Mario Kart 64

Mario Kart 64 is a kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64, the second main installment in the Mario Kart series after 1992’s Super Mario Kart for the Super NES.¹⁰ It was released in Japan on December 14, 1996, in the United States and Mexico on February 10, 1997, in the United Kingdom on June 13, 1997, and across the rest of Europe on June 24, 1997.¹³ It was developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development and published by Nintendo, and supports one to four players racing simultaneously.¹³ The game shipped on a Game Pak cartridge and was released in English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese across its various editions.¹³

The game retains the formula of its predecessor: the player chooses a character from the Mario universe and races opponents around tracks while picking up power-up items and avoiding obstacles.⁴¹⁰ Eight characters are playable — Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, and Bowser — drawn from the wider Mario franchise.⁵¹⁹ There are no unlockable characters and no unlockable courses; the roster is fixed at eight.¹⁹ On its original North American release the game was classified by the ESRB as “Kids to Adults”.¹³

Mario Kart 64 was the first game in the series to use three-dimensional graphics, with tracks running up and down hills and through tunnels, though drivers and items are rendered as two-dimensional pre-rendered sprites.⁶¹⁰ Reviewers writing years later recalled the transition from “2D flat worlds” to spaces that felt like they could be explored, an immersiveness that led some players to stop racing entirely to follow train tunnels, sit inside the cave shortcut on Koopa Troopa Beach, and drive to a giant replica of Peach’s Castle behind Royal Raceway.¹⁷ The tracks were much longer and wider than those of Super Mario Kart, with some laps taking more than two minutes to complete.⁴ One player recalled the live camera feed displayed on a screen inside the Luigi Raceway tunnel, which follows the racer around a corner and cuts off at a set point, as an effect that felt “immersive and a bit magical” for the era.¹⁷

Races are run in three engine classes — 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc — with the higher class producing faster racing for both the player and the computer opponents.⁶¹⁹ The eight characters fall into three weight groups: a light class of Yoshi, Peach, and Toad, which has the strongest acceleration and stays fast off-road; a middle class of Mario and Luigi, whose karts mix the light and heavy traits; and a heavy class of Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser, whose karts are hard to knock aside but slow to accelerate.⁹¹⁹ Yoshi, Peach, and Toad share a top-speed rating of 324, ahead of the 320 of the five other drivers.¹⁹ Bowser is the heaviest driver, with a weight rating of 2.3, while Toad at 0.7 is the lightest.¹⁹

Modes and items

The game offers Grand Prix, Time Trial, Versus, and Battle modes.⁵ In Grand Prix, the player races computer-controlled drivers across the sixteen tracks divided into four cups — Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special — that grow gradually more difficult, each cup drawing four courses such as Luigi Raceway, Moo Moo Farm, Toad’s Turnpike, Wario Stadium, and the closing Rainbow Road.¹⁶¹⁹ Each cup holds four courses rather than the five per cup of Super Mario Kart.¹⁶ The Time Trial mode records a “ghost” of a best race that can be replayed alongside the driver.¹⁹ The Battle mode, remembered by players as an “original Battle Royale,” pits players against one another in dedicated arenas across four battle courses, and along with local couch play was central to the game’s multiplayer appeal.¹⁷¹⁹

Item boxes scattered across each track grant power-ups; new to the sequel are the fake item block, disguised as a real item box, and the ability to carry three green or red shells at once as a rotating shield.⁴¹⁶ A player can also hold a single shell behind the kart as a defensive screen against incoming attacks.¹⁹ Certain tracks conceal a guaranteed Spiny Shell — the blue homing shell that targets the leader — such as the item box beneath the rising hot-air balloon near the start of Luigi Raceway and the box atop the mossy rock at Koopa Troopa Beach.¹⁹ Lightning Bolts that shrink and slow every rival are also among the game’s power-ups.⁶

Driving technique centers on the power slide, executed by hopping with the R shoulder button and then pushing the Control Stick into a turn; rocking the stick back and forth changes the color of the exhaust from white to yellow to orange, yielding a mini-turbo boost.¹⁶¹⁹ A start boost is gained by holding the accelerator just before Lakitu’s starting light turns green, and a player knocked into the air can regain speed by tapping the accelerator in quick succession on landing.¹⁶¹⁹ Contemporary and later accounts describe “rubber-banding” computer opponents that stay close regardless of the player’s lead and, in some cases, teleport to catch up — a difficulty compounded in the 150cc class.¹⁶¹⁹ Guides advise keeping a defensive item such as a green shell or banana trailing the kart to guard against these aggressive computer racers.¹⁹

Earning a gold trophy in all four 150cc cups unlocks Extra Mode, also called Mirror Mode, which mirrors every course while keeping the 150cc speed, and also unlocks a new title screen set across a golden desert landscape.¹⁹ The game hides three staff “ghost” runs, unlocked by beating set Time Trial records on Luigi Raceway, Mario Raceway, and Royal Raceway — targets of 1’52”00, 1’30”00, and 2’40”00 respectively.¹⁹ A separate hidden ending plays if the player finishes a cup in fourth place, in which the character is chased down by a Bob-omb.¹⁹

Lineage and reception

The Mario Kart series began with Super Mario Kart, a 1992 Super NES title built on the console’s Mode 7 graphics that established the template Mario Kart 64 inherited.²³ In developing the original concept, director Hideki Konno read books on kart racing and took the team to a local amusement park for a day of go-kart racing.²³ Mario Kart 64 carried that proven formula forward into three dimensions nearly five years later, retaining the Grand Prix, Time Trial, Versus, and Battle modes intact.⁵²³

CGR Undertow - MARIO KART 64 for Nintendo 64 Video Game ReviewCGRundertow

IGN’s review by Peer Schneider judged that although the sequel did not “break any new grounds in originality,” its solid graphics, good sound, and addictive gameplay — together with a ghost mode letting the player race a former run — made it “a must-have” for those who race with others.² The game’s IGN entry carries a score of 8.3, with play-time estimates ranging from about five to eighteen hours.²⁰ Later commentators consistently frame it as a couch-multiplayer staple, defined by Battle Mode, blue-shell arguments, and repeated attempts at “impossible shortcuts” among friends.¹⁷ Players single out particular courses for lasting affection, among them Mario Raceway.²¹

The game has been re-released repeatedly: as a Player’s Choice title in the United States in January 1998, on the iQue Player in China on December 25, 2003, on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2016, and through the Nintendo Switch Online service beginning October 25, 2021.¹³¹⁹ It remains a collectible on the secondhand market, where boxed North American copies and Japanese imports of the cartridge continue to trade.¹⁵