A Detailed Look At Mario Kart 64 (Mario Kart 64 (N64))

Member Name: khrys

Product:	Mario Kart 64 (N64)
Date:	06/05/01 (213 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, Fast, Furious

Disadvantages: Can Be Tricky To Start Off With, Can Be Frustrating Later On, Possibly Too Jolly For Some?

Okay, I *loved* this game. I played it first around a couple of years ago, and instantly fell in love with it. It is designed for the younger audience, but is very appealing to older gamers (more on that later!).

You are treated to a friendly welcome screen, with a jolly tune, and "Welcome to Mario Kart!" in Mario (the original friendly Italian plumber... courtesy of Nintendo) 's voice. You immediately know this is going to be a surreal and enjoyable experience.

Your options for game play are as follows: you can either do a Grand Prix (all eight competitors do four races and whoever wins gets a cup), a "vs. mode" (you race another player in a single race), a time trial (you take a single course on your own), or "battle mode" (you collect powerups and have to burst your opponents balloons!). This wide choice from the very start is refreshing, because you can always change style if you get frustrated with one particular option.

At first, doing the Grand Prix and vs. modes, you must compete in 50cc mode (the slowest, easiest), but as you progress through the game, winning more and more gold cups, you earn 100cc, 150cc, and eventually, "extra" (in which you play all of the tracks BACKWARDS at around a 250cc pace and difficulty level!). This shows that if you persevere with the game there is a lot more to earn than just a cup (also as a point, when you receive "extra" mode, the welcome screen changes to a different picture, to show that you have indeed completed the standard modes).

You have a choice of eight players to compete as. Each character has thir own strenghts/weaknesses. You can be Mario (medium sized, average all abilities), Luigi (same as Mario more or less), Peach (small, fastish but average acceleration and is weak), Bowser (large, fairly good top speed, poor acceleration, very strong), Wario (large, good top speed, strong, quite good aceleration [NB Wario is my person
al favourite!]), Yoshi (excellent acceleration, medium sized, fairly weak, good top speed), Toad (excellent top speed, good acceleration, small, weak), and DK (Donkey Kong) (large, very strong, fair acceleration, good top speed). This wide range of characters means you can have your own personal favourite attributes, eg strength, and pursue them with the best character for the job!

There are four cups to choose from. Each cup comprises of four levels. The "Mushroom Cup" (easiest) comprises of "Luigi Raceway" (a simple circuit with a tunnel), "Moo Moo Farm" (has potholes and embankments), "Koopa Troopa Beach" (has shortcuts, various obstacles, and the sea), and "Kalimari Desert" (has a train track(!), the possibility of getting very lost (you are rescued if you are lost for too long though!), and a few obstacles).
The "Flower Cup" (next easiest) contains "Toad's Turnpike" (you are on a full size motorway, you must dodge all the comparitively enormous vehicles: NOTE this is extremely hard on "extra" as the vehicles are coming towards you!!), "Frappe Snowland" (arctic scenery, snowmen in your way, possibility of getting stuck), "Choco Mountain" (large mountain, possibility of falling down a ravine/valley, falling boulders etc), and "Mario Raceway" (a fairly simple circuit, more complex than Luigi's though).
The "Star Cup" (my personal favourite, quite hard), has these tracks to offer: "Bowser's Castle" (dodge moving blocks, avoid lava, cross very thin bridge, gardens), "Wario Stadium" (personal favourite, has very hard shortcut at start, bombs to dodge, excellent turning/sliding opportunities, and a great jump), and "Royal Raceway" (fairly simple but chance of getting lost, change of falling into water off steep slopes, frustrating if you miss a specific turning).
The "Special Cup&quo
t; (consists of long, hard tracks) is in possession of: "DK's Jungle Raceway" (an interesting ride through the jungle with monkeys, jumps, obstacles, tight turnings etc), "Banshee Boardwalk" (a race across wide planks, no barriers in places, easy to fall off, bats to avoid), "Yoshi Valley" (interesting. You don't know which place you are in until you finish; position is masked. A complex multi-route track, with thin un -barriered pathways, and a few obstacles), and the enormous "Rainbow Road" (quite a few things to dodge, massive jumping potential, but it's a long way down if you fall, very very long track).

As can be seen from here, there is massive choice with the tracks for time trial, "vs. mode", and Grand Prix. The "Battle Mode" is not undertaken on a standard racecourse, however. The battles take place in one of four specially designed arenas. Each is basically a large square/diamond/circle, and you start off at opposing corners to your enemy (as with all modes bar time trials, you can have up to four players). You all start off with three coloured balloons attached to your car/kart. The idea is to pop all your opponents balloons and still have some left when he/she loses his/her last one. You can pop balloons in the following ways: ramming into another opponent if you are larger than they are and they are not protected (more on that in a minute!), hitting an opponent with a projectile weapon (assuming, again, they are not protected), running into another opponent regardless of size, if you have protection, having your opponent running over a mine, or being hit by that opponent if you have protection on and they don't.
The weapons available for battle mode are picked up through semitransparent question-marked boxes, which regenerate quickly. You can carry only onew weaponat a time. These are the available weapons/powerups: Green Shell (fires straight out, from front or f
rom behind, and bounces off walls until hitting something), Red Shell (fires straight out, forwards, and homes in on nearest opponent, but is destroyed if it hits a wall first), Three Green Shells (basically 3× a Green Shell, but before use, they circle you, as a sort of protective shield, and you can only fire them forwards, one at a time), Star (makes you go faster, and renders you invincible for a certain period of time. While invincible, you can damage other opponents by hitting them, or by having them hit you), Banana Skin (thrown out, forwards or backwards, and if opponent runs over it, they slip and lose a balloon), Multiple Banana Skins (basically about five/seven Banana Skins, but they come out in a line from behind you before firing them, and this can be used as a fairly effective "sweep" at other enemies!), Ghost (used to steal another opponents weapon that they have not yet used, and renders you invisible for a short period of time), and Decoy Box (looks just like a weapon powerup box, except upside down, and acts as a mine for anyone who runs over it, causing them to lose a balloon).
[Please Note these are not all the available weapons: just the battle mode weapons. There are also a few more weapons for use in race modes, and these are: Spiky Blue Shell (homes in on the player in first place, rarely gets destroyed, hits away anything that gets in its path, makes a funny whirring sound!), Three Red Shells (3× Red Shell, forming a ring around you until fired, again, forwards only), Mushroom (a boost), 3 Mushroom (3 boosts), Golden Mushroom (you can press firs constantly for many boosts for around 30 seconds... very useful for catching up!), and Lightning (makes all other opponents except ones with Stars much smaller than you, and thus much slower. Plus, you can run over them, causing a lot of delay for the person in question!]
The arenas for "Battle Mode" are as follows: "Skyscraper" (diamond shaped, possibility of fa
lling off sides/down middle, quite small), "Double Deck" (square shaped, multilayer formation, nowhere to fall off causing damage, although you can drop between floors, quite large), "Block Fort" (square shaped, quite large, four main coloured formations that link to each other via thin bridges, nowhere to fall off, although, again, you can drop down harmlesly), and "Big Donut" (circle shaped, pit of lava in the middle, a few large blocks to hide behind, quite small).

But enough on the game specifications has now been said. My opinion of the game is required. This game is indeed a top class play, has brilliant replay value (I still go back to it very often!), sweet, well put together graphics (although there are some minor bugs, but that happens with the best of games), a good playing engine (the difficulty scale I find especially good), well thought out music that really suits the race in question, and above all, a lovable overall effect, that will appeal to older players merely for the "cuteness factor". However, it should be said, the game is not just "cute" like some games; it is competitive, and can be frustrating if you are playing against the wrong person! This is why I believe the game to be so multi-purpose. I would still buy this game today, and now it is in the N64 "Platinum Range", it is going cheap! Go on people, buy it! I give my *personal guarantee* you will not be disappointed!

-k

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