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Mario Kart 64 on PC

Nintendo 64 Mario Kart 64 running on PC through native. Supply your own copy of the game.

About the game

Kart racing on three-dimensional tracks for up to four players in split-screen, with balloon Battle mode. It is where the blue shell, which hunts the leader, first appeared.

Developer
Nintendo EAD
Publisher
Nintendo
Genre
Corrida
Original game
14 Dec 1996

How this port works

This is a native port: the game was rebuilt to run as a real PC program with no emulator in the loop. That usually means better performance, arbitrary resolution and mod support — and it is why these run well on modest hardware.

I have spaghetti, now i just need a kart

How to install

  1. 01You need your own US ROM of Mario Kart 64 — the only supported version. Check its SHA-1: 579C48E211AE952530FFC8738709F078D5DD215E.
  2. 02The ROM must be .z64. If yours is .n64, convert it with a byte-order converter first; the wrong format is the most common mistake.
  3. 03Download the release and extract every file into a folder.
  4. 04On Windows, open Spaghettify.exe and choose your ROM: it generates the mk64.o2r data file. On Linux, run the AppImage (it may need chmod +x) with zenity or kdialog installed.
  5. 05If the game crashes on start, switch the renderer to OpenGL in the settings menu or in spaghettify.cfg.json. F11 toggles fullscreen and Esc opens settings.

These projects ship no game data. Supply your own copy.

Frequently asked

Do I need the original game to play Mario Kart 64 on PC?

Yes. The project distributes no game data — you supply your own copy or dump. Every project in this scene works this way, and it is what lets them stay publicly hosted on GitHub.

What does "native" mean?

This is a native port: the game was rebuilt to run as a real PC program with no emulator in the loop. That usually means better performance, arbitrary resolution and mod support — and it is why these run well on modest hardware.

Will Mario Kart 64 run on a low-end PC?

Native ports and recompilations skip CPU emulation entirely, so they are usually far lighter than an emulator for the same console. With no published measurement for this project, though, any estimate would be guesswork — test it on your own machine.

When was Mario Kart 64 released?

The original game shipped in 1996, developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo. This PC port is from 2026.

Which systems does it support?

The current release (1.0.0) ships builds for Windows, Linux, macOS. The game originally shipped on Nintendo 64.

Is it legal to use?

The project is public and open source, maintained by HarbourMasters, and contains nothing from the commercial game. Responsibility for the game copy you use is yours — which is why the developers require you to supply your own.

Maintain this project?

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