A Mario Kart clone with Mickey Mouse sounds like it will be a cheap cash in, but this was developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, so you should expect high quality. The end result is exactly a hybrid of that: a high quality cheap cash in. Rare took on the job to secure extra funding for future games (something that was the cause of Rare looking at a potential buyer), and while you can tell that they were keeping costs low, the Rare brilliance still shines through to make a decent kart racer.

The biggest issue with Mickey’s Speedway USA is that there isn’t much to it. While Rare developed the brilliant Diddy Kong Racing, this is very clearly based on Mario Kart 64. There’s a hop and powerslide (with the slight difference that, instead of a boost, long powerslides make you spin out), the weapons are near-identical copies and come in very similar item boxes, and it has the same battle mode. The biggest difference are the Mickey rings you collect on the course – the first 10 will increase your speed, just like Super Mario Kart.

The courses are loosely based on various locations in the USA, and are rather bland and unmemorable, as well as being very wide and open. The graphics look nice, even if the levels are sparse, with a nice mix of 2D and 3D making for detailed karts. There’s also a decent amount of voice lines, with Mickey and co. apologising to each other and acting shocked when an ineffective weapon makes contact. The core driving is well done, and the game is well made, it just seems that not many ideas went into it.

Fun

So why isn’t Mickey’s Speedway a Star Game? For one thing, as its toughest, it’s challenging for all the wrong reasons. The CPU karts race something approaching the perfect lap every time, which means that a single mistake – even as far as a split-second error with the accelerator on the start line – will lose you the race. And while Mario Kart might have been similarly criticised for its cheating, turbo-boosted competitors, at least it handed you some decent weapons to fire up their backsides. Mickey’s pathetic collection of baseballs, toy aeroplanes and globs of green goo give you next to no chance of reclaiming pole. Ironically, Mickey’s Speedway’s other major problem is that your opponents seem to fine the later stages even harder going than you, making winning a cinch on what are supposed to be the toughest circuits.

Mark Green, N64 Magazine #50. Review Score: 80%

Remake or remaster?

It would be good on a Mickey collection. It’s currently the only N64 game from Rare that has not been re-released in any way.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play Mickey’s Speedway USA.