25 Best N64 Racing Games

Roadsters is a racer about money as much as speed. It has 10 tracks with changing weather, and the best driver does not always win. Betting and trading cars is part of the game, and the garage is full of licensed models from makers like Lotus next to look-alikes from imaginary manufacturers.

There are three divisions. The third is the easiest and cheapest to enter, and the first is the hardest, so you work your way up as the prize money comes in. Players remember the upgrades and the customising, and say it kept them busy for a long time. It is not the prettiest racer on the list, but winning here means saving up for a better ride, and that loop is more addictive than it sounds.

In Penny Racers you need a top-three finish to move on, and you dodge your rivals' missiles with a barrel roll. Win a race and you get to be merciless: you steal parts from the cars that lost, engine and armour upgrades included.

A Track Create mode lets you design your own courses, which is a lot to ask of a cartoon racer and it delivers anyway. Players enjoy it, and it keeps getting added to lists of N64 racers by people who did not expect to like it as much as they did. It is silly, fast and a bit rough, and that is the charm. If you have a friend who likes weird racers, this is the one to dig out.

Nintendo's snowboarder has you control one of five riders from a third-person view and trick your way across eight levels. Shigeru Miyamoto produced it, and it won an Interactive Achievement Award. It is on our sports list too, at #8.

Nintendo wanted it out in Japan while there was still snow on the ground, so the European release waited for the winter. Its sequel, 1080° Avalanche, came to the GameCube in November 2003 and never matched the original. Carving down a mountain at full speed and landing a tidy trick at the bottom is the whole appeal, and it still feels good.

Re-Volt is a radio-controlled car racing game from Acclaim, and it first came out in 1999. It is for people who just want a funky arcade racer, with bright, colourful tracks and tiny cars that fly around a full-size world.

Finishing first in a cup unlocks more levels and cars, and Battle Tag is a multiplayer mode where everyone chases a star hidden in the level. Players still bring it up whenever someone asks about N64 racers. The cars are tiny and everyday places turn into racetracks, which makes it chaotic in the best way.

Rally across America with Mickey and friends on 20 courses, from Alaska to the Everglades. The reason for the trip is that the Weasels have dognapped Pluto, and Ludwig Von Drake's wacky weapons help you track them down.

It came out on the N64 in November 2000 to mixed reviews, and a Game Boy Color version followed in March 2001. Unused tracks from Diddy Kong Racing and Jet Force Gemini are still in its files. Players say it still gets little attention, and most people have never heard of it. It is a cheerful kart racer for anyone who wants that classic party feel with Disney characters, and it is easy to get into.

It came out on the N64 in 1999 with 40 cars based on Hot Wheels toys, plus Kyle Petty's 1999 NASCAR stock car, which Hot Wheels sponsored. The soundtrack features music from artists like Primus.

You pull off stunts in mid-air to fill your turbo meter. Not every car is right, though: the Thunder Roller is the wrong colour and the wrong shape. Players keep naming it among the racers they loved on the console, and plenty of them call it underrated. It is a toy-box racer in the best sense, full of stunts and ways to show off, and it is far better than the licence suggests.

This one is all about wrecking the other cars. You race on 12 tracks and score points for smashing your opponents, and there is no lapping system, so a race ends when everyone else is wrecked or you are. Up to four people can play at once.

Looking Glass Studios built it, the team behind the PC game Thief: The Dark Project, and it was released in North America on 30 September 1999. Critics at the time thought it arrived late next to the PlayStation original. Players love it anyway, and bomb tag with friends is the mode they bring up. The fun is in causing carnage with friends, and the pace picks up fast once the cars start to fall apart.

Ridge Racer 64 gives N64 owners a chance to jump into the world of Ridge Racer. Next to its own exclusive tracks it has races from the PlayStation games, with improved graphics and a new set of cars.

Reviews were split. One critic called the multiplayer a disappointment but said solo racers would want it, and another said it barely manages to keep up in the crowded world of N64 racing. Players have a soft spot for it, and some love the drifting physics enough to call it a great unknown game. If you like drifting around corners at silly speeds, this is where the N64 gave you that arcade feeling.

Excitebike 64 is the sequel to the 1984 NES Excitebike and the first 3D game in the series. You grind through mud and launch off jumps, and the game is also home to a 3D remake of the original called Excite 3D.

Enter the cheat UGLYMUGS and the credits show a group photo of the developers. Hidden in the ROM, a message asks you not to copy the game, because that would be rude. It was re-released on Nintendo Classics in 2023. Players keep pushing it up their lists, and many say it deserves a higher spot. Dirt bikes, big jumps and a mix of races and tricks give it plenty of replay value.

Overdrive supports high-resolution graphics with the Expansion Pak and has music from the band Grindstone. In the main mode you race through six seasons, each with more races and faster cars, and you start every race at the back of the grid.

The computer cars at the front often start a third of the way around the first lap, so you spend a lot of time catching up. Players enjoy it, and some say it still holds up. It is a straightforward arcade racer, and it works best when you just want to jump in and drive.

Extreme-G 2 is the sequel to Extreme-G and keeps the formula: futuristic racing with an emphasis on speed, lots of weapons and an F-Zero style energy shield. Push hard enough and you break the sound barrier, where you hear a sonic boom and all the game audio drops out.

It was followed by Extreme-G 3. Fans of the series rate it as highly as the first game, and some of them say they got it as a random Christmas or birthday gift as a kid and fell for the high-octane sci-fi bike racing. If you liked the first game, this is more of the same speed with a few new tricks.

Wipeout 64 is the third game in the series and still the only one published on a Nintendo console. By then its developer, Psygnosis, had been owned for five years by Sony. It takes place in 2098, one year after the previous game, and you fly hovercrafts, pick up weapons and try to finish first.

Critics praised its individuality, its graphics, its extra tracks and craft and its track design, though they argued over whether it was a true sequel. Players feel it gets overlooked on the N64, and a few say it is better than the racers everyone talks about. It is the odd one out in a series that mostly lived on PlayStation, and that alone makes it worth a go.

The game is set in Snow Town, and the story follows the daily lives of the kids and the ridiculous attempts of Damien to sabotage them. It plays almost the same as the first game, with four new characters joining five who return, nine in all.

Damien starts causing trouble after the kids completely ignore his plan to conquer Snow Town. Its PAL version only came out in Australia. Players rate it nearly as high as the first game, and plenty call it their favourite racing game on the console. It builds on the first game with more modes and more charm, and the battles are where friends end up arguing.

You race personal watercraft around buoys and over jump ramps, and the waves do the rest. The idea started out as F-Zero on water with transforming boats, until Shigeru Miyamoto felt it would not stand out from other games and the boats became Jet Skis.

Critics loved the controls and the water, and the Virtual Console release swapped its Kawasaki and Fanta ads for Wii and DS Lite banners. It is easy to pick up and has real depth for people who keep playing, and Codemasters cited it as an influence on Colin McRae Rally. Players say it still holds up. The waves push your craft around so that every lap feels a little different, which is rare for a game this old.

Road safety is not the point. You race motorcycles and slow the other riders down by punching or clubbing them, and the pack brawling is intense, with grudges and alliances that build up over a race. There are new weapons and moves too, including the dreaded spoke jam.

Up to four players can take part, across modes like Deathmatch, Cop Mode and Tag. It is the loudest, meanest racer on the console, and it is not trying to be anything else. Players insist it still holds up, and say it is great with friends. Think of it as a street fight on two wheels, with a finish line somewhere in the middle.

Boss Game Studios made Top Gear Rally as a follow-up to Kemco's original Top Gear. In the championship you complete six seasons of two to four races, and a physics engine with a working suspension reacts to the rough terrain under you.

Critics praised the graphics and the fluid yet challenging driving, and picked on the weak sound effects and the limited multiplayer. It reached Windows in 1999 as Boss Rally. Players remember the shortcuts and unlockables, and the way one bump at the wrong speed sends you tumbling down a mountain. It is a rally game that rewards patience, and you feel every mistake in your hands.

Snowboard Kids takes the usual snowboarding game and adds Shots, special weapons for attacking the other riders, plus items. Many reviewers compared it to the Mario Kart series. The nine main courses include an amusement park and a desert, which are not where most people go snowboarding.

There are six playable characters, and the last, Shinobin, only unlocks after you finish all nine tracks. Lani Minella is the only voice actor in the English version, and she voices most of the cast. Players love it, and some are still waiting for another game. The cartoon look and pick-up-and-play weapons make it a good party game for people who do not take racing seriously.

Boss Game Studios made World Driver Championship for Midway, one of the last racing simulations on the N64. It pushed the console hard with custom code, which bought it a long draw distance and less need for fog or pop-up. The race tracks cover ten locations, from Hawaii to Kyoto.

The soundtrack of original rock and heavy metal was written by Zack Ohren. Critics complained about the driving physics, the unlicensed cars and the sound. Players do not mind, and call it the closest thing the console had to Gran Turismo. If you want a racer that takes itself seriously on the N64, this is the one to look for.

Extreme-G is a futuristic racer with an emphasis on speed, lots of weapons and an F-Zero style energy shield that regenerates. The Extreme Contest runs through three championships, from Atomic with four tracks up to Meltdown with the full set of 12, and you have to finish first in each one to move on.

It came out on the N64 in 1997 and was a commercial success even in a crowded year for racers. It led to a run of sequels, starting with Extreme-G 2. Players still love it, especially the soundtrack and the intense racing. It is fast, loud and a little reckless, which is exactly what you want from a future racer.

LucasArts built this around the podrace in The Phantom Menace. You take the controls as Anakin Skywalker or any one of over 20 pod racers, and Jake Lloyd and Lewis MacLeod, who played Anakin and Sebulba in the film, voice them again. Push an engine too long and it catches fire and explodes.

Completing races earns money, and higher finishes pay more. The game holds the Guinness record as the best-selling sci-fi racing game, with worldwide sales of 3.12 million units as of 2011. One player made the case against kart racers: "strategically ramming your opponent’s (preferably a sibling’s) pod racer into a wall and watching them explode is far more satisfying than hitting their go-kart with a shell". Players keep adding it to their lists. It catches the speed of the film better than most movie games ever managed, and it feels like being strapped to two huge engines.

Paradigm Entertainment and EA Canada made Beetle Adventure Racing! for Electronic Arts, and every car is a Volkswagen New Beetle, which had come out the year before. You find shortcuts and use nitro boosts to finish first and move on, and the tracks range from street to off-road.

Smash a Cheat crate and you unlock a menu that hides an Easter egg of the developers' faces. The Alien Beetle's horn says "We come in peace". Australia got its own version, HSV Adventure Racing, where the only change is the cars. Critics liked the graphics and the level design but wanted more tracks and cars. Players call it one of the most overlooked racers on the console. It rewards poking around off the main road, and the whole thing feels like a theme park ride you are allowed to crash.

F-Zero X is the sequel to the 1990 F-Zero and the first one in 3D. It is you against 29 other machines at over 1,000 km/h, with four players at once, and you can wreck the other racers to knock them out. The Joker Cup opens on a copy of Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road, and the track Big Foot opens exactly like At Doom's Gate from Doom.

Critics praised the speed, the number of courses and vehicles, and the steady frame rate, and criticised the lack of graphical detail. Players who race alone point straight at it: the higher difficulties are a real challenge, and the music is a big part of why. It is a game you work at, and the reward is a sense of speed that few racers on the console match.

Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA is the second game in the Rush series, after San Francisco Rush. It is known for the detail in its recreated cities, which include New York, Hawaii, Las Vegas and Alcatraz, and for its fast arcade-style physics. It has a two-player mode and Rumble Pak support.

F-Zero X was named slightly more often, but more players backed the picks for Rush 2, so it takes #3. Players remember its Stunt map most, and playing it with a friend or a sibling. San Francisco Rush 2049 started in arcades, so it stays off. It is the arcade racer on this list most about showing off, so stunts and big jumps are the point.

Mario Kart 64 is the second Mario Kart, after 1992's Super Mario Kart, and the first one in 3D, although the characters and items are still flat, pre-rendered sprites. There are three engine sizes, 50cc, 100cc and 150cc, and shells, bananas and lightning bolts to mess with your rivals. With 9.87 million copies sold it is the second best-selling game on the N64.

In the Japanese version the announcer is not Mario but the announcer from Wave Race 64. The bus driver on Toad's Turnpike looks like Diddy Kong, but the Japanese website says it is a Ukiki in a hat. It joined Nintendo Classics in 2021, and many players still call it the greatest, especially with friends. It is not the deepest racer here, but few games are as good at turning a room of friends into rivals.

Diddy Kong Racing is set on Timber's Island, where Diddy and his friends take on the intergalactic wizard pig Wizpig in a series of races. There are five worlds with four tracks each, and you can drive a car, a hovercraft or a plane. It started out as an adventure game called Wild Cartoon Kingdom.

Rare shifted the focus to Diddy Kong after delays to Banjo-Kazooie left it needing a stronger character. It sold 4.8 million copies and is the eighth best-selling game on the N64. The Frosty Village music sounds a lot like a faster Winter Wonderland. A remake came out on the DS in early 2007. Players love its mix of adventure and racing, and plenty rate it above Mario Kart when playing alone. There is a lot to explore between the races, and it never feels like a chore.