Mario Kart 64

 

General Tips

Mario Kart 64's vehicles handle quite differently to those you may have spent the last four years playing Super Mario Kart. First of all, the tires grip differently. Second, the power-sliding is totally re-balanced (see below). Third, the karts' center of gravity has been altered. Finally, you're using an analog controller. Forget everything you learned in SMK, except the very basics of control. You'll learn the new gameplay much faster this way.
 
The design philosophy of the tracks has changed totally. Mario Kart 64 builds a complete 3D landscape, and then arranges the course around this. What that means for the player is that you have much more freedom to experiment with shortcuts and new routes. Try experimenting with the speed burst. And be sure to look at the course layout for potential "holes" where you can just turbo through the foliage to land up on a section farther up. There are many of these!
The ground is no longer flat. An obvious point perhaps, but the various undulations, banked turns, and jumps, all affect your ability to accelerate, turn, and, most importantly, power-slide to different degrees. This aspect is actually surprisingly easy to get to grips with. After a few hours of experience, it should simply become second nature.
 
The karts, although divided in terms of handling capability, are far easier to master than in the original SMK. Within a few days, everyone ought to be performing Mini Turbo power-slides (with the red "E.E.E...") around corners with ease, as opposed to the almost infinite learning curve in SMK. Thus, with everyone reaching a similar skill level fairly quickly, the gameplay emphasis shifts to learning the course topology, and using the items to the maximum effect.
Control isn't as sharp as in the original. If an object suddenly lands ten feet ahead of you, there's very little you can do to avoid it. Mario Kart 64 requires that you read ahead to a much greater degree than before. This is slightly harder to get used to.
The opponents! Play 150cc GP mode, and you'll soon find out that computer AI running on a 94MHz processor is a lot tougher to beat. This is a game that will have everyone screaming in disgust at their screens, as Princess Peach overtakes you AGAIN just one second before the finish line. How "unfair" you may think the computer's players are. But, if you use your items perfectly, power-slide perfectly, and race the track well (see appropriate sections), you will beat everyone consistently. The difference here is that the other racers always seem to be just five feet behind you, no matter how well you play. At least Mario Kart GP is never a lonely experience...
As soon as you start playing, hit the Top 'C' button to change views. Always play with the zoomed out view. You can see farther, you are more aware of opponents who are right behind you (especially important for this game), and you will get a far superior sensation of speed. Besides, who wants to play with a fifth of the screen obscured by a massive blurry racing sprite? No thanks.
It's still here, as you'll know from the N64 HQ cheats section. We're talking about the speed burst, or "rocket start." But this time it's graduated. There's no particular formula for getting it right either; it varies from track to track, from player to player, and even from player to track! Start accelerating about a second before the light goes green, and you'll get a turbo of some sort. The earlier you start accelerating (without spinning out) before the light turns green, the faster turbo you'll get. If you time it just perfectly (and I mean PERFECTLY), you'll achieve a burst which will zoom you up to about 80 KPH from the beginning.

How to Power-Slide

Power-sliding is a technique pioneered in the original Mario Kart back in 1992. Basically, it involves making a small jump just before you start the turn, and using your kart's sliding momentum to slingshot around corners without losing any speed. To power-slide in Mario Kart 64, you need to hold the jump button (right shoulder) from the split-second before you start turning, keep it held as you start drifting around the corner, and release "jump" as you move back onto a straight.
 
The key to successful power-sliding (i.e. not drifting right off the track) is continually adjusting left and right whilst in the slide. By tapping left or right, you alter the direction you're facing, and the angle you slide at. Luigi Raceway is built as a testing ground for power-sliding and is a great place to practice the above. Once you find that you can drift corners quite consistently, try wiggling the controller quickly left-right during the power-slide. This generates greater friction on the tires and changes the "smoke" on your kart from white, to yellow, and eventually to red. Importantly, if you release the "jump" button (R button) whilst you're trailing red smoke, you get a speed boost that lasts about five seconds.
Mini Turbo power-slides (where the "E.E.E..." turns red) are crucial. Eventually, you're going to want to Mini Turbo power-slide just about every turn in the game. Once you've mastered this technique, you'll find the tracks are far more interesting to race, as all have been designed with this in mind. A further technique is to use several Mini Turbo power-slides on a long turn. For example, on one of the long corners on Luigi Raceway, instead of just making one 20 second long slide as you soon as you hit red smoke, make a jump-turn and, if you land at the same angle, you'll go straight back into another Mini Turbo power-slide but with a speed burst. Mastering these multiple power-slides are crucial for people who want to get the best time trial scores.

 

Using Items To The Maximum Effect

Mario Kart 64 is, as we all know, a racing game with a difference. The not-so-standard race genre gameplay is heavily punctuated with shell attacks, multiple turbos, invulnerability stars, and even the ability to miniaturize everyone else on track so you can run them over! What follows is a brief lexicon of what each item's capabilities are, and how to use them with most dramatic effect.

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.

 

Who Is The Best Character To Race With?

There's no single answer to this. In time, everyone develops their own preferences, but in this section we can at least outline the karts' basic attributes. Bear in mind that it is usually best to learn two characters: one for Time Trial and one for Multi-Player/GP modes, as both options demand rather different skills as a driver.

The Lightweights

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.

The Middleweights

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.

The Heavyweights

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.

So who is the best to race with? Well, although everyone will have differing opinions, I personally find that Wario is the best for GP/multi-player modes, and Peach is the fastest in time trial. Overall, Peach's combination of rapid acceleration, easy handling, and an excellent power-slide boost, make her the racer of choice. Wario handles in a similar fashion, but with inferior power-slide abilities. However, it's his superior weight that tips the balance in his favor for the more crowded racing modes.
 

Course Shortcuts

 

Koopa Troopa Beach

The most obviously "pre-programmed" of Mario Kart 64's shortcuts and quite easy to pull off, too. About halfway into the course, there's a series of jumps, followed by a final jump that takes you into a little cave in the mountain. Drive through this cave, and you end up on the other side of the mountain, cutting out about 10 seconds worth of the course. You need to either have a star or use a mushroom to make the jump into the cave.

Choco Mountain

Although not strictly a shortcut, I've included this course because of its "openness." There are nearly ten locations where you can rapidly tap the jump button (R button) to hop up extensive areas of hillside (look for the least steep areas). In addition, there's one point which very much looks like a massive shortcut, but I haven't managed to get through it yet. If you want to try for yourself, it's directly after the overhead bridge (with the two "eye-like" holes). On the right side after the bridge, there's a section of much less steep hillside, which you can climb a fair way up by "hopping." There's a narrow steep section at the top, followed by further less steep hillside after this. This potential shortcut occurs at a precise point on the course map where two sections of the track cross over. Suspicious placing or just coincidence? Take a look for yourself next time you're there...
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Wario Stadium

This shortcut literally takes nearly half your lap time off if done correctly. As soon as you begin, you'll see a series of short humps on the initial starting straight. Position your kart on the absolute TOP RIDGE of the first hump, face left (i.e. into the course), and hit turbo. As you rocket straight into the wall, start tapping the jump button quickly, and you'll skip right over onto the other side, landing on a much later section of the course. Actually, this even works without a mushroom, as long as you're perfectly on the top of the hump, and at exactly 90 degrees to the wall you're about to jump.

Royal Raceway

This one is VERY tough, but basically takes most of the course out of the equation. Start as normal and pass the various early bends until you reach the long uphill straight with the huge jump at the end. Just before you hit the last set of turbo arrows that will send you over the jump, use an additional mushroom and turn hard left as you leave the jump. The millisecond before you leave the tarmac, press the R button for a little extra height. If you've done all this correctly, you'll sail over that huge stretch of water, and land neatly on the bank just before the finishing line. You may hit the side of the bank and fall into the water, which is also fine as you're kindly dumped back at the end of the lap. NOTE: This is a very tough one to do, but it IS possible!

DK's Jungle Parkway

Kind of a silly one, but you might as well know about it. In this course a long jump takes you over a stretch of water (and sometimes a Huck Finn-style river boat). You actually don't need to go the extra distance to take the jump from the bridge -- just turn hard left at the underside of the bridge, and hop onto the little island halfway across the river. You'll be picked up from there, and put forward to where you'd normally start the jump from. You may actually be able to hop a second time from the little island, onto the land over the other side, but I certainly haven't managed it yet. Either way, you'll need a turbo mushroom to make the jump.

Rainbow Road

In terms of the easiness to usefulness ratio, this shortcut probably wins out overall. As soon as you start on this course, you'll be confronted with a huge downhill section, driving over which usually enables your kart to catch some air. Race full speed down the hill, and just before you begin to feel your kart trying to lift off the ground (about two seconds into the slope), turn hard left and hit the R button to jump. You'll find yourself floating towards another section of track, located about 30 seconds on from where you jumped off. To do this shortcut properly, you need to ensure you jump off at the right height, and most importantly, hold down the brake as soon as you're floating, or the inertia on landing will bounce you right off the other side of the track!
 

Multi-Player Tactics

In addition to being a huge (and exclusive) selling point for Nintendo, three- and four-player Mario Kart is never anything less than an intense, hilarious, button-bashing, competitive racing experience. As far as long term replayability is concerned, multi-player is where this game is at. Of course, here more than anywhere else, individuality is the key to interesting racing, so we'll restrict our advice to only the most consistently useful tactics.
 
Without a doubt, the most useful multi-player (and indeed GP) tactic is the crafty use of select boxes. The game engine's (in the sense of the actual programming code) most pronounced equalizer is the allocation of offensive and defensive items according to your position in the race order. If you're first, you'll never get an item that will allow you to zoom off into an even wider lead. You'll certainly never get a Thunder Bolt or Super Star, and you'll get Red Shells perhaps 5% of the time (in other words: don't count on it). What you will get, however, are lots of single Bananas, Banana Bunches, Fake Item boxes, and the odd Green Shell. These are given to you for a reason: they can all be used as obstacles for those behind you. The other items (mushrooms, ghosts) appear more randomly.
Armed with this information, there's a fair amount you can do to manipulate the kind of item you're going to get out of each select box. Perhaps the nastiest (but most effective) tactic is to race neck and neck with another player; hit the brakes just before the last select box on the last lap; grab a star, lightning or red shell; and take them out in the last 20 seconds of the race. This works with brutal effectiveness, as dropping behind at that stage of the race usually makes the game very sympathetic. Your chance of getting a fatally offensive item is upwards of 70%.
Mario Kart 64's multi-player mode very much stresses the use of items over racing skill. Don't worry if you're way behind in the first two laps -- unless there's a ridiculous disparity in skill between players -- since the whole race is basically decided in the last lap or even the last half lap. This re-emphasizes the significance of the tactic described above.
Choose a bigger player (Wario is highly recommended), and you'll find that any collision with the smaller racers will usually result in them spinning out. Contact between the karts has a lot more effect in this game than in SMK.
 
If you're a good racer, but always get taken out at the last lap by those behind you who keep getting major offensive items, then this one is for you. Try starting out behind everyone else, and keep going through select boxes until you are given a Thunder Bolt. Then start to overtake the other racers using your basic superior skill towards the beginning of the last lap. The other racers shouldn't get too many nasty items to use against you, since you'll be behind them initially. The minute you reach first place, use your lightning and watch everyone else disappear back into the distance...
If you're playing multi-player GP mode (i.e. two friends versus six computer opponents), it's important to play cooperatively. There's a lot you can do to help each other; for example, if one person gets a Thunder Bolt, wait until the other gets an invulnerability star or ghost, and let them use it as you use your lightning. This way, all the computer players are shrunk and you'll both be able to get a big lead. If you're finding the 150cc or Mirror tracks a bit difficult, try racing with a friend, and let them just sit and irritate the computer drivers (like getting them to wait 30 feet behind the finish line with three red shells...).
As I said before, multi-player is really about individual style. But pick a decent (heavy) racer, and you can always manipulate what kind of items you will get to ensure a first place. That is, until everyone else catches onto your little scheme...
 

Overview: Cheats and Tips Round-Up!

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.