Anyway, I'll give an idea of me for Mario Kart.
Maybe the problem is the inaccurate emulation of the SWI 3 (delay loop). Maybe the game uses it to sync the ARM7 with the ARM9 before starting. But DeSmuME doesn't emulate it accurately at all, so the ARM7 will never be synced and the game will never start.
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If you're wondering where Mario__ is, he is currently saving Peach__ once again.