Mario Kart 64
Mushroom. This humble item gives you a rocket burst of speed that lasts for about three seconds. The best use you can make of this is to cut across two stretches of track that are separated by grass/rough ground that would normally slow you down. The worst use of this is on straight, flat roads. It really doesn't speed you up that much; it just sustains a high speed over three seconds of race time.
Triple Mushrooms. Basically the same deal as above, but you get three of them to use in succession. Remember to wait until the first mushroom has totally worn off before firing up the second. Hitting all three together really won't achieve much. Triple Mushrooms are especially useful for taking massive shortcuts over rough ground. New to Mario Kart 64.
Super Mushroom. This is also new to Mario Kart 64 and makes an active difference in gameplay. The Super Mushroom gives the racer unlimited turbos within a period of ten seconds. Again, all the advantages, as outlined above, can be applied here but to a much greater extent. Try Mini Turbo power-sliding whilst tapping the turbo button -- that shifts you to about the fastest maintainable speed in the game.
Super Star. This always was -- and still is -- a brilliant item. Activating this star basically puts the "Super" into your kart for a short period of time. You handle better, accelerate quicker, drive about 20% faster than everyone else, and, best of all, remain invincible for the whole time. You can use this just about anywhere effectively, but it works best if you stay on the track and just race on as normal. You'll soon find yourself several positions higher. NOTE: Whilst invincible, you can take out various objects in the game: trees, Thwomps (they explode -- very satisfying!), and even Yoshi's gigantic egg.
Thunder Bolt. Some say that this is the best item in the game. For sure, it's definitely the most fun to use. Watch your opponents shrink to dimensions of the cute and helpless variety before running them over. Seeing some little squealing thing weave desperately about in front of you, before steam rolling them into the road, is an experience that ranks amongst video gaming history's most satisfying. Have no mercy! As this is such a powerful object, you might want to save it for the final lap, and then shrink everyone and zoom into first place. Racers that are cloaked (ghost) or invulnerable (star) are not affected by the Thunder Bolt.
Boos. One of the less obviously useful items that can actually devastating if used correctly. The ghost icon renders the kart invisible to other racers and invulnerable to all items and attacks. It also gives you whatever is in the item box of the player closest to you. This is one of the best items to get if you're in first place: just wait until the guy behind you picks up something useful (star, lightning, another ghost) and grab it. Mario Kart 64 takes account of the various players' race positions and awards offensive or defensive items accordingly. The ghost item allows the leading player to swing the balance back in their favor.
Fake Item. A wholly new addition to Mario Kart 64. The Fake Item block is almost identical to the item select boxes you race through, except that this block has an upside-down question mark and will send you flying if you hit it. This has the same uses as the Banana, but has the added advantage in that less experienced racers usually make a huge effort to crash right into it. Obviously, dropping this inconspicuously in a patch of identical legit boxes is a good idea. Players soon become naturally suspicious of randomly dropped lone select boxes around the course...
Banana. Needs no real introduction. I finds that bananas are especially useful as a defense. If someone fires a red shell at you, hold out the banana behind, and it'll take the damage instead. The same goes for all "dragable" items (fake items, shells, etc.), of course. Also, try shooting your banana out in front by holding up on the stick as you fire.
Banana Bunch. Same as above, but you get five-in-one. An additional use for this is to just race with all five bananas trailing behind you. If you see anyone coming up from behind, it doesn't take much to swing your lethal chain of fruits right into them.
Green Shell. Mario Kart 64's most basic offensive item. Green shells are rather slow, and once fired, you may find yourselves overtaking them again. These are most effective at close range, either directly in front or behind your kart. Hold down on the stick as you fire to send them straight backwards.
Triple Green Shells. Again, the same functions as above, but you can't fire these backwards (a pity). For some reason, firing off all three green shells together usually results in them rebounding right back and hitting you... Unfired triple green shells circle defensively around you, creating a shield from other shells, bananas, players, etc.
Red Shell. The infamous item from the original game is back with a vengeance. Red shells seek out the person directly in front of you when fired. They cannot be fired backwards, though. Much more intelligent than the original, these red shells may traverse the whole track and hit you if you get in the way!
Triple Red Shells. Basically the same deal as the Triple Green Shells. Although all three can be fired off in rapid succession, it is usually best to leave a few seconds in-between each shot. If timed properly, you can extend your opponents spin-out with multiple shots. Otherwise, if rapidly fired at the opponent, they won't do any more damage.
Spiny Shell. A very cool new addition to Mario Kart 64, the spiny shell is unlike the other colored shells, in that it has superb intelligence. When you fire the spiny shell, it will "lock-on" to the race leader in two seconds, before rocketing off ahead to take him out. The spiny shell seems to randomly attack/miss the players it meets on its journey to the race leader. (It does not take out everyone that gets in its way, as some reports have suggested.) Be sure to fire spiny shells with enough clear space ahead for them to get a lock on the race leader.
Major attributes that this group have are rapid acceleration and the ability to drive over grass/rough ground without slowing too much. However, they both lose a fair amount of speed if cornering without a power-slide, and in a collision with a heavier kart, they are more likely to be the ones that go flying. Keep in mind that although they are in the same racing "class," Peach and Toad do NOT handle identically. There are minor differences in power-slide angles and acceleration -- just experiment and see who you prefer using.
Mario and Luigi have basically middle-of-the-road capabilities. Their handling attributes lie in-between those of the heavy and light class racers. Personally, I find them to be pretty useless overall, but you may think otherwise. Again, just play with whichever feels best to you.
Predictably, the heavyweight racers' attributes contrast pretty directly with those of the lightweight karts. Slower acceleration (but not higher overall speed) and grass/rough ground tends to slow them down to a greater extent. However, they can take corners without power-sliding -- with just a minor loss in speed. The difference in handling between these three is actually rather acute. Wario handles much more lightly, in general, than either Bowser or Donkey Kong.
Just to finish up, here's a selection of what we consider to be the most useful tips and strategy tactics discussed in various parts of the guide. I've talked about most of these in greater detail elsewhere, but a few odds and end made it exclusively to this section, as they didn't seem to fit anywhere else.
That just about concludes N64 HQ's Mario Kart 64 Strategy Guide, at least in its present form. Anything really new, exciting, or strange that is submitted to us in the coming weeks will be uploaded to the guide with the source credited. Keep checking N64 HQ's title page for details of major updates to the world's first and best strategy publication dealing with Mario Kart 64.