Mario X Mole (Taomee)

This page explains in detail the interactions between the Mario series and the Mole (Taomee) series.

Mole Kart

20120112 January 12, 2012

Mario5 Mole (Taomee)

Mole Kart is an iOS racing videogame starring characters from Mole World, but is actually a clone of Mario Kart Wii, featuring the same gameplay, the same items and the same tracks, only graphically redesigned. Specifically:

Items

The items have been redesigned into different things, but their function remains exactly the same. Notably the lightning and thunder cloud are not renamed or redesigned at all. The readapted items are:

Banana Peel (Banana)

Banana Peel*3 (Triple Bananas)

Flame Lahm (Mushroom)

Flame Lahm*3 (Triple Mushroom)

Golden Lahm (Golden Mushroom)

Metal Gam (Green Shell)

Metal Gam*3 (Triple Green Shells)

Gold Gam (Red Shell)

Gold Gam*3 (Triple Red Shells)

Flying Gam (Spiny Shell)

Lucky Coin (Star)

Cannonball (Bullet Bill)

Bomb (Bob-omb)

Lightning

Leaf Monster (Blooper)

Disguise Box (Fake Item Box)

Huge Laham (Mega Mushroom)

Earthquake (POW Block)

Thunder Cloud

The Leaf Monster being used on the player.

The player using the Cannonball.

Tracks

The tracks in the game are notable for not only having the same shape and items placement, but also having the same exact themes, with only slight changes. For example Moo Moo Meadows in Mario Kart Wii is a farm with cows as obstacles and some houses in the background, at one point featuring a windmill; its counterpart, called Mole Pasture is still a farm with cows as obstacles, houses in the background and a windmill at one point. Some elements have only been recolored, but the overall themes and therefore feel of the tracks are exactly the same as in the original game. The only exceptions are Sky Remnant, that looks completely different than Shy Guy Beach, the track it's based on, and Maple Hill Road, that's an original track.

• Mole Pasture is based on Moo Moo Widows. The Monty Moles have been replaced, quite surprisingly, with giant spider-like monsters.
• X.Mushroom is based on Mushroom Gorge. The Goombas have been replaced with generic walking mushrooms.
• Sky Remnant is based on Shy Guy Beach. The theme of the track has been completely changed from a beach setting to island floating in the sky and therefore instead of drawning the racers fall down when out of track. The Shy Guy Pirate Ship shooting at the racers haa been replaced by a fire breathing dragon, while the crabs are replaced with flying knights.
• Mole's Garden is based on Peach Gardens. It replaces the garden sculpture of Mario with one of Mole Man, while the Chain Chomps are replaced by original monsters and the Monty Moles by orange moles.
• Maple Hill Road, the only original track in the game, it has a mountain theme, and may be inspired on Maple Treeway.
• Frege Port is based on Peach Beach. It has the Cataquacks replaced by original enemies, but they behave in the same way.
• Arctic Glacier is based on Sherbet Land. It has the penguins replaced with seals, but the giant penguin on the island in the middle of the track is instead replaced by a giant character dressed as a king.
• Volcano is based on Bowser Castle 3. The Twomps have been slightly redesigned.

Sequels

After the original game was removed from the app store, a new version titled Mole Kart 1 was released on 4 May 2012, featuring the same gameplay, but more racers and redesigned track shapes. A sequel titled Mole Kart 2: Evolution was released on 28 September 2012, but featuring many original elements it loses its connection to Mario Kart almost completely.

License

Taomee, that created Mole Kart had no right to use elements from Nintendo's Mario Kart Wii, in fact after a claim they were forced by Nintendo to remove the game from the app store. The sequels were kept, probably because considered enough different from Nintendo's game.