- NA release: 13th November 2000
- PAL release: 1st December 2000
- JP release: 21st January 2001
- Developer: Rare
- Publisher: Nintendo
- N64 Magazine Score: 80%
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
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.
Europe
Japan
North America
N64 Games by Date
1997: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1998: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1999: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2000: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
Mickey’s Speedway USA is a strange game in Rare’s catalogue. It’s clearly not a game that was considered a priority within the company, but it’s well made and worth a play for its intended target audience (kids).
In many respects, it’s a callback to their NES days where they would pump out licensed games on the regular; that simultaneously were well made, but not given too much time and money poured in them. I suspect in this case, it was a tie-in with the Gameboy game, rather than the other way around; as there was a previous Mickey racing game (Mickey’s Racing Adventure) based on their previous RC-Pro Am games that pre-dates Mickey’s Speedway USA N64.
This game had absolutely no soul, for lack of a better word. It was just so bland.
I had this for a little bit but never really played it. I kinda regret selling it but it just seemed to be missing the magic of Diddy Kong Racing 🥲