Ok.... Since Myles did one of these, I felt I probably should as well! Hmm
Track News, and How I did, AND I rank them? Hmm... Ok, I'll try my best.... Really
It's never the tracks I dislike... all of them are nice as far as I'm concerned, it's
the obsticles that get to me at times. You'd think after 2000 hours, I'd learn
to dodge these bastards.. Guess Not! Ya, the SC's do have a bit to do with it
I suppose... I think I'll do the other ideas here as well, like Fav Driver,
SC's and whatever else... Just keep in mind that these constantly change....
Quick TRACK Ranking Reference
01. Kalimari Desert= You Have To Be Good To Be #1!
02. Toad's Turnpike= The TRUE Test Of Skill!
03.Luigi Raceway= Legendary Track Of Champions (Daytona 500 Of Kart)!
04. Rainbow Road= Test Of Endurance... Only Boring IF YOU SUCK!
05. Moo Moo Farm= Hate The Moles, LUV EVERYTHING ELSE!
06. Banshee Boardwalk= Nice Fast Paced Track
07. Koopa Troopa Beach= Cruise The Beach... Wear Protection... Crabs!
08. Choco Mountain= Got A Strat? If you do, it will change!
09. Frappe Snowland= Snow Beasts and Fun Snowy Hills.
10. Sherbet Land= Jump The Tight Cracks... Talk About Frigid!
11. Bowser's Castle= Maybe Most Difficult, but not impossible!
12. Wario Stadium= Lots Of Unique Secrets, however fustrating!
13. DK Jungle Parkway= Coconuts are so gay... What Is The Point?
14. Yoshi Valley= Porkys are worse than coconuts (Hint Ghost Loss)!
15. Royal Raceway= My Least Consistent Track In History!
16. Mario Raceway= Only Cause It's Nintendo's Favorite!
These of course change daily, but isn't that the case with everyone?
Quick Driver Ranking Reference
1. Yoshi Is DA BOMB! Awesome! His head tilts to the slide
2. Peach is the leading lady! The only lady! Fastlap Supreme!
3. Toad is one of those morphadykes, but is Light so #3!
4. DK is 2nd heaviest and was my fav in SMK! Stupid Nintendo!
5. Luigi Is Ok At Times for A Good Gag.
6. Bowser Throws his weight around!
7. Mario is awkward... Nintendo's Icon? EXACTLY!
8. W-A-R-I-O--I-S--S-O--R-E-T-A-R-D-E-D! Sorry Mike, just my take!
Quick Shortcut Ranking Reference
01. Snowland SC= Must admit... Awesome! Just need 4P and Gold Shrooms!
02. Turnpike SC= Transport Glitch iffy, but Thrilling
03. Rainbow SC (preloop)= Always been kewler than kewl
04. Royal SC (W/Trans Glitch)= Kewl To Watch
05. DK SC (Fall Back)= If you saw my fastlap, you'd understand!
06. MR SC (TO RIGHT)= Trendy, but still great looking!
07. LR SC = Great, When I do land it!
08. WS SC= What is so hard about this? I should have had WR ages ago!
09. YV SC= 2/3 with 9"30, 9"36, Landed and no count is so lame!
10. CM SC= (NO ROLL HUMP JUMP)= Never 3/3 in my life! Why Me?
QUICK MODE GUIDE
01. Time Trials= Only Chess has given me more challenge!
02. VS= Sucks, but 4P makes it tollerable
03. GP= I call it AAI.. this is not AI! It cheats too bad!
04. Battle= If you've played SMK Battle, you'd still be playing it!
My Personal Kart 64 Review:
Graphics: 90% (Nice, but Polygons can be corrupted)
Sound: 88% (Characters and Sound Track are nice, but it gets old)
ThemeAndFun: 80% (Fun, but Items and AI Imbalanced)
PlayControl: 98% (Time Trials with Mini-Turbos)
Challenge: 92% (without time trials 72%)
Overall: 90.1% (Time Trials Rocks! The other 3 modes took it down!)
Quickly, I'll explain why I can dedicate my life to a game I just barely
gave an A! Well, it's cause time trials rocks! If they could just place
4 Cars in Time Trials, it would be a classic! Better, play online... Now
that would be a BLAST!!!! Ok, this is the ultimate Time Trial Challenge cause
of the Mini-Turbos, and how many video games can you play 2000+ hours and
still shatter your Personal Best's from time-to-time?
Mainly the problems with the game are Inbalanced Items... The Challenge
in SMK has been lost cause of the items ruining the race! Recharging Items
are even worse.... SMK made them not recharge for a reason... Ya Snooze, Ya
Lose! AI is even worse... In SMK, you can race great and get out of the AI
draft as I would call it... in this game, the AI draft is about 15 seconds
in length, so unless they hit a train in Kali, or you SC, they will be behind
you the whole way! In Battle, once again, the items recharge, and that promotes
standstills and slow games in 2P mode. Also, too many stars sucks, cause it is
impossible to hurt someone with a star, unless you get them to run into the lava
or something, so that's stupid to have 6 stars in a row! I've done that
before... Finally.... the mini-bomb karts in VS.... you should be able to
have the option to not have them there, cause they get very annoying
when it comes to great racing. Time Trials ROCKS!!! but better Beta
Testing, and getting rid of those stupid rocks in DK Jungle Parkway would
have made it about flawless! Someday I shall list the 20+ improvements I
propose to Kart! I forgot to mention.... If your really going 80 KPH, how
come it's really the scroll speed that governs this speed! Simple, the KPH
isn't correct! Another poorly planned item they put in there. This game was
clearly rushed!
Ok, the good points! GP's voices and courses are awesome! Having the speedometer
rocks too! Mainly, being able to use items with 2 different buttons, and switching
off the music at will is good too. Graphics other than the Polygon Glitches is
breathtaking for it's time! Play Control... I couldn't give a higher
complement to the team... Sliding feels so natural, and so does turning and
hopping. Sure it's not reality, but hey, it's KART with MARIO and the gang, so
this is their world, and these things.. MATTER here! Challege as far as AI sucks, and
if you beat them, you shouldn't brag, but the creation of the Mini-Turbo has
got to be the greatest thing they ever invented! This tech alone is the reason
Kart is what it is! Thank you Nintendo for being smart for once! Oh ya, the
Spiny Shell was my idea if you were wondering, I even wanted it blue too, but not
spiny, and I wanted it to be thrown in the air, and with a goldeneye type scope!
To some it up..... Mario Kart 64 is an awesome game, with a few key flaws, but
in some cases, the flaws made the game all the better.... Ask David Wonn!
Ok, as promised, I shall finally speak of the ways to make the NEXT KART better! As
the historian, I am very experienced in what to expect, and have some great ideas to clear
up some definite gaming problems in the Karts To Come! The thing is, I've held off on saying this
from the beginnings of Kart, cause I always feared that somehow my ideas would indirectly get in
someone elses hands that was directly involved with another gaming project, and I bet you can guess
who won't ever be mentioned... However, it's about crunch time, so if you are interested in seeing
this, follow the next link...
Preface About Your Reviewer:
I am Kevin Booth, from Oregon. I am what you would concider your biggest expert when it comes to Mario Kart 64. I have played this game since February 13th 1997, and have played time trials since February 19th 1997. I have achieved some of the best times listed on any site on the net. I have also made a website of my own around August 1997, and since then, it has attracted over 100 members to try to compete against the best players in the world as researched by myself. Basically, you can sum it up by calling myself the Kart Historian.
General Review:
01. Time Trials: Only Chess, in my opinion has given me more challenge!
02. GP: Not Bad, but The Items and the so called AI make it imbalanced!
03. VS: Same as above. Also 4P is great, however split screen is small!
04. Battle Mode: Super Mario Kart for the Super Ninendo Is Better!
Mario Kart 64 Released in the US in February 12th 1997. It was not an easy game to get ahold of for the first couple days, but eventually demand caught up with supply and everyone got a copy. At that time, extra controllers were a bigger problem. Anyhow, as you can tell from above, Mario Kart 64's strength is in Time Trials. As far as the other modes go, they were not made for your typical hardcore gamer. They were made for either a imprompto gathering or children. Perhaps even a party game, cause Kart itself is a very easy game to learn how to play.
Within hours, you can already fully control how to turn and generally, you can stay on the road by doing so. Even though SMK was way better overall cause all 4 modes of play in that game were more solid overall,
Kart 64 still did not lose alot of the qualitys SMK had. Still, it's the perfect game for people that want to just have fun and destroy eachother with a veriety of weapons. Nothing more thriiling then popping someone with a red shell just before they finish, and passing them for the win. That is the reason kart sold over a million copies.
As far as allowing 4 players for VS and Battle modes, it was a great addition. 4 Players definitly spices up the game. About my only complaints here is, well I never liked 4 small squares in split screen, but not much you can do about that, so nothing to cut the game down for. However, I think the bomb kart in the VS mode should be able to be removed on demand.
Now, to the nitty gritty. There is a big reason Kart 64 is so special. TIME TRIALS! I know you may think I am crazy, but this is the strength of this game. You ask why? Well it is simple... the Mini-Turbo! This is probably the greatest invention in a racing game that I have seen as far as I have seen. Sure it is not exactly realistic to flip the analog to get red smoke and release for a speed boost, but this new tactic alone, made Time Trials in Kart 64 one of the most challeging modes to exist.
If you ask the veterans of the game, you will find from them that they have put in 1000's of hours, with no exageration at all, and they will say they still have not got even close to the fastest time on a given track. There of course is another reason for Time Trials in the 64 Version being so great. They also included 3 mushrooms or shrooms as we like to call them. The strategies used with these 3 shrooms and Mini-Turbos in a given race is what makes time trials the challege it is.
If going around the whole course is too boring, there are shortcuts you can use. They don't seem to be preprogrammed for the most part, but they do spice up the game. You can jump a brick wall with a shroom on Luigi Raceway, you can use a shroom in a similar way in Kalimari Desert to get over the fence, but it is more difficult. In Toad's Turnpike, you can get stuck in a rail, and use a Transport Glitch to get to the lower level of the course. In Frappe Snowland you can use a lap skipper to get whole course times far lower then the fastest lap of even the best player. There is much more where that came from.
As far as time trials go, this game is THE game for it.
Graphics: 90% Nice, but Polygons can be corrupted)
Sound: 88%Characters and Sound Track are nice, but it gets old)
ThemeAndFun: 80% (Fun, but Items and AI Imbalanced)
PlayControl: 98% (Time Trials with Mini-Turbos)
Challenge: 92% (without time trials 72%)
Overall: 90.1% (Time Trials Rocks! The other 3 modes took it down!)
The Graphical Advancement they made from the Super Nintendo Version, and after the Beta Version (Mario Kart R) is just awesome. The course designs are very original, and the interaction is spectacular. Like never before, you are interacting with the course around you. The hills and ground work is great. There is a few things to look out for in the graphics category. As most N64 games, depending on your view, you will see inside programmed polygons. If you are resourceful enough, you can even fall through them on many occasions. While DK Jungle is one of the best looking courses in the game, apon further investigation, you can see just how fake it is when you get right up next to the forest. for some reason, a long billboard with painted jungle doesn't do much for me. I honestly think that is a pretty big copout as far as course design goes, but perhaps there is a reason for that decision.
Well as far as sound goes, The Charactor Noises and Track music is pretty good at first, but can get annoying later on. It does help the beginning to intermediate get better at the nessessary skills, and it is VERY helful in GP,VS and Battle when you do get hits with your items. I can't really complain about their choices for sound, cause they all are good choices. Just like anything else, if it annoys you, turn it down and put in your favorite CD while you play, no biggie.
This game is a blast in any mode. It's the perfect game for children, it is a great Party Game, and it is a great game for the beginnner. As far as lastability, Kart does do that fine. When it comes to how the items are inbalanced, and how the computer players react, this is really the big 2 things that ruin the game. Most people do look past that, but if your a hardcore gamer and can't, like I can't, just play time trials. It is worth it just for that.
This IS one of the best designed games ever as far as play control. I don't care what anyone says, When you get to be good at this game, you will find you can get that kart to do anything you want, and pretty easily. you can even do the difficult mini-turbo multiple times in a given corner with ease. Even in the other 3 modes, you will find it obvious that alot of thought was put into your hand-eye coordination. Shells can be shot with pinpoint accuracy, and even without a bullseye! now that is saying something. I cannot say enough about how well the dream team at nintendo did with play control for all modes... Way To Go!
Ok folks, as far as challege, if you are speaking of Passing the game with beating 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and Reverse Courses, this is not too overly hard, and can be done in a few hours by your average gamer. If this is all you plan on doing with the game, it is better just to rent it. However, the real challege in this game is better measured by how much your neighbor owns you in the game or hopefully how you own them! If that is what you enjoy, this is a MUST BUY! Also, if you are one of those hardcore gamers like myself that likes to have the best scores of anyone you know, this is also a MUST BUY! You will not find a more competitive field for time trials for any nintendo game then right here!
Conclusion? Well Kart 64 is a solid game overall, and is also appealing for those who just want to pick up a controller and play. A few unbalanced items exist in the game, but that can be forgiven when you find a buddy that loves the game too. If not, you can be like me and try to get the best times in the world. Face it, this game has so much to offer, and with millions of people that have played the game, there is no reason you shouldn't be either. Join Us!
Ways They Could Have Improved Kart
