Releases

Note: Names of the racers, items, karts, etc. were sourced from the game text, instruction manuals, and game operation cards.

Audible changes

Title screen

When the Mario Kart 64 title screen appears, each version has a different welcome message. Mario greets you with "Welcome to Mario Kart-a!" in the U.S. version, which replaced a group of kids yelling "Mario Kart-a!" in the Japanese version. Sound clips are provided below.

• Title screen welcome: "Mario Kart-a!" (Japanese version)"Welcome to Mario Kart-a!" (U.S. version)

The same voice clips are played again before the credits sequence, when no background music is playing. You can hear the BGM-free versions on our Mario Kart 64 sound clips page.

Announcer

Both versions have an announcer who helps guide you through the pre-game setup screens. The difference is that the Japanese version has a very American-sounding announcer with a voice that echoes, while Mario lends his voice to the U.S. version. Check out the MP3s below for a comparison.

• Choosing Wario for a one-player GP race: Japanese versionU.S. version

Drivers

The comparison above hints at another audio change: Luigi, Peach, Toad, and Wario have different voices in the U.S. version. The following voice clips compare what the characters say when selected on the Player Select screen.

Luigi:	Japanese version	U.S. version
Peach:	Japanese version	U.S. version
Toad:	Japanese version	U.S. version
Wario:	Japanese version	U.S. version

Visit our Mario Kart 64 sound clips collection for the rest of the driver voice clips from both versions.

Thwomp

Thwomp's laugh was created by taking Wario's laugh and slowing it down. Since Wario's voice was changed, Thwomp's laugh changed along with it. In both versions, the beginning part of Wario's "Player Select screen" laugh was used for the Thwomps.

• Thwomp's laugh: Japanese versionU.S. version
• These next clips should help you hear the transition from Wario's laugh to Thwomp's laugh. Click to hear part of Wario's laugh in three different speeds: Japanese versionU.S. version

Credits

Note that there are six people credited for "Sampling Voice" in the Japanese version, but the U.S. version lists only three people. Charles Martinet is the only person credited in both versions.

Japanese version	U.S. version

Player Select screen

As always, "Kinopio" was changed to "Toad," and "Koopa" was changed to "Bowser" for the U.S. version. "D.K." was originally abbreviated as "D. Kong" in the Japanese game. Also, the lettering on the name labels is slightly bigger in the U.S. version.

Japanese version	U.S. version

Note: Though the Japanese version has translated character names on the Player Select screen, the names are shown in Japanese on the race results and time trials records screens.

Signs of the times

Out of all the "advertisement" signs, the only one that stayed the same was the "[Shell] Shot!" sign. The following comparisions are from Luigi Raceway, but the signs appear in several courses.

The "Marioro" sign (a nice parody of the Marlboro logo) was changed to "Mario Star."

Japanese version	U.S. version

Another clever parody is the "Yoshi 1" sign, playing off of the Mobil 1 logo, red "O" and all. The U.S. version has a "YOSHI" sign with a paw print.

Japanese version	U.S. version

The "Luigip" sign is an imitation of the Agip logo. It was changed to "Luigi's" for the U.S. version.

Japanese version	U.S. version

The Nintendo logo was changed from blue to red. You'll usually see the same change on Nintendo games' boot-up screens.

Japanese version	U.S. version

The "Koopa Air" sign remained, but the colors were changed. The blue and yellow sign in the Japanese game is a parody of Goodyear's logo.

Japanese version	U.S. version

Union 64

Only found in Luigi Raceway, the orange and blue "64" ball, a takeoff of the 76 gas station ball sign, was changed to blue and white.

Japanese version	U.S. version

Despite the color change, the Luigi Raceway picture used on the menu screens still has the orange ball.

U.S. version

Moo Moo Farm

The Japanese game provides "Moh Moh Farm" as its own translation for the Moo Moo Farm course. Mooing in Japanese is "mō mō," which sounds like "moh moh," and this is one way to romanize the Japanese long "O" sound.

The farm's sign, which appears twice in the course, was remade with slightly taller letters.

Japanese version	U.S. version

Trophy ceremony

During the trophy ceremony, the game tells you what place you finished in, even if you didn't earn a trophy. The text "You are in" was changed to "You placed" and the period was removed after the ordinal number. The sentence that appears when you earn a cup also lost its punctuation.

Japanese version	U.S. version

Manual adjustments

Kalimari Desert copy-and-paste error

One cool thing about the Mario Kart 64 instruction manual is that its course maps section also shows the distance (in meters) of each course. When the manual was translated from Japanese to English, the distance of Kalimari Desert changed from 753m to 527m. No, the course itself didn't shrink; it appears that the "527m" from Moo Moo Farm on the opposite page was copied over to Kalimari Desert by mistake.

Characters

Cups and Courses

Cups

Courses

The Japanese game text displays translated course names as the racers drive up to the starting line before each round in one-player GP mode. For instance, here is Moo Moo Farm's pre-race screen:

Japanese version	U.S. version

The translations in the table below are provided by the Japanese game text, with two exceptions: We changed "Moh Moh Farm" to "Moo Moo Farm," and "Hyuudoro Lake" (Banshee Boardwalk) to "Hyūdoro Pond."

Hazards

Items