title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: In June 2019, the park completed a 23.5 MW solar facility, the largest net-metered solar farm in New Jersey. It produces around 30 million kWh per year, equivalent to most of the park's electricity needs. The facility includes 11 MW of solar canopy over the carpark. The facility was announced in March 2015.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: On August 29, 2019, Six Flags announced a new coaster, the Jersey Devil Coaster, to be built by Rocky Mountain Construction. Six Flags suspended all operations across all their properties due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. In mid-May, the park announced that they would reopen the first Six Flags attraction, Safari Off Road Adventure, which reopened on May 30, 2020. Following an announcement by Governor Phil Murphy on June 23, 2020, giving permission for amusement parks to reopen, Six Flags Great Adventure announced a day later that it would reopen on July 3, 2020. However, the Jersey Devil Coaster was delayed until the 2021 season because its construction was halted due to the pandemic.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: In July 2021, the park re-introduced the ride's old Road Runner Railway kiddie roller coaster to Lil' Devil Coaster, a ride themed to the Jersey Devil, like the nearby Jersey Devil Coaster.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Numerous artists have performed concerts at the park, including Bon Jovi, The Ramones, The Beach Boys, Heart, Kansas, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, and Alice Cooper.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: On September 29, 2012, Great Adventure hosted the FestEvil, a festival hosting contemporary metal and hardcore acts; Falling In Reverse and We Came As Romans coheadlined. It was Great Adventure's first metal show. At the end of the show, Falling In Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke threw three microphone stands into the crowd, injuring two attendees. Radke was arrested after the show, and a spokesperson for Great Adventure announced that the park would no longer host shows with metal bands.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Main Street serves as the entry gate for Six Flags Great Adventure. It was originally entitled Liberty Court and was built when the entrance to the park was moved from near what is now the Boardwalk area to a more central location. Main Street is themed as an Early-American town, somewhere around the 18th century. Later additions to Main Street have formed it into more of a turn-of-the-century town. In the front is Main Street Fountain, which serves as a central hub for the park.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Fantasy Forest serves as the midway for the park and was originally part of the entrance. Fantasy Forest is designed to make its visitors feel like children, and the section's bright colors and fanciful design give it a magical feel. The Yum Yum Cafe, (Previously "The Great Character Cafe"), which is designed to look like a giant ice cream sundae, is in this area along with the colorful Carousel and Enchanted Teacups. Originally, this section was split into two sections; Dream Street, the east side featuring the Carousel, and Strawberry Fair, the west side featuring the Big Wheel and Fantasy Fling. During Time Warner's acquisition of the park, these two sections of the park were combined into one. In 2012, the east side stayed as Fantasy Forest and the west side was re-themed and transformed to Adventure Alley.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Adventure Alley, made up of what used to be the right half of Fantasy Forest, opened in 2012 along with SkyScreamer, a FunTime StarFlyer. The area has a retro theme and features several classic family rides. It was built in a formerly barren area in response to complaints about there being a lack of family rides in the park. SkyScreamer, DejaVu (a Scrambler relocated from the shuttered American Adventures in Georgia), and Air Jumbo (a Flying Elephants ride relocated from Balin's Jungleland in the Golden Kingdom) all opened in May, while Fender Benders, a bumper cars attraction, opened in early July. The area was sponsored by the Broadway show Jersey Boys and as such, features songs from the musical as its soundtrack.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Adventure Seaport was introduced for the 2011 season. It is made up of a children's area, Jr. Thrillseekers, and a small section of the park formerly part of Movietown. Originally, Adventure Seaport also included Looney Tunes Seaport before it was removed in 2020.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Jr. Thrillseekers was known as "Wiggles World" from 2007 to 2010. Most of the rides were re-themed from Looney Tunes Seaport, while the section itself replaced an aging part of Looney Tunes Seaport and the outdated Riptide flume ride. The area was renamed and re-themed Safari Kids for 2011 when the parks rights to use the Wiggles brand expired. It was renamed to Jr. Thrillseekers in 2022.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: This section makes up what used to be the "Fun Fair" and "Action Town" sections of the park. It is themed as a Hollywood back lot, complete with Hollywood style buildings, and movie-themed ride, shops, stalls, and other attractions. Most of the attractions include DC Comics (Batman: The Ride, Justice League: Battle for Metropolis, Cyborg: Cyber Spin). Over the years, many of the movie props have been removed, and all the flat rides in this section of the park have been moved or dismantled. This left the section with very few rides: the addition of The Dark Knight Coaster meant the removal of the Movietown Water Effect, a themed Splashdown ride. Batman and Robin: The Chiller and Stuntman's Freefall (an Intamin free-fall ride) had already been removed, and the "Axis Chemical" themed amphitheater, while still standing, no longer hosts stunt shows. Nitro was included in Movietown until the 2011 season when it became part of Adventure Seaport. For a time this section of the park was essentially a dead-end, forcing patrons to turn back after the Showcase Theater.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: In summer 2016, permits were released for a dark ride to be placed where Batman and Robin: The Chiller once stood. The area surrounding Justice League: Battle for Metropolis was rethemed to Metropolis, though it is still treated as part of Movietown. In 2018, Cyborg Cyber Spin opened in the Metropolis subsection. The park reopened a pathway between this ride and the Justice League attraction, and now patrons can loop through Movietown and re-emerge near the fountain and the park's main entrance. Additionally, Wonder Woman: Lasso of Truth debuted in June 2019, located just next to the old Axis Chemical building.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Lakefront, as its name suggests, is found right on the lake in the back of the property. The rides and structures in Lakefront all have a nautical theme. The section also includes an Asian-themed eatery (formerly branded as a Panda Express).


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Previously known as "Best of the West" and "Rootin' Tootin' Rip Roarin'", Frontier Adventures is the park's western-themed section. It is home to the Fort and the Best of the West restaurant, as well as some of the park's rides.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Frontier Adventures is now home to the Safari Off Road Adventure station. It stands on the former location of the Super Teepee and the Conestoga Wagon.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Bugs Bunny National Park opened in 2006 along with El Toro. It has a series of camp-themed rides, all in a rustic area on the lake. Attractions include Bugs Bunny Camp Carousel, Bugs Bunny National Water Park Tower, Bugs Bunny Ranger Pilots, Daffy Duck's Hot Air Balloons, Porky Pig Camp Wagons, and Wile E. Coyote Canyon Blaster.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: This area was originally part of Frontier Adventures, and was also called "Hernando's Hideaway" for the opening of Rolling Thunder. This section of the park has heavy Spanish influences, including music, lights, and various structures including the station for El Toro. The whole area is very festive and is filled with vibrant colors, stucco buildings, and Spanish tile roofs.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: The Golden Kingdom opened in 2005 with Kingda Ka on what was Bugs Bunny Land, the park's old kiddie-section. This section of the park is themed with many bamboo plants, stone temples, and more. It is also home to three llamas, which are near the entrance to the area on Aldabra Island, formerly home to Aldabra tortoises.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Previously Fortune Festival, the boardwalk section of Great Adventure has games commonly found on boardwalks, boardwalk restaurants, and many of the park's larger flat rides. This area of the park was also previously themed as Edwards Air Force Base, and many of the theme elements from then still exist now, including "latrines", and the parachute tower's name. The section also has a slight boardwalk-influence to its rides.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: During the Halloween season, Six Flags Great Adventure is redecorated with spider webs, smoke machines, and other Halloween related decorations. Actors dress up in scary costumes and walk around to frighten guests, as they once did at the Haunted Castle. Fright Fest typically begins at 6:00 PM, as the zombies parade to a stage to kick off "fright by night." The park does not recommend the nighttime activities for children 13 or under. Fright Fest attracts some of the heaviest crowds of the year, and becomes more and more crowded as the date draws closer to Halloween.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: One of the most popular attractions at Fright Fest every year is the theatrical production of Dead Man's Party, a live dance show with popular music that draws hundreds of viewers for every showing and has attained an almost cult-like local following.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: The seasonal event includes upcharge walk-through haunted attractions. Recurring attractions include The Manor, Fears, Wicked Woods, Blood Shed, Big Top Terror, Cell Block 6, and Aftermath. Areas of the park known as "scare zones" include free-roaming zombies are The Bloody Fountain (Main Street), Demon District (Movietown), CarnEvil (Boardwalk), Lady Of The Lake Cemetery (Lakefront), and Bone Butcher Terror-tory (Frontier Adventures).


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: During the Christmas season, Six Flags Great Adventure is redecorated with Christmas related decorations. During this season, only the Main Street, Adventure Alley, Fantasy Forest, Boardwalk, Adventure Seaport, and Movie Town sections of the park remain open. Just as with Fright Fest, Holiday in the Park attracts some of the heaviest crowds of the year.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: Many of Six Flags Great Adventure's most thrilling roller coasters have placed in "Amusement Today" annual Golden Ticket Awards. Below is a table with coasters at Great Adventure and their highest ranking in the Golden Ticket Awards.


title: Six Flags Great Adventure

text: In 2012, Six Flags Great Adventure, along with the Garden State Film Festival, was awarded the Tourism Achievement Award. Both were presented the award for their contributions to improving the economy of the bi-county area through the use of tourism.


title: Kim Ung-yong

text: Kim Ung-Yong (Hangul: 김웅용; born March 8, 1962) is a South Korean professor and former child prodigy, who held the world record Guinness World Records for the highest IQ, at 210.


title: Kim Ung-yong

text: Kim Ung-yong was born on March 8, 1962, in Seoul, South Korea. His father was a physics professor and his mother was a medical professor. By the time he was a year old, Kim had learned both the Korean alphabet and 1,000 Chinese characters by studying the "Thousand Character Classic", a 6th-century Chinese poem.


title: Kim Ung-yong

text: At three years old, he was able to solve calculus problems, and he also published a best-selling book of his essays in English and German, as well as his calligraphy and illustrations. By the age of five, Kim could speak Korean, English, French, German and Japanese. That year, he enrolled at Grant High School in Los Angeles after an article was published about him in "Look" magazine that caught the attention of the school. He also audited a physics class at Hanyang University.


title: Kim Ung-yong

text: At the age of five, Kim appeared on Fuji Television in Japan and shocked the audience by solving differential equations. Later he appeared on Japanese television again, where he solved complicated differential and integral calculus problems.


title: Kim Ung-yong

text: A popular rumour was that when he was eight years old, Kim allegedly went to study nuclear physics at the University of Colorado, according to popular sources. This, however, has been disputed and disproved from sources at the time. In the time of his college entrance exam's fitness section, where he gained much media attention, his father revealed to reporters that going to Japan to shoot the Fuji TV show was the "one and only time he went out of the country", and that the information of his Ph.D and master's degree progress in the States was "journalistic nonsense". His statement that Kim did not leave at all is slightly detracted by the statement of Kim's mother, who stated that while he did "leave for a short moment to audit classes at the University of Colorado", he was returned immediately due to their facilities being "inadequate for the [Kim]'s genius", who was then homeschooled until his college entrance exam. While the specifics may be blurred, it is clear that the evidence is in favour of his attendance at the University of Colorado being a misconstrued rumour.


title: Kim Ung-yong

text: Upon returning to South Korea, Kim was required to formally complete South Korean schooling in order to get a job. He earned his elementary, middle, and high school degrees in just two years. He later enrolled in Chungbuk National University where he studied civil engineering and earned a Ph.D.


title: Kim Ung-yong

text: , he served as adjunct faculty at Chungbuk National University. On March 14, 2014, he became associate professor in Shinhan University, and became vice president of North Kyeong-gi Development Research Center.


title: Kim Ung-yong

text: In 2010, Kim criticized the idea that he is a "failed genius" and additionally said, "Some think people with a high IQ can be omnipotent, but that's not true. Look at me, I don't have musical talent, nor am I excelling in sports. [...] Society should not judge anyone with unilateral standards – everyone has different learning levels, hopes, talents, and dreams and we should respect that."


title: Karl Anderson

text: Chad Allegra (born January 20, 1980), better known by the ring name Karl Anderson, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE where he performs on the Raw brand. He also makes appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the current NEVER Openweight Champion in his first reign.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Anderson is known for his work as a tag team specialist, most notably in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former four-time IWGP Tag Team Champion. He also holds the record for the longest reign and most defenses with the title, achieved on his first reign with former partner Giant Bernard. Anderson and Bernard also held Pro Wrestling Noah's GHC Tag Team Championship, and were voted tag team of the year by the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" in 2011. Anderson is a founding member and the second leader of the Bullet Club stable, and a three-time winner of NJPW's top tag team tournament, the G1/World Tag League, having won it in 2009 with Bernard, in 2012 with Hirooki Goto and in 2013 with Doc Gallows. He also wrestled for Southern California-based independent promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) between 2007 and 2009.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Anderson spent the majority of his career in Japan, before signing with WWE alongside Gallows, A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura in 2016. In WWE, Anderson had won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship twice with his tag partner Gallows. In April 2020, Anderson and Gallows were released by WWE and, three months later, signed a contract with Impact Wrestling, where they became three-time Impact World Tag Team Champions. Anderson and Gallows eventually returned to WWE in October 2022.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Allegra grew up in Pipestone, Minnesota with his younger brother and mother. He received a baseball scholarship to study at Mars Hill College in his home state before dropping out to pursue a wrestling career. Upon moving to Cincinnati, Ohio he began training for a short time at Les Thatcher's Main Event Pro Wrestling Camp, the school associated with the Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA).


title: Karl Anderson

text: Shortly after beginning his training under Les Thatcher in 2000, he received a concussion at the hands of fellow trainee Derek Neikirk, which put Allegra on the shelf for over a year. When he felt he was able to return, he contacted Kirk Sheppard who worked for the Northern Wrestling Federation (NWF) in Cincinnati, who introduced him to Roger Ruffen, the head trainer at BoneKrushers (the NWF's wrestling school). Allegra trained for several months before debuting under his real name in his first professional match on May 10, 2002, in a loss with The Zodiac. In the early stages on his career, he had matches with Prince Justice, Jimmy Valiant, Chris Harris, Shark Boy, and Jerry Lawler. In the NWF, Allegra started as part of the Young Lions, a four-man group of popular rookies who entered the promotion around the same time. First to leave the group was Matt Parks. Allegra eventually joined Parks as a heel and began a feud with Ryan Stone and Jay Donaldson. In the summer of 2005, the NWF and the HWA began an interpromotional feud. It culminated in a one on one, title vs. title match between Allegra, the NWF Champion, and Cody Hawk, the HWA champion.


title: Karl Anderson

text: In October 2005, Allegra had the opportunity to wrestle at the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) annual convention, where he was noticed by Dave Marquez of NJPW LA Dojo. Allegra was invited to train at the dojo and so after losing the NWF title to Ryan Stone on January 1, 2006, Allegra began living and wrestling on the West Coast. On the West Coast, Allegra was repackaged as "Machine Gun" Karl Anderson, becoming a storyline member of the Anderson wrestling family and adopting the family's trademark spinebuster as his new finishing maneuver. Over the years, the association with the Anderson family has quietly been dropped. Before long, he won the NWA British Commonwealth Championship before losing it to Alex Koslov.


title: Karl Anderson

text: In 2007, he began teaming with Joey Ryan, on NWA cards promoted by David Marquez. He appeared weekly on MavTV, a small broadcast network, carried on limited stations. The team's first title match came against The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) in a losing attempt for the AWS Tag Team Championship. In April, Anderson won the EWF American Championship from Human Tornado. On July 8, 2007, he and Ryan won a 3-way tag match to claim the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship. Anderson lost his EWF American Championship to Mikey Nicholls on September 7, 2007, in a 30-minute Iron Man match, which also included Ryan Taylor. Anderson and Ryan, now going as the Real American Heroes, successfully defend their championship on multiple occasions, but would eventually lose it to Los Luchas (Phoenix Star and Zokre) on February 10, 2008.


title: Karl Anderson

text: In early 2007, Anderson debuted for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), picking up big wins over established wrestlers such as Frankie Kazarian and Colt Cabana. He would continue to appear for PWG over the year, occasionally teaming with Joey Ryan's Dynasty faction. On February 24, 2008, he participated in a tournament for the PWG World Championship, defeating Kazarian in his first round match. Later that same day, he was defeated by Human Tornado in the final of the tournament, which also included Roderick Strong. After an eleven-month break from PWG, Anderson returned on February 21, 2009, once again teaming with The Dynasty. On August 28, he and Joey Ryan unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the PWG World Tag Team Championship. Anderson made his final appearance for PWG on September 4, 2009, when he was defeated by Roderick Strong. In 2013, looking back at his time on the Californian independent circuit, Allegra stated "I actually hated my whole time in L.A. There were always great times, but I look back on it now, and I wasn't happy there at all. I just didn't enjoy myself". He has however noted that he did not hate PWG, saying that they treated him well and gave him an opportunity when no one else would.


title: Karl Anderson

text: On October 19, 2007, Anderson made his debut for Ring of Honor (ROH), losing to Chris Hero in a Survival of the Fittest qualifying match. Two days later, Anderson was defeated by Adam Pearce in a singles match. After not appearing for ROH in over five years, Anderson returned to the promotion on April 5, 2013, at Supercard of Honor VII, defeating Roderick Strong. At the following day's tapings of "Ring of Honor Wrestling", Anderson picked up another win over Michael Elgin. Anderson returned to the promotion on July 27 to take part in the ROH World Championship tournament, defeating A. C. H. in his first round match. On August 17, Anderson was eliminated from the tournament in the quarterfinals by Michael Elgin.


title: Karl Anderson

text: As part of the new talent exchange agreement between the NWA and NJPW, Anderson replaced Yuji Nagata on March 23, 2008 in the annual New Japan Cup tournament. His opponent in the first round was New Japan's junior heavyweight division ace, Koji Kanemoto, to whom Anderson lost by submission. Based on his performance, Anderson was signed to a one-year contract by NJPW. Anderson then joined NJPW's top heel stable Great Bash Heel (GBH) and spent the rest of the year wrestling in midcard matches. After a jump from GBH to Chaos, Anderson formed the tag team Bad Intentions with Giant Bernard and on June 20 the two of them challenged for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but were unable to defeat the defending champions Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon). Anderson and Bernard entered the 2009 G1 Tag League and defeated Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) in the final to win the tournament and earn another chance for the title. On November 8 at Destruction '09, the second match between Bad Intentions and Team 3D ended in a double countout. On April 4, 2010, Chaos members Toru Yano and Takashi Iizuka turned on Anderson and kicked him out of the stable with help from Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi, who joined the stable in the process. Giant Bernard, who wasn't present at the show, ended up leaving Chaos alongside his tag team partner. On June 19, 2010, at Dominion 6.19, Anderson and Bernard defeated the teams of Seigigun (Yuji Nagata and Wataru Inoue) and No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi) in a three-way elimination match to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Bad Intentions made their first successful defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championship on July 19, defeating Seigigun and No Limit in a three-way "Dogfight". In late October Bad Intentions entered the 2010 G1 Tag League, where, after three wins and two losses, they finished second in their block and advanced to the semifinals. On November 7, they were defeated by the eventual winners of the tournament, Yuji Nagata and Wataru Inoue. On January 4, 2011, at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, Bad Intentions successfully defended the IWGP Tag Team Championship in a three–way match against Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man). On May 3, Bad Intentions defeated No Limit to make their seventh successful IWGP Tag Team Championship defense, tying the all-time record for most defenses, set by Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono. Bad Intentions made their record breaking eight successful IWGP Tag Team Championship defense on June 18 at Dominion 6.18 against Pro Wrestling Noah's Takuma Sano and Yoshihiro Takayama, and in the process also became the new GHC Tag Team Champions.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Bad Intentions' ninth successful IWGP Tag Team Championship defense took place on July 3, when they defeated Hirooki Goto and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. On July 23, Bad Intentions made an appearance for Pro Wrestling Noah, making their first successful defense of the GHC Tag Team Championship against the team of Takeshi Morishima and Yutaka Yoshie. On September 9, Bad Intentions became the longest reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions by breaking the previous record of 446 days, set by Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono in 2003. Bad Intentions made their second GHC Tag Team Championship defense on October 31, defeating Go Shiozaki and Shuhei Taniguchi at a Pro Wrestling Noah event. During New Japan's 2011 G1 Tag League, Bad Intentions suffered their first tag team loss in a year, when they were defeated by the Complete Players (Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi), but still managed to win their four other matches and advance to the semifinals of the tournament. On November 6, after defeating the Billion Powers (Hirooki Goto and Hiroshi Tanahashi) in the semifinals, Bad Intentions were defeated in the final of the 2011 G1 Climax by Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer). On November 12 at Power Struggle, Bad Intentions made their tenth successful IWGP Tag Team Championship defense against Archer and Suzuki. On January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, Bad Intentions lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima), ending their record-setting reign at 564 days. On January 22, Bad Intentions lost the GHC Tag Team Championship to Akitoshi Saito and Jun Akiyama. In March, Bad Intentions was disbanded, after Bernard left New Japan to return to WWE.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Launching his New Japan singles career, Anderson entered the 2012 New Japan Cup on April 1. After victories over Hiroyoshi Tenzan and multi-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, arguably the biggest win of his career, he was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Hiroshi Tanahashi. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2012, Nakamura defeated Anderson in a rematch. In August, Anderson took part in the 2012 G1 Climax tournament, where he won four out of his first seven matches, before scoring an upset win over IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi on August 12, the final day of the tournament, to win his block and advance to the finals. In the final, which was held immediately after Anderson's win over Tanahashi, Anderson was defeated by Kazuchika Okada. During the following months, Anderson continued his feud with Okada, leading to him unsuccessfully challenging for Okada's Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome title shot contract on October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling. On November 11 at Power Struggle, Anderson unsuccessfully challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On November 15, Anderson entered a tournament to determine the inaugural NEVER Openweight Champion. After wins over Yujiro Takahashi, Shiori Asahi and Kengo Mashimo, Anderson was defeated in the finals of the tournament on November 19 by Masato Tanaka.


title: Karl Anderson

text: From November 20 to December 1, Anderson took part in the round-robin portion of the 2012 World Tag League, alongside Hirooki Goto under the team name "Sword & Guns". The team finished with a record of four wins and two losses, finishing second in their block and advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On December 2, Sword & Guns defeated Tencozy to advance to the final of the tournament, where, later that same day, they defeated the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions, K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith, Jr. and Lance Archer), to win the tournament. Sword & Guns received their shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship on January 4, 2013 at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, but were defeated in a rematch by K.E.S. Following his August 2012 win over Hiroshi Tanahashi, Anderson received his first shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on February 10, 2013, at The New Beginning, but was defeated by Tanahashi in a rematch. In an attempt to earn another shot at Tanahashi, Anderson entered the 2013 New Japan Cup on March 11, defeating Hiroyoshi Tenzan in his first round match. Six days later, Anderson was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by Kazuchika Okada.


title: Karl Anderson

text: On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Anderson faced Hiroshi Tanahashi in another high-profile match, but was again defeated. After the match, Anderson turned heel by joining Prince Devitt, Bad Luck Fale, and Tama Tonga in attacking Tanahashi. The new group was subsequently named "Bullet Club". From August 1 to 11, Anderson took part in the 2013 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of five wins and four losses, with a loss against Tetsuya Naito on the final day costing him a spot in the final of the tournament. In October, Anderson set his sights on the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, held by Kazuchika Okada, looking to avenge his loss from the finals of the 2012 G1 Climax. The title match between the two took place on November 9 at Power Struggle and saw Okada retain his title. From November 24 to December 8, Anderson and Bullet Club's newest member, Doc Gallows, took part in the 2013 World Tag League. After winning their block with a record of four wins and two losses, Anderson and Gallows first defeated GBH (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) in the semifinals and then Tencozy in the final to win the tournament, giving Anderson his overall third G1/World Tag League win and the second in a row. Anderson and Gallows received their title shot on January 4, 2014 at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, where they defeated K.E.S. to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions. Anderson and Gallows made their first successful title defense on February 9 at The New Beginning in Hiroshima, defeating K.E.S. in a rematch. Their second defense took place on April 6 at Invasion Attack 2014, where they defeated Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Following the event, Devitt left New Japan, leading to Anderson taking over as the new leader of Bullet Club. Anderson and Gallows' third successful defense took place just seven days later, during New Japan's trip to Taiwan, when they defeated Hirooki Goto and Captain Taiwan. On May 17, Anderson and Gallows made their fourth successful title defense against The Briscoes (Jay and Mark) at a NJPW and ROH co-produced event, War of the Worlds, in New York City. On June 21 at Dominion 6.21, Anderson and Gallows made their fifth successful defense against Ace to King (Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe). From July 21 to August 8, Anderson took part in the 2014 G1 Climax, where he finished third in his block with a record of five wins and five losses. On September 21 at Destruction in Kobe, Anderson and Gallows made their sixth successful title defense against Chaos' Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi. Two days later at Destruction in Okayama, Anderson unsuccessfully challenged Okada for his IWGP Heavyweight Championship number one contender's contract. In December, Anderson and Gallows made it to the finals of the 2014 World Tag League, after winning their block with a record of five wins and two losses. On December 7, Anderson and Gallows were defeated in the finals of the tournament by Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata. Anderson and Gallows' year-long reign as the IWGP Tag Team Champions came to an end on January 4, 2015 at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, where they were defeated by Goto and Shibata.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Anderson and Gallows regained the title from Goto and Shibata on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka. They lost the title to The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) on April 5 at Invasion Attack 2015. They regained the title from The Kingdom on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall. From July 23 to August 15, Anderson took part in the 2015 G1 Climax. He entered the final day with a chance to advance from his block, but was eliminated after losing to Satoshi Kojima, giving him a record of six wins and three losses. During the tournament, Anderson defeated Shinsuke Nakamura, which led to him unsuccessfully challenging Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on November 7 at Power Struggle. On January 4, 2016 at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome, Anderson and Gallows lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma. Hours after the event, it was reported that both Anderson and Gallows had given their notice to NJPW on the morning of January 4, announcing that they were leaving the promotion for WWE. Anderson remained under NJPW contract and was expected to finish off his contracted dates with the promotion before leaving. On February 14 at The New Beginning in Niigata, Anderson and Gallows received a rematch for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but were again defeated by Makabe and Honma. On February 19, Anderson confirmed in an interview with "Tokyo Sports" that he was leaving NJPW after the following day's show. In his final NJPW match, Anderson teamed with Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows and Tama Tonga, losing to Bobby Fish, Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata and Kyle O'Reilly in an eight-man tag team match.


title: Karl Anderson

text: On the April 11, 2016, episode of "Raw", Anderson and Gallows (with Gallows reverting to his former WWE ring name, Luke Gallows) made their debut, attacking The Usos. On the April 18 episode of "Raw", Anderson and Gallows attacked WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, following Reigns' promo with AJ Styles. During this time, Anderson and Gallows helped Styles in his feud with Reigns, with Styles at first reluctant for their help. Gallows and Anderson wrestled their first WWE match on the April 25 episode of "Raw", defeating The Usos. On the May 30 episode of "Raw", Styles would confront a returning John Cena who said the "new era" would have to go through him, before offering Styles his hand. Styles shook his hand, shortly before Anderson and Gallows interrupted. As Styles and Cena appeared ready to fight Anderson and Gallows, Styles instead beat down Cena repeatedly, reuniting The Club.


title: Karl Anderson

text: On July 19, as part of WWE draft, both Anderson and Gallows were drafted to Raw, while AJ Styles was drafted to SmackDown, splitting up The Club. On July 24 at Battleground, The Club wrestled together for the final time, in a loss to Cena and Enzo and Cass. After separating from Styles, Gallows and Anderson resumed feuding with The New Day, leading up to a SummerSlam match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, which they won by disqualification because of show guest Jon Stewart and a returning Big E getting involved. At Clash of Champions, Anderson and Gallows failed to win the titles. In November, Anderson and Gallows were announced as part of Team Raw for the 10–on–10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination match at Survivor Series, which they won. On the January 18, 2017 episode of "Raw", Anderson and Gallows appeared to defeat Cesaro and Sheamus by pinfall for the Raw Tag Team Championship; however, due to Sheamus having hit the referee, the decision was reversed to a disqualification, leading to them winning the match but not the title. On the Royal Rumble preshow, Anderson and Gallows defeated Cesaro and Sheamus to win the Raw Tag Team Championship for the first time. They lost the title to returning The Hardy Boyz at WrestleMania 33 in a fatal four-way tag team ladder match. At the Payback kick-off show on April 30, Anderson and Gallows lost to Enzo and Cass. For the rest of 2017, Anderson and Gallows were mostly off television, only appearing sporadically on "Raw" and mainly being relegated to "Main Event".


title: Karl Anderson

text: On the January 1, 2018 "Raw", the duo turned face by appearing as former Bullet Club stablemate Finn Bálor's surprise tag team partners. After a brief feud, they lost to The Revival at the Royal Rumble pre-show. On April 17, Anderson and Gallows were both drafted to SmackDown as part of Superstar Shake-up. At WrestleMania 34 on April 8, Anderson and Gallows competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but did not win. On the May 22 episode of "SmackDown", Anderson and Gallows defeated The Usos to become number one contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, but they failed to win the title from The Bludgeon Brothers on the Money in the Bank pre-show and also lost a rematch on the June 19 episode of "SmackDown". At WrestleMania 35 in April 2019, Anderson and Gallows wrestled in their second André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but again did not win.


title: Karl Anderson

text: On the April 29 episode of "Raw", Anderson and Gallows returned to the Raw brand, losing to The Usos. As of that match, they had not won a match on television since they defeated The Usos in May 2018. In July 2019, it was reported that Gallows and Anderson had re-signed with WWE to five-year contracts. After Styles lost a United States Championship match to Ricochet; Anderson and Gallows helped Styles to beat up Ricochet, and reuniting The Club as heels. On the July 22 episode of "Raw", The Club was renamed The O.C., which means "Original Club". On the July 30 episode of "Raw", Gallows and Anderson became two-time Raw Tag Team Champions by defeating The Revival and The Usos in a triple threat tag team match. Within weeks, they had lost the titles to Rollins and Strowman. At Crown Jewel, Anderson and Gallows won the WWE Tag Team World Cup, by defeating eight other teams. Anderson participated in the Royal Rumble match at the namesake pay-per-view and entered at #20 but was eliminated by Randy Orton.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Anderson's final appearance in this stint with WWE would be alongside Gallows and Styles as part of the Boneyard match at WrestleMania 36 against The Undertaker. On April 15, 2020, Karl Anderson was released by WWE along with several other superstars because of measures implemented by WWE due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Karl Anderson

text: On July 18, 2020, Gallows and Anderson announced that they had both signed two-year contracts with Impact Wrestling and would be appearing at Slammiversary. At the event, Gallows (reverting to his Doc Gallows in ring name), and Anderson (using his "Machine Gun" nickname), now known as The Good Brothers, appeared at the end of the show helping Eddie Edwards fend off Ace Austin and Madman Fulton before celebrating with Edwards, establishing themselves as fan favorites. at Bound for Glory, Gallows and Anderson competed in a Four-way tag team match for the Impact World Tag Team Championship which was won by The North. At Turning Point (2020), Gallows and Anderson defeated The North to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship for the first time, becoming the second tag team (after The Dudley Boyz) to win tag gold in NJPW, WWE and Impact.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Gallows with Anderson as The Good Brothers made their AEW debut at the end of AEW Dynamite New Year’s Smash Night 1, saving Kenny Omega from Jon Moxley and making the “Too Sweet” hand gesture along with Omega and The Young Bucks. Gallows and Anderson were making appearances in AEW, due to a working relationship crossover deal with Impact Wrestling.


title: Karl Anderson

text: In June 2021, it was announced that Anderson along with Gallows would be returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling for the first time since early 2016 as part of the United States-based show "NJPW Strong" and would compete in its Tag Team Turbulence tournament. At Wrestling Dontaku 2022 he made his return alongside Doc Gallows join back the Bullet Club and on June 12 Anderson would defeat Tama Tonga for the NEVER Openweight Championship at Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, his first singles championship in the company. On October 10, 2022, Anderson unexpectedly returned to WWE, while still being recognized as the NEVER Openweight Champion.


title: Karl Anderson

text: On the October 10, 2022, episode of "Raw", Gallows and Anderson made their unannounced return to WWE as faces, aiding AJ Styles in attacking The Judgment Day.


title: Karl Anderson

text: Allegra has four sons with his wife Christine Bui, who he affectionately refers to as his "hot Asian wife". The family lives in Fairfield, Ohio. Allegra is close friends with Fergal Devitt and Shinsuke Nakamura, whom he first met at the New Japan Pro-Wrestling dojo in Los Angeles. He is also close friends with AJ Styles and long time tag team partner Doc Gallows, often referring to the former as "Uncle Allen".


title: Karl Anderson

text: Allegra made his video game debut in "WWE 2K17" as Karl Anderson alongside tag-team partner Luke Gallows as DLC. He also appears in "WWE 2K18" "WWE 2K19", "WWE 2K20", and "WWE 2K Battlegrounds" as a playable character.


title: Tocharians

text: The Tocharians, or Tokharians (: or ; : ), were speakers of Tocharian languages, Indo-European languages known from around 7600 documents from around 400 to 1200 AD, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China).


title: Tocharians

text: The name "Tocharian" was given to these languages in the early 20th century by scholars who identified their speakers with a people known in ancient Greek sources as the "Tókharoi" (Latin "Tochari"), who inhabited Bactria from the 2nd century BC. This identification is generally considered erroneous, but the name "Tocharian" remains the most common term for the languages and their speakers. Their actual ethnic name is unknown, although they may have referred to themselves as "Agni", "Kuči" and "Krorän", or "Agniya", "Kuchiya" as known from Sanskrit texts.


title: Tocharians

text: Agricultural communities first appeared in the oases of the northern Tarim circa 2000 BC. Some scholars have linked these communities to the Afanasievo culture found earlier (c. 3500–2500 BC) in Siberia, north of the Tarim or Central Asian BMAC culture. The earliest Tarim mummies date from c. 1800 BC, but it is unclear whether they are connected to the Tocharians of two millennia later.


title: Tocharians

text: By the 2nd century BC, these settlements had developed into city-states, overshadowed by nomadic peoples to the north and Chinese empires to the east. These cities, the largest of which was Kucha, also served as way stations on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of the Taklamakan desert.


title: Tocharians

text: For several centuries, the Tarim basin was ruled by the Xiongnu, the Han dynasty, the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty. From the 8th century AD, the Uyghurs – speakers of a Turkic language – settled in the region and founded the Kingdom of Qocho that ruled the Tarim Basin. The peoples of the Tarim city-states intermixed with the Uyghurs, whose Old Uyghur language spread through the region. The Tocharian languages are believed to have become extinct during the 9th century.


title: Tocharians

text: Around the beginning of the 20th century, archaeologists recovered a number of manuscripts from oases in the Tarim Basin written in two closely related but previously unknown Indo-European languages, which were easy to read because they used a close variation of the already deciphered Indian Middle-Brahmi script. These languages were designated in similar fashion by their geographical neighbours:


title: Tocharians

text: Friedrich W. K. Müller was the first to propose a characterization for the newly discovered languages. Müller called the languages "Tocharian" (German "Tocharisch"), linking this "toxrï" (Tωγry, "Togari") with the ethnonym "Tókharoi" () applied by Strabo to one of the "Scythian" tribes "from the country on the other side of the Iaxartes" that overran the Greco-Bactrian kingdom (present day Afghanistan) in the second half of the 2nd century BC. This term also appears in Indo-Iranian languages (Sanskrit "Tushara"/"Tukhāra", Old Persian "tuxāri-", Khotanese "ttahvāra"), and became the source of the term "Tokharistan" usually referring to 1st millennium Bactria, as well as the Takhar province of Afghanistan. The "Tókharoi" are often identified by modern scholars with the Yuezhi of Chinese historical accounts, who founded the Kushan Empire.


title: Tocharians

text: Müller's identification became a minority position among scholars when it turned out that the people of Tokharistan (Bactria) spoke Bactrian, an Eastern Iranian language, which is quite distinct from the Tocharian languages. Nevertheless, "Tocharian" remained the standard term for the languages of the Tarim Basin manuscripts and for the people who produced them. A few scholars argue that the Yuezhi were originally speakers of Tocharian who later adopted the Bactrian language.


title: Tocharians

text: The name of Kucha in Tocharian B was "Kuśi", with adjectival form "kuśiññe". The word may be derived from Proto-Indo-European *keuk "shining, white".


title: Tocharians

text: The Tocharian B word "akeññe" may have referred to people of Agni, with a derivation meaning "borderers, marchers". One of the Tocharian A texts have "ārśi-käntwā" as a name for their own language, so that "ārśi" may have meant "Agnean", though "monk" is also possible.


title: Tocharians

text: Tocharian kings apparently gave themselves the title "Ñäktemts soy" (in Tocharian B), an equivalent of the title "Devaputra" ("Son of God") of the Kushans.


title: Tocharians

text: The Tocharian languages are known from around 7600 documents dating from about 400 to 1200 AD, found at 30 sites in the northeast Tarim area. The manuscripts are written in two distinct, but closely related, Indo-European languages, conventionally known as Tocharian A and Tocharian B.


title: Tocharians

text: Tocharian A (Agnean or East Tocharian) was found in the northeastern oases known to the Tocharians as Ārśi, later Agni (i.e. Chinese Yanqi; modern Karasahr) and Turpan (including Khocho or Qočo; known in Chinese as Gaochang).


title: Tocharians

text: Many authors take this to imply that Tocharian A had become a purely literary and liturgical language by the time of the manuscripts, but it may be that the surviving documents are unrepresentative.


title: Tocharians

text: Tocharian B (Kuchean or West Tocharian) was found at all the Tocharian A sites and also in several sites further west, including Kuchi (later Kucha). It appears to have still been in use in daily life at that time.


title: Tocharians

text: The languages had significant differences in phonology, morphology and vocabulary, making them mutually unintelligible "at least as much as modern Germanic or Romance languages".


title: Tocharians

text: Tocharian A shows innovations in the vowels and nominal inflection, whereas Tocharian B has changes in the consonants and verbal inflection. Many of the differences in vocabulary between the languages concern Buddhist concepts, which may suggest that they were associated with different Buddhist traditions.


title: Tocharians

text: The differences indicate that they diverged from a common ancestor between 500 and 1000 years before the earliest documents, that is, sometime in the 1st millennium BC. Common Indo-European vocabulary retained in Tocharian includes words for herding, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, horses, textiles, farming, wheat, gold, silver, and wheeled vehicles.


title: Tocharians

text: Prakrit documents from 3rd century Krorän, Andir and Niya on the southeast edge of the Tarim Basin contain around 100 loanwords and 1000 proper names that cannot be traced to an Indic or Iranian source.


title: Tocharians

text: Thomas Burrow suggested that they come from a variety of Tocharian, dubbed Tocharian C or Kroränian, which may have been spoken by at least some of the local populace.


title: Tocharians

text: Burrow's theory is widely accepted, but the evidence is meagre and inconclusive, and some scholars favour alternative explanations.


title: Tocharians

text: J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair wrote that the Tarim was first settled by Proto-Tocharian-speakers from an eastern offshoot of the Afanasevo culture to the north, who migrated to the south and occupied the northern and eastern edges of the Tarim Basin. The Afanasevo culture itself resulted from an eastern offshoot of the Yamnaya culture, originally based in the Pontic steppe north of the Caucasus Mountains. The Afanasevo culture (c. 3500–2500 BC) displays cultural and genetic connections with the Indo-European-associated cultures of the Central Asian steppe yet predates the specifically Indo-Iranian-associated Andronovo culture (c. 2000–900 BC). The early eastward expansion of the Yamnaya culture circa 3300 BC is enough to account for the isolation of the Tocharian languages from Indo-Iranian linguistic innovations like satemization. Michaël Peyrot argues that several of the most striking typological peculiarities of Tocharian are rooted in a prolonged contact of Proto-Tocharian-speaking Afanasievans with speakers of an early stage of Proto-Samoyedic in South Siberia. Among others, this might explain the merger of all three-stop series (e.g., *t, *d, *dʰ > *t), which must have led to a huge amount of homonyms, as well as the development of an agglutinative case system.


title: Tocharians

text: The Taklamakan Desert is roughly oval in shape, about 1,000 km long and 400 km wide, surrounded on three sides by high mountains.


title: Tocharians

text: The desert is completely barren, but in the late spring the melting snows of the surrounding mountains feed streams, which have been altered by human activity to create oases with mild microclimates and supporting intensive agriculture.


title: Tocharians

text: Isolated alluvial fan oases also occur in the gravel deserts of the Turpan Depression to the east of the Taklamakan.


title: Tocharians

text: From around 2000 BC, these oases supported Bronze Age settled agricultural communities of steadily increasing sophistication.


title: Tocharians

text: The necessary irrigation technology was first developed during the 3rd millennium BC in the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) to the west of the Pamir mountains, but it is unclear how it reached the Tarim. The staple crops, wheat and barley, also originated in the west.


title: Tocharians

text: The oldest of the Tarim mummies, bodies preserved by the desert conditions, date from 2000 BC and were found on the eastern edge of the Tarim basin.


title: Tocharians

text: A genetic study of remains from the oldest layer of the Xiaohe Cemetery found that the maternal lineages were a mixture of east and west Eurasian types, while all the paternal lineages were of west Eurasian type.


title: Tocharians

text: It is unknown whether they are connected with the frescoes painted at Tocharian sites more than two millennia later, which also depict light eyes and hair color.


title: Tocharians

text: The mummies were found with plaid-woven tapestries that are notably similar to the weaving pattern of the "tartan" style of the Hallstatt culture of central Europe, associated with Celts; the wool used in the tapestries was found to come from sheep with European ancestry.


title: Tocharians

text: A 2021 genetic study demonstrated the Tarim mummies are remains of locals descending from Ancient North Eurasians and Northeast Asians, and instead suggested that "Tocharian may have been plausibly introduced to the Dzungarian Basin by Afanasievo migrants" -i.e. "the Afanasievo herders of the Altai–Sayan region in southern Siberia (3150–2750 BC), who in turn have close genetic ties with the Yamnaya (3500–2500 BC) of the Pontic–Caspian steppe located 3,000 km to the west"- before being recorded in 500–1000 CE's Buddhist scriptures.


title: Tocharians

text: Later, groups of nomadic pastoralists moved from the steppe into the grasslands to the north and northeast of the Tarim.


title: Tocharians

text: During the 1st millennium BC, a further wave of immigrants, the Saka speaking Iranian languages, arrived from the west and settled along the southern rim of the Tarim.


title: Tocharians

text: They are believed to be the source of Iranian loanwords in Tocharian languages, particularly related to commerce and warfare.


title: Tocharians

text: Most of the Tocharian inscriptions are based on Buddhist monastical texts, which suggests that the Tocharians largely embraced Buddhism. The pre-Buddhist beliefs of the Tocharians are largely unknown, but several Chinese goddesses are similar to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European sun goddess and the dawn goddess, which implies that the Chinese were influenced by the pre-Buddhist beliefs of the Tocharians when they traveled on trade routes which were located in Tocharian territories. Tocharian B has a noun derived from the name of the Proto-Indo-European sun goddess, while Tocharian A has , a loanword etymologically connected to the Turkic sun goddess Gun Ana. Besides this, they might have also worshipped a lunar deity () and an earth one ().


title: Tocharians

text: The murals found in the Tarim Basin, especially those of the Kizil Caves, mostly depict Jataka stories, avadanas, and legends of the Buddha, and are an artistic representation in the tradition of the Hinayana school of the Sarvastivadas. When the Chinese Monk Xuanzang visited Kucha in 630 CE, he received the favours of the Tocharian king Suvarnadeva, the son and successor of Suvarnapushpa, whom he described as a believer of Hinayana Buddhism. In the account of his travel to Kucha (屈支国) he stated that "There are about one hundred convents (saṅghārāmas) in this country, with five thousand and more disciples. These belong to the Little Vehicle of the school of the Sarvāstivādas (zhuyiqieyoubu). Their doctrine (teaching of Sūtras) and their rules of discipline (principles of the Vinaya) are like those of India, and those who read them use the same (originals)."<ref name="屈支国 in 大唐西域记/01 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆"></ref>


title: Tocharians

text: These oases served as waystations on the trade routes forming part of the Silk Road passing along the northern and southern edges of the Taklamakan desert. Zhang Qian travelled the area westward to visit Central Asia, during the 2nd century BC.


title: Tocharians

text: The largest were Kucha with 81,000 inhabitants and Agni (Yanqi or Karashar) with 32,000. Chinese histories give no evidence of ethnic changes in these cities between that time and the period of the Tocharian manuscripts from these sites. Situated on the northern edge of the Tarim, these small urban societies were overshadowed by nomadic peoples to the north and Chinese empires to the east. They conceded tributary relations with the larger powers when required, and acted independently when they could.


title: Tocharians

text: In 177 BC, the Xiongnu drove the Yuezhi from western Gansu, causing most of them to flee west to the Ili Valley and then to Bactria.


title: Tocharians

text: The Chinese Han dynasty was determined to weaken their Xiongnu enemies by depriving them of this area.


title: Tocharians

text: This was achieved in a series of campaigns beginning in 108 BC and culminating in the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions in 60 BC under Zheng Ji.


title: Tocharians

text: The Han government used a range of tactics, including plots to assassinate local rulers, direct attacks on a few states (e.g. Kucha in 65 BC) to cow the rest, and the massacre of the entire population of Luntai (80 km east of Kucha) when they resisted.


title: Tocharians

text: During the Later Han (25–220 AD), the whole Tarim Basin again became a focus of rivalry between the Xiong-nu to the north and the Chinese to the east. In 74 AD, Chinese troops started to take control of the Tarim Basin with the conquest of Turfan. During the 1st century AD, Kucha resisted the Chinese invasion, and allied itself with the Xiong-nu and the Yuezhi against the Chinese general Ban Chao. Even the Kushan Empire of Kujula Kadphises sent an army to the Tarim Basin to support Kucha, but they retreated after minor encounters.


title: Tocharians

text: In 124, Kucha formally submitted to the Chinese court, and by 127 China had conquered the whole of the Tarim Basin. China's control of the Silk Road facilitated the exchange of art and the progation of Buddhism from Central Asia. The Roman Maes Titianus is known to have visited the area in the 2nd century AD, as did numerous great Buddhist missionaries such as the Parthian An Shigao, the Yuezhis Lokaksema and Zhi Qian, or the Indian Chu Sho-fu (竺朔佛). The Han controlled the Tarim states until their final withdrawal in 150 AD.


title: Tocharians

text: The Kushan Empire expanded into the Tarim during the 2nd century AD, bringing Buddhism, Kushan art, Sanskrit as a liturgical language and Prakrit as an administrative language (in the southern Tarim states). With these Indic languages came scripts, including the Brahmi script (later adapted to write Tocharian) and the Kharosthi script.


title: Tocharians

text: From the 3rd century, Kucha became a centre of Buddhist studies. Buddhist texts were translated into Chinese by Kuchean monks, the most famous of whom was Kumārajīva (344–412/5). Captured by Lü Guang of the Later Liang in an attack on Kucha in 384, Kumārajīva learned Chinese during his years of captivity in Gansu. In 401, he was brought to the Later Qin capital of Chang'an, where he remained as head of a translation bureau until his death in 413.


title: Tocharians

text: The Kizil Caves lie 65 km west of Kucha, and contain over 236 Buddhist temples. Their murals date from the 3rd to the 8th century.


title: Tocharians

text: Many of these murals were removed by Albert von Le Coq and other European archaeologists in the early 20th century, and are now held in European museums, but others remain in their original locations.


title: Tocharians

text: An increasingly dry climate in the 4th and 5th centuries led to the abandonment of several of the southern cities, including Niya and Krorän, with a consequent shift of trade from the southern route to the northern one.


title: Tocharians

text: The northern oasis states were conquered by Rouran in the late 5th century, leaving the local leaders in place.


title: Tocharians

text: Kucha, the largest of the oasis cities, was ruled by royal families sometimes autonomously and sometimes as vassals of outside powers. The Chinese named these Kuchean kings by adding the prefix "Bai" (白), meaning "White", probably pointing to the fair complexion of the Kucheans.


title: Tocharians

text: The government included some 30 named posts below the king, with all but the highest-ranking titles occurring in pairs of left and right. Other states had similar structures, though on a smaller scale.


title: Tocharians

text: The inhabitants grew red millet, wheat, rice, legumes, hemp, grapes and pomegranates, and reared horses, cattle, sheep and camels.


title: Tocharians

text: In the Kizil Caves appear portraits of Royal families, composed of the King, Queen and young Prince. They are accompanied by monks, and men in caftan. According to Historian of Art Benjamin Rowland, these portraits show "that the Tocharians were European rather than Mongol in appearance, with light complexions, blue eyes, and blond or reddish hair, and the costumes of the knights and their ladies have haunting suggestions of the chivalric age of the West".


title: Tocharians

text: Kucha ambassador are known to have visited the Chinese court of Emperor Yuan of Liang in his capital Jingzhou in 516–520 AD, at or around the same time as the Hepthalite embassies there. An ambassador from Kucha is illustrated in "Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang", painted in 526–539 AD, an 11th-century Song copy of which as remained.


title: Tocharians

text: In the late 5th century AD the Hephthalites, based in Tokharistan (Bactria), expanded eastward through the Pamir Mountains, which are comparatively easy to cross, as did the Kushans before them, due to the presence of convenient plateaus between high peaks. They occupied the western Tarim Basin (Kashgar and Khotan), taking control of the area from the Ruanruans, who had been collecting heavy tribute from the oasis cities, but were now weakening under the assaults of the Chinese Wei dynasty. In 479 they took the east end of the Tarim Basin, around the region of Turfan. In 497–509, they pushed north of Turfan to the Urumchi region. In the early years of the 6th century, they were sending embassies from their dominions in the Tarim Basin to the Wei dynasty. The Hephthalites continued to occupy the Tarim Basin until the end of their Empire, circa 560 AD.


title: Tocharians

text: As the territories ruled by the Hephthalites expanded into Central Asia and the Tarim Basin, the art of the Hephthalites, with characteristic clothing and hairstyles, also came to be used in the areas they ruled, such as Sogdiana, Bamiyan or Kucha in the Tarim Basin (Kizil Caves, Kumtura Caves, Subashi reliquary). In these areas appear dignitaries with caftans with a triangular collar on the right side, crowns with three crescents, some crowns with wings, and a unique hairstyle. Another marker is the two-point suspension system for swords, which seems to have been an Hephthalite innovation, and was introduced by them in the territories they controlled. The paintings from the Kucha region, particularly the swordmen in the Kizil Caves, appear to have been made during Hephthalite rule in the region, circa 480–550 AD. The influence of the art of Gandhara in some of the earliest paintings at the Kizil Caves, dated to circa 500 AD, is considered as a consequence of the political unification of the area between Bactria and Kucha under the Hephthalites.


title: Tocharians

text: The early Turks of the First Turkic Khaganate then took control of the Turfan and Kucha areas from around 560 AD, and, in alliance with the Sasanian Empire, became instrumental in the fall of the Hepthalite Empire.


title: Tocharians

text: The Turks then split into Western and Eastern Khaganates by 580 AD. Tocharian royal families continued to rule Kucha, as vassals of the Western Turks, to whom they provided tribute and troops. Many surviving texts in Tocharian date from this period, and deal with a wide variety of administrative, religious and everyday topics. They also include travel passes, small slips of poplar wood giving the size of the permitted caravans for officials at the next station along the road.


title: Tocharians

text: In 618, king Suvarnapushpa of Kucha sent an embassy to the court of the Tang dynasty acknowledging vassalship.


title: Tocharians

text: The Chinese Monk Xuanzang in 630 AD visited the cities of the Tarim Basin, and described in many details the characteristics of Kucha (屈支国, in "大唐西域记" "Tang Dynasty Account of the Western Regions"):<br>


title: Tocharians

text: 2) "They clothe themselves with ornamental garments of silk and embroidery. They cut their hair and wear a flowing covering (over their heads)"<br>


title: Tocharians

text: 4) "There are about one hundred convents (saṅghārāmas) in this country, with five thousand and more disciples. These belong to the Little Vehicle of the school of the Sarvāstivādas (Shwo-yih-tsai-yu-po). Their doctrine (teaching of Sūtras) and their rules of discipline (principles of the Vinaya) are like those of India, and those who read them use the same (originals)."<br>


title: Tocharians

text: 5) "About 40 li to the north of this desert city there are two convents close together on the slope of a mountain".


title: Tocharians

text: In the 7th century, Emperor Taizong of Tang China, having overcome the Eastern Turks, sent his armies west to attack the Western Turks and the oasis states.


title: Tocharians

text: Alarmed by the nearby Chinese armies, Agni stopped sending Tribute to China and formed an alliance with the Western Turks.


title: Tocharians

text: The Tang captured Agni in 644, defeating a Western Turk relief force, and made the king of Kucha Suvarnadeva (Chinese: 蘇伐疊 "Sufadie") resume tribute.


title: Tocharians

text: When that king was deposed by a relative named Haripushpa (Chinese: 訶黎布失畢 "Helibushibi") in 648, the Tang sent an army under the Turk general Ashina She'er to install a compliant member of the local royal family, a younger brother of Haripushpa.


title: Tocharians

text: Ashina She'er continued to capture Kucha, and made it the headquarters of the Tang Protectorate General to Pacify the West.


title: Tocharians

text: Kuchean forces recaptured the city and killed protector-general, Guo Xiaoke, but it fell again to Ashina She'er, who had 11,000 of the inhabitants executed in reprisal for the killing of Guo.


title: Tocharians

text: The Tang lost the Tarim basin to the Tibetan Empire in 670, but regained it in 692, and continued to rule there until it was recaptured by the Tibetans in 792.


title: Tocharians

text: After their capital in Mongolia was sacked by the Yenisei Kyrgyz in 840, they established a new state, the Kingdom of Qocho with its capital at Gaochang (near Turfan) in 866.


title: Tocharians

text: Over centuries of contact and intermarriage, the cultures and populations of the pastoralist rulers and their agriculturalist subjects blended together.


title: Tocharians

text: The Uighurs abandoned their state religion of Manichaeism in favour of Buddhism, and adopted the agricultural lifestyle and many of the customs of the oasis-dwellers.


title: Tocharians

text: The Tocharian language gradually disappeared as the urban population switched to the Old Uyghur language.


title: Tocharians

text: Most of the texts known from the Tocharians are religious, except for one known love poem in Tocharian B (manuscript B-496, found in Kizil):


title: Tocharians

text: Note: Recent discoveries have rendered obsolete some of René Grousset's classic "The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia", published in 1939, which, however, still provides a broad background against which to assess more modern detailed studies.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: Super Mario Kart is a kart racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The first game of the "Mario Kart" series, it was released in Japan and North America in 1992, and in Europe the following year in 1993. Selling 8.76 million copies worldwide, the game went on to become the fourth best-selling SNES game of all time. "Super Mario Kart" was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2009, on the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2013, and on the New Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in 2016. Nintendo re-released "Super Mario Kart" in 2017 as part of the company's Super NES Classic Edition.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: In "Super Mario Kart", the player takes control of one of eight "Mario" series characters, each with differing capabilities. In single player mode players can race against computer-controlled characters in 4 multi-race cups consisting of 20 tracks (5 in each cup) over three difficulty levels (50cc, 100cc & 150cc). During the races, offensive and speed boosting power-ups can be used to gain an advantage. Alternatively players can race against the clock in a Time Trial mode. In multiplayer mode two players can simultaneously take part in the cups or can race against each other one-on-one in Match Race mode. In a third multiplayer mode – Battle Mode – the aim is to defeat the other players by attacking them with power-ups, destroying balloons which surround each kart.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario Kart" received positive reviews and was praised for its presentation, innovation and use of Mode 7 graphics. It has been ranked among the greatest video games of all time by several magazines and organizations. It is often credited with creating the kart-racing subgenre of video games, leading other developers to try to duplicate its success. The game is also seen as having been key to expanding the "Mario" series into non-platforming games. This diversity has led to it becoming the best-selling game franchise of all time. Several sequels to "Super Mario Kart" have been released, for consoles, handhelds and in arcades, each enjoying critical and commercial success. While some elements have developed throughout the series, the core experience from "Super Mario Kart" has remained intact.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario Kart" is a kart racing game featuring several single and multiplayer modes. During the game, players take control of one of eight "Mario" franchise characters, each with differing capabilities, and drive karts around tracks with a "Mario" franchise theme. In order for them to begin driving, Lakitu will appear with a traffic light hanging on his fishing pole at the starting line, which starts the countdown. When the light turns green, the race or battle officially begins. During a race, the player's viewpoint is from behind his or her kart. The goal of the game is to either finish a race ahead of other racers, who are controlled by the computer and other players, or complete a circuit in the fastest time. There is also a battle mode in which the aim is to attack the karts of the other human players.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: Tiles marked with question marks are arrayed on the race tracks; they give special abilities (power-ups) to a player's kart if the vehicle passes over them. Power-ups, such as the ability to throw shells and bananas, allow racers to hit others with the objects, causing them to spin and lose control. A kart that obtains the star power-up is temporarily invulnerable to attack. Computer players have specific special powers associated with each character, that they are able to use throughout the race. Lines of coins are found on the tracks in competitive race modes. By running over these coins, a kart collects them and increases its top speed. Having coins also helps players when their kart is hit by another: instead of spinning and losing control, they lose a coin. Coins are also lost when karts are struck by power-ups or fall off the tracks.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: The game features advanced maneuvers such as power sliding and hopping. Power sliding allows a kart to maintain its speed while turning, although executing the maneuver for too long causes the kart to spin. Hopping helps a kart execute tighter turns: the kart makes a short hop and turns in the air, speeding off in the new direction when it lands. Reviewers praised "Super Mario Kart"s gameplay, describing the battle mode as "addictive" and the single player gameplay as "incredible". IGN stated that the gameplay mechanics defined the genre.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario Kart" has two single-player modes: Mario Kart GP (which stands for Grand Prix) and Time Trial. In Mario Kart GP, one player is required to race against seven computer-controlled characters in a series of five races which are called cups. Initially, there are three cups available – the Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, and Star Cup – at two difficulty levels, 50cc and 100cc. By winning all three of the cups at the 100cc level, a fourth cup – the Special Cup – is unlocked. Winning all four cups at 100cc unlocks a new difficulty level, 150cc. Each cup consists of five five-lap races, each taking place on a distinct track. In order to continue through a cup, a position of fourth or higher must be achieved in each race. If a player finishes in the fifth to eighth position, they are "ranked out" and the race must be replayed – at the cost of one of a limited number of lives – until a placing of fourth or above is achieved. If the player has no lives when they rank out, the game is over. Points are accrued by finishing in the top four positions in a race; first to fourth place receive nine, six, three and one points. If a player finished in the same position three times in a row, then an extra life is awarded. The finishing order for that race will then become the starting grid for the next race; for example, if a player finished in first place, then that player will start the next race in the same position. The racer with the highest number of points after all five races have been completed wins the cup. In time trial mode, players race against the clock through the same tracks that are present in Mario Kart GP mode, attempting to set the fastest time possible.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario Kart" also has three multiplayer modes; Mario Kart GP, Match Race, and Battle Mode. The multiplayer modes support two players and the second player uses the bottom half of the screen which is used as a map in the single-player modes. Mario Kart GP is the same as in single-player, the only difference being that there are now two human-controlled and six computer-controlled drivers. Match Race involves the two players going head to head on a track of their choice without any opponents. In Battle Mode, the two players again go head to head, but this time in one of four dedicated Battle Mode courses. Each player starts with three balloons around their kart which can be popped by power-ups fired by the other player. The first player to have all three of their balloons popped loses.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario Kart" features eight playable characters from the "Mario" series – Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong Jr., Koopa Troopa and Toad. Each character's kart has different capabilities with differing levels of top speed, acceleration and handling. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Bowser and Toad returned in all of the subsequent "Mario Kart" games starting with "Mario Kart 64". During races, computer-controlled characters have special items, or superpowers, which they are able to use. These powers are specific to each character; for example, Yoshi drops eggs which cause players who hit them to lose coins and spin, while Donkey Kong Jr. throws bananas.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: The characters are rendered as sprites portrayed from sixteen different angles. More recently, Nintendojo called the sprites "not-so-pretty" when they are rendered at a distance, and IGN has commented on the dated look of the game. "Super Mario Kart" was the first game to feature playable characters from the "Mario" series other than Mario or Luigi in a non-platforming game and the selection and different attributes of the characters is regarded as one of the game's strengths, IGN describing a well-balanced "all-star cast". All of the characters present in "Super Mario Kart" have gone on to appear in later games in the series, except for Donkey Kong Jr. and Koopa Troopa, who have only appeared intermittently after being replaced by Donkey Kong and Wario respectively in "Mario Kart 64".


title: Super Mario Kart

text: The tracks in "Super Mario Kart" are based on locations in "Super Mario World" such as Donut Plains. Each of the four cups contains five different tracks for a total of twenty unique tracks, additionally there are four unique Battle Mode courses. The course outlines are marked out by impassable barriers and feature a variety of bends ranging from sharp hairpins to wide curves which players can power slide around. Numerous obstacles themed from the "Mario" series appear, such as Thwomps in the Bowser's Castle tracks, the Cheep-Cheeps from "Super Mario World" in Koopa Beach and pipe barriers which are found in the Mario Circuit tracks. Other features include off-road sections which slow down the karts such as the mud bogs in the Choco Island tracks. Each cup track is littered with coins and power-up tiles, as well as turbo tiles which give the karts a boost of speed and jumps which launch the karts into the air.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: The tracks have received positive commentary with GameSpy describing them as wonderfully designed and IGN calling them perfect. When naming its top five "Mario Kart" tracks of all time in 2008, 1UP.com named Battle Mode Course 4 at number three and Rainbow Road – along with its subsequent versions in the series – at number one. The track themes in "Super Mario Kart" influenced later games in the series; recurring themes that first appeared in "Super Mario Kart" include haunted tracks, Bowser's castle and Rainbow Road. Some of the tracks from "Super Mario Kart" have been duplicated in later games. All twenty of the original tracks are unlockable as an extra feature in the Game Boy Advance sequel "". Remakes of Mario Circuit 1, Donut Plains 1, Koopa Beach 2 and Choco Island 2 appear as part of the Retro Grand Prix series in "Mario Kart DS", remakes of Ghost Valley 2, Mario Circuit 3, and Battle Course 4 appear as part of the Retro Grand Prix and battles in "Mario Kart Wii", remakes of Mario Circuit 2 and Rainbow Road appear as part of the Retro Grand Prix in "Mario Kart 7", a remake of Donut Plains 3 appears as part of the Retro Grand Prix and battles in "Mario Kart 8", a second remake of Rainbow Road appears in "Mario Kart 8"s first downloadable content pack, a remake of Battle Course 1 appears as a Retro Battle Course in "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" and a second remake of Mario Circuit 3 appears in the second wave of "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe"s Booster Course Pass.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario Kart" was produced by "Mario" creator Shigeru Miyamoto and directed by Tadashi Sugiyama and Hideki Konno. The development team set out to produce a racing game capable of displaying two players on the same game screen simultaneously, in contrast to the single-player gameplay "F-Zero". This led to simpler tracks than those of "F-Zero". "Computer and Video Games" suggest that this initial emphasis on creating a two player experience is the reason for the game's horizontal split-screen during single-player. Battle Mode was developed from the desire to create a one-on-one mode where victory was not determined simply by competing for rank. Masato Kimura, who worked on "F-Zero", served as the lead programmer for "Super Mario Kart".


title: Super Mario Kart

text: The game did not start out as a "Mario" series game and the first prototype featured a generic kart racer character; the team decided that characters three heads tall would best suit the design of the karts. They did not decide to incorporate "Mario" characters until a few months into development. The choice was made after the development team when observing how one kart looked to another driving past it, decided to see what it would look like with Mario in the kart. Thinking that having Mario in the kart looked better than previous designs, the idea of a Mario themed racing game was born.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: Notable in the development of "Super Mario Kart" was its use of Mode 7 graphics. First seen in "F-Zero", Mode 7 is a form of texture mapping available on the SNES which allows a plane to be rotated and scaled freely, achieving a pseudo-three-dimensional appearance. 1UP.com have credited the use of Mode 7 with giving the game graphics which at the time of release were considered to be "breathtaking". Retrospective reflection on the Mode 7 visuals was mixed, with IGN stating that the once revolutionary technology now looks "crude and flickery". "Super Mario Kart" featured a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) chip; DSPs were used in SNES games as they provided a better handling of floating point calculations to assist with three-dimensional maths. The DSP-1 chip that was used in "Super Mario Kart" went on to be the most popular DSP chip to be used in SNES games. The music for the title was created by composer Soyo Oka.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario Kart" received critical acclaim and proved to be a commercial success; it received a Player's Choice release after selling one million copies and went on to sell 8.76 million copies worldwide, becoming the fourth best-selling game ever for the SNES. In Japan, it was the top-selling game in September 1992 and became a multi-million seller in 1992, eventually selling a total of in Japan. In Europe, it was the top-selling game during the first quarter of 1993, above the Sega Mega Drive titles "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" and "Streets of Rage 2" during the same period. In the United Kingdom, "Super Mario Kart" was the top-selling Super NES game in February 1993, and it went on to be the seventh best-selling game of 1993 with more than 250,000 sales in the country.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: Aggregate scoring sites GameRankings and MobyGames both give an average of more than 90 percent. Critics praised the game's Mode 7 graphics. Another aspect of the game to have been praised is its gameplay, which Thunderbolt has described as the "deepest [and] most addictive... to be found on the SNES console". Retrospective reviews of the game have been positive with perfect scores given by review sites including Thunderbolt and HonestGamers. The use of the style and characters from the "Mario" franchise was also praised as well as the individual characteristics of each racer. "Mean Machines" described the game as having "struck gold" in a way that no other – not even its sequels – has matched and GameSpot named the game as one of the greatest games of all time for its innovation, gameplay and visual style. "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that although the game might appear to be a "cynical attempt by Nintendo to cash in on its Super Mario franchise" the review concluded that "plunking the familiar characters down in souped-up go-carts actually makes for a delightful racing game." "GamePro" said the game "does an excellent job of capturing the thrill of Go-card racing, and wraps it up in the familiar, fun, Mario-land atmosphere." The reviewer also praised the use of Mode 7 and challenging CPU-controlled opponents.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario Kart" has been listed among the best games ever made several times. In 1995, Total! rated the game 16th on its "Top 100 SNES Games." In 1996, "Next Generation" listed it as number 37 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", commenting that the controls are elegantly designed to offer "supreme fun." In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the game 16th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time." In 1999, "Next Generation" listed "Super Mario Kart" as number 7 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "Imitated a thousand times, but never, ever, equalled, "Mario Kart" changed the rules for the driving game and gave the world one of the most engrossing and addictive two-player experiences ever." "Electronic Gaming Monthly" ranked it as the 15th best console video game of all time, attributing its higher ranking than "Mario Kart 64" (which came in 49th) to its superior track design and powerups. IGN ranked it as the 15th best game ever in 2005, describing it as "the original karting masterpiece" and as the 23rd best game ever in 2007, discussing its originality at time of release. "The Age" placed it at number 19 on their list of the 50 best games in 2005 and in 2007 "Edge" ranked "Super Mario Kart" at number 14 on a list of their 100 best games, noting its continued influence on video game design. The game is also included in Yahoo! Games UK's list of the hundred greatest games of all time which praises the appealing characters and power ups and 1UP.com's "Essential 50", a list of the fifty most important games ever made. The game placed 13th in "Official Nintendo Magazine"s 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time. "Guinness World Records" ranked it at number 1 on a list of the top 50 console games of all time based on initial impact and lasting legacy. Game Informer ranked the game at 35 on their top 100 games of all time in 2001 praising how the games mode 7 revolutionized racing games. In 2018, Complex listed Super Mario Kart 7th on its "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time." In 2019, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted "Super Mario Kart" to its World Video Game Hall of Fame.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario Kart" has been credited with inventing the "kart racing" subgenre of video gaming and soon after its release several other developers attempted to duplicate its success. In 1994, less than two years after the release of "Super Mario Kart", Sega released "Sonic Drift"; a kart racing game featuring characters from the "Sonic the Hedgehog" series. Also in 1994 Ubisoft released "Street Racer", a kart racing game for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis which included a four player mode not present in "Super Mario Kart". Apogee Software released "Wacky Wheels" for PC and Atari Corporation released "Atari Karts" for the Atari Jaguar in 1995. Future games that followed in the mould of "Super Mario Kart" include "South Park Rally", "Konami Krazy Racers", "Diddy Kong Racing", "Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing" and several racing games in the "Crash Bandicoot" series. Response to the 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.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario Kart" is also 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 soccer. Non-sporting franchises using the "Mario" characters have also 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 also 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 fans 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).


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "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.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: The game was also released for the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan during June 2013, and in Europe on March 27, 2014. In addition, North America users were able to get the game starting from August 6, 2014 to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the game, which also includes the new game update of "Mario Kart 8" on August 27, 2014.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: "Super Mario 3D World" has a stage with a look based on the Mario Circuit racetracks from "Super Mario Kart". A remixed version of the music can also be heard. "Super Mario Odyssey" also has a remix, when racing an RC car around a track in New Donk City in the Metro Kingdom.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: Several future "Mario Kart" games contain re-imaginings of courses from "Super Mario Kart". "" contains all of them, though they need to be unlocked. "Mario Kart DS" contains remakes of the Mario Circuit 1, Donut Plains 1, Koopa Beach 2, and Choco Island 2 courses. "Mario Kart Wii" has remakes of the Ghost Valley 2 and Mario Circuit 3 courses. "Mario Kart 7" has remakes of the Mario Circuit 2 and Rainbow Road courses. The most recent entry, "Mario Kart 8", has remakes of the Donut Plains 3 and Rainbow Road courses, though the latter is only available as downloadable content in the original release. The enhanced Nintendo Switch port of "Mario Kart 8", "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe", later added a remake of the Mario Circuit 3 course as downloadable content.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: Several sequels to "Super Mario Kart" have been brought out for successive generations of Nintendo consoles, each receiving commercial success and critical acclaim. While some elements have developed throughout the series, the core experience from "Super Mario Kart" has remained intact. The first sequel, "Mario Kart 64", was released in 1996 for the Nintendo 64 and was the first "Mario Kart" game to feature fully 3D graphics. Although reviewers including IGN and GameSpot felt that the single player gameplay was lacking compared to its predecessor, the simultaneous four-person multiplayer modes – a first for the Nintendo 64 – were praised. The second sequel, "", was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2001. It was described by GameSpot as more of a remake of "Super Mario Kart" than a sequel to "Mario Kart 64" and featured a return to the graphical style of the original. As well as featuring all new tracks, players are able to unlock the original SNES tracks if certain achievements are completed. "" was released for the GameCube in 2003. Unlike any other "Mario Kart" game before or since, it features two riders in each kart, allowing for a new form of cooperative multiplayer where one player controls the kart's movement and the other fires weapons. "Mario Kart DS", released for the Nintendo DS in 2005, was the first "Mario Kart" game to include online play via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It went on to become the best selling hand-held racing game of all time, selling 7.83 million units. The game also marks the debut of tracks appearing in previous games. "Mario Kart Wii" was released for the Wii in 2008 and incorporates motion controls and 12-player racing. Like "Mario Kart DS", it includes online play; it also allows racers to play as user-created Miis (after unlocking the Mii character) as well as "Mario" series characters and comes packaged with the Wii Wheel peripheral, which can act as the game's primary control mechanism when coupled with a Wii Remote. "Mario Kart Wii" went on to be the worldwide best-selling game of 2008. "Mario Kart 7" for the Nintendo 3DS was released in 2011, which features racing on land, sea, and air. "Mario Kart 7" added the ability to customize the kart and to race in first-person mode. Three "Mario Kart" arcade games have been released, "Mario Kart Arcade GP" in 2005, "Mario Kart Arcade GP 2" in 2007, and "Mario Kart Arcade GP DX" in 2013. All of them were developed jointly by Nintendo and Namco and feature classic Namco characters including Pac-Man and Blinky. The most recent entry in the series is "Mario Kart 8" for the Wii U, which was released at the end of May 2014, which brings back gliders and propellers from "Mario Kart 7" as well as 12-player racing in "Mario Kart Wii". "Mario Kart 8" also includes a new feature called Mario Kart TV, where players can watch highlights of previous races and uploading them to YouTube. Another new feature is anti-gravity racing, where players can race on walls and ceilings. An enhanced port, "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe", was released on the Nintendo Switch on April 28, 2017. The game keeps most elements from the Wii U version, while adding more characters, kart parts, battle modes, and battle stages. The port received universal critical acclaim, and has sold over 20 million copies as of August 2020, becoming the best selling game for the console.


title: Super Mario Kart

text: As the series has progressed, many aspects included in "Super Mario Kart" have been developed and altered. The power-up boxes which are flat against the track in "Super Mario Kart" due to the technical limitations of the SNES became floating boxes in later games. The roster of racers has expanded in recent games to include a greater selection of Nintendo characters including some which had not been created at the time of "Super Mario Kart"s release – such as Petey Piranha from "Super Mario Sunshine" who appeared in "Mario Kart: Double Dash!!". Multiplayer has remained a key feature of the series and has expanded from the two-player modes available in "Super Mario Kart": first to allow up to four simultaneous players in split-screen in "Mario Kart 64"; then leveraging the GameCube's LAN Adapter for up to sixteen players in "Mario Kart Double Dash!!"; and eventually supporting up to twelve simultaneous online players in "Mario Kart Wii". Many of the track themes have been retained throughout the series, including Rainbow Road – the final track of the Special Cup – which has appeared in every "Mario Kart" console game. Other features present in "Super Mario Kart" have disappeared from the series. These include the "superpowers" of the computer characters, the feather power-up which allows players to jump high into the air and having a restricted number of lives. The only other "Mario Kart" games to feature the coin collecting of the original are "Mario Kart: Super Circuit", "Mario Kart 7", and "Mario Kart 8". The aspects of style and gameplay from "Super Mario Kart" that have been retained throughout the series have led Nintendo to face criticism for a lack of originality but the franchise is still considered to be a beloved household name by many, known for its familiar core gameplay.


title: Inoculation

text: Inoculation is the act of implanting a pathogen or other microorganism. It may refer to methods of artificially inducing immunity against various infectious diseases, or it may be used to describe the spreading of disease, as in "self-inoculation," the spreading of disease from one part of the body to another, or even to the spreading of bacteria in a Petri dish for culturing purposes. The terms "inoculation", "vaccination", and "immunization" are often used synonymously, but there are some important differences among them. Inoculation is the act of implanting a disease inside a person or animal, vaccination is the act of implanting or giving someone a vaccine specifically, and immunization is what happens to the immune system as a result.


title: Inoculation

text: Until the early 1800s inoculation referred only to variolation (from the Latin word "variola" = smallpox), the predecessor to the smallpox vaccine. The smallpox vaccine, introduced by Edward Jenner in 1796, was called cowpox inoculation or vaccine inoculation (from Latin "vacca" = cow). Smallpox inoculation continued to be called variolation, whereas cowpox inoculation was called vaccination (from Jenner's term "variolae vaccinae" = smallpox of the cow). Louis Pasteur proposed in 1861 to extend the terms vaccine and vaccination to include the new protective procedures being developed. Immunization refers to the use of vaccines as well as the use of antitoxin, which contains pre-formed antibodies such as to diphtheria or tetanus exotoxins. In nontechnical usage inoculation is now more or less synonymous with protective injections and other methods of immunization.


title: Inoculation

text: Inoculation also has a specific meaning for procedures done "in vitro" (in glass, i.e. not in a living body). These include the transfer of microorganisms into and from laboratory apparatus such as test tubes and petri dishes in research and diagnostic laboratories, and also in commercial applications such as brewing, baking, oenology (wine making), and the production of antibiotics. For example, blue cheese is made by inoculating it with "Penicillium roqueforti" mold, and often certain bacteria.


title: Inoculation

text: The term "inoculation" entered medical English through horticultural usage meaning to graft a bud (or eye) from one plant into another. It is derived from the Latin "in + oculus" (eye). Though "innoculation/innoculate" (with a double "nn" rather than a single "n") is sometimes seen, this is incorrect, possibly erroneously thought to be related to "innocuous", which is derived from the Latin "in + nocuus" (not harmful).


title: Inoculation

text: Inoculation originated as a method for the prevention of smallpox by deliberate introduction of material from smallpox pustules from one person into the skin of another. The usual route of transmission of smallpox was through the air, invading the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, or respiratory tract, before migrating throughout the body via the lymphatic system, resulting in an often severe disease.


title: Inoculation

text: In contrast, infection of the skin usually led to a milder, localized infectionbut, crucially, still induced immunity to the virus. This first method for smallpox prevention, smallpox inoculation, is now also known as variolation. Inoculation has ancient origins, and the technique was known in India, Africa, and China.


title: Inoculation

text: The earliest hints of the practice of inoculation for smallpox in China come during the 10th century. A Song dynasty (960–1279) chancellor of China, Wang Dan (957–1017), lost his eldest son to smallpox and sought a means to spare the rest of his family from the disease, so he summoned physicians, wise men, and magicians from all across the empire to convene at the capital in Kaifeng and share ideas on how to cure patients of it until an allegedly divine man from Mount Emei carried out inoculation. However, the sinologist Joseph Needham states that this information comes from the "Zhongdou xinfa" (種痘心法) written in 1808 by Zhu Yiliang, centuries after the alleged events.