Mario Kart 64 is an excellent multiplayer game and a great entry in the MK franchise.
When it comes to a story, there actually isn't a story in any of these Mario Kart games. It's just Mario and his friends racing each other through a variety of Mario-themed tracks on Go-Karts. Being that the series wasn't at Mario Kart Wii yet, you only ride go-karts. To help you, item boxes are laid throughout the course to give you both offensive and defensive items. Most of them are defensive attacks, like the 'always pain in the ass' Red shell and the even more annoying and unavoidable blue shells, but there is also the always valuable mushrooms that give you a speed boost.
Mario Kart 64 has four different forms of gameplay on this game. The first, Grand Prix, has the player selecting a character and racing through a set of 4 tracks in hopes of trying to win a trophy. However, unlike other MK games, if you don't finish in the Top 4, the Prix is over and you have to restart it. Time Trial is very simple as it is just the player's character driving on a selected track trying to set a record on the track. After completing a track once, you can attempt to break your own record either on your own or in a race against a ghost form of your previous run. If you're playing with 1-3 other friends, you can race them in split-screen multiplayer format. There is also a battle mode which pits 2-4 players against one another. The goal is to hit your opponents three times to drain all of their 'health', which is represented by balloons.
In terms of characters, there are only 8: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, DK, Wario, and Bowser. They vary in weight, speed, and acceleration. Mario and Luigi are balanced middleweights. Peach, Yoshi, and Toad are lightweights and have quick acceleration. Finally, Wario, Bowser, Donkey Kong are heavyweights with responsive steering. DK and Wario replaced Koopa Troopa and DK Junior from the SNES Mario Kart and early screenshots showed that a Magikoopa was supposedly playable until replaced by DK in the final version.
With 4 different cups in the Grand Prix, there are 16 different tracks in this game and each Grand Prix offers 3 different speed levels (which as far as I know are represented by engine classes). After winning each cup on the 150cc level, you unlock Mirror mode, which allows players to race through the 16 tracks in reverse.
Now, here are my personal Top 5 favorite tracks in this game in no particular order:
1. Yoshi's Valley: With all of this track's pathways and roads, it is never shown where everyone is in terms of placing. It is only determined after you finish the race. That's honestly why I like it because you always wonder what position you in and you'll never know until the race is finished.
2. DK's Jungle Parkway: This is one I remember playing a lot and being that this is the only jungle track like this on any console Mario Kart game, it is done pretty well.
Now the other 3 are basically the ones that appear in pretty much every Mario Kart game…
3. The road course of MK64 (Toad's Turnpike): Although I've never played the mirror version of this track, I do know that this track ups its already high difficulty seeing how you are driving right towards the cars/trucks that are also driving right towards you. Although I guess I didn't like the fact that the item boxes are on the side of the track.
4. Bowser's Castle: With many 90-degree turns and a variety of hazards the N64 Bowser's Castle is, in my mind, one of the finest Bowser's Castle stages in the franchise. Of course, you can't forget Marty.
5. Rainbow Road: You can't deny that whether you love or hate this Rainbow Road tracks, you always have to admit that they were well constructed. This Rainbow Road is the only one in the franchise to have walls guarding you from falling off the track. It's a good length course, and of course you can't forget that infamous shortcut.
The control of this game works out pretty well for the N64. Overall, this game is fine in almost every category. When it comes to problems, I only have 2 problems with this game. The first one is only minor, being that Turnpike item location problem I mentioned earlier. The main problem I have is the fact that if you have to restart a Grand Prix if you don't finish in the Top 4 in one race. Thankfully, later games wouldn't have that problem.
In all, Mario Kart 64 is a fine entry in the franchise and no doubt the best multiplayer game for those who don't hang out on the online gaming network.