| Mario Kart 64 | |
|---|---|
 North American box art | |
| Developer | Nintendo EAD |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Director | Hideki Konno |
| Producer | Shigeru Miyamoto |
| Programmer | Masato Kimura |
| Artist | Tadashi Sugiyama |
| Composer | Kenta Nagata |
| Series | Mario Kart |
| Platform | Nintendo 64 |
| Release | |
| Genre | Kart racing |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
Mario Kart 64[a] is a 1996kart racing game for theNintendo 64 (N64). Developed and published byNintendo, it is the second installment in theMario Kart series after 1992'sSuper Mario Kart. The game retains the gameplay of its predecessor: the player, controlling aMario franchise character, races opponents around tracks based on locales from theSuper Mario platform games. Tracks contain obstacles to slow the player down and item boxes which give the playerpower-ups to aid in their progress.Mario Kart 64 contains differentsingle-player and localmultiplayer game modes, including aGrand Prix racing mode and alast man standing battle mode.
Mario Kart 64 was first revealed in 1995 alongside the N64. The development team focused on best utilising the console's technology for smooth gameplay, rather than innovating significantly on its predecessor, in order to appeal to a wide audience. Developers were bounded by the N64'sprocessing power and made use ofrendering techniques to save onmemory, and used car physics simulations to aid the game's kart design.Mario Kart 64 was released in late 1996 in Japan and in 1997 worldwide, months after the launch of the N64.
Mario Kart 64 was received positively by critics. The track designs, multiplayer, and presentation were lauded, while criticism was directed towards its technical issues and difficulty. The game sold 9.87 million copies worldwide, making it the second-bestselling N64 game.Mario Kart 64 was nominated for awards following its release, and retrospectively has been considered one of thegreatest video games of all time. The game has a notablespeedrunning presence online.Mario Kart 64 was rereleased digitally for theVirtual Console line on theWii in 2007 and theWii U in 2016, and for theNintendo Classics service in 2021.
Mario Kart 64 is akart racing video game featuring characters and elements from theMario franchise largely similar in gameplay to its predecessorSuper Mario Kart (1992). The player controls one of eightMario franchise characters and races opponents inkarts aroundtracks based on locales from theSuper Mario platform games.[1] The game's 16 courses are populated with obstacles to slow the player down, shortcuts letting the player skip sections,[2] and boxes labeled withquestion marks which give the player a random item based on elements from theSuper Mario series.[3][4][5] Items can be either power-ups, such as giving the player a speed boost, or offensive, such as causing an opponent tospin out.[1][4] The player can alsodrift around corners or enter an opponent'sslipstream to receive a speed boost.[2][6] Playable characters are divided into threeweight classes which determine characteristics such as speed, acceleration, and handling.[6][7][8]Princess Peach,Toad, andYoshi are lightweights;Luigi andMario are middleweights; andBowser,Donkey Kong, andWario are heavyweights.[7][9] There are threedifficulty levels based on engine classes—50cc, 100cc, or 150cc—with the harder difficulties' more powerful engine classes providing increased maximum speeds and control difficulty.[1][10]
There are twosingle-playergame mode options inMario Kart 64:Grand Prix (GP) andTime Trials. Time Trials is a solely single-player mode, and GP can be played in single-player or with two players.[3][7] In GP, the game's main mode, the player races sevencomputer opponents (or six if playing in two-player mode) in one of four "cups" consisting of four tracks, with the objective of achieving the highest points across all four three-lap races.[4][11] The player must race on every track in the cup, and points are given out at the end of each race based on position—nine for first place, six for second, three for third, and one for fourth.[6] The player must come in at least fourth place in each race to continue racing for a trophy.[4] Achieving the maximum number of points (i.e., winning all four races) on all cups in the 150cc difficulty unlocks a "mirror" mode in which all tracks are flipped left-to-right.[6][10] In Time Trials, the player races on any of the 16 tracks with the aim of achieving the lowest time across three laps.[6] There are no opponents or items on the track; the player is given three speed boosts to use across the whole race.[7] The player can race against another player's time by sharing "ghost" data using theController Pak, amemory card that plugs into the back of theNintendo 64 (N64)controller.[3]
Three local multiplayer modes are present inMario Kart 64: GP, Versus (VS), and Battle.[3] The game utilises asplit screen to display each player's gameplay.[7][10] GP is unchanged from its single-player version, but allows for two players.[1] In VS mode, two to four players race around any track without computer opponents.[6][7] Battle mode sees two to four players compete in one of fourarenas rather than tracks.[3] The player begins with three balloons over their character, with the objective of popping other players' balloons using items.[10] Players are knocked out upon losing all their balloons—though can control a bomb with wheels to attack remaining players afterwards—and the winner is whoever remains thelast man standing.[1][6]
The game was provisionally titledSuper Mario Kart R during development—the "R" being short for "rendered".[12][13]Mario Kart 64 was developed concurrently withSuper Mario 64 (1996) andThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) byNintendo'sEntertainment Analysis & Development division.[14] The game was revealed alongside the N64 console itself in November 1995 at theShoshinkai trade show via avideotape given out to journalists.[12] The game was reportedly considered "95% complete" at the time of the show.[15]Mario Kart 64 was intended to be released alongside the N64 itself in mid-1996 but was delayed after development resources were directed towardsSuper Mario 64, itself a launch title for the system.[15][16]
Developers did not focus on innovating significantly on the gameplay of its predecessorSuper Mario Kart, intending for the game to appeal to a wide audience. Nintendo instead focused on the game's use of technology and internal processes through using the full extent of the N64's processing capabilities, especially in regards to the performance of multiplayer gameplay.[17]Hideki Konno, the director ofMario Kart 64, stated that developers wanted a racing environment in the game where all players were "in it until the end". Konno claimed that they were not able to achieve this in part due to theprocessing capabilities of the N64 not allowing eight players on the screen for a prolonged period of time.[18] Developers created a simulation of remote-controlled vehicles and did research on the physics of cars to aid in designing the game's kart mechanics. Ultimately, it was decided the gameplay derived from this research was too "realistic" and unenjoyable for game testers, and developers settled on a more straightforward approach to controls in the final release.[17] Game designers wanted freedom in regards to where the player can race on tracks. This caused programmers to struggle withcollision detection, trying to find a balance between not overloading the processor and not wanting to cut corners such as by letting players overlap each other.[17]
The game uses a rendering technique known asbillboarding to represent characters. Characters are represented by a two-dimensional image kept perpendicular to thecamera rather than being rendered in3D. This technique allowed developers to save onmemory—the game's Battle mode and ability to render eight players on the track at once were made possible by this.[16] ProducerShigeru Miyamoto credited the game's technical performance to the N64's use ofROM cartridges over disc-basedCD-ROMs for game media, due to the way they handlepre-loading data to the game system.[17] During development, ahard disk failure resulted in designers remaking "about 80%" of the game's character models.[17] An earlyalpha version of the game appeared in theNintendo Gigaleak, a 2020data leak of internal material at Nintendo. The alpha used assets fromSuper Mario Kart as placeholders.[19] A pre-release version of the game originally featuredKamek, a villain in theYoshi series, before being replaced by Donkey Kong.[20] Other features cut during development include a racing game mode without items—scrapped due to disinterest fromgame testers—and two tracks. The cut tracks were based on a parking garage and a large city, respectively.[17]
Mario Kart 64 was released in Japan on December 14, 1996, in the United States on February 10, 1997, and in Europe on June 24—the American release of the game was moved forward a week from the initially announced date.[21][22] It was the second entry in theMario Kart series afterSuper Mario Kart.[23]Nintendo of America chairmanHoward Lincoln stated that the difference in time between the Japanese and American releases of the game was due to the company's desire to release the game during theholiday season in Japan, considering a lack of N64 releases in the region.[24] Marketing for the game included a US$5 million advertising campaign.[25] Coinciding with the game's release in Japan, Nintendo released a special edition ofMario Kart 64 which came with a specially-styled black-and-greyN64 controller.[26] It was released in China on December 25, 2003 on theiQue Player through the Chineselocalization companyiQue.[27]Mario Kart 64 was digitally rereleased on theWii and theWii U through theVirtual Console, releasing on the Wii worldwide across January 2007. On the Wii U, the game released on January 21, 2016 in Europe and on December 29 in the United States.[28]Mario Kart 64 was also rereleased as part of the digitalNintendo Classics service on October 25, 2021.[29]
TheMario Kart 64 soundtrack, composed solely by Kenta Nagata, was released onCD several times across 1997 in Japan and the United States. The American releases were published by Nintendo on March 1, 1997 and April 1 respectively, and the Japanese release was published byPony Canyon on September 19. The releases include the game's songs as well as different sound effects and remixes of songs from the game, and each includes a different track listing.[30][31][32] Aremix album containingclub remixes of the game's soundtrack,Mario Kart 64 on Club Circuit, was published byTokuma Japan Communications [ja] on December 26, 1997.[33] The soundtrack was also released as an album on theNintendo Musicstreaming service on July 15, 2025.[34]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 83/100[35][b] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| AllGame | 4/5[3] |
| Computer and Video Games | 4/5[36] |
| Edge | 8/10[37] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 9.5/10, 9.5/10, 9/10, 9/10[38] |
| EP Daily | 8/10[39] |
| Famitsu | 9/10, 8/10, 9/10, 8/10[40] |
| Game Informer | 9.25/10[10] |
| GameFan | 92/100[c] |
| GameRevolution | B−[4] |
| GameSpot | 6.4/10[42] |
| Hyper | 95%[43] |
| IGN | N64: 8.1/10[1] Wii: 7.9/10[44] |
| Jeuxvideo.com | 17/20[45] |
| N64 Magazine | 91%[6][46] |
| Next Generation | 3/5[47] |
| Nintendo Life | Wii: 9/10[28] |
| Official Nintendo Magazine | 90%[7] |
| Cubed3 | 9/10[48] |
| Officiel Nintendo Magazine | 98%[49] |
Mario Kart 64 received "generally favorable" reviews according to thereview aggregator websiteMetacritic.[35] The game was commercially successful, selling 9.87 million copies worldwide—the second-bestselling game on the N64.[50] It was the highest selling game in the United States over the first three months of 1997, and reached over one million sales within two months of its release in the region.[51][44] By 1999,Mario Kart 64 had sold 6.23 million copies in the United States and 2.06 million units in Japan, the highest and third-highest selling N64 game in those regions respectively.[52]
Critics debated the game's presentation and visuals. Supporters felt the game adequately used the power of the N64,[38][53] made the game stand out from others in the racing genre and in the Mario series,[42] and was an improvement over its16-bit predecessor.[28][4] The FrenchOfficiel Nintendo Magazine enjoyed the game's colourful and fluid visuals, adding that its overall presentation likened a "magical" experience.[49] Detractors of the graphics felt they lacked detail,[36][1] were not a sufficient improvement over the previous 16-bit entry,[3][47] and failed to fully benefit from the N64's power.[45] The use of 2D sprites was a common critique,[45] withNext Generation arguing that it made the game look outdated.[47]
Mario Kart 64's track design and gameplay polarised critics. The game was panned for being un-innovative,[1] too easy,[45] and simple and monotonous.[37][42]Computer and Video Games andN64 Magazine felt that success was too dependent on getting the right power-ups.[6]Cubed3 dislikedMario Kart 64's wide, motorway-like track design, saying that it did not provide an "adrenaline filled" experience which the player might have hoped for.[48] Critics also found fault in the game's use ofrubberband difficulty balancing, recognizing that it gave the enemyartificial intelligence (AI) an unfair advantage.[48][1][6] Technical issues such as poorcollision detection andlag in the four-player "Battle Mode" were also noted.[39][47][6]
The gameplay did have supporters, who noted its large amount of courses,[47][39][53] found its track designs more detailed and impressive thanSuper Mario Kart,[1][28] and thought it had a lot of replay value.[45][53]Hyper andN64 Magazine highlighted the flexible turning control with the multiple-angledanalog stick, calling it "perfect" and true to real-life karts.[43][6]N64 Magazine enjoyed the amount of focus and fast reflexes demanded from the player.[6]Hyper reported having many unexpected moments while playing the game due to its "ingeniously fiendish AI" and the boxes containing different power-ups each time they're collected.[43] Reviewers, even those lukewarm towards the graphics, positively noted touches such as the 180-degree turns in Bowser's Castle, the train tracks on Kalimari Desert, the trucks in Toad's Turnpike, the cows in Moo Moo Farm, Peach's castle on Royal Raceway, and the sliding penguins in Sherbet Land as highlights, as well as smoke puffs coming out of the kart.[43][6]
Critics found the multiplayer mode to be better than the single player,[37][10][54] withIGN calling it "multi-player mayhem at its best".[1]Game Informer described the game as "one of the best multiplayer games ever made", citing the game's vehicle dynamics and items as aiding the multiplayer experience.[10] Some reviewers criticized the four-player split screen mode for making gameplay difficult to see due to the small size of quadrants,[39][41] andGameFan noted a poorframe rate performance playing the multiplayer modes compared to single-player.[41]
In 1998,Mario Kart 64 was nominated forConsole Racing Game of the Year by theAcademy of Interactive Arts and Sciences during theinaugural Interactive Achievement Awards.[55]Electronic Gaming Monthly named it a runner-up for "Multiplayer Game of the Year" (behindSaturn Bomberman) at their 1997 Editors' Choice Awards.[56]
Mario Kart 64 placed 17th inOfficial Nintendo Magazine's 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time[57] and 49th inElectronic Gaming Monthly's 1997 list of the 100 best console games of all time.[58] It has been placed by several reviewers on "greatest video games of all time" lists, includingEntertainment Weekly,[59]Polygon,[60]Hyper,[61] andGameswelt.[62] The game has also attracted a significantspeedrunning scene of players competing to set time records on the game's 16 tracks through separate Grand Prix, three-lap, single-lap, or all-cups time rankings.[63] Times are recorded on the unofficialMario Kart 64 Players' Page website, which tracks records starting from 1997.[64]
Critics have been mixed in regards to the game's ranking on retrospective lists of the bestMario Kart games.[65][66][67][68][69] Some critics praised it for defining the direction of the series, noting its utilisation of 3D graphics and expansion of local multiplayer content.[66][67]Kotaku andGame Informer, however, believedMario Kart 64 to fall short compared to other games in the series, with the former panning "empty" tracks and a less palatable art style.[65][69] It has also been retrospectively described by some reviewers as one of the best N64 games, withIGN declaring the game's tracks to be "some of the most memorable" in the kart racing genre.[70] Theblue shell item, which directly targets the player in first place, was first introduced inMario Kart 64.GameSpot's Steve Watts described the item as "synonymous withMario Kart" and an icon of video game history, whileThe Guardian placed it on its list of the "11 greatest video game objects".[71][72]
In 2025,Mario Kart 64 was successfullydecompiled, allowing independent developers toport the game to other systems.[73] An unofficialPC port of the game namedSpaghettiKart, developed by the team behind theShip of Harkinian port ofThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, was released in June 2025.[74] The port includes features such asultrawide display support, adjustable game framerates, and the ability to add custom tracks.[75] Another unofficial port is being created for theDreamcast by the same developer who portedDoom 64 (1997) andWipeout (1995) to the console.[76][77]
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| Other games | |
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