Mario Kart 64

Template:Infobox Mario Kart 64 is the second installment of the Mario Kart series. It is for the Nintendo 64, and is also available on the Wii's Virtual Console. It is the series' first step into three-dimensional graphics.

It has set many trends in the Mario Kart series, and courses such as Sherbet Land and Wario Stadium which were used again in future Mario Kart installments.

Gameplay

As opposed to Super Mario Kart, a race now has three laps, not five, due to the fact the raceways are a lot longer than in Super Mario Kart. To get the items, the character had to get an Item Box. When the character gets the Item Box, the item-roulette will sound medium, and when the item-roulette stopped, they'll hear 4 "dings".

Player's steer with the Nintendo 64 Controller's control stick, and hold down A to accelerate. The B button is used for the brake, while to reverse the player must use this button while pointing the joystick downward. With the Z trigger items are used. When you press the R trigger you would jump and then turn so that you could turn if there is a tight corner like in open courses where there are hardly any boundaries to stop you go into other land like snow and sand. Don't turn too much or turn side to side otherwise you will slide and spin around making you stop for a few seconds.

File:MK64 DK Jungle Park.JPG

Toad racing in D.K.'s Jungle Parkway.

The cups can be raced on the difficulty settings of 50, 100, or 150 cc or the unlockable Extra (also known as Mirror) mode. There is also a Time Trial Mode and a Battle Mode available. In Battle Mode, each player starts with three balloons, and loses a balloon when hit by any item. It is also possible to lose a balloon if a heavier player such as Bowser hits a lighter player like Toad or Yoshi with great speed (more details here). When a player has lost all of his/her balloons, he or she loses, while the other player simply "wins" that round.

The rival system in this game is the more commonly used 2 Rival system, where 2 randomly selected rivals will fight with the player, and will use the "Handicap" feature to get themselves on level with the player. They will always stay the same no matter what the championship standings are.

Characters

Playable

• Mario
• Luigi
• Peach
• Toad
• Yoshi
• Donkey Kong
• Wario
• Bowser
• Mini Bomb Kart (Multi-Player only)

Enemies

• Boo
• Monty Mole
• Crab
• Snowman
• Piranha Plant
• Penguin
• Thwomp
• Spiny
• Bat
• Chain Chomp
• Mini Bomb Kart

Non-Playable

• Lakitu
• Cow
• Cheep-Cheep

Drivers

Lightweights

The Lightweight drivers have the highest Top Speed and the best acceleration, but tend to slide out the most of the drivers. If a Heavyweight Player rams into a Lightweight Player, the Lightweight player will slip out, giving Heavyweights a large advantage over them in Battle Mode. Lightweights, with their faster speed and acceleration, have the advantage in Grand Prix mode, however.

File:Mk64peachmodel.png	Peach first appeared in Super Mario Bros. as that game's damsel in distress, and as the damsel in distress in every game since. She first burnt rubber in Super Mario Kart.
File:Mk64toadmodel.png	Toad is the helper of Princess Peach. During his debut in Super Mario Bros., helped Mario to proceed on his adventure to save the Princess, telling him his famous quote: "Thank you Mario, but the princess is in another castle."
File:Mk64yoshimodel.png	Yoshi made his first appearance in Super Mario World as Mario's friend, and just like Peach and Toad, made his racing premier in Super Mario Kart.

Middleweights

Middleweight drivers both are about even with everything, making them suitable for beginners. They feature moderate Acceleration and Top Speed.

File:Mk64mariomodel.png	Mario has been the hero of every game in the series since his first appearance in Donkey Kong. Now, he will demostrate that he can be the hero of the road in the Mario Kart series.
File:Mk64luigimodel.png	Luigi is Mario's younger brother, debuting as a palette swap in the game Mario Bros.. Just as his brother, Luigi got the wheel for first time in Super Mario Kart.

Heavyweights

The Heavyweights are rather clunky, and have the lowest speed of all the racers in the game. Heavyweights also show low steering and Acceleration. However, with the ability to make lightweight drivers spin out by ramming into them, they are considered to be the best drivers in Battle Mode.

File:Mk64wariomodel.png	Wario first appeared in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins as that game's main antagonist. Wario joins to this racing game for first time.
File:Mk64dkmodel.png	Donkey Kong debuted in the game named after him, despite being a hero nowadays. This is his first speedway adventure, though Donkey Kong Jr. appeared in Super Mario Kart.
File:Mk64bowsermodel.png	Bowser debuted in Super Mario Bros. as the game's main villain, as well as in the series itself. He first raced in Super Mario Kart.

Courses

Mushroom Cup		Flower Cup
File:LuigiRaceway.png Luigi Raceway	717 m	File:ToadsTurnpike.png Toad's Turnpike	1036 m
File:MooMooFarm.png Moo Moo Farm	527 m	File:FrappeSnowland.png Frappe Snowland	734 m
File:KoopaTroopaBeach.png Koopa Troopa Beach	691 m	File:ChocoMountain.png Choco Mountain	678 m
File:KalimariDesert.png Kalimari Desert	753 m	File:MarioRaceway.png Mario Raceway	567 m
Star Cup		Special Cup
File:WarioStadium.png Wario Stadium	1591 m	File:DK'sJungleParkway.png D.K.'s Jungle Parkway	893 m
File:SherbetLand.png Sherbet Land	756 m	File:YoshiValley.png Yoshi Valley	772 m
File:RoyalRaceway.png Royal Raceway	1025 m	File:BansheeBoardwalk.png Banshee Boardwalk	747 m
File:Bowser'sCastle.png Bowser's Castle	777 m	File:RainbowRoadMK64.png Rainbow Road	2000 m

Battle Courses

File:BigDonut.png Big Donut	File:BlockFort.png Block Fort
File:DoubleDecker.png Double Deck	File:SkyScraper.png Skyscraper

Items

• Banana
• Banana Bunch
• Green Shell
• Triple Green Shells
• Red Shell
• Triple Red Shells
• Blue Shell
• Fake Item Box
• Mushroom
• Triple Mushrooms
• Super Mushroom
• Star
• Boo
• Thunderbolt

Glitches

Go Through the Wall

Go to the Block Fort on Battle Mode with 2 players (Both should be the same weight). Make one player do nothing at all. Make the other player get a turbo boost between the 2nd and 3rd lights then just keep holding down the A Button. While the 1st player is bouncing between the wall and the 2nd player, let go of A. The 1st Player should go right through the wall.

Gallery

Artwork

• Red Kart.gif

  Mario

• Mario Slide.PNG

  Mario

• Mk64luigi.gif

  Luigi

• Mk64peach.gif

  Peach

• 

  Peach

• 

  Toad

• YoshiKart64.gif

  Yoshi

• Mk64dk.gif

  Donkey Kong

• Dkkart64.jpg

  Donkey Kong
• Mk64bowser.gif

  Bowser

• 

  Wario

• Mk64kart.gif

  Mario's Kart
• Lakitukart64.gif

  Lakitu
• 

  Toad and Mario Battle
• 

  Kalimari Desert
• Sherbetland64.jpeg

  Sherbet Land
• 

  D.K.'s Jungle Parkway

• Mk64racers.jpg

  The racers

Boxarts

• JapaneseMK64.jpg

  Japanese boxart
• 

  Japanese boxart (including a controller)

• 

  European boxart
• 

  European boxart (Player's Choice version)

• StatesMK64pchoice.jpg

  U.S. boxart (Player's Choice version)

Beta Elements

Main article: Mario Kart 64/Beta elements

Staff

Main article: Mario Kart 64 Staff

Quotes

Main article: List of Quotes in the Mario Kart Series § Mario Kart 64.

Trivia

• The lightning effect was changed in the release on the Virtual Console to a less intense flash, most likely to prevent seizures.
• In the American and European versions of Mario Kart 64, "Circuits" were renamed "Raceways". The exception is Royal Raceway, which was known as Peach Circuit in Japan (and not Royal Circuit).
• In the Japanese version, Luigi, Toad, Peach and Wario have different voice overs then their American counterparts, while other characters do not. Some of their phrases would be reused in Mario Party. Also, the voice-over during the menu and congratulating to the player is heard from Wave Race 64
• If a banana item is hit while the player is driving straight, the character will skid for a while before spinning out. If the player presses the B button, a music note will appear over the character's head and he/she will not spin out but continue going straight, nullifying the effect of the item (this effect also is included in the Mario Kart: Super Circuit for last time).
• The original release of the N64 used 123 pages of the Controller Pak to record Ghost Data, this occupied all the space in the Controller Pak, making needed buying another for another games.
• Because of the available controllers without a Controller Pak Slot, it is impossible to record Ghost Data on the VC version of the game.
• If the Results Screen music (after a Time Trial or Mario GP race) is left playing after approximately 50 minutes, a new loop of the music plays through twice, with the same chords as the normal loop.
• The game was placed 4th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997.
• As an Easter Egg, on rare occasions during multiplayer mode, an entire race my be in fast motion.
• This is the only Mario Kart game in which Fake Item Boxes can block incoming objects. Additionally, players couldn't throw that item forward, which was possible in the later Mario Kart titles.

References to Previous Installments

• Super Mario 64- In the track Royal Raceway there is a part where the racer can turn off the road and arrive at Princess Peach's Castle exactly as it appeared in this game.
• Super Mario Kart- Koopa Troopa was a playable racer in this game, but never appeared in Mario Kart 64. It is explained in the instruction book that his race kart was stolen by Wario (This also explains how Wario is now playable). Also, this game is the sequel to Super Mario Kart.
• Donkey Kong Country- This is the first appearance of the Donkey Kong Country version of Donkey Kong in the main Mario series. This has caused some confusion as he fought Mario as a child. Now he has grown to an adult and Mario remains the same age.

References in Later Installments

• Super Smash Bros. Melee- Mario's Kart from this game is an unlockable trophy. However, the trophy is listed as debuting in Super Mario Kart.
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit- The next installment of the Mario Kart series has the same playable characters as in Mario Kart 64. Their animations and sprites are also the same, just in lower quality.
• Mario Kart: Double Dash!!- On the track Rainbow Road, a portion of the background music comes from the Rainbow Road of Mario Kart 64.
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl- Bowser's artwork from this game is also a Sticker in Brawl. Also, Brawl uses the Mario Kart: Double Dash Rainbow Road music as a song on the Mario Circuit stage, which has a portion of the Mario Kart 64 Rainbow Road music in it.

References

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