Great port with only a few flaws.

User Rating: 9.3 | Mario Kart 64 N64
With Mario Kart 64, Nintendo has re-released one of my favorite childhood games. Needless to say, I was very excited to get back into the game, which I believe, is the best in the Mario Kart series.

Graphics: The graphics at the time were pretty good, but nothing amazing, and the character models look a little sloppy, but this is all stuff that you only would have noticed after playing a newer generation. Basically, they're good, but even back then they weren't AMAZING, so I gave it a 9.

Gameplay: This is where my complaints are. Being that the Classic Controller is virtually impossible to find, I've been using a Gamecube controller. While playing, I noticed that it is often difficult to fire shells, bananas and other items backwards. In this port, you have to hold down on the control stick and then fire (while still holding down). In the 64 version of the game, I remember being able to quickly flick the controller stick backwards and fire and it would work. This is a minor issue, I realize, but it does take time and often slows you down, and comes up very frequently, so it can be a major distraction.

My other issues are with Nintendo leaving features out. Namely the lack of Ghost Saves. After all I am no game programmer, but I doubt it is extremely difficult to get the Ghosts to save to either the Wii or a Wii memory card. I'm not a huge Ghost racer fan, but it hardly makes sense to remove features from a re-release, especially a seemingly simple one like this.

My final issue is the lack of online play. I have a definite fear of Nintendo failing when it comes to online, just as they did last generation. I realize that this would take a lot of time and effort, but seeing as how Mario Kart was such a huge game when it was released, something like online would dramatically boost sales for the Virtual Console version. Again, not a HUGE deal, but just think how amazing this game was when you would have a bunch of people over playing it, then think about how much fun it would be to have that ability all the time.

I give gameplay a 9.

Sound: The sound is the same as it was in the original. Again, like graphics, good, but nothing amazing. Sound gets a 9.

Value: Amazing replayability and one of the best party games ever, and with a price-tag of only $10, this game is an amazing value, that will definitely keep you occupied in the interms between any of your next-gen games. Value is only lessened by the missing features of Ghost races and online play.

Reviewer's Tilt: While it may seem like I was criticizing the game heavily, this is just because I was being very picky and expecting very much (possibly too much). Again, this is one of the greatest games of all time, and easily one of the greatest Multiplayer games of all time. If you enjoy Mario Kart, long for the nostalgia of the 64 version, and have friends to play it with, this is a must-buy.