This Is Exactly What Would Happen If Mario Joined NASCAR...

In the golden ages of the Super Nintendo, Mario made a name for himself. Not just by his awesome adventure games, but a game that everyone underestimated as well. Mario Kart 64 not only improves on that game, it provides an experience to those who missed it.

Mario Kart 64 is not what you would call "typical". Just the fact that it's a good racing game should sell itself alone. But this game wasn't just meant for racing fans, it was meant for hardcore Mario fans too.

In this game, you can choose one of eight characters from the Mushroom Kingdom. A buddy could play with you also and choose a different character. Then you choose a cup (not the ones you drink from or even the ones that protect your groin area), and each cup gets harder from mushroom to star respectively. The race starts and the fun begins.

While the race starts, you have to wait for Lakitu to show the green light. If you try to go before that, you will spin out of control for a few precious seconds (or you'll get a speed boost if you time it perfectly). As you race through each course, you will encounter question blocks. Question blocks contain weapons and items that you can use. For example, a mushroom would speed up your character, a star would make it invincible, and the thunder bolt would shrink all the other opponents and make them slower. The most typical and common weapon is the turtle shell. With the turtle shell, you can hit opponents to slow them down, maybe even off the course for a longer time. There's also the red shells, which home onto your nearest opponent, and the spiked shell to hit all the opponents. But beware that your human and computer opponents can get items too.

Besides the items you find on course, the course itself could help or hinder you. There can be holes that a careless driver will fall into. Rolling boulders can easily crush your character. There are other obstacles too, but sometimes the course can help you also. Sometimes, there are speed boosts on the floor which will easily give your character the lead, or if you're really skilled like me, you can use sharp turns around the corner to get yourself ahead. Even the size of your character can help you bully around the smaller characters.

When the race is over, you get points depending on what place you came in. Obviously, first place gets you the most points while last place (8th) won't get you zip. After fourth place, you can't get points. The one with the most points at the end of the cup will get the gold cup. Computers can't get cups, so if you finished second or third, you will get the silver or bronze cup respectively. Get gold cups in each course and you unlock a secret.

If the real game is too much of a challenge, you can just race your friend, a second player, in Vs. mode. What's the difference between this and the main game? You race ONLY your friend. No other computers to interfere to see who is the best driver.

Racing can be boring, so why not go head to head with a few friends? In battle mode, the point is not to race your opponents, it's to pop their balloons. Each time they get hit, a balloon pops. If they fall down a hole, they lose a balloon. If Bowser pushes Toad around too much, Toad loses a balloon. You each get three balloons, and the one with the most wins.

On a side note, you can change the speed of your carts. They could be faster or slower depending on what you choose, but this applies to every racer including opponents, so no cheating. You can even make a track backwards! This will make the courses difficult, especially the highway level in the flower cup.

The graphics in this game are incredible. Every little detail is there, including the dust kicking up when you drive, hop, or sharp turn. Polygons just stream together perfectly and are barely noticeable, except in cases where you fall down holes or bump into walls.

Sounds in Mario Kart go with the game well. You won't hear really loud zooms that almost break the sound barrier. Even when your opponent gets hit, the sound fits well. Characters also make comments and yells here and there also.

Music in this game is great. Unlike the old Mario games, it isn't too cartoony and for kiddies. This soundtrack is perfect, but it's still a tad upbeat.

Mario Kart 64 is a great game. With a low price tag and upgraded from its SNES counterpart, no one has the right to say that N64 completely sucks. Even better, you can enjoy another version on Game Boy Advance.