It’s been a staple in the games libraries of Linux distros for 25 years, starting with the original Tuxkart. Now, the version 1.5 update of SuperTuxKart is here, and I have to say, this honestly looks like fun.

Oh, and it’s multiplayer, open source, and free, as in beer.

SuperTuxKart is an obvious derivation of the original Super Mario Kart, but instead of all the Nintendo licensing driving around in the little cars, it’s characters based on the GNU open source community. Everybody’s there, starting with Tux, the mascot of GNU Linux, but joined by:

• The red BSD demon mascot
• Sara, the mascot of the OpenGameArt project
• Wilber, the Gimp mascot
• Emule, the eMule mascot
• Suzanne the Monkey (Blender)
• Puffy the Pufferfish (the OpenBSD mascot)
• Godette, the mascot of the Godot game engine
• Kiki, the anime girl from the Krita splash panel and their mascot

…among many, many others.

The graphics aren’t quite as lush as you’d expect to see from a Nintendo game, but that’s the nature of open source projects. Assets like that take surprisingly large teams of creatives, and working for free isn’t something most artists can afford to do. That said, the environments are surprisingly rich and well finished for a project like this. They’re good enough that they don’t distract from the gameplay, which ranges between satisfactory to downright fun.

The game started as Tuxkart, begun in 2000 and released in 2004. The original game was upgraded a bit, but it wasn’t very stable, or pretty. In 2006, a single developer named Joerg Henrichs picked up the project, cleaned up the bugs and performance issues, and released the first official version of SuperTuxKart.

Revisions happened between 2007 and 2012, adding story mode, skidding, unlockable challenges, a follow the leader mode, better tracks, soccer and egg hunt modes, and more.

In 2015, they switched to a new game engine called Antarctica, which allowed for the addition of dynamic shadows, instanced rendering, and more tracks. By 2019, they’d added online multiplayer support.

You can get your own copy of SuperTuxKart 1.5 direct from their download page. There are versions for Windows, macOS, Android, and Switch Homebrew. You can also get the source code and compile it yourself if you want to, or inspect the code to see how the magic is done. If you want to donate to the project, you can do so via its Itch.io page here.

A message from the developers:

It is now almost 20 years since Hiker, STK’s former project leader, began working on the game. Over the years, the code, assets and gameplay changed so dramatically it is in some ways more appropriate to talk of different games in the same series.

After SuperTuxKart 1.0 released with support for online multiplayer, releases focused on iterative improvements while preserving gameplay compatibility. In comparison, SuperTuxKart 1.5 offers a lot of polish, new features, and bug-fixes, but it is still unmistakably the same game.

Now, development moves on to SuperTuxKart Evolution, with the aim of retaining the core of what so many players enjoy in SuperTuxKart, while bringing a fresh playing experience through a myriad of new elements and changes.

In the meantime, enjoy STK 1.5 !

Open source might take its time getting there, but it eventually does. Go have some fun for a change. You’ve earned it.