With two players, the total number of wins for each player is tracked, and in three- or four-player matches, the number of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place wins is tracked for each racer.
This is the first game in the series to provide this feature. There is an additional unlockable difficulty called "Extra", which allows players to race at speed 100cc on tracks that are inverted left-to-right. Difficulty level is measured by engine size: 50, 100, or 150 cc.
After finishing all four races, trophies are awarded to the players who scored the highest accumulation of points: bronze for third place, silver for second, and gold for first. Unlike the original Super Mario Kart, the player can restart an unlimited number of times, instead of only being allowed three restarts. If the player ranks 5th or under, the player must restart the race. When the player completes a race, points are awarded based on the rank they finished ranging from one to nine and the placement order gets carried over to the next race as the new starting lineup.
However, the characters and items remain 2D pre-rendered sprites. The move to three-dimensional graphics allowed for track features not possible with the original game's Mode 7 graphics, such as changes in elevation, bridges, walls, and pits. Players take control of characters from the Mario franchise, who race around a variety of tracks with items that can either harm opponents or aid the user. It was later released as a Virtual Console game for the Wii and Wii U in 20, respectively.Ĭhanges from the original include the move to polygon-based true 3D computer graphics for track design, and the inclusion of four-player support. The game was first released in Japan on 14 December 1996, in North America on 10 February 1997 and in the United Kingdom on 24 June 1997. The game is the second entry in the Mario Kart series and is the successor to Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Mario Kart 64 is a 1996 kart racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 (N64).