Mario Kart 64

 is a 1996 kart racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the successor to "Super Mario Kart" for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the second game in the "Mario Kart" series. It was released in Japan in December 1996, in North America in February 1997 and in the U.K. in June 1997. It was later released as a Virtual Console game for the Wii and Wii U in 2007 and 2016, respectively.
Changes from the original include the move to polygon-based true 3D computer graphics for track design, and the inclusion of four-player support. Players take control of characters from the "Mario" franchise, who race around a variety of tracks with items that can either harm opponents or aid the user. The move to three-dimensional graphics allowed for track features not possible with the original game's Mode 7 graphics, such as changes in elevation, bridges, walls, and pits. However, the characters and items remain 2D pre-rendered sprites. The game was commercially successful and was generally praised for the fun and high replay value of its multiplayer modes, though some critics regarded it as a disappointment compared to "Super Mario Kart".
Gameplay.
"Mario Kart 64" is a kart racing game in which the player controls one of eight selectable "Mario" characters in several race tracks that vary in shape and theme. During a race, the players can obtain random items from special boxes placed in different areas of the track that are used to impede the opposition and gain the advantage. For example, shells and bananas allow the player to attack opponents and slow them down, and Mushrooms grant the player a temporary boost in speed and jumping ability. In a change from the previous installment, players can carry more than one item at a time. "Mario Kart 64" has 16 race courses and 4 battle courses. It is the first game in the "Mario Kart" series that supports slipstreaming.
Game modes.
There are four different game modes available in "Mario Kart 64": Grand Prix, Time Trial, Versus, and Battle. Grand Prix mode supports both single-player and competitive multiplayer gameplay, while other modes only support one or the other.
Playable characters.
"Mario Kart 64" features eight playable characters. Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Yoshi, and Bowser appeared in "Super Mario Kart" and the remaining two characters, Wario and Donkey Kong, are new to the series replacing Koopa Troopa and Donkey Kong Jr. The characters are divided into three weight classes: lightweights, whose karts have highest acceleration; heavyweight, whose karts have low acceleration and high top speed plus are able to knock around other players; and middleweights, who have normal acceleration and normal top speed. The game was originally to feature the character Kamek, a villainous character from Yoshi's Island, before being replaced by Donkey Kong.
Development.
Production began in 1995 with the title "Super Mario Kart R", where the "R" means "rendered". The game was developed concurrently with "Super Mario 64" and "", intended to be a launch game for the Nintendo 64, but more resources were given to the other two. "Mario" series creator Shigeru Miyamoto acted as producer and often consulted with game director Hideki Konno. Some early footage of the game was showcased briefly at the Shoshinkai Software Exhibition in Japan on November 24, 1995. Miyamoto stated that the game was 95% complete, but Nintendo chose not to display a playable version due to the difficult logistics of demonstrating the multiplayer features. The prototype featured the Feather item from "Super Mario Kart" and a Magikoopa as one of the eight playable characters, who was replaced with Donkey Kong in the final game.
The player's driving controls were designed to be similar to operating a radio-controlled car. "Mario Kart 64" features tracks that are fully rendered in 3D, and billboarding to display the characters and items through the use of Advanced Character Modeling (ACM), the MIPS CPU, and Silicon Graphics workstations. Konno stated that, though rendering the characters as 3D models was not impossible, the display of eight simultaneous 3D characters would have exceeded the processing power of the console. Instead, the characters are composed of pre-rendered sprites that show the characters from various angles to simulate a 3D appearance, similar to "Super Mario Kart", "Killer Instinct", and "Cruis'n USA". Rare, developer of the "Donkey Kong Country" games, provided Donkey Kong's character model. Halfway into the game's production, the developers suffered a hard disk crash, causing the original character models to become lost. They were forced to remake "about 80%" of the character models, and updated the character select screen have them animated instead of still, which was not in the original plans.
The technique of rubberband AI prevents all the racers from easily separating, and the Spiny Shell item, which targets and attacks the player in first place, was added in order to keep each race competitive and balanced. The item was included in all subsequent "Mario Kart" games.
Soundtrack.
The soundtrack for "Mario Kart 64" was composed by Kenta Nagata, which is his first work on a Nintendo game. The soundtrack was released several times in different formats including compact disc and audio cassette. Four different versions of the album were released: "Race Tracks" and "Greatest Hits Soundtrack" in North America; "Original Soundtrack" and "Club Circuit" were released in Japan. It was later released in a three disc collection, along with the soundtracks of "Star Fox 64" and "Super Mario 64".
Release.
In addition to the regular release in Japan, Nintendo released a "limited edition" which was the regular cartridge bundled with a black-and-grey Nintendo 64 controller. The Japanese release in December 1996 was followed by a U.S. release in February 1997. Nintendo of America president Howard Lincoln stated that in addition to the time needed for the localization, "Mario Kart 64" was more critical to the Japanese market, as there were fewer Nintendo 64 games available in that market at the time. It was released in the U.K. on June 24, 1997.
"Mario Kart 64" was released as a downloadable Virtual Console game on the Wii in January 2007 and on the Wii U in December 2016.
Reception and legacy.
"Mario Kart 64" received a generally favourable response from reviewers. The game's presentation, track design, and multiplayer modes received broad praise, while criticism was aimed at the single player campaign and difficulty for being lacking; some reviewers also felt "Mario Kart 64" failed to meaningfully evolve its gameplay over the preceding "Super Mario Kart". Peer Schneider of "IGN" called it "multi-player mayhem at its best", noting that the design was focused on the multiplayer modes, in some cases to the detriment of the single-player mode. He acknowledged that the basic formula did not innovate over the original "Super Mario Kart", but found the track designs much more elaborate and visually impressive. Trent Ward of "GameSpot" insisted that though the graphics and sound of the game are impressive, the gameplay is too easy and lacks depth. A reviewer for "Next Generation" instead counted the graphics as the chief fault, arguing that there is no functional difference between the polygon-based tracks and the Mode 7 bitmaps of the original, and that this, combined with the use of sprite-based karts and drivers, makes "Mario Kart 64" "less a sequel than the same game with new courses". He also criticised the rubberband AI and the slowdown when there are more than two players, though he praised the large selection of courses. In contrast, "GamePro" regarded the game as an essential purchase, citing the easy accessibility, excellent use of analog control, vibrant 3D graphics, abundance of tracks, variety of challenges, signature sounds for each driver, and catchy music. They gave it a perfect score in all four categories (control, funfactor, graphics, and sound). The four reviewers of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" gave it their "Game of the Month" award, with all four agreeing that though the game has some problems, particularly the smaller number of secrets as compared to the original, these are overridden by the sheer fun and replayability of the multiplayer racing.
In "GameSpot"s Virtual Console re-release review, the reviewer criticized its lack of ghost-saving, its sound, and its graphicssaying the graphics had "aged rather poorly". The game placed 17th in "Official Nintendo Magazine"s 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time and 49th in "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s 1997 list of the 100 best console games of all time.
During the first three months of 1997, "Mario Kart 64" was the best-selling console game in the United States, with sales of 849,000 units for the period. By 2007, approximately 5.5 million copies of "Mario Kart 64" had been sold in the United States and 2.24 million in Japan. "Game Informer" reported in June 2014 sales of 9.87 million copies worldwide, making it the second-best-selling game on Nintendo 64.