Mario Kart 64

Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart 64 box art.
Information
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Distributor(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64, iQue Player, Virtual Console (Wii, Wii U)
Released	Nintendo 64: December 14, 1996 February 10, 1997 June 24, 1997 January 8, 1998 December 25, 2003 (iQue Player) Virtual Console (Wii): January 26, 2007 January 26, 2007 January 29, 2007 January 30, 2007 April 26, 2008 Virtual Console (Wii U): January 6, 2016 January 21, 2006 January 22, 2006 December 29, 2016
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Ratings	E - ESRB

Mario Kart 64 (styled as MARIOKART 64 abbreviated to MK64) is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 (N64) video game console and the second installment in the Mario Kart series. It is an upgrade of Super Mario Kart, featuring a similar base where players can select a character from the Super Mario franchise to drive in a kart, using items to help themselves or hinder the other drivers. Mario Kart 64 also has expanded game play, such as Mini-Turbo boosts, which players can get from drifting, and the ability to play with up to 4 players.

Due to the game's move from Mode 7 to 3D, Mario Kart 64 is the first game in the series that allows elevation, advanced collision physics, more camera control, walls that obscure views, and increased fidelity. Despite this change, the characters, items, and some course obstacles remain as pre-rendered two-dimensional sprites.

Unlike Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64 has more unique track designs instead of having repeats of the same track, as well as introducing tropes that would later become staples of the Mario Kart series, an example being Luigi Circuit as the first track.

For the first time in this game, Wario and Donkey Kong are playable characters and items, such as the Spiny Shell and the Triple Green Shell, were also introduced.

Gameplay

The title screen.

Gameplay

Players choose from a roster of eight characters that vary in weight, speed, and acceleration. These characters race in a variety of tracks based upon different locations in the Mario world. Each track has a unique shape and can contain various obstacles, hazards, and short cuts. Eight characters participate in each race. Up to four of them can be human characters, while the rest are computer-controlled. Three and four-player races have no computer-controlled racers.

On a track, various actions can be performed to change the flow of a race. Items can be acquired by hitting an item box, a rainbow-colored box with a spinning question mark. The items' uses include acting as projectiles to impede the opponent, speed up the user, or stop opponents through other means. One can earn a small turbo boost by drifting, which one can perform by hopping and tilting the control stick back and forth three times. However, AI-controlled racers do not use any kind of shell.

There are various modes of play such as the Mario Grand Prix where one or two human players compete with computer players in a group of eight around a series of four courses per cup - Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, Star Cup, and Special Cup respectively. A player selects one of the four cups at the beginning of the game as well as a difficulty level, measured by engine size (50cc, 100cc, or 150cc). After a gold trophy has been acquired for each cup on the 150cc level, the Extra difficulty level is playable, where the tracks are mirrored. The player can also race on a track alone while recording a time (Time Trial mode), and trying to beat this time on subsequent races. There are two modes where players can face each other. The VS. mode allows you to race with each other, and Bob-ombs are thrown in each track. The Battle Mode allows players to compete in one of four special arenas filled with item boxes; each player has three balloons attached to their kart which are lost if any damage is done to the kart, with the winner being the last remaining player. If three or four players are participating, then the first one or two players without balloons transform into bombs on wheels that can crash into the remaining karts.

Game modes

Grand Prix

The main mode of the game where up to two players race against computer-controlled opponents across four tracks in each of the four cups. They are divided up into three different difficulties depending on the engine size: 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc. 50cc is the slowest, while 150cc is the fastest. When a race is finished, players receive points depending on how well they placed in the race. If players finish in 5th place or worse, they are forced to restart the race. However, in two player mode, if one player finishes in the top rank while the other finishes in a low rank, both players will continue on to the next race.

Unlike Super Mario Kart, players have an infinite amount of tries to retry a race should they fail to qualify. At the end of the Grand Prix, players receive a trophy depending on their overall rank, with bronze for 3rd, silver for 2nd, and gold for 1st. In 50 and 100cc, the trophy is skinny, but in 150cc, the trophy is large and has two handles.

If players place 4th at the end of the Grand Prix, a cutscene will play as their character watches the top three ranked players go to the podium while they drive away. A Mini Bomb Kart will come out of nowhere and attack the player, following with the message; "What A Pity! You placed <4th-8th>. Maybe Next Time!"

If the player gets all Gold trophies in 150cc, a new mode, named Extra, which would later be known as Mirror Mode, is unlocked. Here, players race in vertically flipped courses in 100cc. Upon unlocking Extra, the title screen changes.

The notable feature of Mario Kart 64 is its rubberbanding AI, meaning that regardless of the weight class, AI drivers can speed up significantly than the human player. There are two rivals per Grand Prix that fight with the player for first place and use a Handicap to situate themselves with them. On an additional note, in the 1500cc and Extra modes, two CPUs are given a large handicap and when they're hit by items such as the Red Shell, they immediately recover. Sometimes, there is one AI racer that gets a huge handicap. When they're far ahead, it's very challenging for them to stop.

Racers

Mario Kart 64 has eight drivers from which the players can choose. Koopa Troopa and Donkey Kong Junior, both of whom appeared in Super Mario Kart, did not return for Mario Kart 64 and were replaced by Donkey Kong and Wario. In pre-release screenshots, a Magikoopa was playable, but before the game's final release the Magikoopa was replaced by Donkey Kong and Wario was kept.

The racers from the lightest to the heaviest are Toad, Yoshi, Peach, Luigi, Mario, Wario, Bowser, and Donkey Kong. Unlike the other Mario Kart games, the racers of a lighter weight class have higher top speeds just like their acceleration. However, they are more prone to spinning out in a collision with heavier weight racers and can lose a balloon in Battle Mode from that collision.

Mario Medium	Luigi Medium	Peach Light	Toad Light
Yoshi Light	Donkey Kong Heavy	Wario Heavy	Bowser Heavy

The karts are broken up into three weight classes: light, medium, and heavy, a first in the Mario Kart series. Each of them have their advantages and disadvantages.

The lightweights have high acceleration and top speed. When performing a Mini-Turbo, they get the most speed out of it and lose less speed when going off-road. They, next to Bowser, the heaviest character in the game, can get a huge benefit from the triple-tap acceleration where they press the A Button three times after spinning out or losing speed to accelerate quickly. Due to their stats, lightweight characters can easily be knocked aside by the heavier characters. Such an example is that Toad, the lightest character in the game, can be knocked aside by any character. In addition, lightweights have a wide turning radius. Because of this, they lose speed when turning on or off-road without drifting, meaning they have the worst handling in the game. In Battle Mode, however, this is negated.

The middleweight drivers, according to the instruction manual, have "no extreme pros or cons". In reality, despite this description, the middleweights actually have the lowest acceleration of all three weight classes and share their top speed with the heavyweights. The faster a middleweight goes, the more acceleration they lose, unlike the other drivers whose speeds vary from kart to kart. When performing a Mini-Turbo, middleweight drivers get the same boost as heavyweight drivers and are faster off-road than them. They also have far better handling. In addition, Mario is the heavier of the middleweights, meaning that lighter characters who bump into him will spin out, including Luigi.

The third, and final, weight class is the heavyweight class. They accelerate slower than the lightweights and have lower acceleration than the middleweights, but they reach high speed in 2.8 seconds. Heavyweights share their top speed with the middleweights. When off-road, they lose the most speed, but lose less speed when cornering whether they're drifting or not. They also have significantly tighter handling than the others. Of the three heavyweights, Bowser is the heaviest and largest. He is the only non-lightweight character to recover quickly via the triple-tap technique, but has a different rate of acceleration. Donkey Kong is the lightest of the lightweights, but is gradually heavier than Wario. He and DK both have the least acceleration when performing the triple-tap technique, but reach their top speeds faster than both Mario and Luigi.

Tracks

Mushroom Cup	Flower Cup	Star Cup	Special Cup
Luigi Raceway also in Mario Kart 7	Toad's Turnpike also in Mario Kart 8	Wario Stadium	DK's Jungle Parkway also in Mario Kart Wii
Moo Moo Farm also in Mario Kart DS	Frappe Snowland also in Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Tour	Sherbet Land also in Mario Kart Wii	Yoshi Valley also in Mario Kart 8
Koopa Troopa Beach also in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Tour	Choco Mountain also in Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Tour	Royal Raceway also in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart Tour	Banshee Boardwalk also in Mario Kart DS
Kalimari Desert also in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Tour	Mario Raceway also in Mario Kart Wii	Bowser's Castle also in Mario Kart Wii	Rainbow Road also in Mario Kart 8

Battle courses

Big Donut also in Mario Kart 7

Block Fort also in Mario Kart DS

Double Deck

Skyscraper also in Mario Kart Wii

Items

Item Pictures	Item Names	Description
	Mushroom	Gives the user a quick burst of speed.
	Triple Mushroom	Gives three Mushrooms, providing the user with three speed boosts.
	Golden Mushroom (new)	Gives the user an infinite amount of speed boosts for a limited time.
	Green Shell	A shell that, when thrown, bounces off walls and will disappear after it bounces enough times or hits another racer. If it hits, the racer will bounce on the ground several times before they can drive again.
	Triple Green Shell (new)	A belt of 3 green shells that circle your racer. They can be fired one at a time or used as protection. If a shell comes into contact with either a racer or an item, it will break a shell but knock out the racer or item, depending on the item. They cannot be fired backward.
	Red Shell	A shell that homes in on racers ahead of the user. Unlike Green Shells, if a Red Shell bounces off the wall, it will be wasted.
	Triple Red Shell (new)	Summons a set of three Red Shells that double as a barrier. When thrown, they have the same effect as a Red Shell.
	Spiny Shell (new)	A powerful shell that, when fired, goes after the current leader of the race. Racers must be careful with this item, as it travels in a straight line, then goes down the track in the middle of the road.
	Thunderbolt	When used, the Thunder Bolt shrinks everyone, except the racer who used it, as well as slowing their karts down and allowing them to be flattened. Items are not lost as a result.
	Banana Peel	A banana peel that spins the racer out should they drive over it. It can also be used to defend the player from incoming attacks.
	Banana Bunch (new)	Spawns five Bananas behind the racer that can be thrown forward or backward. If another racer runs into the bunch, the bananas will spread out and the racer in question being spun out.
	Fake Item Box (new)	An item that looks similar to a normal Item Box. When ran into, the racer will get thrown into the air instead of receiving an item.
	Boo	When used, Boo will steal an item from another racer and turns the user invisible, making them impervious to all attacks.
	Star	Makes the user invulnerable for a few moments, making them impervious to everything. If the player runs into a cliff or steep slope, this item's power will immediately end.

Item Probabilities

Grand Prix

Grand Prix races, drivers controlled by players
Item	Rank
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
	30%
	30%	5%
	5%	5%
	5%	10%	10%
	5%	15%	20%	15%	10%
	10%	5%
	5%	5%
	10%	5%	5%	5%	5%
		20%	20%	20%	20%	20%	20%	20%
		5%	5%	10%	10%	15%	20%	20%
		5%	10%	15%	15%	20%	30%	30%
		15%	20%	20%	25%	25%	10%	5%
		5%	10%	10%	10%	10%	10%	10%
				5%	5%	10%	10%	15%

Item	No. Positions Obtainable	Total	Average
	1	30	30%
	2	35	17.5%
	2	10	5%
	3	25	8.33333333%
	5	65	13%
	2	15	7.5%
	2	10	5%
	5	30	6%
	7	140	20%
	7	85	12.1428571%
	7	125	17.8571429%
	7	120	17.1428571%
	7	65	9.28571429%
	5	45	9%

Production Credits

• Executive Producer - Hiroshi Yamauchi
• Producer - Shigeru Miyamoto
• Director - Hideki Konno
• Assistant Director - Yasuyuki Oyagi
• Programmers - Masato Kimura, Kenji Yamamoto, Yasuhiro Kawaguchi, Yuzuru Ogawa, Masahiro Kawano, Hirohito Yoshimoto
• Demo Sequence Programmer - Hajime Yajima, Takumi Kawagoe
• Visual Director - Tadashi Sugiyama
• CG Character Designers - Tomoaki Kuroume, Hiroaki Takenaka, Tokihiko Toyoda, Shigefumi Hino, Masanao Arimoto, Hisashi Nogami
• CG Map Designers - Makoto Miyanaga, Naoki Mori, Hiroyasu Kuwabara
• Music Composer - Kenta Nagata
• Sound Programmers - Taro Bando, Yoji Inagaki
• Japanese Sampling Voices - Asako Kozuki, Tomoko Maruno, Charles Martinet,Julien Bardakoff, Thomas Spindler, John Hulaton
• English Sampling Voices - Charles Martinet, Leslie Swan, Isaac Marshall
• Technical Support - Takao Sawano, Tsuyoshi Takahashi, Hirohito Yada
• Progress Management - Kimiyoshi Fukui, Keizo Kato
• Special Thanks to - Yasuhito Sakai, Yoshitaka Nishikawa, Hideki Fujii, Yusuke Nakano, Wataru Yamaguchi, Phil Sandhop, Super Mario Club
• Donkey Kong 3-D Model provided by Rare U.K.

Trivia

• Oddly, the word "Circuit" was switched with "Raceway". For example, Mario Circuit is the name of Mario's track in the Japanese version, and in the NTSC and PAL versions, it's switched to Mario Raceway.
• This is the first appearance of Donkey Kong and Wario as playable characters in the series.
• Luigi, Peach, Toad, and Wario have different voices in the Japanese version. Their voice clips would later be reused in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Party, and Mario Party 2.
• In production, its original name was Super Mario Kart R, but was changed, likely because it was too similar to Sonic R's name (a Sonic racing game).
• This Mario Kart game has fewer unlockables than any other game in the entire series; its only unlockable content are "Extra" Mode (Mirror Mode) and an alternate title screen change of Yoshi, Peach, Luigi, Donkey Kong (holding a Green Shell), and Mario on Kalimari Desert (both unlocked by beating all cups with 1st).
• Kamek was originally going to be a playable character in the game, however, he was scrapped in favor of Donkey Kong. He can be seen in trailers of early builds.
• This is the only Mario Kart game where Yoshi uses his sound effects from Super Mario World and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
• This is the first game where you can play with 4 players.
• Every track in this game has made a reappearance in another as a retro track except for Wario Stadium.
• This game is known due to large skips on lots of courses in the game, pretty similar to Mario Kart Wii.
• This is the first game where every character has a course named after them.
• This is the first game in the series to have a gate at the Start/Finish Line.