Mario Kart 64 Greatest Hits

I never thought that they would actually be selling this CD at Electronics Boutique. What a great surprise... for a short while at least. More on that later. As the name of the CD implies, this album is a collection of the best music straight from the ultra-cool Mario Kart 64. What we have here is a great selection of tunes that are energetic and electrifying, but softened up with humorous paths in between. Almost all the tracks are humorous, except for some which seem to sound unmusical like "DK's Jungle Park" and "Koopa Castle", or heroic like "Rainbow Road" and "Victory Lap". The composer, Kenta Nagata, deserves great credit for composing some of the most impressive music I have ever heard.

However, despite all of the CD's credits, it is ultimately unsatisfying. The problem does not lie with the music, even though some tracks aren't exactly memorable, but with the fact that this CD is entitled "Greatest Hits". The result is only half-an-hour of game music on the CD. Bummer. Some of the track titles are incorrect in terms of describing the music, and there is not *any* linear information of who composed, recorded, or performed the music on this CD. These are the same faults of other Nintendo domestic CDs. There's another Mario Kart 64 CD called "Race Tracks" that has the complete soundtrack. You Mario Kart fans out there would probably be better off steering in that direction.

If you remember the music for the first Mario Kart it was a collection of sound effects. The folks at Nintendo have actually made music for this one! I was actually surprised at how cool the music for this was. When you are playing the game you never really notice it because it's just in the background too much... but trust me, it is good. For the most part the songs are upbeat and each with a theme such as a tropical island or a city highway. Overall a good effort for the Nintendo 64.