I agree on Super Mario Kart. The game was good for its time, but it simply isn't worth playing today, other than by fans of the Mario Kart series who are curious about its roots. Although, I don't think Mario Kart 64 has aged well either, so I wouldn't recommend it meself.
I also think anyone who says the items are bad in Mario Kart Wii needs to play Mario Kart 64 again. The balancing was just awful in that game, you could get powerful items like stars and lighting in second place. The method in which Mario Kart Wii distributes items is definitely more balanced than every other game except the SNES version.
I think Nintendo should give the option to turn of certain or all items, just like they did with Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I will keep them on though since the items are a major part of the series, but I know others don't like it.
The Vs. Mode in Mario Kart Wii has a similar option. You can turn all items off, or you can choose one of three presets, which are Balanced, Strategic, and Powerful. I actually don't think an individual item selection menu would work out very well, it would really throw off the item balance, especially considering the item you get is based on placing.