Mario Kart 64

A game developed by Nintendo and released by the same company for the Nintendo 64. Released in 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in Europe and America. This game is the sequel to Super Mario Kart on the SNES(Super Nintendo Entertainment System).

This racing game is true classic , featuring many of the Nintendo Super Stars(Mario, Luigi, Peach, Donkey Kong, Toad, Bowser, Yoshi and Wario). The game features 16 tracks.

The game offers 4 modes which are Mario GP(which is an Championship mode, in which players race to get the highest position in the championship), Battle(in which players have to take away their opponents balloons by using weapons they pick up from question boxes, only available with 2 players or more), Versus(Racing on 1 track, with other players, only available with 2 players or more), Time Trial(Single player mode in which you have to try and get the best time for a track). There’s also an unlockable Extra mode.

The gameplay in this game is awesome, everything plays smooth. The characters are balanced and when racing there’s a system that makes sure that the space between players doesn’t get too big, just like in Burnout Paradise. Using powerups to gain an advantage in the race is fun, there are powerups ranging from boosts to banana peels to stun your enemies.

The graphics in this game are great, however the game still uses 2d images unlike for example Body Harvest. Every track varies a lot from previous ones, having different elements in it and a whole different feeling to it, which is supported by the looks of the track.

The sound is just wonderful in this game, the songs that are composed by Kenta Nagata, who did an awesome job at creating songs for this game, even if you hear the songs for a million times they don’t get boring or irritating, and they really add to the atmosphere of a track and enforce the cheery feeling in this game.

This game is truly a classic and can make any evening with friends great, I still remember the times in which we took our N64’s to christmas evenings and we ended up playing this game all night with my cousins. Multiplayer is the game’s strength, since playing alone is fun in the beginning but doing it with friends makes it so much more fun, especially when considering that after a while 150cc is getting easy alone and the competition with friends will always be challenging.

I really recommend getting this game, at any price. I would also like to suggest that you get an original N64 copy instead of buying it on the Wii via Virtual Console, since playing the game on the Wii will never be the same as playing the actual copy. You can really play for hundreds of hours with friends and you’ll find yourself getting back once in a while just to see how it was like and get hooked again.