Mario Kart It is often defined as the video game more stressful ever… But is it really the case? In reality, as we will see, this result comes from a single study carried out by a portal that deals with gaming and bets that has tested 14 players on only 16 games, measuring their heart rate all the time.
Considering a game period of 30 minutesthe authors drafted the following ranking based onAverage increase in BPM (Beats by minute) compared to a rest situation:
- Mario Kart – increased 32.81%;
- FIFA 20 – increased 31.25%;
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare – increased 29.69%;
- Dark Souls III – increased 28.13%;
- Fortnite – increased 26.56%.
In first place, as anticipated, we find Mario Kart. In this case, the stress during the game is linked both to the fact of being behind and trying to recover, and to being the first. In fact, the game offers opponents many ways to dirty those who find it later, making the player warn a constant sense of “danger” even if you are on your head. The case of Dark Souls III is also interesting: here in fact during the combat with the boss Darkeater Midir peaks of the 98.44%!
At the same time, however, it is good to highlight some critical issues that make these values very questionable. The first fact that jumps to the eye is that relating to tiny sample of monitored players (just 14) and to the reduced quantity of tried titles: if we consider that on the platform Steam have been released 15 thousand new games Only in 2024, it is clear as 16 video game – however famous – they are not a representative sample.
In addition, it is interesting to note that in the list did not appear horror games. These were not taken into consideration, inevitably going to return a misleading datum and linked only to some of the most mainstream titles in recent years.
In conclusion we can say that Mario Kart, increasing the heartbeat, is certainly a stressful video game, but from here to say that it is the most stressful ever there is a big difference, given that the bonusfinder study has monitored a small number of players and video games.
