''Mickey's Speedway USA'' is a

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

racing game for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...

and

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

, developed by Rareware and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...

under license from

Disney Interactive Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversaw various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company. History 1995–1996: Formation and beginnings In December 1994, Disney announced that it wa ...

. It is styled after other kart racers such as ''

Mario Kart 64 is a kart racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was also released for the iQue Player in China in 2003. The game is the second main entry in the ''Mario Kart'' series and is the successor to ''Super Mari ...

'' and '' Diddy Kong Racing'', and features characters from the

Mickey Mouse universe The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional universe, fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving The Walt Disney Company, Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto (Disney), Pluto, Goofy, and ...

racing across the United States. It is Rare and Nintendo's second Disney-themed racing game following ''

Mickey's Racing Adventure ''Mickey's Racing Adventure'' is a racing video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color in 1999. It was followed by ''Mickey's Speedway USA'' in 2001. Gameplay ''Mickey's Racing Adventure'' is a single-player raci ...

'' (1999).

Gameplay

''Mickey's Speedway USA'' features various characters from the Mickey Mouse universe racing in karts to complete laps around a track as quickly as possible. Scattered along each track are tokens that increase racers' maximum speed, boosters which will give racers a quick burst of acceleration, and items that can be used to interfere with opponents, such as baseballs and paint cans. The Nintendo 64 (N64) version features gameplay similar to Rare's previous N64 racing game '' Diddy Kong Racing'', while the Game Boy Color (GBC) version uses a top down gameplay style similar to its predecessor, ''

''. The game includes a Grand Prix mode, a time trial mode, a practice mode, and

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

racing modes in both the N64 and GBC versions, along with a multiplayer battle mode on N64. Completing each Grand Prix on different difficulties will unlock new characters, cheats, and other features. The game features 20 different race tracks spread across five Grands Prix, all themed after famous American cities and locations such as

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, Washington, D.C., and the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

; the selection of tracks slightly differs between versions. An additional bonus track can be unlocked in the N64 version via a cheat code and in the GBC version by linking up to a copy of ''Mickey's Racing Adventure'' via the system's

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of Light, visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from ...

port. Six playable characters are included in both versions of the game. These default characters are paired in statistics:

Mickey Mickey is a given name and nickname, almost always masculine and often a short form (hypocorism) of Michael, and occasionally a surname. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name or nickname Men * Mickey Andrews (bor ...

and Donald have average statistics, Minnie and

Daisy Daisy, Daisies or DAISY may refer to: Plants * ''Bellis perennis'', the common daisy, lawn daisy or English daisy, a European species Other plants known as daisy * Asteraceae, daisy family ** '' Euryops chrysanthemoides'', African bush daisy ** ' ...

focus on handling and acceleration, and

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

and Pete have a concentration in speed and quickness. Three additional characters, consisting of Dewey, Louie, and

Ludwig Von Drake Professor Ludwig Von Drake is a cartoon character created in 1961 by The Walt Disney Company. He is the paternal uncle of Donald Duck. He was first introduced as the presenter (and singer of " The Spectrum Song") in the cartoon ''An Adventure in ...

, can be unlocked in the N64 version through completing objectives in Grand Prix mode; a fourth character, Huey, can only be unlocked by connecting to the GBC version through the

Transfer Pak The Transfer Pak is a removable accessory for the Nintendo 64 controller that fits into its expansion port. When connected, it allows for the transfer of data between supported Nintendo 64 (N64) games and Game Boy or Game Boy Color (GBC) games. ...

Synopsis

Mickey discovers his dog,

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

, has been kidnapped by the

Weasels Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slend ...

for his diamond collar. He calls Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy to help search for him, while Pete intercepts the phone call and follows behind. Professor Ludwig von Drake builds race cars for the group to help them search faster, and they travel across America following a series of postcards left by the Weasels. After a final race, the Weasels are found, caught, and sent to jail. Mickey happily reunites with Pluto, revealing the supposed diamonds on his collar are simply glass beads from one of Minnie's old necklaces, and the group heads home.

Reception

The Nintendo 64 version received "average" reviews according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. Matthew Byrd, writing for

Den of Geek ''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a bi-annual magazine. History ''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ...

in 2017, said: "To be honest, ''Mickey's Speedway USA'' doesn't quite measure up to the likes of ''Diddy Kong Racing'', ''Mario Kart 64'', or '' Crash Team Racing''. Its courses are not nearly as inventive (many are just basic recreations of US locations), its power-ups are a little slim, its A.I. is perpetually stuck in first, and its roster is a bit thin (...) utRare still managed to produce an engagingly charming and more than functional kart racing title that's only notable flaws are tied into the fact that it didn't surpass what came before it".

References

External links

Gameplay

Synopsis

Reception

See also

References

External links