Review

Remember the Super Nintendo. Of course you do; there was the best karting game available for that, which created a whole new line of racing kart games! Super Mario Kart. A great game in its own right. Years later, the Nintendo 64 is released, and guess what? There’s a Mario Kart game for that… Mario Kart 64.

The game welcomes you with an immense title screen and immediately you’re greeted by Mario, “Welcome to Mario Kart!”. The game is very welcoming, and features a 1P mode with cool and structured tracks. The 1P mode has 50cc (slow), 100cc (still slow), 150cc (action jackson) and the spoiler here – Reverse. There are 8 characters available including Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Bowser, Wario and DK. Depending on the driver you pick, will determine the speed of your kart, weight of your character and acceleration rate. Picking your character is vital and some tracks are better played with certain characters.

As all Mario Kart games, there are Cups; the Mushroom, Flower, Star and Special. The track design varies and there are many shortcuts plotted cleverly through the game; as well as the minor glitch or two. There are some simple courses such as Mario Circuit. There are some fanatic courses such as Toad’s Turnpike, in which the drivers race through the night-traffic whilst dodging cars, buses and lorries. There’s also the mesmerising ones such as the colourful Rainbow Road. Although there are some good tracks; there really isn’t enough. There are only 16 tracks in the 1P mode, which means that the game is pretty short.

Some players may find the game challenging due to the most annoying part of the game. For some reason, when you batter a player and they’re left standing at the back of the queue about a lap behind; in some cases they manage to catch you up, as if they have a permanent boost. This sure makes some players blood boil, but adds more challenge to the game, which is really needed. Remember, there are those exclusive items! The banana, green shell, red shell, lightning, ghost and fake item box. Players are able to pick up triple green and red shells which rotate around the player acting as a shield whilst the player can shoot ‘em. In addition, there is the blue shell, a spiny shell which hits every player in front until it reaches player number 1. The latter players are more likely to receive the good items, such as the stars or lightning, which adds more challenge value.

1 Player mode also has a Time Trial mode, where you can race a track. Then save your time trial as a ghost; so the next time you race, you race against yourself. Neat, I think and will appeal to those hardcore time-trial winners. A controller pak is needed to do this however.

Mario Kart is known for its Multiplayer and this one doesn’t disappoint. The battle mode is immense, and the controls just feel fluid. As always the players have three balloons AKA lifelines. These lifelines disappear from a player each time they are hit by an item or run into one. As soon as there balloons have all gone; its gameover. Then again is it? In this Mario Kart you’re transformed into a blowing bomb and have the ability to blow up any player you want by running into them. You can’t win, but you can still jeopardise your rival’s score. Excellent. 4 players can play and this game will have your mates around the television for ages. There are 4 battle arenas you can play on. Each one is pretty cool, however it would be more fun if there were more to choose!

Whilst playing you’ll have to listen to the music. All the music is funky, and will have you humming along in no time. There are also the character voices that you will hear. Either the screams of horror, or the taunt as a driver passes by. The sound adds a nice feel to the game and gets the player more involved.

Final Comments

With Super Mario Kart being such a big hit, Nintendo had to pull out the big guns and whip up a smash-hit game. They didn’t disappoint their fans and brought out a great game with addictive multiplayer and fluid controls. Its only downfall being the shortage in 1 Player Mode and there isn’t much to unlock. All in all, this game is worth a purchase either for the N64 or on the Nintendo Wii. It did get a “Player’s Choice” award and is a definite game needed in a gamer’s collection.

Scores

• Gameplay: 9
• Graphics: 8
• Audio: 9
• Lifespan: 8
• Overall: 9

Pros

• Great Multiplayer
• Nice control using the N64 analogue stick
• Funky music to listen to

Cons

• Not as challenging as Super Mario Kart
• Single Player is quite short
• Not much to unlock