Story:

The controls are as follows:

A=Gas
B=Brake
R=Jump
Z=Press and hold to aim a special item such as a shell. Release to fire the shell. Press once to activate non-projectile items.

Control Stick= Steer. Press downward and B to drive in reverse. Press downward and Z to launch a shell toward your rear. Press upward and Z to launch a banana peel toward your front. Move the stick while pressing A and B to attempt a 180 degree spin (this doesn't always seem to work).

Power Slide/Boost = Press and hold R while going into a turn to slide through that turn. While sliding, repeatedly move the Control Stick into and away from the turn. If done properly, the exhaust will release the letters v v e e e... and will change color from white to yellow to reddish orange. If your exhaust is reddish orange when exiting a turn, you can release the R button for a slight power boost and you will have gone through the turn with a minimal loss in speed.

There are lots of items that can be picked up by driving into the rainbow colored blocks scattered on the race track. I'm not going to list them all here, but here are the basics: mushrooms provide speed boosts, shells can be shot at fellow racers, and banana peels can be dropped to foul-up an unwary driver.

There are lots of different play modes, and some of the play modes depend on the number of players. Below is a chart I've attempted to reconstruct from the manual that lists access to the different modes by number of players. YES means that the mode is accessible for the number of players shown at the top of that column.

The Mario GP mode is the standard circuit racing of most any racing game. Each race involves all eight characters. There are four circuits of four courses each. Finish fourth or better and move on to the next race. If you don't finish fourth or better, you'll have to run the race again until you do. In 2-player mode, only one of the two players must finish fourth or better.

Vs. mode is a head-to-head race among 2 - 4 players on any given track from the GP mode.

In Battle mode, 2 - 4 players battle in one of four arenas trying to pop the balloons being carried by other players. The last one standing (er, driving) wins.

Time Trials mode lets a single player work for record times on any of the GP courses. At the start of each race, you are given three mushroom boosters to help you during the race. No other items are available in this mode. If you run a really good race, you may have the option to save your race to a Controller Pak with 121 pages of free space, or watch a replay of that race. If you take advantage of the Controller Pak capability, you can use this saved data to race a ghost of yourself from the stored race. Keep in mind that 121 pages is 2 pages less than an entire Controller Pak. Any fowl-ups or a slow race time will bring up a message during the race informing you that both replay and Controller Pak features will be disabled, so these features aren't always available.

What's it like to play?:

While the graphics of the one-player modes are the largest and the smoothest of the game's many different modes, the solitary gameplay leaves much to be desired. The pace of the game is fast and very random. You can't really predict where you'll finish each race. The game allows you to replay each race until the requirements to move on to the next race have been met, but the races are long and the game gets very repetitive.

The control is very loose and hard on the life of a controller. As with Cruisn' USA, the movement can be likened to swerving rather than to steering.

The variety of courses is very nice, and the one-player GP game is a good way to practice your skills when your friends aren't around, but it gets old quickly. The time trials mode is also fairly dull, because the races are much too long and uneventful without other drivers to hold a players attention and interest for very long. The idea of paying $20 for a Controller Pak for the "ghost mode" seems like a waste of money to me, but if you happen to have a NCP with 121 pages of free space, it might be fun to try.

The one-player modes in Mario Kart 64 just don't stand on their own as racing games, but they do serve well as a means to improve skills for multi-player matches -- which is where Mario Kart 64 really shines.

The Battle mode features four arenas for play. With just two players, these arenas are way to big for an action packed bout. Fortunately, areas of the courses are color coded for easy identification of opponents' locations, so a slower paced seek-and-destroy method of play works well. With three or four players, the battle mode could be a great deal of fun at most any party. The four arenas offer a good mix of terrain, and the items add a randomness to each match that make it possible for players of all skill levels to have fun participating.

The Vs. mode offers more traditional multi-player racing. Two to four players can race on the same courses from the GP mode. Because of the length of the courses and the varying skill level of participants, races can be close or they can be less interesting clear victories. The more players, the better the mix, and four players should be just enough to make sure things stay interesting. The 16 courses to choose from is also a nice feature. Nintendo used the Vs. mode in a wonderful way to promote Mario Kart 64. Two heats, each between four Nintendo employees, were run on a selected course. The winners of these two heats then competed head-to-head for the championship. This is a perfect way to extend the fun to more than four people, as well as make things more exciting.

Two-player GP mode is a fun way for a two-player game to feel like a game with more players. As with the one-player mode, having to repeat a long race can be dull. I like the idea of being able to play the "one-player game" with a friend, and if you have a friend that's good at the GP mode, two-player GP matches could get quite interesting.

Overall, if you're looking for a one-player racing game, Mario Kart 64 is probably worth a rental, but nothing more. On the other hand, if you have four controllers (and lucky you if you do) and can get your friends together, there isn't a better multi-player experience yet available for the N64. The numerous ways to play with two to four people justifies the cost of purchase -- although since the game is only worth purchasing for its mult-player features, it would be worth considering a pooling of controllers and funds for purchase from N64 owning friends instead of forking out all of the dough yourself.

Overall Rating (As A Two to Four Player Game):
Safe Buy