Product description
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Three... Two... One... GO! The signal light changes and you drop
the pedal to the metal. Take on up to three friends in the
split-screen VS games, or race solo in the Mario GP. Tell your
friends to bring it on in the highly competitive Battle mode.
Advanced features allow you to race with your "Ghost". The
driving data from your best run appears as a transparent
character on the screen. No longer must you simply race against
the clock - you can actually race against yourself!
.com
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Mario Kart 64, one of the first games released for the Nintendo
64 platform, is an updated translation of the very popular Super
Mario Kart for the Super NES (SNES). And while the game clearly
takes full advantage of the graphics power and speed of the N64,
a few components that made the original so compelling have been
left out of this release.
Still, Nintendo's expertise at sucking players into the game
world is strongly evident, and Mario Kart 64 offers enough
challenges to keep players (especially casual gamers)
entertained. Placing a familiar Nintendo personality behind the
wheel of a sputtering kart powered by a 50, 100, or 150-cc
engine, the game lets players race computerized nents or up
to four other players on a variety of well-designed tracks.
Because karts lack the power and speed of race cars, drivers must
focus on collecting power-ups and nonlethal weapons rather than
negotiating hairpin turns on two wheels. Grabbing and using
on-track items is the heart of the game's fun: a
strategically-placed banana peel sends the unlucky victim into a
spin, nailing an nent with a turtle shell launches their
vehicle skyward, and a rocket provides a quick boost to
near-breakneck speeds, if only for a moment.
The multiplayer mode provides enormously chaotic fun for up to
four players--flip it on at a party and watch the guests
congregate around the screen. --Eric Twelker
Pros:
* Well-designed tracks
* Simple controls
* Strong multiplayer appeal
Cons:* Computerized nents sometimes pull off questionable
feats
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Review
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Super Mario Kart, one of the greatest head-to-head titles ever
released for the cartridge systems, is back, this time for the
Nintendo 64. There's a whole new set of courses, new racers,
slick 3-D graphics, and most surprisingly, a four-player
simultaneous play option. This should all be great news to Mario
Kart fans, and in fact it is - sort of.
Don't get me wrong: There's nothing really wrong with the new
Mario Kart - the increasingly rotund plumber and his jolly crew
have never looked and sounded so good. And from Wario's
penguin-like mumblings to the glittering crown on the Princess'-
head, it's obvious that the design team was plenty willing to get
down and dirty with the presentation aspects of the game. The
addition of more detailed sliding techniques and a few new nasty
things to distract (read: c) your nents are welcome
features (the deadly lightning bolt just can't be beat for
dispensing raw fear). But once you get past the predictable new
additions, you begin to realize that there's really not much
depth to Mario Kart 64.
History has shown us plenty of titles that featured the very best
sound and graphics money could buy which still somehow ended up
being not much fun to play - Killer Instinct, Rebel Assault, and
Tomb Raider all come to mind. While Mario Kart 64 is certainly
better than most of these titles, it still shows a lack of solid
play design that really hurts its long-term play value. First
off, and perhaps most importantly, single-play mode is just too
easy. This is due in part to the game's extra wide tracks, and in
part to the poor AI routines - which deliver nents who seem
more like they're on their way to the local convenience store
than in an all-out race for the finish line. This same lack of
play consideration also infects the super-large battle courses.
The result is that players can (and do) drive around for minutes
without even spotting an nent - much less getting a chance to
score a hit. None of these problems ever really destroys the game
entirely, but they do make it more difficult to get excited about
picking up the controller for more than a handful of races. This
is a big surprise considering Nintendo has built its empire on
solid control and design in its games.
If you own a Nintendo 64, you're probably going to buy this game
whether or not you read and heed this review - after all, there
aren't really a lot of N64 games to choose from, and it IS a
Mario title. Fair enough. The thing is, even with all its bells
and whistles, Mario Kart 64 is very likely to disappoint you
after about a week. I wouldn't feel right about not giving you
that warning. That said, I'm off to Mario Kart on my SNES to
reminisce about the good old days, and dream of what this
cartridge could have been. --Trent C. Ward
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in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
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