A
series of great games for the
Nintendo. There's Micro Machines on the original
NES,
Micro Machines 2 for the SNES, and Micro Machines
64 for the
N64.
All feature roughly the same good gameplay: race little cars around tracks that you could almost set up around your house. There are courses that take place on the kitchen table, dodging stale cheerios and sticky jam. There are tracks on the beach, in the garden, on the dinner table, on a pool table, and many more.
When racing against your friends, instead of the lame split-screen mode featured in many multiplayer console games, all the cars are on the screen at once. If lag behind, and hit the back end of the screen, you are eliminated. The last car left on the screen scores a point, and everyone is put back on the course again for another go. The first player to accumulate a set number of points is the winner. (Actually, for four players, you lose two points for being the first off the screen, one for being second, gain a point for third, and the remaining player gains two points)
There are a lot of things that make Micro Machines 64 great. The tracks are creative and fun, and their boundaries are open to interpretation. Discovering a nice shortcut can often help you leave your opponents in the dust. Another great feature is the handful of weapons you can pick up. One of them is a giant hammer which you can use to smash the ground a few inches in front of you, obliterating an unlucky racer. The hammer makes a great pounding sound, and always inspires fear in others and maniacal laughter from its wielder.
The gameplay is fast and furious, and every time you sit down to play against some friends, there's bound to be many memorable moments. If that's not enough for you, get this: you can play with eight players. Yes, there are only four controllers; you play with a teammate, the two of you sharing a controller, half of the buttons being enough to steer your car, the other half used for his. It actually works decently, and with eight cars on the screen (to start out), a sort of wonderful mayhem takes place.
In conclusion, no matter what generation Nintendo console you own, Micro Machines is sure to provide you with goodness.