MARIO KART 64 FAQ From the people who brought you the self-titled Banjo-Kazooie FAQ, thespences! ------------------------------ I. Introduction II. The Cups III. The Drivers IV. The Techniques V. The Items VI. The Tracks VII. Battle Mode ------------------------------- I. Introduction This is the one, the only, the BEST FAQ for Mario Kart 64 on the web! Well....maybe not, but it ranks among the top three! Just try to read this, because I tried very hard on this Faq. If you have read my BK Faq, you know how good my work is. II. The Cups The Cups are different classifications and, some might say, the difficulty levels of the game. Here they are! MUSHROOM CUP Luigi Raceway Moo Moo Farm Koopa Troopa Beach Kalimari Desert The 'Shroom Cup is the "easy setting". Consisting of the shortest courses in the game, this should be no problem for beginners! FLOWER CUP Toad's Turnpike Frappe Snowland Choco Mountain Mario Raceway A moderate cup, this has a highway, a blizzard, a mountain, and our star's home track. A likable one by beginners and experts alike! STAR CUP Wario Stadium Sherbet Land Royal Raceway Bowser's Castle This is a tough cup, holding the second longest course in the game. Try at your own risk! SPECIAL CUP D.K.'s Jungle Parkway Yoshi Valley Banshee Boardwalk Rainbow Road I recommend this cup to only the brave. Coconut throwing monkeys, porcupines, bats, and Chomp-Chomps inhabit these courses. Only for the brave, I repeat, only for the brave! III: The Drivers Drivers have certain classes, and with these classes, advantages & disadvantages. Here they are! LIGHTWEIGHTS Peach, Toad, and Yoshi are the Lightweights. They have high acceleration, but low top speed. If they don't slide into turns, they loose a lot of speed. Since they are Lightweight, Heavyweight Karters tend to push them around and they spin Lightweights out. MIDDLEWEIGHTS Mario and Luigi fall into the Middleweights catergory. Middleweights don't have any major pros or cons, except that they have the slowest acceleration of any class. HEAVYWEIGHTS Wario, DK, and Bowser are the heaviest characters. Poor acceleration, but high top speed to make up for it. Also, they like to push around other characters. Bowser has an added advantage: his spiked shell! IV: The Techniques Techniques range from power slide to grating jump. All are cool. Check 'em out! POWER SLIDE To power slide, hold R on a corner and wiggle the analog stick from left to right until the E in the smoke turns red, then release R. ROCKET BOOST To rocket boost, press A as soon as the second light on the starting light disappears. REVERSE To reverse, press B and back on the stick at the same time. SPIN TURN To spin turn, hold A & B and the direction you want to turn. GRATING JUMP In Skyscraper Battle Mode, build up speed and drive up a grating. You should clear it! V: The Items Items are obtained from rainbow boxes with a ? on them. You can get 14 different items. These Items are listed from least to greatest power. Green Shell--A Green Shell is a "projectile" weapon. You can launch it in front of you, but it could ricochet and hit you! A way to prevent this is to hold back on the control stick while shooting. You can also continually hold Z and take out any Karts behind you! Green Shell Shield--Press Z for three Green Shells to revolve around you. You can throw them off one at a time by pressing Z. This acts as protection from enemy Karts, bananas, and Fake Item Boxes. Red Shell--A Red Shell is like a homing missle, but it can't take turns very well. Wario Stadium is a good place to use Red Shells, because all the turns are gradual. Sharp turns will cause a Red Shell to crash into the wall. Red Shell Shield--Same as Green Shell Shield, only the shells home in on enemies. Single Mushroom--A Single 'Shroom gives you a speed boost. Triple Mushroom--A Single Mushroom x3. Banana--When you lay this down, a slippery road lays ahead or behind the racers. Throw a banana ahead of you by moving up on the control stick while throwing. Bolt--A Bolt is a very sneaky weapon. Use it when you're in last to shrink all the racers and make them slow down. You can run them over like this! Boo--Boo steals an item and makes you invisible. Super Star--A Super Star speeds you up and makes you invincible. Unfortunatley, you can't be invincible and invisible at the same time. : ( Fake Item Box--A Fake Item Box, or Bad Box, as I like to call them, is identical to a real item box except for one miniscule difference: an upside-down ?. A Fake Item Box is probably the sneakiest weapon in the game. Hyper Mushroom--You can use a Hyper 'Shroom multiple times before it runs out, but don't do a blast in the middle of a speed boost, or the motor will choke up. Banana Bunch--A Banana Bunch is the same as a Banana, except it can be used five times. Spiky Shell--A Spiky Shell is the best, and rarest, item in the game. This item flies towards the leading player, taking out all in-between. Just don't be in first when you fire this, or it's going to be puree of you for dinner! VI: The Tracks This is probably my favorite section. Here come our tracks! MUSHROOM CUP Luigi Raceway Length: 717 meters Our favorite miscredited brother has his own...raceway. This is one of the shortest courses in the game, and the only genuine way to get a Spiky Shell. A Luigi balloon appears on the track after the first lap. Press R to jump and grab the Item Box it is dangling. Don't stop the box cycle, and a genuine Spiky Shell awaits your use! Moo Moo Farm Length: 527 meters This mole-ridden farm doesn't look like a good place for a raceway, but Nintendo needed a weird place to race. Near the end of the track, there is a bridge. Try to go for the gap on the very right side. This will chop off a lot of time! Koopa Troopa Beach Length: 691 meters This place is crabby, but it holds one of the best shortcuts in the game. In the middle of the course, there is a series of ramps. A thin ramp lays at the end. Use a Mushroom to make it up the ramp and into a tunnel. You can pass at least 20% of the course this way. Kalimari Desert Length: 527 meters A train runs through this course at two points here. At the first crossing, turn right onto the tracks and drive to the second crossing-- but watch out for Engine 64!!! FLOWER CUP Toad's Turnpike Length: 1,036 meters This place really is a turnpike, with tanker trucks and everything! A string of five mini-bomb Karts greets you as you pull into the lane. People always like to drop Fake Item Boxes in the middle of the road, but don't be fooled. ITEM BOXES ALWAYS COME IN GROUPS!!!! If you see a singular one, it's FAKE! Frappe Snowland Length: 734 meters Snow, snow and did I mention snow? Also, EXPLOSIVE SNOWMEN! A field of them lies in the middle of the track. No matter how cute they look, they're dangerous. Contact with a snowman can put you from 1st place to 8th place, with a lot of room in-between the pack and you! Choco Mountain Length: 687 meters Choco Mountain---sounds delicious, right? Do rocks and a ravine sound tasty? Didn't think so. A guardrail prevents you from falling into the ravine, but only in 50cc class! 100, 150, and Extra have no rail, and in Extra mode, the track curves right instead of left! Mario Raceway Length: 567 meters Mario Raceway has the BIGGEST SHORTCUT in the game!!! Time Trials Mode is the easiest way to access this. Activate a mushroom at the very edge of the road, right before the big mushroom. Jump the second before you gun your motor with the 'Shroom. An easy 20 second lap is possible! STAR CUP Wario Stadium Length: 1,591 meters This is Wario's home course, and with all the bumps and jumps, we can see why! At the monster jump, get a Bolt and activate it just as the racers are about to jump. They won't make it over, but you will! Sherbet Land Length: 756 meters Sherbet Land has these pesky little penguins that slide around. If you crash into them, you spin out! Another hint is to try and push opponents into the water. They will end up coming out in a block of ice. Royal Raceway Length: 1,025 meters Princess Toadstool, or PEACH, would love it here, because you can take a side route to her castle! After the booster jump, there is a yellow path to your right (or left, if you're in Extra Mode). This has Peach's castle in it! Bowser's Castle Length: 777 meters As Bowser would say, "Ahh, the sweet scent of boiling lava. It's so good to be home!" That's exactly what covers the course--LAVA! Push the other Karters into the lava, but don't fall in yourself, especially on the narrow bridge in the course's tower. SPECIAL CUP DK's Jungle Parkway Length: 893 meters DK was never a kind racer, and his course proves it! Two hints for this course are: (1) Shrink the racers with the Bolt just before the booster arrow. (2) Place Fake Item Boxes and Bananas on the narrow bridge near the end of the course. Yoshi Valley Length: 772 meters Do you think Yoshi's mind is twisted? After this course you will! A shorter track is hidden in this course. Turn left when entering the canyon, then turn right at the next fork. At the last fork, turn left. At the place where the track comes so close together that you can jump it, do it! Banshee Boardwalk Length: 747 meters Ghosts inhabit this track, and they don't take kindly to strangers! At the ghost house, an Item Box is hiding behind the chest of bats. Don't go for it. The fork at the beginning of the ghost house has a star hole to the left and bats to the right. Jump over the fragment of the hole that you pass for a shortcut. Rainbow Road Length: 2,000 meters! Neon faces of our racers can easily distract you, leaving you open to be Chomp-Chomp fodder. If you go fast enough on the hill at the beginning of the track, you can FLY! Keep your control stick completely straight, or you will swerve out of bounds. VII: Battle Mode Battle Mode is a very cool option, but you only get four of them. Here they are! BIG DONUT A lava bath is what you'll take; so sayeth Bowser, DK, and Wario. Heavyweights are ideal for any battle course. Hide behind the walls to ambush racers with Stars or Shells. Also, try to place Bananas near the edge of the lava. BLOCK FORT Shells are the importance of this course. Blast from the start, get a few items, then drive up the blocks. If you get shells, fire them down below. Somebody has to fall eventually! The only problem with this is that shells tend to collide and destroy themselves. DOUBLE DECK This course should really be named QUADRUPLE DECK. The key in this course is to lay Fake Iems with real items. The trick is to hold Z until you reach an item box group, then release it when you get an item. Try to remember where you put them, though, or you will be losing balloons before you can say Mama Mia! SKYSCRAPER This is really fun, because you could lay a banana peel at a grating, and wait for a person to slip on it. When they recover, they won't have enough time to turn, so they fall of of the skyscraper and lose another balloon, just like in Big Donut! Also, ambush players by using the grating jump technique when you're armed with a Red Shell!