It bring back good memories..
I had forgotten that if you had maximum coins your speed was maximum
Thank you Elnino for freshing my memory

SMK is my favorite racing game of all time. I just got MK Wii, but I don't think it can knock off SMK. I remember being pretty disappointed by MK64 when I first played it, because I was such a big fan of SMK. MK64 was still fun(I even bought the VC version), but I still prefer SMK above all.

I feel like playing it again now :D

Maybe I'm wrong but I recall placing second, third, or fourth, three times in a row also rewarded you with an extra life.

You forgot the gophers (man they were annoying) and the ice blocks, that would slow you down that first lap unless you were precise. And the AI was the best in that game. In 50cc you could challenge yourself to try to lap everyone, there wasn't that amusing quirk where someone would be behind you despite your flawless driving (stupid catchup logic). And 150cc was at the right challenging level too.

I want this on VC. 

Wow, they listed most of the reasons that no MK game has ever come close to SMK. I especiallydislike the speed thing, seems it took more skill when you carefully had to build up speed.

Bowser or DonkeyKong were the ones for the skilled player. Building up speed with an ever more high pitched sound from the engine, just to hit a wall and start out s-o-o-o s-l-o-w again.