The Great:
1. 8/Deluxe - My favorite new tracks overall and the most fun to play. Not sure though about Link and co; I personally don't want this becoming "Nintendo Kart."
2. DS - Excellent tracks, so many karts to choose from and mission mode. Amazing performance for the system its on, too.
3. Wii - Good tracks overall and a blast to play.

The Good:
4. 64 - Struggled with performance but hard not to have a good time. Introduced the power slide boost but shortcuts weren't as good as the first game.
5. SNES - Didn't age particularly well but such a cool concept out of nowhere. Showed amazing potential and great for everything it got right.
6. 7 - Good, but kinda forgettable. Tracks were so-so (loved the piano one).

Meh:
7. Double Dash - The new tracks were just so boring and it feeels soooo slooooow. A let-down for me.
8. Super Circuit - Felt dated even for its time and the tracks aren't anything special either.

Mario Kart Wii gets a massive honourable mention in my book as while it wasn't quite as balanced as 8, it's probably the best party game I've ever experienced.

It's greater emphasis on chaos may be frustrating to someone wanting to play it seriously, but when you get a room full of friends together for 4-playr splitscreen and get the alcohol flowing, the raucous mayhem that follows is just pure fun and some of my fondest memories of University. For that it will always have a special place in my heart.

They designed the game with 2 items in mind but could not do it on Wii U because lack of ram.

I hadn't heard this. Interesting.

I haven't played Deluxe nor will I, but I found the Wii U version of 8 felt well balanced with 1 item at a time.

Objectively speaking Mario Kart 8/Deluxe (I don’t see how one could have a large difference of opinion about those, but I’m not going to talk about that) is the best, but for very personal reasons I vote Mario Kart 64, and I also always include Mario Kart 64 in my top 10 of the end-of-the-year Top 50 thread on here. It was the time when my family was happiest and all together, and we played 64 a lot. It would be the only game where I’d count nostalgia as the deciding factor on why I still regard it so highly.

But there’s still some merit to choosing it over newer games. MK64 is balanced a bit more towards skill and less on luck, it features less unfair items and tracks don’t feature as many sudden hazards. The Blue Shell for example travels across the ground instead of through the air and can therefore be blocked by walls. It also has a chance to also hit other players which softens the blow for the player in the lead. The tracks have many shortcuts either intended by Nintendo or not (I doubt that the wall jumping in Wario Stadium was intended) that require precise driving to pull off, but if taken really save a lot of time. Lastly, it also still has the best Battle Mode.

MK64>MK8>MKWii>MK7>SMK>MKDS>MKDD>MKSC

Sunk the most hours into Mario Kart 64... Mario Kart Switch/WiiU was just an evolution of that... Which wasn't a bad thing, but once you have already spent hundreds of hours into a prior franchise, you don't feel the same level of excitement.

In saying that, Mario Kart 8 on Switch is absolutely the most refined entry.

Does anyone think that we have seen the pinnacle of the franchise? I know it’s hard to speculate about, but I have a hard time imagining a better experience than we’ve seen to date. They really have their work cut out for them in a sequel, that’s for sure.

Mario Kart 8 on Wii U was better than MK8D on Switch. There are too many items with two slots. MK8 is technically the best game, but Mario Kart 64 makes somehow more fun with the charakter voices while overtaking (and high voices during lightning), the music and the physics.

Mario Kart 8 is the best racing game.
MK64 with its punishing tracks and weapons, the precise but hard to master green shells, the battle mode, it' still the best to ruin friendships.

This!

Also, imo Mk64 had the best kart handling and hands-down the best tracks. Even those mk64 tracks included in later entries seemed to be lacking some of the complexities of the originals. DK jungle parkway and Banshee boardwalk are 2 of the greatest mk tracks in history IMO. Even now, my favourite 2 tracks on mk8D are royal raceway and Yoshi valley.