Mario Kart World just launched with Switch 2, but PC gamers are playing Mario Kart 64 instead thanks to a "many-year" fan project that doesn't contain Nintendo's original code

Over two weeks have passed since both the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World released, but not everyone is playing the racing game series' new title – in fact, the arrival of a Mario Kart 64 port for PC might have fans excited to try Nintendo's beloved 1996 gem instead.

That's right, you can warp back to simpler times and play Mario Kart 64 again, thanks to a PC port made possible by fans reverse-engineering the original game. SpaghettiKart, as it's been hilariously dubbed by its developers, is now available to download and try out via GitHub – and no, there's no risk of Nintendo taking it down. That's because the "many-year" project, as developers describe it, doesn't actually borrow any code from the Nintendo 64 game.

Rather than utilizing Nintendo's code, the creators behind SpaghettiKart have used their own clean code. That's why they were able to publicly release the unofficial port. Important to also note, however, is that SpaghettiKart doesn't feature any of Mario Kart 64's game assets, so if you're interested in giving it a go yourself, you'll have to generate the O2R from a ROM (US copies only) to get the port up and running. Thankfully, the GitHub page details how.

YouTube

Watch On

SpaghettiKart's arrival comes just over a month after the classic racer was fully decompiled, following in the footsteps of other retro games, including Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64. It's certainly a great time to be a Nintendo stan, between all the player-led PC ports and, of course, the Switch 2. The work on SpaghettiKart isn't over yet, either, as its developers state that the project is very much a "work-in-progress" still.

"This project is still a work-in-progress and has a rare crash for a small minority of users," the creators admit in their debut trailer for the Mario Kart 64 port. "Custom track import works; however, all features are not yet supported." It's exciting to think that the future holds fixes and potentially more content as the mentioned features are implemented, but for now, it looks like there's plenty of nostalgic goodness to enjoy.

Read our Mario Kart World review to learn more about Nintendo's latest title, or check out some of these other exciting upcoming Switch 2 games.