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Member since:14.06.2001
Reviews:19
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Nintendo’s little mascot is back to try and re-create the huge success that it predecessor Super Mario Kart, on the Snes, provided.
Hyped up with super smooth graphics, sound effects and Grand Prix tracks, this game somewhat succeeded at its grab for glory. Those out there that remember the golden oldie that was Super Mario Kart (SMK) would not disappointed with the modern version.
The original SMK offered something nothing seen before. All racing games before it that had enjoyed minor success were ‘serious’ racing games. But SMK offered the ‘fun’ aspect to an audience that craved it so much. It offered their favourite characters from the world of Nintendo and Mario combined with lawn mower racing!!
Like in the original in normal gameplay mode, there are cups for you to race in, in each cup there are 4 races. To win the cup you have to have the most point at the end of the fourth race. Not only that but in order to progress to the next track in the cup you must finish within the top 4 racers. (Not that hard but becomes harder on the harder difficultly settings)
Cups: Mushroom Cup: Luigi Raceway Moo Moo far Koopa Troopa Beach Kalimari Desert (not too sure about the spelling!)
Flower Cup: Toad’s Turnpike Frappe Snowland Choco Mountain Mario Raceway
Star Cup: Wario Stadium Sherbet Land Royal Raceway Bower’s Castle
Special Cup Donkey Kong Jungle Parkway Yoshi’s Valley Banshee Boardwalk Rainbow Road
There are 4 modes of gameplay in Mario kart 64.
---Grand Prix--- In my opinion by far the best gameplay mode available on the game. You can even play it as 2 players. Choose a difficulty setting, choose a driver, choose your grand prix cup to race in and of ya go! Start on the first race and then progress if you finish high enough. The position you finish in determines the amount of points you get, 9 points for first, 6 for second and so on… down to fourth, if you finish below that then you have to race again.
Of
course in the Grand Prix you play against all the remaining racers. In this game the computer A.I (artificial intelligence) is very good. The racer the wins or comes second in the first race normally is finishing around them positions in all the other races. In actually fact the A.I seems to be able to attain speeds that ‘human’ players cannot. The major weakness with them is that they are not the best at using the power ups (covered later!) Unfortunalty you cannot play the Grand Prix with more than 2 players.
---Battle Mode--- Basically the same as the SNES version. A large arena were you can go were ever you want or were ever takes your fancy. Each racer has three balloons around them and whenever you get hit by a power up you loose a balloon when you have lost all three balloons you are out of the game, the surviving racer wins. The players that have died can become ‘driving bombs’ and take their revenge on those who delivered the final blow to them.
In this mode you can play with three of your mated in a 4-player deathmatch. The only problem with playing with 4 players is that the speed suffers. Don’t worry it not THAT bad, the game is till playable but the difference in speed is noticeable.
---Single Races--- Choose between any track that you want and race around registering lap times and race times. For those who want practice and perfect racetracks. Can become very boring after a few minutes in 1-player mode. But in a multi-player of 3 or 4 people it is very good. It’s the best multi-player mode on the game (in my opinion!) As you can only have a 2-player GP then this is the sensible option when there are 3 or 4 of ya mates. It is made better that you can choose ANY of the racetracks and it is quick and most importantly its fun!!!
~~~Characters~~~ In Mario Kart 64 there are 8 characters to choose from all from the Mario gang, apart from Donkey Kong. All have different good points and bad points.
Mario – He is a good all rounder, average top-speed, average handling and turning. Luigi – Like Mario he is also a good all rounder. Princess Peach – Good top-speed, loses something on handling and cornering. Toad – Like Princess Peach he/it is a fast of the block but isn’t the best at cornering. Yoshi – He/it is the same as toad and Princess. Wario – He is the only character not in the original from the SNES taking the place of Koopa Troopa. Not the fastest among the races, but good at cornering (as he is going so slow!) terrible acceleration! Donkey Kong – Same as Wario! Bowser – Same as Wario and Bowser!
My personal favourite is Toad; just because he was by far the best on SMK on the SNES, and I cant shake the habit of choosing him.
Now for the long part…
~~~Power ups~~~ The main variations in the game come from power ups. In total there are over 15 (I think I will count them later!) To get powerups you drive through the boxes that are available through out the tracks.
Banana – This is a simple power up. You drop it out the back of your racer and anyone that goes over it slips over and spins off. These can also be fired in front of you.
Banana Bunch – That’s right instead of one banana you get…a bunch of bananas!!
Mushroom – This power up gives you a short burst in speed handy when you’re on a rough patch of the circuits!
Three Mushrooms – That’s right instead of 1 mushroom you get…three mushrooms.
Super Mushrooms – This gives you an unlimited amount of burst in speed for a short space of time approx. 10 seconds.
Green Shell – When you fire this shell it travels in a straight line until it hits something or it falls of the circuit. If it hits a barrio it bounces back. Can become dangerous if there are lots of them around. It is hard to actually hit someone unless you are right behind them.
Triple Green Shells – Three green shells that spin around you like the balloons in the battle mode. Also act as a protection device. Can be fired as normal.
Red Shell – Like a green shell but these little beauties will lock onto the driver in front of you and follow them to it hits, unless I hits a barrio or obstacle.
Triple Red Shell – like ‘Triple Green Shell’ but when fired the shells follow the driver in front.
Star - Makes you invincible for a short space of time around a minute. During this time you cannot be hurt and in fact you can ram into other drivers and make them spin off!!!!
Thunder Bolt – Using this power up shrinks all the other drivers and makes them go a lot smaller; when tiny they can also be run over and splattered!!
Ghost – If you use this it will steal the power up of the nearest driver to you, and so you become invincible for a very short amount of time. Handy trick when you are playing a 2-player or even more because you can have a quick look at their screen to see what powerup they have!!!
Spinning Shell – The BEST powerup on the game (especially if you towards the back of the racers!) This shell chases after the driver in the lead and on the way will take out any other driver that gets in its way!! Only one thing can stop it, dragging another spinning shell at the back of your car!!
~~~Graphics~~~ Like all Mario games the graphics are fun, colourful and bright and are meant to bring across the ‘none-serious’ point of the game. The racetracks are wacky and very fun to play on! They are very detailed and look very good and very smooth. The amazing graphical capabilities have been fully explored and used in this game. Twined with a high frame rate this game looks as good as it plays!!
~~~Gameplay~~~ This game is amazingly playable; it has 4 great modes of gameplay, 3 difficulty settings, 16 tracks and 8 characters. What more could we want. Apart from maybe a beer?!? This game will keep you playing for ages, and is extremely addictive. You will want to complete this game after minutes of playing it. It also has an excellent multi-player mode and with the added greatness that you can play against 3 friends, in either the battle mode or the Single race. Or you can play against another one of ya mates in a Grand Prix race! This game is amazing!
~~~Conclusion~~~ This is one hell of a game! People that actually do remember the fun, excitement and enjoyment the experienced through the original Super Mario Kart would also love this game! The graphics are top notch and is maybe the only game that fully explores and uses the full extent of the N64s full graphical capabilities. The tracks are fun and also great to play on. And there is an amazing amount of detail on this game and is truly addictive. It is a very easy game to learn how to play, but will take weeks, months, if not years of playing before you have truly mastered it and can show of your true abilities by hammering ya friends in Mario Kart 64 Death-Match!!
I completely recommend this game to anyone that is if you don’t own it yet!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Great all the time, especially with three of your mates! Cool tracks, graphics, characters and modes. The graphics, sound, lifespan and gamepley are all fantastic. What a laugh! Disadvantages: Very very very slight pop-up
natthehat 08.04.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Mario Kart 64 (N64)
Aug 4th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
