Mario Kart 64 is the perfect 90s game to play with your friends for nothing but simple, chaotic fun. But only that
First of all, the fact that the Nintendo 64 can move 3D environments much more complex than the SNES ever was, makes the stages feel so much more alive and varied, with more interesting and better designed structures, it's just more fun to play in that sense. Many items were also added that are a lot of fun to use, like the infamous blue shell or the golden mushroom that gives you infinite acceleration.
The downside of this game is that playing single player is completely meaningless, as the game doesn't save your progress, which means that the cups you get don't mean anything. And something that bothers me is that the game doesn't reward your skill in any sense, as CPU controlled karts in second and third place will always be on par with you, regardless of how well or average you play, I like the dynamic difficulty, but this game implements it in a very cheap way to balance the races.
Conclusion
I was never a big fan of this installment despite growing up with a worse Mario Kart like the SNES one. Just the art style and all the characters screaming all the time stopped me from playing it, and after all this time I decide to give it a chance only to find that it really isn't as good as people made it sound like it was.
I guess it's still a game that can give you a lot of pure fun, it has a very polished control scheme for its time, but I feel that nowadays there really isn't much value in playing it. It's ironic, but I found a lot more fun in Mario Kart on the GBA, as it was a better balanced game that relied more on your skill than randomness, unlike this one.
First of all, the fact that the Nintendo 64 can move 3D environments much more complex than the SNES ever was, makes the stages feel so much more alive and varied, with more interesting and better designed structures, it's just more fun to play in that sense. Many items were also added that are a lot of fun to use, like the infamous blue shell or the golden mushroom that gives you infinite acceleration.
The downside of this game is that playing single player is completely meaningless, as the game doesn't save your progress, which means that the cups you get don't mean anything. And something that bothers me is that the game doesn't reward your skill in any sense, as CPU controlled karts in second and third place will always be on par with you, regardless of how well or average you play, I like the dynamic difficulty, but this game implements it in a very cheap way to balance the races.
Conclusion
I was never a big fan of this installment despite growing up with a worse Mario Kart like the SNES one. Just the art style and all the characters screaming all the time stopped me from playing it, and after all this time I decide to give it a chance only to find that it really isn't as good as people made it sound like it was.
I guess it's still a game that can give you a lot of pure fun, it has a very polished control scheme for its time, but I feel that nowadays there really isn't much value in playing it. It's ironic, but I found a lot more fun in Mario Kart on the GBA, as it was a better balanced game that relied more on your skill than randomness, unlike this one.