So I played this game because it was a kart racer on the N64 developed by Rare. I knew it wasn't going to be as good as Diddy Kong Racing, but I was interested in seeing what it was like, and in general I find Rare's N64 library very interesting, so I also kind of played for "research" purposes.
Driving in this game certainly feels good, but it's all kind of bare bones. There's no powerslide boosts like MK64 or CTR, or zipper exploit like DKR, just a drift and a brake. Combining them gives a sharper drift for making tight turns. Items also aren't really anything notable or special. They're actually pretty limited, and the most "powerful" items you get from being in last don't feel overpowered at all, or even all that helpful. In fact, you could be in first place and still manage to get boost items every now and then! This, along with the extremely competent A.I. on professional mode means that falling behind slightly ends up being a lot harder to make up for than other games. For this reason, I advise that you beat all the cups on amateur mode, as brain dead as that difficulty level can be, in order to unlock Dewey, the best character in the game that gives a much easier time in professional mode.
So professional mode is what most kart racer fans are gonna want to play on, as it keeps a surprisingly high amount of challenge, but again, nothing all that notable. The tracks are neat and eventually become a lot more intricate in terms of shortcuts and optimal paths, but at this point in the game I'm mostly thinking "yeah, this is just another kart racer, competently made but wouldn't recommend it".
And then I unlock the Frantic Finale cup.
The difficultly spike here is insane, haven't felt anything like it in a very long time. You go from these kind of challenging but totally doable and kind of un-involved races in the previous cups to some of the hardest tracks I've ever raced in any kart racer. The paths become extremely narrow, the turns sharp as hell, more opportunities to fall off the stage than ever, and you're expected to go through it all at full speed if you want to make the top 3. Would recommend unlocking the "unlimited retries" cheat for this cup because without it, I absolutely would not have completed this game. The track Oregon gets a special shout out for this one part where you have to cross this bridge over water with a slight turn in the middle, which sent me off the course countless times. Honestly, these tracks remind of some of the hardest tracks in SRB2 Kart, and who knew THIS kart racer would be the one to evoke that same feeling. But honestly, as infuriating as these tracks, they were also easily the most exciting stuff in the game. The last track, Colorado, had my heart pumping the same way as when I get that gold medal run in a hard track in SRB2 Kart, the crazy amount of consecutive hard turns, having to find out how to optimize each part of that track, while making sure I place high enough to get first place overall, it was so genuinely thrilling! It's really cool that Rare put these tracks here for those who were looking for a great challenge in these kinds of games, it's just kind of confusing that it went here, and tracks in Diddy Kong Racing never got this demanding.
Mickey's Speedway USA has kind of a "purist" appeal to its gameplay, I guess. It's all about mastery of the course and the simple controls, because items or boosts won't actually save you here. If you're someone who loves kart racers, I would recommend playing this just to unlock the final cup as soon as possible. Multiplayer probably isn't this game's strong suit, and I think other kart racers may have more stuff mechanically that engages players for longer, but I'm still totally caught off-guard over how challenging this game got. Glad I gave it a chance, I would have never known otherwise.
Driving in this game certainly feels good, but it's all kind of bare bones. There's no powerslide boosts like MK64 or CTR, or zipper exploit like DKR, just a drift and a brake. Combining them gives a sharper drift for making tight turns. Items also aren't really anything notable or special. They're actually pretty limited, and the most "powerful" items you get from being in last don't feel overpowered at all, or even all that helpful. In fact, you could be in first place and still manage to get boost items every now and then! This, along with the extremely competent A.I. on professional mode means that falling behind slightly ends up being a lot harder to make up for than other games. For this reason, I advise that you beat all the cups on amateur mode, as brain dead as that difficulty level can be, in order to unlock Dewey, the best character in the game that gives a much easier time in professional mode.
So professional mode is what most kart racer fans are gonna want to play on, as it keeps a surprisingly high amount of challenge, but again, nothing all that notable. The tracks are neat and eventually become a lot more intricate in terms of shortcuts and optimal paths, but at this point in the game I'm mostly thinking "yeah, this is just another kart racer, competently made but wouldn't recommend it".
And then I unlock the Frantic Finale cup.
The difficultly spike here is insane, haven't felt anything like it in a very long time. You go from these kind of challenging but totally doable and kind of un-involved races in the previous cups to some of the hardest tracks I've ever raced in any kart racer. The paths become extremely narrow, the turns sharp as hell, more opportunities to fall off the stage than ever, and you're expected to go through it all at full speed if you want to make the top 3. Would recommend unlocking the "unlimited retries" cheat for this cup because without it, I absolutely would not have completed this game. The track Oregon gets a special shout out for this one part where you have to cross this bridge over water with a slight turn in the middle, which sent me off the course countless times. Honestly, these tracks remind of some of the hardest tracks in SRB2 Kart, and who knew THIS kart racer would be the one to evoke that same feeling. But honestly, as infuriating as these tracks, they were also easily the most exciting stuff in the game. The last track, Colorado, had my heart pumping the same way as when I get that gold medal run in a hard track in SRB2 Kart, the crazy amount of consecutive hard turns, having to find out how to optimize each part of that track, while making sure I place high enough to get first place overall, it was so genuinely thrilling! It's really cool that Rare put these tracks here for those who were looking for a great challenge in these kinds of games, it's just kind of confusing that it went here, and tracks in Diddy Kong Racing never got this demanding.
Mickey's Speedway USA has kind of a "purist" appeal to its gameplay, I guess. It's all about mastery of the course and the simple controls, because items or boosts won't actually save you here. If you're someone who loves kart racers, I would recommend playing this just to unlock the final cup as soon as possible. Multiplayer probably isn't this game's strong suit, and I think other kart racers may have more stuff mechanically that engages players for longer, but I'm still totally caught off-guard over how challenging this game got. Glad I gave it a chance, I would have never known otherwise.