Mario Kart 64 is terrible
Yes, I agree completely. Well, maybe not
completely but certainly to a large degree.
Mario Kart 64 has terrible handling, when you get hit you spin out for far too long, the drift is a headache and difficult to control, Red Shells aways take the shortest possible path which means most of them deliberately shoot directly at solid walls making them useless unless your target is right in front of you, it introduced the Blue Shell to Mario Kart, there was no Koopa Troopa, the tracks were all too long (they are often scaled down as part of the Retro Cups), it uses the dreadful results system that only awards points to the first four positions, and it has the worst Rainbow Road in series history.
That said, it is still an enjoyable game to play. Some of the race tracks are fun, if they are too long, like Toad's Turnpike and Yoshi Valley, and with friends it's always a treat, but just because it's enjoyable doesn't mean it's good. Watching the Street Fighter movie is enjoyable.
Mario Kart 64 enjoys what I call the
OoT Effect: it is remembered as being much better than it truly ever was by 20-something's riding a wave of 'I-miss-the-90s' nostalgia.
Mario Kart 64 is outclassed by every other
Mario Kart game save, arguably, the original.
Also, pet peeve of mine, whenever people make a joke about how you always fall off Rainbow Road they almost always accompany it with an image of the N64 Rainbow Road which is the only Rainbow Road to have guard rails along
the entire length of it. The only way to fall off that track is to get hit by something while right on the edge and bounce over, and even that happens rarely. Maybe I shouldn't let things like that bug me.
Goodnight, and God bless.