7 Cool Mario Kart 64 Facts

The Mario Kart franchise is one of the best selling video game franchises of all time! What makes it so popular? I guess it’s Mario, colourful and outright awesome! Anyway I digress, like most Mario Kart fans I spent a lot longer than I care to admit playing the 64 version of it. But how much do you really know about this game? Take a stroll with us as we take a look at 7 interesting facts about Mario Kart 64!

Jump to the end for video form!

Starting with Number 7 we have the – Kalimari Desert Shortcut

Despite what you may think, and the instruction manual suggests, the supposed shortcut through the train tunnel is actually not a short cut at all and takes longer than the regular course route! When you factor in not hitting the train as well it really doesn’t become worth it!

Number 6 – Thwomp’s laughter

It might surprise you to hear that Thwomp’s laughter is actually a slowed down version of Wario’s laugh! If you listen to the track below you can hear Wario’s laugh slowed down to reach Twomp’s laughter!

Number 5 – Moh Moh Farm in Japan

Because the onomatopoeia of a Cow’s noise is pronounced as Moh in Japan the famous track Moo Moo farm has a different name in the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64!

Number 4 – Fake Ad removal

The Japanese release of Mario Kart 64 featured a bunch of fake advertisements that parodied actual brands. When the game was released to the western audience these similarities were removed however, presumably for legal reasons.

At Number 3 we have – Mario Kart R

During the development stage of Mario Kart 64 the game was known simply as Mario Kart R! This beta version of the game had a different character selection screen look, the Boos in Banshee Boardwalk had a different appearence, the heads up display was different, item boxes were black with a coloured question mark and even the Cape feather from Super Mario Kart was included! Obviously these features didn’t make it to the final cut.

At Number 2 – Kamek got the boot!

Kamek was originally going to be a playable character in Mario Kart 64! This poor magic Koopa was eventually replaced by Donkey Kong, however you can still see him in the original player selection screen from Mario Kart R!

And finally at Number 1 we have – Blue Shell Origins

During an interview in 2011, Director of Mario Kart 64 Hideki Konno was asked to justify the introduction of the now infamous blue shell! His response through a translator was that “they wanted to create a race where everyone was in it until the end” I guess this is pretty admirable and pretty successful too given the nature of the beast. Curse you blue shells.

For those of you that prefer your Mario in video form, check out our video below!