Pipe Frame

The Pipe Frame (also formerly known simply as the Go-Kart until Mario Kart 7, also called Racing Kart in Super Smash Bros. Melee) is the original form of Kart that appears in the first three installments of the Mario Kart series and is the predecessor to the Standard Kart. Throughout the games it appears in, the kart has different colors depending on the driver. In its original appearances, the Pipe Frame acts as the one and only vehicle available. The abilities of the kart depend on the driver so the kart itself has no strong or weak points.

After a 10-year absence, the Pipe Frame returns in Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as an unlockable kart body. It generally gives a boost in acceleration and handling while decreasing the weight and traction. The Pipe Frame also appears in Mario Kart Tour as the starting kart.

The Pipe Frame kart has a passing resemblance to an early '80s World Championship kart raced by Ayrton Senna, an icon in Japan due to his connections with Honda, and to modern micro karts known for their combination of small frames and powerful engines.

Super Mario Kart
The kart makes its first appearance in Super Mario Kart, designed as simple, small go-karts with different colors (red for Mario, blue for Luigi, pink for Peach, red-orange for Yoshi, green for Bowser, olive for Donkey Kong Jr., yellow for Koopa Troopa, and azure for Toad) and various performance traits for each character, along with an ability to boost by drifting.

Each character's kart has different engines; some use four-stroke and few others use two-stroke.

Mario Kart 64
The go-kart is redesigned in Mario Kart 64, featuring realistic-looking wheels, new colors for every character (red for Mario, dark lime green for Luigi, vivid pink for Peach, vivid navy for Toad, strong green for Yoshi, John Deere yellow for Donkey Kong, dark violet for Wario, and taobao orange for Bowser) and a cubical engine with dual exhaust pipes. It also has a different handling stat compared to its predecessor.

This time, all karts use two-stroke engines, with the exception of Toad's kart which uses a softer sounding four-stroke engine instead.

Toad and Donkey Kong are the only characters to have their own unique engine sound from any other character.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit
The kart's design and colors for this game remain unchanged from Mario Kart 64 aside from its handling, which reverted to that of Super Mario Kart to fit the game's two-dimensional environment.

Unlike in Mario Kart 64, all the karts now use four-stroke engines.

Mario Kart 7
After being absent in subsequent games after Mario Kart: Super Circuit, the Pipe Frame returns in Mario Kart 7 as an unlockable kart body, using its same design from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit. The character's emblem is shown underneath the engine. It is one of the three kart parts to have a different color for each character. The eight characters from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit retain the same color schemes, except for Peach, who has a slightly lighter pink color as in Mario Kart DS. Daisy also retains the same color scheme from said game. Like in Super Circuit, it has a four-stroke engine with powerful-sounding exhausts. Its engine is similar to the Blue Seven and the Sprinter from Mario Kart Wii.

In terms of stats, the Pipe Frame slightly boosts acceleration, off-road, and drift, but slightly hinders top speed and weight, which makes it the polar opposite of the Gold Standard in a way. In terms of its hidden stats, however, it gives a strong boost in sea and air speeds, and a good boost in mini-turbo, while not hindering any other stat.

Red Miis use Mario's color scheme, Orange use Bowser's, Yellow use Donkey Kong's, Light Green use Yoshi's, Green use Luigi's, Blue use Toad's, Light Blue use Lakitu's, Pink use Peach's, Purple use Wario's, Brown use Wiggler's, and Black use Shy Guy's. White Miis are the only Miis to receive a unique color, as no other character in the game uses a white Pipe Frame.

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
The Pipe Frame reappears in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe again as an unlockable kart body. This time, it now resembles the kart's original design from Super Mario Kart, featuring only one exhaust pipe instead of two as seen in Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart 7. Additionally, the character emblem is now located in the front. Unlike its predecessor, it is now has a two-stroke engine and its sound is shared with the Standard Kart, Teddy Buggy, Wild Wiggler, and the Sneeker, only having a softer exhaust noise.

Unlike past installments, the colors of the Pipe Frame are now shared with multiple characters, featuring 23 unique colors used among the 36 (41 in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe) characters (and of those, twelve of the colors are exclusive to one character, counting alternate colors for Yoshi and Shy Guy, but excluding Miis aside from the brown color). The eight characters from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit once again retain the same color as they were in the original games, while Koopa Troopa now retains the yellow color from his Super Mario Kart artwork, while Daisy and Waluigi retain their respective colors from Mario Kart DS. All the Koopalings (except Morton) have unique colored steering wheels for their karts, as opposed to the standard black. Also, all the Koopalings have unique colored engines, as opposed to the standard goldenrod, and their wheel hinges are uniquely colored, instead of the usual gray. The Inkling Girl's orange variation uses the yellow Pipe Frame, though the icon on the kart selection screen shows the yellow-orange Pipe Frame instead.

Like the Standard Kart, Standard Bike, and Standard ATV, the Pipe Frame body is occasionally used by all the CPU-controlled characters. Most CPU racers will always pair the Pipe Frame with the Standard tires, but Donkey Kong and Koopa Troopa in Mario Kart 8, as well as Dry Bones and Ludwig in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, occasionally also use the Monster tires instead. In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, CPU Toad is occasionally seen using this body equipped with the Slim tires; Toad, as well as the babies and Shy Guy, also equip it with the Parafoil. The 150cc staff ghosts for Donut Plains 3 and Cheese Land use Lakitu and Orange Yoshi on the Pipe Frame with the Monster tires. The 200cc staff ghost for Bone-Dry Dunes in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe uses Dry Bones on the Pipe Frame with the Wood tires.

In Mario Kart 8, the Pipe Frame gives a good boost in handling and a slight one in acceleration, but it hinders traction and slightly hinders weight. In terms of its hidden stats, it offers a good boost in sea and air handling, and slight boosts in sea and air speeds, anti-gravity handling and mini-turbo, while only slightly hindering anti-gravity speed. It shares its stats with the Wild Wiggler, Standard Bike, Flame Rider, Varmint, W 25 Silver Arrow, and City Tripper. Overall, the Pipe Frame has the second highest stat total of any kart body, and the third highest among all vehicles.

In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Pipe Frame's stats have been altered so that it now hinders speed, but gives a higher boost in acceleration and now slightly boosts traction. In terms of its hidden stats, it no longer increases water speed and now hinders air speed and air handling, while hindering anti-gravity speed further, with no compensation. It now only shares its stats with the Varmint and City Tripper.

An early version of the Pipe Frame's body featured the same design it had from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit, with the only exception being that the character's emblem was located at the front, like in the body's final version.

The Mario Kart 8 version of the Pipe Frame was used in a LINE set of stickers based on the game, although lacked the emblem on the front and equipped with the tires from Super Mario Kart. It was also used in a Google Maps Easter egg for Mar10 Day 2018, which ran for a week ending March 17, 2018. The Pipe Frame's appearance in Google Maps later reappears in Mario Kart Tour.

Similarly, in this game, unlike Mario Kart 7, brown Miis are the only Miis to receive a unique color since no other non-Mii character in either version of the game uses a brown Pipe Frame.

Mario Kart Tour
The Pipe Frame returns in Mario Kart Tour, retaining its Mario Kart 8 design and serving as the starter kart. It is classified as a Normal kart. It uses the same tires that it used in Google Maps. The Pipe Frame increases the duration of Slipstream boosts and the amount of points earned for performing Slipstreams. Like the Landship and Koopa Clown, the Koopalings do not retain their unique color schemes from Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, instead using the same color schemes as other drivers.

This game introduces a voxelized counterpart named the 8-Bit Pipe Frame and another variant that has the gold color scheme, including the tires, named the Gold Pipe Frame. Both are classified as High-End karts. The Pipe Buggy also belongs to the Pipe Frame family, but it has a different appearance.

In the screenshot used for New York Minute's Coin Rush mode, Gold Mario uses the Pipe Frame, but it is equipped with the Gold Tires instead of its regular tires, making it resemble the Gold Pipe Frame; however, Gold Mario uses the Gold Standard in-game. In an official screenshot showing the Bob-omb Cannon item, King Boo (Luigi's Mansion) drives a black Pipe Frame instead of a purple one. Similarly, in an official screenshot used for the token event in the Super Mario Kart Tour, Pauline is shown driving a white Pipe Frame instead of a magenta one.

"Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All"
In the Club Nintendo comic "Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All", Mario and Luigi are seen driving karts in their mission to find a spaceship shaped like the Nintendo 64. They compete against Wario and Bowser and make another reference to the Mario Kart games by dropping Banana Peels and making them crash. The karts seen in this comic resemble those seen in Mario Kart 64. Unlike their video game equivalents, though, they can also be turned into jet skis by pushing a button on their steering-wheels.

Mario Kirby Meisaku Video
A go-kart makes an appearance resembling the one in Super Mario Kart in the Mario segment of the Mario Kirby Meisaku Video where Mario drives it during his pursuit of the mysterious thief W. Eventually, after being attacked by some monsters, he spins out near a vegetable garden.

Super Mario-Kun
Go-karts are seen in the Mario Kart adaptions of Super Mario-Kun. The first time they appear, Mario races against other characters including Donkey Kong Jr. and Bowser.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
A go-kart appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a trophy under the name "Racing Kart." The trophy can be obtained at random in the Lottery or in the game's single-player modes.

Mario Kart series
Stat values are out of 6.

Names in other languages
Go-Kart Tuboturbo