Best Mario Kart games

Mario Kart Wii leads the Mario Kart ranking with 1451 ELO points over 122 duels, ahead of Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart DS.

The top two entries sit remarkably close, separated by just 2 ELO points, yet a chasm opens immediately after: 151 points divide Mario Kart 8 from Mario Kart DS in third place. This gap marks the clearest divide in the ranking, setting the modern console releases apart from the rest of the field. Mario Kart Wii's 70% win rate confirms its dominance, while Mario Kart 8 trails narrowly with 68%. The bottom of the ranking reveals the community's impatience with the franchise's earliest and most experimental entries: Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit languishes at 970 ELO with a 28% win rate, while Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Super Mario Kart fare only marginally better.

This ranking draws from 2446 duels submitted by 108 players across 10 contenders, last updated on 11 October 2026. The data captures a clear preference for the Wii and Switch eras over the series' formative years, though nostalgia for Mario Kart DS keeps it competitive in the middle tier. Cast your own vote to shape the standings and see how your favorites measure up against the field.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →