Mario Kart 64

Mario Kart 64 is the second installment of the Mario Kart series, as well as the first in the series to use three-dimensional graphics. It was released for the Nintendo 64, and later became available for the Wii's Virtual Console. It featured changes in playable characters, new courses, and was placed 4th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997. Mario Kart 64 has set many trends which have continued on in the Mario Kart series, and introduced courses such as Sherbet Land and Wario Stadium that were used again in future Mario Kart installments.

Gameplay
Players must steer with the Nintendo 64's controller's control stick, holding the -button down to accelerate. The button is used for braking, and also allows the player to reverse by pointing the control stick downward. Items can be used by simply pressing the trigger. When the player presses the trigger, they will jump, allowing the kart to turn around tight corners. Turning too much or quickly, or turning side to side, will result in the player sliding and spinning around, making their kart stop for several seconds. If a Banana 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 they will not spin out but continue going straight, nullifying the effect of the item (this effect is also included in the Mario Kart: Super Circuit).

As opposed to the previous game in the series, Super Mario Kart, a standard race now has three laps rather than five due to the much-longer raceways compared to those found in Super Mario Kart. Additionally, the race tracks are not flat in this game and feature different forms of terrain. To get items, the character must get an Item Box. Once the character gets an Item Box, an item-roulette will appear with medium sound, and, when stopping, will sound four "dings".

There are four cups, designated as Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, Star Cup, and Special Cup. These cups are further divided into three different difficulty settings of 50cc, 100cc, or 150cc. An unlockable Extra, known as Mirror Mode, allows the player to race courses in the opposite direction usually raced, which sometimes increases difficulty. In order to unlock this feature, the player must complete all cups on 150cc. When the title screen changes, it means that the player has unlocked Extra. A Time Trial mode and a Battle Mode are also available, which pit the player in different kart scenarios that don't necessarily require racing.

In the Time Trial mode, the player must race against their own previous times, represented by a ghostly form of their player-of-choice. 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 enough speed (more details here). When a player has lost all of their balloons, they will lose, while the other player simply "wins" that round.

The rival system in this game is the more common 2 Rival system seen in most similar games, whereupon two randomly selected rivals will fight with the player, and will use the "Handicap" feature to situate themselves on level with the player. They will always stay on 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 them a huge lead that the player can't stop at all without cheating.

Technical
The original release of this game on the Nintendo 64 used 123 pages of the Controller Pak to record Ghost Data, which would occupy all the space in the Controller Pak. However, later versions of the game used 121 pages on the Controller Pak, leaving only 2 pages free.

Because of the available controllers without a Controller Pak Slot, it is impossible to record Ghost Data on the Virtual Console version of the game.

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.


 * Additionally, players can drive a Mini Bomb Kart when all of their balloons disappear in battle mode. The Mini Bomb Kart can drive around and explode on other players, but it only has one use for exploding before completely disappearing.

Enemies

 * Bat
 * Boo
 * Chain Chomp
 * Crab
 * Mini Bomb Kart (in VS mode only)
 * Monty Mole
 * Penguin
 * Piranha Plant
 * Snowman
 * Spiny
 * Thwomp

Non-Playable

 * Cheep-Cheep
 * Cow
 * Lakitu

Items

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

References to Other Games

 * 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. It is also where the award ceremony is held.
 * 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.

References from Later Games

 * New Super Mario Bros. - When Bowser is defeated in the World 1 Castle and falls into the lava, the voice clip that plays when Bowser is selected in the Select Player Screen is heard.

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, Australian, 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 than their American counterparts, while other characters do not. The Japanese voice overs were used in Mario Kart: Super Circuit.
 * Some of their phrases would be reused in Mario Party.
 * The voice-over during the menu and congratulating to the player is heard from Wave Race 64.
 * This is the only Mario Kart game in which Fake Item Boxes can block incoming objects. Additionally, players cannot throw that item forward, which is possible in the later Mario Kart titles.
 * This is also the only Mario Kart game in which the Special Cup is available as default.
 * If the results screen is left on for 50 minutes, a hidden section of the tune starts playing twice, before reverting to the original tune.
 * If the player looks to the back of the scene during a successful award ceremony, the fourth-place character can be seen.