I realize Nintendo liked to put their console’s special name (Super/64) in their mascot game titles. Mario Kart is no exception to the rule. I loved the original Mario Kart. It was a very unique game for its time, was one of the few good racing games for the SNES, had different characters to choose from, multiple tracks (more than most racing games), and a ton of items to whip your opponents around. Mario Kart 64 is an oddball. When it’s good, it rocks solid. When it sucks, it makes me wonder why they didn’t make it like the original Mario Kart.
Each kart this time around has a different stat. Each cart has three gears that are switched to automatically, and each kart has a special acceleration time and gear. Each kart has a different weight depending on the character on it. Light karts get knocked around quite a bit, large karts can ram into other players without flinching. Like the original game, but expanded moreso, each kart has a different style of turning radius. The lighter karts turn a lot sharper, and may move all over the track. Very sensitive steering. Others are very hard to turn, but are very solid in their grip and movements. Combined with their speed and weight, each kart handles differently. I still have a hard time choosing which character is the best for my play style. I can play just about everyone of them equally well without noticable difference.
The AI in this game kind of sucks. The rubberband effect in many race games is appearant, but in this game the characters ARE going to catch up no matter what. If they are only a short distance behind you, they catch up. Using a zoom mushroom, and odds are they’ll be moving along at the same speed (CHEATERS!). The computers are capable of usin the same items as you though. Each one basically plays like a human controlled player. Which is nice. The thing I don’t like in this game, is all the karts are balanced in some way. There is really no edgy character or way to abuse a certain trait of one and use it to trump another. Peach may be the best at turning and speed, but it does her little good when she’s always crashing around, has sensitive steering and wipes out rather easily.
I was disappointed with the tracks in this game. There are not enough angular corners, the tracks are either very large or very small (they look larger than they should be) . More importantly, the tracks feel like a giant runway with few corners in them. The biggest disappointment was the lack of tracks in this game. There are four courses, but each one only has four tracks. The number of laps has also been reduced to three, while the tracks themselves feel large and lengthy.
The best part of Mario Kart 64 is the multi-player and interactive items. There is the usual shells, zoom mushrooms and banana peels, but now there is question mark blocks that can be dropped and three shells which circle your character. The lightning bolt appears a lot more commonly in this game. The shells that function as a shield are nice, they can either be fired out for three shots (while picking up another item!) or they can be used to ram into another player. Homing shells are much fun with this. Beware, the computer can use the same tactics on you. Depending on the number of players, there will either be CPU players, or just four players playing on a single track (sounds like chaos and fun waiting to happen). I’ve not tested out Multi-Player mode at all, but I see reviews showing it is the best part of Mario Kart 64.
This game is either a hit or a miss, and often wreaks of it several times over while playing the game. It definitely needs a look to decide whether to just rent it or add it to your collection.
Yozuki’s Drive - 8
