Mario Kart 64

Mario Kart 64 is the second installment of the Mario Kart series. It is for the Nintendo 64, and is also available on the Wii's Virtual Console. It is the series' first step into three-dimensional graphics.

It has set many trends in the Mario Kart series, and courses such as Sherbet Land and Wario Stadium which were used again in future Mario Kart installments.

Gameplay
As opposed to Super Mario Kart, a race now has three laps, not five, due to the fact the raceways are a lot longer than in Super Mario Kart. Additionally, the race tracks are not flat in this game. To get the items, the character had to get an Item Box. When the character gets the Item Box, the item-roulette will sound medium, and when the item-roulette stopped, he/she will hear 4 "dings".

Players steer with the Nintendo 64 Controller's control stick, and hold down A to accelerate. The B button is used for the brake, while to reverse the player must use this button while pointing the control stick downward. With the Z trigger, items are used. When the player presses the R trigger, he/she would jump and then turn so that the kart could turn if there is a tight corner, like in open courses where there are hardly any boundaries to stop the player from going into other areas of land like snow and sand. Don't turn too much or turn side to side, or else the player will slide and spin around, making his/her kart stop for a few seconds.

The cups can be raced on the difficulty settings of 50, 100, or 150 cc or the unlockable Extra (also known as Mirror Mode). There is also a Time Trial Mode and a Battle Mode available. In Battle Mode, each player starts with three balloons, and loses a balloon when hit by any item. It is also possible to lose a balloon if a heavier player such as Bowser hits a lighter player like Toad or Yoshi with great speed (more details here). When a player has lost all of his/her balloons, he or she loses, while the other player simply "wins" that round.

The rival system in this game is the more commonly used 2 Rival system, where 2 randomly selected rivals will fight with the player, and will use the "Handicap" feature to get themselves on level with the player. They will always stay the same no matter what the championship standings are.

On a side note, when the player plays the 150cc and Extra mode, a random CPU racer may receive a huge handicap, giving him/her a huge lead that the player can't stop at all without cheating.

Playable

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Peach
 * Toad
 * Yoshi
 * Donkey Kong
 * Wario
 * Bowser
 * Mini Bomb Kart (Multi-Player only)

Enemies

 * Boo
 * Monty Mole
 * Crab
 * Snowman
 * Piranha Plant
 * Penguin
 * Thwomp
 * Spiny
 * Bat
 * Chain Chomp
 * Mini Bomb Kart

Non-Playable

 * Lakitu
 * Cow
 * Cheep-Cheep

Lightweights
The Lightweight drivers have the highest Top Speed and the best acceleration, but tend to slide out the most of the drivers. If a Heavyweight Player rams into a Lightweight Player, the Lightweight player will slip out, giving Heavyweights a large advantage over them in Battle Mode. Lightweights, with their faster speed and acceleration, have the advantage in Grand Prix mode, however.

Middleweights
Middleweight drivers both are about even with everything, making them suitable for beginners. They feature moderate Acceleration and Top Speed.

Heavyweights
The Heavyweights are rather clunky, and have the lowest speed of all the racers in the game. Heavyweights also show low steering and Acceleration. However, with the ability to make lightweight drivers spin out by ramming into them, they are considered to be the best drivers in Battle Mode.

Items

 * Banana
 * Banana Bunch
 * Green Shell
 * Triple Green Shells
 * Red Shell
 * Triple Red Shells
 * Blue Shell
 * Fake Item Box
 * Mushroom
 * Triple Mushrooms
 * Super Mushroom
 * Star
 * Boo
 * Thunderbolt

Quotes
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Trivia

 * The lightning effect was changed in the release on the Virtual Console to a less intense flash, most likely to prevent seizures.
 * In the American and European versions of Mario Kart 64, "Circuits" were renamed "Raceways". The exception is Royal Raceway, which was known as Peach Circuit in Japan (and not Royal Circuit).
 * In the Japanese version, Luigi, Toad, Peach and Wario have different voice overs then their American counterparts, while other characters do not. Some of their phrases would be reused in Mario Party. Also, the voice-over during the menu and congratulating to the player is heard from Wave Race 64
 * If a banana item is hit while the player is driving straight, the character will skid for a while before spinning out. If the player presses the B button, a music note will appear over the character's head and he/she will not spin out but continue going straight, nullifying the effect of the item (this effect also is included in the Mario Kart: Super Circuit for last time).
 * The original release of the N64 used 123 pages of the Controller Pak to record Ghost Data, this occupied all the space in the Controller Pak, making needed buying another for another games.
 * Because of the available controllers without a Controller Pak Slot, it is impossible to record Ghost Data on the VC version of the game.
 * If the Results Screen music (after a Time Trial or Mario GP race) is left playing after approximately 50 minutes, a new loop of the music plays through twice, with the same chords as the normal loop.
 * The game was placed 4th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997.
 * As an Easter Egg, on rare occasions during multiplayer mode, an entire race my be in fast motion.
 * This is the only Mario Kart game in which Fake Item Boxes can block incoming objects. Additionally, players couldn't throw that item forward, which was possible in the later Mario Kart titles.

References to Previous Installments Before Mario Kart 64

 * Super Mario 64- In the track Royal Raceway there is a part where the racer can turn off the road and arrive at Princess Peach's Castle exactly as it appeared in this game.
 * Super Mario Kart- Koopa Troopa was a playable racer in this game, but never appeared in Mario Kart 64. It is explained in the instruction book that his race kart was stolen by Wario (This also explains how Wario is now playable).
 * Donkey Kong Country- This is the first appearance of the Donkey Kong Country version of Donkey Kong in the main Mario series. This has caused some confusion as he fought Mario as a child.  Now he has grown to an adult and Mario remains the same age.