System Played: Nintendo 64
Year Released: 1996
Year Reviewed: 2018
Mario Kart 64 is the second game in the now long running Nintendo franchise, again from Nintendo EAD.
The main developments over the first game are proper 3D courses now (full of peaks and troughs, rather than the very flat tracks of the original) and 4 Player support (though not in the main GP mode).
The structure of the game is mostly unchanged, with 50, 100, 150cc the equivalent of Easy, Medium, Hard difficulties. There are Four Cups (including a special unlockable one), each consisting of four tracks.
Vs. and Time Trial modes are variations on GP, with Battle (like in the first game) having you trying pop other players balloons in an arena rather than racing them.
There’s eight characters to choose from, now including relative contemporaries such as Wario.
A modest selection by modern standards for sure, with not quite enough of the different “types” to go around a full complement of 4 players. Again, lightweight characters accelerate quicker but the heavy ones have better top speed, and can knock the little guys around.
The objective is to come first after 3 laps, but as ever, success in Mario Kart isn’t so much about skill, as it is about luck and screwing over the other guy.
Even if you fall behind to eighth place on the second lap, you can still recover in little time and go on to win it. Some of the power-ups can just tip the balance instantly. Likewise you can be in first the whole time and lose it all on the last stretch.
64 introduces means of obtaining more than one power-up at a time, and some defence from incoming attacks, holding banana peels and koopa shells behind you. It is also the debut of the infamous blue shell.
The game is piss easy on 50cc, with only a bit more fight needed to finish first on 100cc.
150cc can be, depending on your point of view, a fun challenge or a shit sandwich. With the 3D courses comes many moving obstacle elements in the levels, like a train or cars you can find yourself colliding with.
Fuck Banshee Boardwalk!
Due to the scoring system, you don’t have to come 1st in every race to still take the Gold at the end.
Finish in top four qualifies you for the next round, else you race the course again and try for better. Unlike in the first game, you get unlimited continues.
Place first in all four cups and all 3 difficulties to unlock mirror tracks in “Extra” mode. This is a nice addition, with all those tracks you memorised now working against you, as you find yourself instinctively going the wrong way.
It makes a big difference on Toad’s Turnpike when traffic is driving straight at you!
I spent an incalculable number of hours “back in the day” playing Mario Kart 64 against a better player, and losing. I’ve barely touched it in 15 years as a result, but still find it much more playable, and enjoyable, than the original.
8/10
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