I recently had a few weeks off from my day job. However, thanks to injuring my foot directly after a trip to Melbourne to see Groundhog Day the Musical, I was left unable to properly walk for more than a week. As a result, I ended up spending a lot of time with my foot up, resting in front of the television. Instead of tackling the modern games in my backlog, I turned to my old consoles and revisited the games of my youth—ranging from the good to the bad and the merely reasonable.
Over the next couple of weeks, I will share brief reviews based on these play sessions, of the games that introduced me to the industry I have been writing about for over fifteen years. I’ll assess whether these games are worth seeking out and playing today in the 2020s. These bite-sized reviews, each around two or three paragraphs long, will focus on different console and genre categories, as indicated in the article’s title.
Let’s begin with the first set of reviews, which will focus on Nintendo 64 racing games.
Mario Kart 64
“Welcome to Mario Kart!”
When I first received my Nintendo 64 for Christmas of 1997, Mario Kart 64 was the only game I had for the console for quite a few months. I vividly remember racing home after school to dive into its 16 courses, often enjoying multiplayer with my brother and mother. Although it was not the first Mario Kart game released, and it hasn’t aged as well as the more modern instalments in Nintendo’s now long-running kart racing franchise, it was the foundation of modern Mario Kart and one that kept gamers entertained for days, weeks and (in my case) months on end.
While Mario Kart 64’s use of 2D character sprites has probably aged the game the most of any game in the series to date, the same cannot be said about its track designs. From the pandemonium of Yoshi Valley with its branching paths to Royal Raceway which had its creative integration with Peach’s Castle from Super Mario 64, the chaotic moles of Moo Moo Farm, and the length and winding turns of DK’s Jungle Parkway – every course offered was unique and a joy to race on, whether alone or with friends. Each course remains a nostalgia trip, and I am always eager to see how new development teams have reimagined these courses as part of retro tracks in newer instalments.
A few of the typical issues of the era do rear its head — especially due to its often unfair rubber-banding. Nevertheless, for the most part, Mario Kart 64 was a strong introduction to what the Nintendo 64 is capable of technologically and served as a memorable foundation for what was to come decades afterwards.
8/10
Diddy Kong Racing
Shortly after the release of Mario Kart 64, Rare entered the kart racing genre with its unique take, Diddy Kong Racing. Rather than overlapping with characters like Donkey Kong (who was featured as part of MK64), Rare featured the younger member of the Kong family and filled out the game’s roster with an assortment of first-time characters, some of whom would see Diddy Kong Racing as their only role – and some like Banjo and Conker who would eventually find success in their games, and are now in the hands of Microsoft who now owns the Rare studio.
The game thrived with its creative ‘Adventure’ mode, offering more than just Gran Prix races or individual challenges typical of its time. Players experience a traditional game progression comparable to a platformer, collecting Golden Balloons by finishing races in first place, unlocking new courses and overcoming six boss battles, all woven into a simple narrative. At times, the game can become repetitive, especially with its trophy races and sometimes challenging coin collection challenges which see you completing the same set of tracks repeatedly. But in return, the game enjoys arguably more longevity and player retention. Furthermore, the game favouring not one mode of transport but three – karts, hovercrafts and aeroplanes – also made many of the tracks feel unique.
Compared to MK64, Diddy Kong Racing’s track designs are solid but lack the nostalgic, memorable elements that make tracks easily recognisable. Don’t get me wrong, for the most part, the tracks are bright, colourful, offer more than adequate challenges, and feature iconic music from composer David Wise. Unlike the iconic sixteen courses of MK64, DKR’s 25 courses are divided into five worlds: Dino Domain, Snowflake Mountain, Sherbert Island, Dragon Forest, and Future Fun Land. The courses offer variety, but the biomes across the stages are similar, ultimately meaning only a few tracks that truly stand out.
Nevertheless, Diddy Kong Racing holds its own against Mario Kart 64 with its unique and innovative ideas and thrives with a format that few other kart racers have succeeded in.
8/10
Beetle Adventure Racing
From kart racing to a more traditional racing experience, Paradigm Entertainment and Electronic Arts’ Beetle Adventure Racing was in my opinion one of the underappreciated gems released in the latter half of the Nintendo 64’s lifespan, which showed just how much was possible with the hardware and a license for a single vehicle type (True to its name, the Volkswagen Beetle) compared to the hundreds of licenced automobiles found in most modern racing games. The game’s core experience focuses on completing single-player Championships across incrementally unlocking difficulty settings – starting with Novice and moving up the ranks through Advanced, Professional and Bonus. In addition to more challenging AI (and granted, some harsh rubber-banding as was the norm for games at the time), each championship had to be unlocked incrementally by getting 1st Place in the previous one, and each unlocked a set of unique faster vehicles and a brand new course.
Beetle Adventure Racing features six uniquely themed courses: the quaint British town of Coventry Cove, the volcanic island of Inferno Isle, and the urban setting of Metro Madness, among others. The memorable courses encourage exploration with their non-linear design, featuring numerous alternate routes and shortcuts. Additionally, each course is not only lengthy, with each lap potentially taking 5+ minutes, but is also uniquely designed at every turn. Even with the limitations of the Nintendo 64 hardware, the development team manages to make it easy to identify what part of the track you are on via its unique layout and landmarks. From a gameplay perspective, this is also important, as many of the detours and alternate routes you encounter offer bonus boxes – which can unlock continues (should you wish to repeat a poorly performed course in a championship) and special multiplayer arenas.
I have vivid memories from my childhood of exploring every corner of these maps, from the frosty mountains of Mount Mayhem to the cool casino shortcut of Metro Madness, to the alternate third-lap route of Inferno Isle. This was not just another dime-a-dozen licensed racing game; it was crafted with genuine passion, offering enjoyable gameplay and high replayability. The main issue, particularly for younger gamers with shorter attention spans, was the lengthy track times—often 15-20 minutes. Combined with harsh rubber banding, losing after an hour-long play session could be frustrating. But honestly, this is still a game I remember fondly, loved playing through another time, and will be getting out the old Nintendo 64 to play now and again.
Fun Fact: Here in Australia, we had two versions of this game on our shelves, Beetle Adventure Racing which most of the world got, in addition to HSV Adventure Racing, which replaced the Beetles with the Holden VT Commodores. From what I can tell, there are no major differences outside the change in vehicles, and narration by David Kaye instead of Blu Mankuma.
9/10
