A new homebrew romhack for Mario Kart 64 was just released called “Amped Up”. The game is certainly still a work in progress, but it offers new tracks and a widescreen mode! You can download the bps patch here: https://mega.nz/folder/9BB32Cib#ISfFcu6hrF7CCl-2FTHaAA
While the game does work on real hardware with a ROM cart, it requires an Expansion Pak. Also, the work-in-progress nature of the hack seems to stamd out more on real hardware, as some courses drop frames, have graphical glitches and the first course “SMW Raceway R/T” sometimes locks up when starting. If you have an N64 and a ROM cart, it’s definitely worth trying though, just for fun.
People seem to be having better luck with emulation and as long as the emulator supports memory extension, it should perform okay. Also, the widescreen mode might work well with emulation on a 16:9 TV.
While I’d normally not get as excited about a WIP hack, there aren’t many Mario Kart 64 hacks available. I feel like that’s a game many people might be interested in playing new versions of, so I wanted to share it with everyone. Here’s more information, right from the readme:
How to play custom courses:
- Go into “Time Trial” mode.
- Start a random stock course and exit out via “Course Select” (Not required, but sometimes it won’t load properly otherwise).
- In the course selection menu, press the R button. The header image will now change to “Custom Set 1”.
- Choose the course you want to play from the first two cups.
Grand Prix mode is not officially supported, but there is a workaround which lets you play a single custom course against the CPU.
After finishing that race, the trophy sequence will play and you are forced to reset the game.
How to play Grand Prix mode on custom courses:
1. Add this GameShark code for the debug menu: 8818ED EF0002
2. Start the custom course you want to race on via the Time Trial method as stated above
3. Exit out of the course via “Quit” (This is important, don’t choose any other option here)
4. Back in the main menu, choose GP mode and enter the character select screen
3. Do not choose a character and instead back out until you are at the title screen again
4. On the title screen, press your GameShark key (varies for each emulator)
5. The debug menu will pop up. Leave every option as it is, except for the character, which you want to play as
6. Press A or Start and the Grand Prix race will now begin
