Nostalgia: Mario Kart 64-Toad's Turnpike

Go-Karts Are Street Legal

       
        For this piece of nostalgia, I thought I would do something different. Instead of writing about a game, I'm going write about a certain level. All of the tracks in Mario Kart 64 are special and one-of-a-kind, but one track in particular is especially unique. That track is named Toad's Turnpike. This track is known for being a somewhat easy course to speed through until its played on the extra special "Mirror" mode where it becomes a chaotic battleground against you, the other racers, and the oncoming traffic. 

     
        Toad's Turnpike is the first track in the second cup known as the Flower Cup. This track is an actual road with actual cars, buses, and trucks instead of the normal go-kart tracks and dirt roads. Since you are racing on a legitimate road with actual traffic, the key to obtaining first is to weave in and out of traffic while dodging koopa shells and banana peels. On the first three difficulty settings the player races along with the traffic and the traffic becomes faster with increasing difficulty. But when the secret "Mirror" mode is unlocked, it becomes a different story. 

      
        Mirror mode switches the layout of all of the courses and has the players driving the opposite direction. Since Toad's Turnpike is basically a figure eight, nothing really changes if you drive in the opposite direction. So what changes? How about the direction of the traffic? That's exactly what happens. Toad's Turnpike eventually devolves into chaos where the winner is determined not by who is the fastest, but by who gets run over the least. It adds a layer of insanity that seems frustrating at first, but ends up being one of the most hilarious races in the game (at least when you're playing with friends, anyway). 

Regular Modes

Mirror Mode

        I think this is a precursor to the absolute craziness that is thrown into every track in Mario Kart: Double Dash. It also shows how unique and varied these tracks are when they throw you for a loop just by reversing the layout. This isn't the only track in the game that does crazy things like this, but it is probably the most surprising in that a seemingly simple course can turn into the most difficult and intense courses in the game.