Mario Kart 64/Controls

In Mario Kart 64, it is extremely important to be familiar with all controls, including skills such as cancelling bananas and slide turns.

Basic Controls

• Accelerate/Gas (A button) - To accelerate, press and hold A. Holding A before Lakitu begins the race will make your kart spin. However, if you time it just right as the last light blinks, you will get a Mushroom boost and blast past everyone else.
• Brake (B button) - Braking is important in courses like Kalamari Desert where you need to stop or risk crashing. You can also cancel slipping on a banana by pressing B just after you run over it. If you're fast enough, a music note will appear above your character's head and although you may lose some speed, you won't slip.
• Steering (Analog) - Use the analog stick to steer. You can also slide steer by using the analog and the R button, which will be discussed below under #Slide Steering.
• Use Item (Z button/Down C button) - By hitting Z or Down C you can use a stored item that you have picked up. Single green and red shells, blue shells, single bananas and fake item bombs can be held behind your kart by holding Z/Down C (See #Items). When these items are held behind you, they provide a shield from attacks from behind, like turtle shells or other players ramming into you. (Note that doing this will not protect the first place player from getting hit by a Spikey Blue Shell.)
• Jump (R button) - By pressing R, you can hop slightly as you're driving. It is possible to hop over bombs and bananas, but timing in those cases is very important. You also use the R button during #Slide Steering.
• Pause/Menu button (Start button) - Hit the start button to pause the race, change the course/driver or quit.
• Camera change (Up C button) - You can move the camera farther back behind you, or back behind you using Up C.
• Map change (Right C button) - Press Right C to cycle through the course map, spedometer and racer position map (rectangular progress bar). The course map is a small map in the lower right corner that shows your position and other racers' positions in relation to where they are on the course. The spedometer tells you how fast you're going in km/h. The racer position map is a colored box that borders the screen (in multi-player, it goes straight between the top and bottom halves of the screen) that has large icons of each racer and displays where they are in relation to each other much better than the course map. However, it does not identify players in the course "Yoshi's Valley" due to its paths' vagueness, where it shows question marks instead.
• Music Volume control (L button) - You can lower the volume of the background music or turn it off using L.

The D-pad can be used in Mario Kart 64's menus, however, the analog can be used as well. Left C has no use.

Slide Steering

In Mario Kart 64, slide steering is an important skill to master. It can be tricky at first, but with practice anyone can do it. Slide steering is one of the main distinctions between an advanced player and a beginning or intermediate player.

Why Use Slide Steering?

The lightweight characters -- Yoshi, Toad, and Peach -- will slow down every time they turn unless you slide turn. The remaining characters will not slow down if you don't slide steer, but it can be beneficial to them anyway, as slide steering can give all players small extra boosts.

How to Slide Steer

Luigi Raceway is a good place to practice slide steering. Begin by traveling at a good speed. To begin the turn, hold the analog stick in the direction of the turn and press and hold R. If done correctly, white smoke will start coming from your tires shaped as the letters "VEEEEE". At this beginning of the slide turn, the turn will be very sharp. To control the turn, push in the opposite direction while continuing to hold R. The turn will widen. Move the analog back in the direction of the turn to sharpen the turn again and adjust where you're going.

You can also use slide steering to get small boosts. To get a boost from the turn, start the slide turn. Note the white "VEEEEE" smoke. When pushing the analog in the opposite direction of the turn (you'll be turning wide instead of sharp), push it back to the direction of the turn for a moment and then back to the opposite direction. If done right, the white "VEEEEE" smoke will turn into yellow "VEEEEE" smoke. Do this a second time, and the yellow smoke will turn orange. Remember that during all the entire slide turn, the R button must be held. After it turns orange, complete the turn and let go of the R button. Your character will say a positive cheer ("Alright!", "Let's Go!", laughing, etc) and you will get a boost of speed.