It’s time to check out a very retro Nintendo title but one that certainly made a whole lot of waves back in the day. Who could have guessed that this would end up being one of the most iconic video game series of all time right? It’s definitely a game that has aged really well. It may be a little more basic than some of the other Mario Karts as this is a series which has continued to get better and better but there’s no denying that it is still very solid in every area.

There are 4 tournaments to conquer in this game and each one has 4 levels to it. Not only do the stages get tougher as you go through the game but this also makes it feel as if the A.I. scales up with them since they master the turns while you will have some trouble with them. I was breezing through the first two tournaments but saw a big jump in the third tournament. Finally in the last one I actually took home the bronze instead of the gold which was real interesting. It’s kind of fun to be playing a Mario Kart game that’s really tricky like this.

In part this is due to some rubber banding though. I can’t prove it but it did seem like the computer’s would get way faster when I was ahead of them. Most of it is just me not mastering the turns though. It could be really hard to get used to the drifting here after playing Double Dash for so long. The more I play, the more I would get the timing down though, it’s really just about that repetition. I had fun switching up the characters a lot too although I couldn’t tell if they played differently or not here. I’d need to pay more attention to that.

The graphics are definitely pretty solid here. Interestingly it’s much less blocky than Mario Tennis so you can already see Mario transitioning into his more modern design here. Same with the rest of the characters so either this came out after Mario Tennis or it had a bigger budget. I’m not really sure which one is the case here but regardless the colors are on point and all of the characters look really good so big props all around.

The soundtrack is also timeless and you should recognize quite a few of the tunes since they tend to return in future titles. Mario certainly does a great job with variety and the soundtrack really helps to make the stages stand out even more. The composer did a superb job all the way through. So on every technical element the game succeeds and of course the gameplay is really smooth too. On 150CC I’d even say you move at a pretty impressive speed that is comparable to the newer games. It’s really just not able to compete with the sequels in terms of overall content which makes a lot of sense considering how long ago this one came out.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the game beyond this since there isn’t a story mode so the gameplay is really the full package. There is endless replay value due to the multiplayer and this is high quality racing. You would likely not be able to find a better racing game on the N64 and the fundamentals are good enough where you can seamlessly play this in 2023. That’s how you know that Nintendo really spared no expense for this one.

At the end of the day you want to play a game that is fun and this one is really fun all the way around. The levels are short enough where they all really fly by and so that helps make it easier to replay the levels over and over again as needed. Even if you’re playing the game by yourself you’ll have a lot of fun although I’d say it’s barely even debatable that you will have the superior experience when playing with friends. That is the point of pretty much any sports game after all right?

Overall, Mario Kart 64 is definitely a pretty fun game. It’s certainly a racer that you won’t be forgetting any time soon. The amount of content may not be a ton next to the newer titles but it still has a lot to do. Of course there’s also the obvious perk of the multiplayer which is mainly why people play the series anyway. You can have a blast just racing over and over as you enjoy the fun competitive nature of the game. One wrong crash can take you from first to last in a heartbeat. If you happen to fall into a very unlucky area you may find that it takes almost 30 seconds to get back to the track which is pretty much fatal in this kind of game. So learn the stages well and you will really be all set for action here!

Overall 7/10