Mario Kart 64 Trading Cards

Mario #1

Back when I was initially sorting through all my cards I found a few Mario Kart 64 cards.  I don't recall where I got these cards.  My research showed that these cards were available through a Nintendo Power catalog.  I subscribed to Nintendo Power pretty much the whole time the N64 existed.  I had kept all of the magazines, maybe around 60, until a few months ago when I just had to purge them all.  I made sure to look through them all and it was a fun trip down memory lane.

I loved the Nintendo 64.  At the time I felt like it was such a revolutionary console.  Full 3D environments!  N64 games don't quite hold up anymore but Mario Kart 64 is one exception.  It was such a fun racing game and I thought all of the courses were well-balanced; except for that damn Yoshi's egg course.

I normally don't care for non-sports cards but these Mario Kart cards are an exception.  I liked the design, I liked the fact that there were 64 cards, and I liked that it was Mario Kart 64. These cards seemed to be non-existent on the internet though. I found some references here and there but I couldn't get complete information on the set.  

I don't consider any cards I collect to be "white whales" because frankly I don't chase any rare cards. I typically can't justify the expense.  However, the moment I found out about these cards I made it my mission to track down the whole set.  Naturally, eBay was my best bet.  Other than a few cards here and there, I didn't have much luck.  The only option I truly had was an unopened pack that was being offered at $99(!!).  I offered the seller $10 but that was unexpectedly declined.

Several months go by until two weeks ago when my eBay alert pops-up and says that someone is selling the whole set, in great condition!  I carefully watched the auction and as you can probably guess since you're reading this post--I won!  I thought it would take me a lot longer to find all these cards but I was in luck!

I'ma Wario, I'ma gonna win!

The set features everything you would expect: characters, items, course, and battle arena courses.

Everyone's favorite--triple red shell

Luigi tripping on a spiked mushroom

Really nice images to represent the courses:

A few more scans of the item cards:

A detailed description of the item

Question Mark?

But wait! That's not all!  The last cards are Super Secrets destined to propel you to number 1!

Telling me to power slide is neither super, nor secret.

For a non-sport set by a non-trading card company (okay, I know Nintendo initially started out as a card company) this is a solid set.  The real highlight to me is all of the card images for courses.  They are unique shots.  For fans of Nintendo or Mario Kart I would recommend this set but good luck trying to collect them all!