The Story of Mario Kart 64: A Super Racer and Timeless N64 Classic

Though starting in 1992, the Mario Kart series didn't shift into overdrive until 1996(Chapter Markers and more below…)

Episode information
GTV 176 “The Story of Mario Kart 64" Season 9 Episode 16
Original Airdate: August 2, 2024
Produced December July 17-26, 2024
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, all paid for with Gainful Employment™ while riding the train to work and home, back and forth, day after day, and lunch breaks too!

0:00 GTV ID: The Best Time Possible Where Available
0:03 Open: The True Foundation
0:53 Act: 1 The Origins of Mario Kart
05:42 CM 1: Mario Kart 64 (Japan, 1996)
06:14 Act 2: The Road to 1996
15:01 CM 2: Mario Kart 64 (U.S., 1997)
15:33 Act 3: Victory Laps
22:20 CM 3: Mario Kart 64 (Australia, 1997)
22:52 Epilogue: Sometimes, It Takes Two Tries

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Partial Transcript
The Mario Kart series debuted on August 27th, 1992. The original game, Super Mario Kart had its beginnings in exploring the technical possibilities of the Super Famicom. In the nearly 2 years that Nintendo’s 16-Bit hardware had been on the market, a number of games that pushed the boundaries of what was possible on screen had come to pass. Two of the earliest games that broke new ground were PilotWings and F-Zero. Fans at home marveled at the graphics of these games as playfields rotated in a 3-Dimensional space, while objects scaled in and out.

Pilotwings wasn’t much more than a technical demo. Though there were clear goals, it was not a very action oriented game. F-Zero had a level of difficulty above what the average Nintendo gamer would expect. As well, both games were one player. Along with Super Mario World, Nintendo’s initial 16-Bit offerings gave no option for simultaneous 2-player action. This led Shigeru Miyamoto, who produced all three of these games to create something that filled in those gaps, while still being a technical showcase.

The final result was Super Mario Kart! A two player game that was simple to pick up and play, great for quick sessions with a friend, and most importantly, very fun!

Rather than high speed racers, Super Mario Kart used slow moving go-karts, traveling around themed courses that resembled stages from Super Mario World. Eight characters were playable, all of them from the Mario series! Some were slow to start but could reach a high top speed, while others had great handling. Keeping with the Mario theme, coins and power-ups could be collected! These can help the player gain an advantage to secure a win!

Most importantly, 2-players could enjoy the game at the same time. With an amazing rotating point of view for both players. Known in Nintendo circles as “Mode 7 Graphics”

One of the major technical obstacles that Nintendo, and others, have faced time and again is that once a “next-gen” hardware set is finished and released, that machine is frozen in time, with no real way to improve it. The only thing to do, is work on the next “next-gen” kit, and go through the cycle all over again.