Mario Kart 64 (N64, 1996)
This is going to start harsh for a game that’s a lot of people’s sentimental fave, but time has not been kind to this game. Where once it was a pioneer of 3D multiplayer gaming, now it just looks like shit and has a surprisingly high number of empty, boring tracks.
As we’re going to find as we get further into this list, though, even the weakest Mario Kart games (by 21st century standards, anyway) can often be saved by moments of inspirational course design, and while like I’ve just said many of Mario Kart 64’s are a snooze fest, when it shines—like Toad’s Turnpike—it shines.
Also, this is the game that introduced the blue shell. We weren’t sure whether to praise or punish the game for that, so in very un-blue shell fashion it ends up dropping it in the middle of the pack.
