I'm gonna have to motion and say that Mario Kart is def. the best game of all time...it really started the wave of video games connecting even girls to be attracted to playing the console. Before Halo- I wonder if it was the best selling game of all time.

Hands down to me it is the best classic ever.

Well it's definitely the best racing game series IMO.

As for appealing to both genders, indeed. And according to Wikipedia, Mario Kart DS currently has sold more than Halo 3.

The Mario Kart series is a gem. A diamond in the rough. I've always loved it since i was a kid. Just great fun.

Yeah I had fun playing all of them, excluding the Wii version which I haven't tried yet. I plan to get it though..

Hehe, knocking out your opponent with a shell never gets old :)

It was selling like crazy today at my store. This and GTA IV will be the best sellers for this week.

Well, I was playing this game when I was 5 years old... It still has it's interest.

It is always a grat game to own. Mario Kart 64 was perfect.

I had Mario cart at SNES... Ehm... Can we compare it to the today's Mario Carts? It's total different...

Bah, I don't care for Mario Kart. For what it's worth, I don't WANT everyone to start gaming. That takes it to the mainstream, and everyone knows that the mainstream is where creativity and anything unique goes to die.

Gaming is no different, once every parent and little Susie starts gaming, you'll see less unique games, and more constant rehashes of the FPS and puzzle genre, with nothing unique or innovative.

The sad truth is, once something goes mainstream, it has to appeal to the larger broad consensus of normal non-gaming people before the company will allow it to be released, and that involved tedious amounts of editing, cutting, and changes.

Look at Halo. Halo 1 was a great game, I don't care what you think. It was amazing, fun, ect. But then it got popular, and people started playing the multiplayer part. Halo has one of the best established Sci-Fi stories I've ever seen, and if you'd have read the books it'd be easy to see. But because the multiplayer part got so popular by the mainstream non-gamers, in the sequels Halo 2 and 3, the story went to shit, and the multiplayer shined. Why? Because the mass majority of mainstream gamers don't want compelling storyline, they want frag matches with there friends inside a sports bar, and thats what Halo 2 and 3 became. The story went away, and the Multiplayer took the brunt of programming, so much so that Halo 3's Singleplayer was literally DESIGNED around the multiplayer.

tl;dr No I don't like Mario Kart, because it's contributing in turning the gaming industry mainstream. See those ads in your games? Yeah you can thank mainstream gaming for that.

What ads?

Anyway, didn't you get bored by writing all those stuff? Also I haven't play Halo 3 that much but I can say that if what you say is true then they would never do it. They want the best for the customer to continue buying the game...