================================================================================ Strategy/Walkthrough for Mario Kart 64 Version 1.00 Written by Pseudonym Email: shdwswrm@hotmail.com ================================================================================ _____ .__ ____ ___. ___ / \ _______ _______|__| _____ | |/ _|_______ ________/ |__ / \ / \\___ \\_ __ \ |/ _ \ | < \___ \\_ __ \ ___\ / Y \ / __ \| | \/ ( <_> ) | | \ / __ \| | \/| | \____|___ (____ /___| |__|\_____/ |____|___ (_____ /___| |___| \/ \/ \/ \/ ________ _______ / ______\ / | | / ___ \ / | |__ \ |___\ \/ ^ _/ \______ /\_____ | \/ |___| ================================================================================ TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- Revision History Copyright Introduction Game Basics Techniques/Tactics Characters Courses Secrets Shortcuts/Glitches Closing End of File =============================================================================== Revision History =============================================================================== Nov. 20th, 2003 Version 1.00 Added most of the guide at this point. I'll finish the guide sometime soon. =============================================================================== Copyright =============================================================================== This document is licensed for public use according to the GNU Free Documentation License. If you'll read the license, you'll see that it allows for inclusion within another work, provided that the other work in turn maintains the license. Some key parts of the license: This license applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The "document", below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as "you". You accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright law. A "modified version" of the document means any work containing the document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language. You may copy and distribute a modified version of the document under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the modified version under precisely this License, with the modified version filling the role of the document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the modified version to whoever possesses a copy of it. All original work included within this guide written by another person is copyright to the person who wrote it and supersedes this copyright notice, so you have to get their permission to use it, whatever that might be. To summarize, you may use my guide in part or whole, without any additional permission from myself, except for the noted examples above, provided that the resulting guide is similarly released under the GNU FDL. If this is a major problem for you, I’ll be happy to give you separate permission to use parts of the guide, provided that I am given credit and a link to my guide is provided. The latest version of this document can always be found at www.gamefaqs.com but isn’t exclusive to any one site. I just prefer to have my guides there. Any other site that has this guide or wants to use this guide (doubtful but there are a few, actually) can get the updated version at the site mentioned above. Don’t email me about this because the answer will be definitely no since I don’t want to be emailing this guide around to everyone who asks. All other questions are welcomed. Thanks. Copyright 2004 Tim Courchene aka Pseudonym. =============================================================================== Introduction =============================================================================== This game is the sequel to the highly successful and very popular, Super Mario Kart for the SNES. There’s quite a bit of improvements and additions in this game like better graphics and sounds and improved game play but as I do in most of my guides, I have to nitpick the game a bit. In the first game, I hated the way the computers would use a powerup/special item all of a sudden and wipe you out. They fixed this considerably by eliminating the special item ability that most of the karts had in the first game but left intact the computers ability to use items. However, the one thing I liked about the first game that they toned down in this game is the difficulty of the tracks, like all of the obstacles and crap that were on most of the tracks that messed you up when you weren’t careful. They also seemed to have toned down the difficulty and aggressiveness of the actual computer karts in exchange for giving them quite a bit of speed, whereas they can easily catch up to you after you hit them but still leave a lot to be desired. The actual guide focuses more on the GP rather than the other features in the game. It also mainly cobbled together from my own and my brother’s personal experience after around 6 years of playing, moreso when the game was released and not so much nowadays. All of the information in here is common sense but beginners would find some good information in here as well as maybe some people who are experienced in the game. If you have any questions, comments, or constructive critism, email me at . =============================================================================== Game Basics =============================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Controls -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Button: Accelerates your kart. B Button: Slows down your kart. L Button: Not used. R Button: Makes your kart jump. Z Button: Uses your item. C-Left: Not used. C-Up: Switches between the two different viewpoints. C-Right: Switches between the three different HUDs. C-Down: Uses your item. Start Button: Pauses the game. Directional Pad: Not used. Control Stick: Moves your kart around. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Techniques -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Banana Trick : You do this when you run into a banana, it’ll save you a few seconds, and even save you the race if someone is right behind you. As soon as you hit the banana, press the brake until an exclamation mark appears over your kart, then you’re good to go. Sometimes, if you hit a banana at an weird angle, your cart will automatically go into a spin, but it’s rare. Turbo Start: This will give you the lead at the beginning at the race, as it increases you speed dramatically and it'll cause you to zoom past the rest of karts. All you have to do is press and hold the A button a second or so before the lights turn blue. Be careful, because if you hold the gas too long, you’ll spin out and be left behind by everyone else. Power Slide/Turn: This is fairly useful if you want to take turns more sharply. Press and hold the R button to go into a slide, and you can control the direction of your kart slightly with the Control Stick. Hopping: This is almost the same as the Power Slide/Turn, but I find that this is a more effective way of cornering. Press the R button repeatedly to start hopping around a corner. It looks kind of silly, but it increases your kart’s turning radius, allowing you to take sharp turns (or any turn, really) much easier. It’s a pretty good way to cut some time off in the Time Trials, or to distance yourself from other karts in the GP. Drafting: This technique is a cornerstone in racing and because this is a racing game too, it’s important to learn in case you need to pass someone in a hurry. If you find that you can’t seem to pass a kart and you have no items available, try lining your kart up with the one in from of you. If you do this for a few seconds, you’ll get a speed boost that should let you pass right by that annoying kart in front of you. It can be used as a last ditch attempt to pass a kart if you’re near the end, on the last lap of the race. Mini Turbo: Doing this technique well is the cornerstone of getting good times in the Time Trial. If you’re interested in that at all, you should practice this until you get good at it. Go into a Power Slide/Turn then move the Control Stick left to right repeatedly. You should see the smoke behind your kart turn from white to orange to red, and when you let go of the R button when you get out of a turn, you’ll get a speed boost. As you get better at it, you’ll want to stay toward the inside of the track and do them multiple times on the same turn to save even more time. When you’re really good at it, you can try to do them on straightaways save lots of time. That last one isn’t for beginners though; I can’t even do those consistently, but practice makes perfect I guess. Spin Turn: This is only useful when you’re stuck in a corner but hey, I might as well add it here. Press and hold both the A and B button and move the Control Stick to the left or right. You’ll spin right around and be on your way again. Cutting Corners: Many tracks in the game have sections that you can either cut through as in going through the gravel or grass or go over as in the hills in Sherbet Land. Keep this in mind. Combining Techniques: This is pretty straightforward, combine some of the techniques above to save even more time. Using Mushrooms: The best places to use mushrooms are on hills or turns, the main sections of a track that slow you down. This is very important to know in the Time Trials, but it’s not so important in the GP races. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tactics -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GREEN SHELLS ------------ Overall: They’re not as good offensively as a lot of the other items in the game but they have there uses. They’re better at disrupting karts that are behind you or defending yourself from karts trying to pass you. Aiming & Firing: Firing Green Shells forward means that you have to manually aim at the karts. You can do this by lining up your kart with the one you want to hit then firing. It sounds easy but it can be tough since you also have to take into account the speed and distance of the kart you’re trying to hit and the likewise the shell, also whatever the kart moves around after you fire it. It takes some experience to judge this. Firing backwards is pretty fun since the computers are rather dumb and one kart will likely get hit by it. All you really have to know is to keep your kart straight and centered on the straightaway section of the track before you fire it. From my experience, this is the best place to fire them since computers usually stay toward the center. If you’re trying this against a human player, you should look at their screen to judge where they are on the track and aim at them that way. Using Green Shells around corners isn’t a good idea, but here’s something to try. Once you’re back on a straightaway, turn your kart slightly in the direction of the turn where the other karts are so that it will pass through the turn if possible or at least as much as possible, just as the other karts are coming around the turn. It’s actually pretty funny watching them and you might get the added bonus of watching them bounce into the water, abyss, or whatever. Also, if you have Green Shells and you’re going through a narrow path, you should definitely fire a shell or two behind you to leave a “gift” for the karts trailing you. Defending Yourself with Green Shells: This is pretty obvious. For a single Green Shell, hold the Z trigger and the shell will stay behind you until you use it or something hits you from behind. If you have three Green Shells, just use it and the three shells will surround you until you use it or something hits you, like I mentioned before. Just watch out because occasionally a shell, banana, or bomb can slip through and hit you. It’s rare but it happens. Ricochet Tactics: This is something to try if you have a decent lead or just want to get someone off your back but they’re a distance behind you. This will mainly work if you fire a shell towards a wall or barrier at a 90 degree angle turn so that it’ll go back towards the karts behind you. However, that’s probably the most ideal situation for this tactic, but it can probably be applied anywhere if you’re creative enough. Also, firing them backwards but towards a wall so that they go back and forth and a kart will probably get hit. A rule of thumb to consider is the narrower the path, the better simply because they have the least distance between the walls forming the track. Avoid super wide sections of track like the ones encompassing the whole of the Kalimari Desert because you just wasted a shell since it’ll probably never hit anything. Hit and Run Tactics: These are mainly for fun as they don’t have much of a practical purpose other than pissing off the other human players and temporarily messing up the computer. All of these involve holding the Z trigger if you have a single Green Shell and running into a kart that’s slightly behind you. A more devious tactic that has no practical purpose is stopping near a turn (the sharper and narrower the better), which in turn will cause it to fly over you and off the track, hopefully into a hole, water, the sky, or an abyss. Note that to pull this off the kart you’re trying to hit to be close at least and going pretty fast. Defence Against Green Shells: First and foremost, keep your eyes peeled for them. Human players are the only people who can use Green Shells as far as I’ve seen, so occasionally glance at their screens to see what they have and make a quick movement on the track to avoid it if they fire one at you. Just so you know, if you get triple Green Shells, you don’t have to hold them with Z trigger, you just have to press it once and they’ll surround you. RED SHELLS ---------- Overall: Red Shells are the best overall offensive item in the game in my opinion. They’re great at hitting other karts, pretty good for defense, and they appear often enough to help when you really need it. Aiming & Firing: These are easier to use than the Green Shell as you don’t really have to aim and they’ll automatically home in on the kart in front of you, but you’ll need to keep a few little nuances in mind. This is pretty obvious but there are a few little nuances to keep in mind when you use these shells. Red Shells, like you already know, home in on the kart in front of you, but they’ll ALWAYS try to do it in the shortest distance possible. This is a problem on tracks that have railings on the sides of the road, and if you fire a Red Shell while you’re going around a long turn, you’ll find that they’ll just hit the wall, resulting in a wasted Red Shell. This problem can be avoided if you go to the outside of the long turn and fire your Red Shell; if the kart in front of you is close enough, the shell should hit it. If it isn’t, the shell will eventually hit the railing. Another small tip is if you get triple Red Shells and someone is way ahead of you, DON’T fire all three shells at once. Not only is that a waste of shells, but the kart you hit will be back on the road in no time. By waiting 2 or 3 seconds before you fire another Red Shell, you should hit the kart each time it falls to the ground, resulting in quite a bit of time wasted, which should let you catch up. Defence Although Red Shells are more of an offensive item, they too can be used for defence, much like the Green Shells. Unfortunately, Red Shells don’t appear nearly as often as Green Shells do. To use this tactic, press and hold the R or Z button and the shell will stay behind your kart, shielding you from Red Shells and Green Shells. Just so you know, if you get triple Red Shells, you don’t have to hold them behind you. However, Red Shells and sometimes Green Shells can get through triple Red Shells so watch out. Finally, Red Shells can only protect you from Green Shells and other Red Shells, they CAN’T protect you from Blue Shells or most other offensive item in the game. However, you can, if you’re so inclined, fire a Red Shell at a Banana to get rid of it. It’s a waste of a shell most of the time, but can save the race for you other times. BLUE SHELLS ----------- Firing Forward: Blue Shells behave a lot like Red Shells, with a few small differences. First off, Blue Shells home in on karts much like Red Shells do, but instead of going after the kart in front of you, Blue Shells will automatically go after the kart in first place. As an added bonus, Blue Shells will hit anyone silly enough to get in it’s way before it hits the kart in first place. Unfortunately, these shells are also prone to go into the wall if you fire them during a long turn, but are otherwise good items to have. LIGHTNING --------- =============================================================================== Characters =============================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Lightweights (Peach, Toad, Yoshi) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Middleweights (Mario, Luigi) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Heavyweights (Wario, Donkey Kong, Bowser) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Courses =============================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mushroom Cup -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This cup is the easiest of four cups in the game. The courses here are straightforward and actually for the most part, straight, no tight corners or tricky sections here. Aside from a few minor problems in a few of the stages, you should have a easy time with these courses - especially beginners. Luigi Raceway Moo Moo Farm Koopa Troopa Beach Kalamari Desert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flower Cup -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toad’s Turnpike Frappe Snowland Choco Mountain Mario Raceway -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Star Cup -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wario Stadium Sherbert Land Royal Raceway Bowser’s Castle -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Cup -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DK‘s Jungle Parkway Yoshi’s Valley Banshee Boardwalk Rainbow Road =============================================================================== Secrets =============================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Course ghosts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luigi Raceway Time to activate Luigi: 1:52:00 Time to beat Luigi: DON’T REMEMBER Mario Raceway Time to activate Mario: 1:30:00 Time to beat Mario: DON’T REMEMBER Royal Raceway Time to activate Peach: 2:40:00 Time to beat Peach: DON’T REMEMBER -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mirror Mode/Alternate Title Screen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once you finish all of the cups with gold on 150cc mode, the game will first go to an ending then when you reset the game a new mode will appear. Every track in the game will be reversed, making some of them much harder, but all the carts still run at 150cc. When mirror mode is enabled, the title screen will automatically change. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best Times -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the title screen, press the R button and your best time for the courses will appear. =============================================================================== Closing =============================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Words -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This guide took awhile to complete so I’d appreciate it if you emailed me if you're planning on using it as part of another guide or anything along those lines. After that point, I don't really care how this guide is used, as long as it isn't used for any monetary related purposes. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, praise and criticism should be sent to . If you're looking for specific information and it isn't in this guide, please tell me about it and I'll remedy the problem as soon as possible. Thanks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nintendo for creating this wonderful game. David Wonn, who was kind enough to let me use his shortcuts/glitches. And thank you for reading. End of Document________________________________________________________________