LAN Party Calculator (Mario Kart, Kirby Air Riders, F-Zero)

Nintendo has multiple popular racing franchises, including Mario Kart, Kirby Air Ride, and F-Zero. Each of these franchises spans multiple titles and consoles and have ways to play with more than one console in a single shared “game lobby”. This feature makes these games interesting for LAN parties, where you have many players, consoles, and games in one area.

What does it mean to be the most “LAN-party-able” Nintendo racing game? There are three metrics I found interesting for this question: most-players , price-per-player , and “real-estate”-per-player (aka: TVs/consoles). There is a different “best” game according to each of these metrics. I've compiled the data and created a small calculator to compare:

Game (Any) F-Zero (FZ) Super Mario Kart (SMK) Mario Kart 64 (MK64) F-Zero: GP Legend (FZGL) F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (FZMV) Mario Kart: Super Circuit (MKSS) F-Zero GX (FZGX) Kirby Air Ride (KAR) Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (MKDD) Mario Kart Wii (MKWII) Mario Kart DS (MKDS) Mario Kart 7 (MK7) Mario Kart 8 (MK8) F-Zero 99 (FZ99) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (MK8D) Kirby Air Riders (KARS) Mario Kart World (MKWRD) Players (Any) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Mode (Any) Local LAN Online Share Game| Mode| #P| Price| Consoles| Games| Cables| Adapters| TVs

• Price includes consoles, controllers, games, cables, adapters. Prices sourced from Pricecharting and Microcenter (no affiliation) for March 2026. TVs and Mountain Dew™ not included in price.
• “Cables” means Link Cables for the GBA or Ethernet for the GameCube, Switch, and Switch 2.
• “Adapters” means ETH2GC for the GameCube, “USB-A to Ethernet” adapters for docked Switch 1, or “USB-C to Ethernet” for undocked Switch 1 and Switch 2.

Which games are the winners?

• Best price per player : Mario Kart DS using DS Download Play. With this method you can buy a single copy of Mario Kart DS and play concurrently with up to 8 players. With 8 players would cost $62 per player.
• Best real-estate per player : Mario Kart: Double Dash!! in LAN mode. This is somehow the only game in the list that supports 4 players per console in LAN mode, all future games only support 1 or 2 players per console in LAN mode. This means fewer TVs and consoles per player and helps alleviate slightly higher prices these days for GameCube gear.
• Most players : F-Zero 99 hands down wins most players with up to 99 per lobby. Mario Kart World also supports up to 24 concurrent players in LAN mode, but needing to use 12 Switch 2's compared to F-Zero being a Switch 1 title means a much higher price.

Why did you build this?

This post was inspired by hosting a LAN party with friends for my birthday. Researching and verifying the limits for each game and console took a lot of work, so I hope this can save someone some time wrangling all these numbers in the future. After all this research, the games I chose for the LAN party are “Mario Kart: Double Dash” on the GameCube, “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” and “F-Zero 99” on the Nintendo Switch, and “Mario Kart World” on the Nintendo Switch 2. The data and the script I used to generate this calculator is all open source. If there are mistakes or improvements, please submit a patch. Please note that I don't own a DS, 3DS, or Wii U so the numbers there are more likely to be incorrect. The rest of this blog post will be about the specifics for each console and game.

What features does each game support?

Each game supports one of four multiplayer modes: Local, LAN, Online, and Share. Availability depends on both the console and the game. | Game| Console| Year| Local| LAN| Online| Share | Super Mario Kart| SNES| 1992| YES| NO| NO| NO ---|---|---|---|---|---|--- F-Zero| SNES| 1990| YES| NO| NO| NO Mario Kart 64| N64| 1996| YES| NO| NO| NO Mario Kart: Super Circuit| GBA| 2001| NO| YES| NO| YES (1) F-Zero: Maximum Velocity| GBA| 2003| NO| YES| NO| YES (1) F-Zero: GP Legend| GBA| 2003| NO| YES| NO| YES (1) Mario Kart: Double Dash!!| GameCube| 2003| YES| YES| NO| NO Kirby Air Ride| GameCube| 2003| YES| YES| NO| NO F-Zero GX| GameCube| 2003| YES| NO| NO| NO Mario Kart DS| DS| 2005| NO| YES| YES| YES (2) Mario Kart Wii| Wii| 2008| YES| NO| YES| NO Mario Kart 7| 3DS/2DS| 2011| NO| YES| YES| YES (2) Mario Kart 8| Wii U| 2014| YES| NO| YES| NO Mario Kart 8 Deluxe| Switch| 2017| YES| YES| YES| NO F-Zero 99| Switch| 2023| NO| NO| YES| NO Mario Kart World| Switch 2| 2025| YES| YES| YES| NO Kirby Air Riders| Switch 2| 2025| YES| YES| YES| YES (3)

• (1): via GBA Single-Pak Link Mode
• (2): via DS Download Play
• (3): via Nintendo Switch GameShare

Pricing

Here is a table with costs from March 2026 for each game, console, and accessory:

| Game| | Console| Controller| Cable| Adapter | F-Zero| $18| SNES| $129| $17| | ---|---|---|---|---|---|--- Super Mario Kart| $34 Mario Kart 64| $46| N64| $87| $16| | Mario Kart: Super Circuit| $17| GBA| $73| | $24| F-Zero: GP Legend| $30 F-Zero: Maximum Velocity| $20 F-Zero GX| $61| GameCube| $119| $28| $5| $25 Kirby Air Ride| $71 Mario Kart: Double Dash!!| $60 Mario Kart DS| $17| DS| $60| | | Mario Kart Wii| $35| Wii| $60| $13| | Mario Kart 7| $14| 3DS/2DS| $94| | | Mario Kart 8| $10| Wii U| $129| $30| | Mario Kart 8 Deluxe| $35| Switch| $135| $36| $5| F-Zero 99| $0 Kirby Air Riders| $50| Switch 2| $395| $36| $5| $20 Mario Kart World| $58

Game Boy Advance

The Game Boy Advance (GBA) had multiple features that made the console perfect for multi-console multiplayer. These features being the new GBA Link Cables, allowing more than two consoles to connect, and the Single-Pak Link Play that all the GBA titles on this list support.

GBA Link Cables have three terminals per cable, a larger grey plug, a smaller blue plug, and a smaller blue socket in the middle of the cable. The grey and blue plugs both fit into a GBA console, but the larger grey plug does not fit into the small blue socket on the cable. To connect four players, two players connect like normal, and then player three connects their blue plug into the blue socket between the existing connected consoles. In the end, this means you only need N-1 cables for N consoles and that a single player (player 1) ends up with a blue plug in their console.

The second feature “Single-Pak Link Play” allowed a single player to own a cartridge and to share the game with other connected consoles if the game supports the mode. This mode is also sometimes called “Multiboot” or “Joyboot”. Because the game ROM data itself is transferred to the other consoles, this often made for load-times during startup and meant all content wasn't playable by all players. For example, in Mario Kart: Super Circuit only a subset of maps and characters were available in Single-Pay Link Play mode.

GameCube

The GameCube was Nintendo’s first internet-enabled console, even if only 8 titles supported the feature. Only three titles supported LAN play, that being Kirby Air Ride, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and 1080° Avalanche.

The GameCube Broadband Adapter is legendarily expensive now due to how few games supported the feature at all. Nowadays, it's advised to modify your GameCube with a method to boot into Swiss and using Swiss’s “Emulate Broadband Adapter” feature with an ETH2GC adapter. These adapters are cheap, even if you don't assemble them yourself. There are a few variants, ETH2GC Sidecar, ETH2GC Lite, and ETH2GC Card Slot. I am currently running a ETH2GC Sidecar and ETH2GC Card Slot and both work together with Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Kirby Air Ride.

DS, Wii, Wii U, 3DS

The DS supported a feature called DS Download Play, which similar to Single-Pak Link play for the GBA, allowed a playing single game cartridge with up to 8 consoles. The 3DS also supported this feature.

Beyond this I didn't have a lot to say about these consoles, as they aren't my interest. If you have more to say, maybe write your own blog post and send it to me after!

Nintendo Switch

The first-generation Switch is a quirky console being both portable and dockable. Because the console itself has a screen on it, this means you can play games without a TV. However, to access “LAN” modes in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe you need to be physically linked via Ethernet.

Problem is... the original Switch doesn't have an Ethernet port. And depending on whether you're playing docked or undocked: you'll need a different adapter! If you're playing undocked, using the Switch screen as your “TV” you'll need to buy a USB-C to Ethernet adapter. If you're playing docked you'll need to buy a USB-A to Ethernet adapter, as the dock itself doesn't have a USB-C port except for power delivery. Switch OLED docks do have an Ethernet port, so if you have one of those models then you won't need an adapter in docked mode.

Test your adapters before your LAN party, as not every adapter will be accepted by the Switch!

Both the first-generation Switch and Switch 2 also come with two controllers (“Joycons”) per console, meaning you'll have to buy fewer controllers to reach high player counts.

Nintendo Switch 2

The Switch 2 is similar to the Switch 1, being both portable and dockable. Nintendo included an Ethernet port on the Switch 2 dock, and also USB-A and USB-C ports, too. So if you're playing without a TV, you'll still need a USB-C to Ethernet adapter for your Switch 2.

The Switch 2 adds support for a new mode: Game Share. This mode is similar to DS Download Play and Single-Pak Link in terms of functionality but in terms of implementation: it's local game streaming! Even cooler, this feature means that first-generation Switch consoles can “play” some Switch 2 games like Kirby Air Riders without sacrificing any features.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

The game supports up to 16 players, however you can only have 8 total karts per race. Double Dash allows two players to share a single kart, with one player driving and other throwing items. LAN mode also doesn't allow selecting which character or kart you are, you are assigned which kart you will be driving.

Kirby Air Ride

Despite supporting LAN mode and having 8 Kirby colors, you are only allowed to have 4 players maximum within City Trial or Air Ride modes. So, the LAN mode only allows having fewer people sharing a TV.

F-Zero GX

I saw a reference online to a Nintendo-hosted online leaderboard via passwords or ghosts for Time Attack, but wasn't able to find an actual source that this happened. If you have a reference or video, please send it my way! Otherwise, I may be mis-remembering something else that I read in the past.

F-Zero 99

First F-Zero game in over 20 years (sorry F-Zero fans, us Kirby Air Ride fans know how you feel). Allows up to 99 players in a private lobby. Game is free, but you need a Switch or Switch 2 console per player. There isn't any local or LAN multiplayer, so once Nintendo Switch Online is sunsetted this game won't be playable with multiplayer.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Kart World

In both Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart World the LAN play mode is hidden behind holding L+R and pressing the left joystick down on the "Wireless Play" option.

Kirby Air Riders

There is very little information online about Kirby Air Riders LAN multiplayer mode. The official Nintendo documentation doesn't describe the allowed number of players per console. If anyone has more definitive data, please reach out. Nintendo Switch GameShare allows playing online with four players with only one cartridge. Nintendo Switch GameShare for Kirby Air Riders is also compatible with Nintendo Switch consoles.

Note that on launch Kirby Air Riders was very disappointing with online play only allowing one player per console. An update added support for more than one player per console for wireless play. LAN mode still requires 1 console per player.

Local Multiplayer

Multiple players play the game on a single console with different controllers.

Game| 1| 2| 3| 4 | Super Mario Kart| $163| $180| | ---|---|---|---|--- F-Zero| $147| $164| | Mario Kart 64| $133| $149| $165| $181 Mario Kart: Double Dash!!| $179| $207| $235| $263 Kirby Air Ride| $190| $218| $246| $274 F-Zero GX| $180| $208| $236| $264 Mario Kart Wii| $95| $108| $121| $134 Mario Kart 8| $139| $169| $199| $229 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe| $170| $170| $206| $242 Mario Kart World| $453| $453| $489| $525 Kirby Air Riders| $445| $445| $481| $517

LAN Multiplayer

Consoles directly communicate to each other through wired, short-range wireless, or “local” internet connections, such as ethernet running to an internet switch/router or are directly wired together through ethernet or console-specific link cable. What distinguishes this mode from “Wireless” is that this mode will continue to work even after Nintendo servers have been discontinued.

Game| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18| 19| 20| 21| 22| 23| 24 | Mario Kart: Super Circuit| $204| $318| $432| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--- F-Zero: Maximum Velocity| $210| $327| $444| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F-Zero: GP Legend| $230| $357| $484| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart: Double Dash!!| $418| $446| $474| $502| $530| $558| $586| $795| $823| $851| $879| $1088| $1116| $1144| $1172| | | | | | | | Kirby Air Ride| $440| $468| $496| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart DS| $154| $231| $308| $385| $462| $539| $616| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart 7| $216| $324| $432| $540| $648| $756| $864| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart 8 Deluxe| $390| $390| $390| $585| $585| $780| $780| $975| $975| $1170| $1170| | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart World| $956| $956| $956| $1434| $1434| $1912| $1912| $2390| $2390| $2868| $2868| $3346| $3346| $3824| $3824| $4302| $4302| $4780| $4780| $5258| $5258| $5736| $5736 Kirby Air Riders| $940| $1410| $1880| $2350| $2820| $3290| $3760| $4230| $4700| $5170| $5640| $6110| $6580| $7050| $7520| | | | | | | |

Online Multiplayer

Multiplayer where you can play against your friends or other players without needing to be on the same local network. This uses either Wi-Fi or Ethernet but connected to the global internet. This mode relies on a central service so once discontinued will either not be possible or will require modifications to your console, such as wiimmfi for the Nintendo Wii.

Game| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18| 19| 20| 21| 22| 23| 24 | Mario Kart DS| $154| $231| $308| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--- Mario Kart Wii| $190| $203| $216| $311| $324| $419| $432| $527| $540| $635| $648| | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart 7| $216| $324| $432| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart 8| $278| $308| $338| $477| $507| $646| $676| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart 8 Deluxe| $340| $340| $340| $510| $510| $680| $680| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F-Zero 99| $270| $405| $540| $675| $810| $945| $1080| $1215| $1350| $1485| $1620| $1755| $1890| $2025| $2160| $2295| $2430| $2565| $2700| $2835| $2970| $3105| $3240 Mario Kart World| $906| $906| $906| $1359| $1359| $1812| $1812| $2265| $2265| $2718| $2718| $3171| $3171| $3624| $3624| | | | | | | | Kirby Air Riders| $890| $890| $890| $1335| $1335| $1780| $1780| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart DS have mods you can apply to play online in private servers. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Kirby Air Ride also have mods that allow wireless play which wasn't possible when the games were first released.

Share Multiplayer (Single-Pak Link, DS Download Play, Game Share)

This multiplayer mode allows playing with local players that own a console, but not the game. This usually results in a degraded experience for players that don't own the game, such as a reduced number of playable characters, karts, or racetracks. Nintendo Switch “GameShare” uses game streaming between consoles.

Game| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8 | Mario Kart: Super Circuit| $187| $284| $381| | | | ---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--- F-Zero: Maximum Velocity| $190| $287| $384| | | | F-Zero: GP Legend| $200| $297| $394| | | | Mario Kart DS| $137| $197| $257| $317| $377| $437| $497 Mario Kart 7| $202| $296| $390| $484| $578| $672| $766 Kirby Air Riders| $840| $1235| $1630| | | |

All Multiplayers

Here is a table comparing all multiplayer modes and their costs:

Game| Mode| 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18| 19| 20| 21| 22| 23| 24 | Super Mario Kart| LOCAL| $163| $180| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--- F-Zero| LOCAL| $147| $164| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart 64| LOCAL| $133| $149| $165| $181| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart: Super Circuit| LOCAL| $90| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LAN| $90| $204| $318| $432| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | SHARE| $90| $187| $284| $381| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F-Zero: Maximum Velocity| LOCAL| $93| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LAN| $93| $210| $327| $444| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | SHARE| $93| $190| $287| $384| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F-Zero: GP Legend| LOCAL| $103| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LAN| $103| $230| $357| $484| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | SHARE| $103| $200| $297| $394| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart: Double Dash!!| LOCAL| $179| $207| $235| $263| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LAN| $179| $418| $446| $474| $502| $530| $558| $586| $795| $823| $851| $879| $1088| $1116| $1144| $1172| | | | | | | | Kirby Air Ride| LOCAL| $190| $218| $246| $274| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LAN| $190| $440| $468| $496| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F-Zero GX| LOCAL| $180| $208| $236| $264| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart DS| LOCAL| $77| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LAN| $77| $154| $231| $308| $385| $462| $539| $616| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ONLINE| $77| $154| $231| $308| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | SHARE| $77| $137| $197| $257| $317| $377| $437| $497| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart Wii| LOCAL| $95| $108| $121| $134| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ONLINE| $95| $190| $203| $216| $311| $324| $419| $432| $527| $540| $635| $648| | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart 7| LOCAL| $108| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LAN| $108| $216| $324| $432| $540| $648| $756| $864| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ONLINE| $108| $216| $324| $432| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | SHARE| $108| $202| $296| $390| $484| $578| $672| $766| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart 8| LOCAL| $139| $169| $199| $229| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ONLINE| $139| $278| $308| $338| $477| $507| $646| $676| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mario Kart 8 Deluxe| LOCAL| $170| $170| $206| $242| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LAN| $170| $390| $390| $390| $585| $585| $780| $780| $975| $975| $1170| $1170| | | | | | | | | | | | ONLINE| $170| $340| $340| $340| $510| $510| $680| $680| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F-Zero 99| LOCAL| $135| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ONLINE| $135| $270| $405| $540| $675| $810| $945| $1080| $1215| $1350| $1485| $1620| $1755| $1890| $2025| $2160| $2295| $2430| $2565| $2700| $2835| $2970| $3105| $3240 Mario Kart World| LOCAL| $453| $453| $489| $525| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LAN| $453| $956| $956| $956| $1434| $1434| $1912| $1912| $2390| $2390| $2868| $2868| $3346| $3346| $3824| $3824| $4302| $4302| $4780| $4780| $5258| $5258| $5736| $5736 ONLINE| $453| $906| $906| $906| $1359| $1359| $1812| $1812| $2265| $2265| $2718| $2718| $3171| $3171| $3624| $3624| | | | | | | | Kirby Air Riders| LOCAL| $445| $445| $481| $517| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LAN| $445| $940| $1410| $1880| $2350| $2820| $3290| $3760| $4230| $4700| $5170| $5640| $6110| $6580| $7050| $7520| | | | | | | | ONLINE| $445| $890| $890| $890| $1335| $1335| $1780| $1780| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | SHARE| $445| $840| $1235| $1630| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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