Mario Kart 64

I rarely play racing games, but this one was my favorite for the N64. Having been launched alongside Super Mario 64 in 1996, Mario Kart 64 no doubt boosted both Mario's and the system's popularity. While it's dated by modern standards, it still has its appeal.

The roster has 8 characters, each with newly introduced weight classes. Toad, Toadstool, and Yoshi were fast lightweights, Mario and Luigi were balanced middleweights, and Bowser, Donkey Kong and Wario were slow but durable heavyweights. You'll race across 16 exotic and well-designed courses; some of them are the series most fun and memorable, like Kalimari Desert, while others are just a pain, like the infamous Banshee Boardwalk with lots of sharp turns, limited lighting, narrow tracks, and swarms of bats that would fly into you and slow you down.

Since the game had so much content, the N64 couldn't handle a fully 3D rendered Mario Kart game, so the racer models and items were substituted with 2D sprites, but it still looked good and helped the game run smoothly. New features included 4-player mode, split-screen, and the ability to wield three shells at once as a shield or to hit other players. New items included the super mushroom, the fake power-up, and the always dreaded Blue Shell.

The characters all had quirky and hilarious voice clips, especially Toad and Wario. The sound effects from the karts and powerups were cool and there was great, memorable music on every course, courtesy of Kenta Nagata, like the triumphant sounding trophy theme, the bright and charming, steel drums of Koopa Troopa beach, and Toads Turnpike with its soothing and unique techno theme.

Unfortunately, there were some serious flaws that made the game infamous to many players. First off, the games difficulty on single player was a real pain. Like Mario Party released in 1998, the CPU drivers are given unfair advantages. The rubber banding is the worst as the CPU's suddenly accelerate to impossible speeds and stay right behind you, making it hard to make 1st place. Even outside that, the controls are difficult, and handling feels stiff. There's lots of hazards to watch out for too, like an unavoidable banana peel for you to slip on and a large amount of falling hazards on some of the stages that will likely ruin your chances of winning first place if you're not careful.

While still a fun and classic game to play once in a while, it's more enjoyable on multiplayer. And even then, this one hasn't aged that well. Some people even say it's inferior to the original Mario Kart on the SNES. So, you might be better off playing more modern releases, like Double Dash and Mario Kart 8.

This N64 game is an update of the classic game from 1992 and I have to say, this game rocked. It was also very challenging, which added to the fun. The graphics are fantastic and the overall game is better than the original. New weapons are available along with the ones from the original and there many new and challenging tracks. The battle mode is also excellent, featuring (I believe) four arenas. Another plus is you can have up to four players playing at once, whether in battle mode or racing mode. This is a must have for any video game fan.

"Super Mario Kart 64" is a very fun game and much better than I expected it would be. When it came out in '96 I didn't buy it straight away, but a few friends of mine owned it and I got really good at the game -- and found it really fun to play.

Later I ended up buying it used at a game store and played it all the time. It's a really addictive racing game and elitists will be surprised that just because Mario is attached, it's not a cash in (like Mario Tennis and Party) -- it works well with or without Mario and, like "Paper Mario," doesn't sacrifice gameplay to target towards the little kiddies.

This is a great racing game AND a great Mario game. It's got fun features, well-designed tracks, fairly decent graphics for the time period (remember N64 was top of the line in '96) and a great two-player battle option.

All in all, a must-own if you've got an N64.

Mario Kart 64 is the first game I bought for Nintendo 64 back in late 1996. Even after so many other games and other systems that out did the Nintendo 64, I kept coming back to this game. Mario Kart offers a wide variety of courses to race on with eight unique Nintendo characters. A few of these characters being: obviously Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Donkey Kong.

There are four sets of races, each featuring a unique course going anywhere from Peach's Castle to Donkey Kong's Jungle. The course's are fun to travel through while you pick up items off the road helping you to stop your opponents and get a better boost. Mario Kart 64 is by far the best racer I've played. It is so unique and fun that you just become engulfed by it.

When the racing get's old, try to beat your friends in a little battle match or set a course time trial record with your favorite character.

Mario Kart 64. Featuring: Mario, Peach, Luigi, Toad, Wario, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Bowser.

Uniqueness: 5/5

Replay Value: 5/5

Plain Fun: 5/5

Overall: 5/5

Well what can I say most of you know the mario kart series very well especially if your here, so you should know its excellent. For one I don't really like racing games there's very few series' out there that I will play and this here has to be the best franchise by far now from all the tracks, the rewards, the multi player, this was the the leader of its time you update the graphics put it up there with todays games it sticks with the best. All of the sounds were done very well the controls were just perfect, only real problem I have is the dumb AI from 50 ccs (easiest difficulty) to 150 ccs (hardest difficulty) the AI makes dumb decisions and somehow for every cup you have the same people in 1st and third even though you know those guys out the most they keep coming like water in a flood but it still doesn't kill the glory beauty and funess of this game Mario Kart 64 is right in my top 10 ever if you haven't played it get it its worth every penny you'll play