While somewhat different than the last game I reviewed, Mario Kart 64 still realizes the potential of a great game, which is nothing but pure, unadulterated fun. There is no story to Mario Kart, no enemies or evil to overcome, no hero to save the day. There is you, the other racers, and the track. Nothing else matters. Games like this can never be compared, outside of how much fun it is to play, to the fantastic adventures of RPGs or so many other Mario platformers. This kind of game is all about the personal enjoyment of the player instead of a moving experience. To really review a game like this, one has to judge it based on what it set out to do. Is this game fun? Does it allow enjoyment throughout the game to a wide variety of people? Is this game, after fourteen years since it's release (1996), still fun to play with others or even on your own? These are the questions every reviewer must ask of the games like this, and I happily report that Mario Kart 64 passes with flying colors.
There are eight characters to choose from: two mediums (Mario and Luigi), three light (Toad, Peach, and Yoshi), and three heavy (Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser). If you can't guess, each class of character has slight advantages and disadvantages to it. The lights are faster, but more easily spin out when hit with something heavy - like another character - while the heavies are slower but more resistant when rammed. The mediums are not particularly bad or good against anything. They are the all-around characters. Most will choose one of the lighter characters; in my experience, most gamers specifically choose Yoshi since he is the least annoying of the three lights. As a side note, why even include Toad? He's so bland it disgusts me. I mean, really, there are thousands (millions? billions?) of Toads in the Mushroom Kingdom and who knows how many of them have red spots on their heads. Whose to say this is the same Toad we recognize from other Mario games? Whose to say it's ever the same Toad? Nintendo should probably make a more defining characteristic than a blue vest and annoying voice to separate this Toad from countless others.
Though, aside from the disturbing qualities of Toad, there is not much else to complain about while playing this game. There are four "cups" made up of four tracks (making that a total of 16 courses for all you English majors out there) and the player can choose to go for the gold trophies in every Grand Prix by getting the highest score out of all racers, of which only the top four receive any points at all. In single player, the game can get very repetitive if you want to get every gold trophy possible. Of course, the fantastic item boxes which litter the courses add much to the game's creativeness as well as it's craziness and interactiveness. Quite simply, the items make the game enjoyable and allow for greater satisfaction than your other, average racing games. Not to mention adding to the frustration. Nothing is worse than being 30 seconds ahead of 2nd place, but then getting lightning-ed into the water or off a high jump. The computer, of course, does not plan things like that and they rarely happen when playing by yourself, but expect a great deal of time being spent just waiting for the right moment to use that lightning strike against your friends.
For those new to the racing genre, the 50 cc engine size is a good place to start. It's the smallest engine, which means it's also the slowest and the least likely to spin out if you move the control stick back and forth too quickly. Once all four Gold Cups are earned with the slowest engine, you can move up to a slightly faster speed and do it all over again. And then once more on the fastest engine size. And then once more on the mirror courses, which are unlocked after achieving every other Gold Cup. These mirror courses at first seem like more of the same, however many of the tracks are actually much more difficult, mainly because of your own memory, but there is only one course that actually gets significantly harder: Toad's Turnpike. You'll know why instantly if you play it.
And, when it gets right down to it, the courses are your real challenges. The AIs do not have the skill required to beat someone who knows what they're doing. If you've already gotten all the golds, then going back and playing anything lower than 150 cc's is almost unbearable. Expect to be bored. The worst thing about the other racers is the random chance of items. Any time you're in front, the best thing you can hope to get from the item boxes is three green shells, so be prepared to lay a lot of bananas and shoot many single green shells backwards (or just hold onto them all for defense). While, of course, anyone lagging behind gets the best items so they can have a better chance at winning, which really only succeeds in messing with the players in front.
If I was to judge this game based solely on the single player experience, this game would fall short of being worth the time and money necessary. Luckily for Mario Kart - since I alone clearly have the ultimate judgment - that is not the only, or even main, part of my review. Mario Kart 64 was so clearly designed for multiple players that I wonder how much thought was put into the single player game. When playing Mario Kart with a friend (one to three others) the game hits the pinnacle of fun. The game gives you three choices when playing with others: play Vs. with each other, battle each other, or Grand Prix with the AI taking over the left over racers. Battle has only four different courses, two of which are very small, and the winner depends on who keeps any of the three of their balloons while the others lose all of their own. The Vs. mode is much less hectic than the Grand Prix, but also more ridiculous. Since there are only two racers, the person in second place will often get stars and lightning and all manner of excellent items in order to launch them into first place, which can be very hazardous for other players if the user knows when and what to save them for. Finally, the Grand Prix with multiplayer is the most fun this game can offer. Even so long after Mario Kart 64 debuted it's still fun. Every time I bring up that I have this famous racing game, people want to play. They, I'm sure, seek nostalgia more than a balanced and accurate racing videogame, but what they receive is more than forgotten memories, they experience amazing sensations of pure fun. Even being frustrated at the abuse of items, the game is always fun. For this reason, the game ranks higher than it probably should. Re-reading my review, I seem to portray this game unfavorably, but I cannot be more pleased with this game for accomplishing what it set out to do. I'm ecstatic with this game because of it's multiplayer, pleased with this game for it's single player, and happy with it overall.
4/5 Near Perfect Score! Super Good!
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