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Mario Kart 64 is a racing video game for the Nintendo 64 game system for up to four players. It is the sequel to Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Players take control of characters from the Super Mario Bros. video game series and race around a variety of tracks while using several weapons including items that make the racers speed increase, turtle-shell projectiles and slipper banana peels. Music for the game was was composed by Koji Kondo, who composed the score to many Nintendo projects.1 Notable differences between Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario Kart
- The graphics have been significantly upgraded.
- Each track now requires 3 laps instead of 5 (but the tracks are much longer).
- Tracks are now in complete 3D, with hills, slopes, bumps and jumps.
- Two characters, Koopa Troopa and Donkey Kong Junior, have been replaced with Wario and Donkey Kong.
- The Jump Feather and coins have been removed.
- Several weapons were added including: a banana bunch, triple mushroom, golden mushroom, triple green shells, triple red shells, fake item bomb, spiked blue shell.
- In the opinion of some players, the difficulty is slightly greater.
2 Modes of gameplay
2.1 Mario Grand Prix (GP)
In the one or two player mode, players race in a group of eight (one or two human players and six or seven computer players) around a series of four courses per cup. A player selects one of the four cups at the beginning of the game as well as a difficulty level.
2.2 Time Trials
A single-player mode. A player may play any course in any cup. In time trial, the player is given a triple mushroom item, and the kart has a 100cc engine. The top five best course times and the best lap time are recorded on the cartridge, and the aim is for the player to beat their own records. Completing a race often results in a ghost appearing on the player's next attempt - the ghost is the route taken for the best time that the player has completed in their current session, and can be saved on a controller pak for later use.
There are several online communities dedicated to keeping track of time trial records, and some are still as active as ever, many years after the game's release.
2.3 Versus Mode
In this game for two, three or four players, players can race head-to-head against their friends without computer players. Players need not play an entire cup, but select individual courses to play. Players also select the difficulty level.
2.4 Battle Mode
In this game for two, three or four players, players compete in one of four arenas filled with items. Players have three balloons attached to their go-carts and lose them when they are spun-out by either being hit by a player in a higher weight class or spun out with an item. In three and four player modes, players that have lost all of their balloons come back once as a bomb that can move around to crash with another player and thus remove one balloon. The winner is the last one with balloons left.
2.4.1 Battle Arenas
- Big Donut - a very large annular track, with lava in the center and four walls serving as temporary cover. Shells work best in this level, so long as the opponent is not across the lava gap.
- Block Fort - a square court with four square three-story towers. Towers are uniquely colored, and there are slopes leading up to the highest tiers, and bridges leading to neighboring towers. Bananas and fake item boxes are useful here, as the bridges and slopes are very narrow. Shells work best on the bottom floor.
- Double Deck - a three-story maze with plenty of walls and many places to hide from shells.
- Skyscraper - a small round course atop a skyscraper, with many treacherous gaps. Games in this level are usually short, because it is both easy to fall off, and there is nowhere to hide. Since players always respawn in a fixed location after falling off, camping is a common practice - the opponent can wait at the set-down point with shells in tow, and quickly dispose of the final two balloons for victory.
2.5 Difficulty
In Mario GP, players can choose between four difficulty levels of game play. These levels include:
- 50cc - Easy (fairly slow-paced)
- 100cc - Intermediate (medium speed)
- 150cc - Difficult (fast-pased, and occasionally the AI cheats by letting computer characters drive far faster than you can)
- Extra - Same as 100cc, but all courses are mirror images of themselves. All left turns become right turns and vice versa. You can unlock Extra mode by winning 1st place (a gold cup) on all four cups in 150cc mode.
3 Characters
There are eight characters to race with in this game divided into three weight classes.
