I'll actually put it into use. But (to paraphrase) I guess you can't stop with those bull**** comments, right?
Science™ says that all these characters listed in the article are the best.
I say that the purple Inkling Boy looks the coolest so all arguments above or below this comment are immediately invalid. Good day.
@kurtasbestos
Did the article tell you who the best Mario Kart character is?
Seems like a pointless article to be honest. All it says is that the best characters and Kart parts are those with capped speed or acceleration... which you can already see in the in-game menus.
Luigi on a Pipe frame kart using roller tires for the win baby!!!
" If you're not first,you're last " - Ricky Bobby
“Having some friends over” now that’s utopia
@ryancraddock
I don't know where all these people crying "click bait" came from, but I hope you don't let it get you down. I enjoy the articles on this site and encourage you guys to keep writing them.
Thanks for doing what you do!
So all that working out just to tell us what the game already does on the character select screen, well done. Also what about what type of drifting your comfortable with or which the track requires?
There are far too many variables to determine which is best and there are only 2 certainties
1. It's definitely not Baby Mario
2. It's Koopa Troopa
@Heavyarms55
I was thinking the same, lol. No way am I letting anyone's greasy hands touch my Switch controllers while eating pizza. Sorry, go wash your hands! Once those joy-cons get any grease on them, it leaves a stain that'll never come off.
@MasterGraveheart Can you crunch it again?
@Shiryu You'll not be winning any time trials with him I'm afraid...
why are you morons ignoring DK?
Honestly getting sick of everyone complaining about clickbait. The title of the article is supposed to get you to want to click on it. Full stop. Period. That does not make it clickbait. Clickbait articles have no substance and they are just looking to get more views. The content of this article makes it not clickbait. What do people who cry clickbait want out of a title? Could the article have added an “s” to “character” sure, but lacking one letter doesn’t mean this is automatically clickbait. Honestly could have been a typo and then figured, eh not worth editing one letter in because the headline still makes sense without it.
I’ve always been a Toad guy when it came to Mario Kart.
I’m usually Pink Gold Peach, use the standard kart a lot with slim wheels. Yes, I’ll be trying something different and maybe I can beat my 5 year old who so far whips me every time!!
It's clickbait. Could've easily been titled "Create the most efficient build in Mario Kart 8", which would have perfectly captured the point of the statistical analysis, because most efficient does not automatically mean the best when not all stats are equally important.
And unless I'm mistaken, but it looks like this analysis doesn't include anything from outside the base Wii U game, meaning there could potentially be better combinations. Aside from the fact that this is also even more useless in the Wii U version as the acceleration stat functions differently than in the Switch version.
Of course everyone wants to spam buzz words like "clickbait". Thanks YouTube for spreading such an awful term like wildfire.
Also, if you guys hate clickbait so much, I have a tip for you. Don't get baited. If you can't resist the urge to click, that's on you.
I don’t understand the “click bait “ argument. You’re on the site already anyway. Do people normally just sit at the front page until something shiny catches their eye?
@ryancraddock - But you can be honest and make the title plural: "characters". I know I'm the 20th person to mention this, but no one likes clickbait, so I'll help drive the point home even further.
'Science' has proved that 99.87% of people have no idea of the meaning of the word 'clickbait' but they heard some other muppet whining on about it. Having an article title that makes you want to read it has been around for hundreds of years (that means pre-internet for the youngsters).
@Shiryu Exactly! YOSHI FTW
Eh, I'm still gonna be Mario. Deal with it.
@G-Boy It is, the results completely ignore one of the most important stats in the game, if not the most important. Mini Turbo.
I play with Yoshi, Standard ATV and Slick tyres. It has decent mini-turbo, bad acceleration, good speed. It might not be the best but I win every race with this setup and it’s the stats I normally play with. You start out slow but can quickly take the lead and win the race no problems whatsoever. It can also drift on the Lightning cup rainbow road and I mastered that track
I have changed my ways. I now drive as Yoshi and use a dirt bike setup: Jet Bike, Off-Road tyres and a Plane Glider. Got 2:35.826 on Wario Stadium with it
Tap here to load 68 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...