karting games released since Super Mario Kart has been mixed, with GameSpot describing them as tending to be bad while 1UP.com notes that countless developers have tried to improve upon the Mario Kart formula without success. Super Mario Kart is credited as being the first non-platforming game to feature multiple playable characters from the Mario franchise. As well as several sequels Nintendo has released numerous other sporting and non-sporting Mario spin-offs since Super Mario Kart; a trend in part accredited to the commercial and critical success of the game. The Mario characters have appeared in many sports games including those relating to basketball, baseball, golf, tennis, and association football (soccer). Non-sporting franchises using the Mario characters have been created, including the Super Smash Bros. series of fighting games and the Mario Party series of board game-based party games. Mario series characters have made cameos in games from other series such as SSX on Tour and NBA Street V3, both published by EA Sports. The genre-spanning nature of the Mario series that was sparked off by the success of Super Mario Kart has been described as key to the success and longevity of the franchise; keeping people interested despite the infrequency of traditional Mario platforming games. Following this model the Mario series has gone on to become the best selling video game franchise of all time with 193 million units sold as of January 2007, almost 40 million units ahead of second-ranked franchise Pokémon, also by Nintendo. Super Mario Kart was re-released on the Japanese Virtual Console on June 9, 2009, and later in North America on November 23, 2009. Previously, when naming it as one of the most wanted games for the platform in November 2008, Eurogamer stated that problems emulating the Mode 7 graphics were responsible for its absence. The game was released for the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan during June 2013, and in Europe on March 27, 2014. In addition, North American users were able to get the game starting from August 6, 2014 to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the game, which included the new game update of Mario Kart 8 on August 27, 2014. In 2016, the game was re-released for the New Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo re-released Super Mario Kart in 2017 as part of the company's Super NES Classic Edition. Super Mario 3D World has a stage with a look based on the