As one of the very first titles released for the Nintendo 64 in 1996, Wave Race 64 blew the public and gaming press away with its incredible water physics that have yet to be topped to this day. Besides that, the game was absolutely beautiful and played like a dream. And thus, Wave Race 64 attained classic status faster than almost any game in history. It is still being played to this day, and is considered by most independent observers to be the best racing game on the N64. All that being said, if Wave Race’s GameCube sequel is anything less than excellent, it will be a letdown. Thankfully, the game is in the capable hands of Nintendo Software Technology Corporation (who is responsible for the excellent port Ridge Racer 64), and will be published by Nintendo. And you better believe that if the youngsters at NST have any problems, they can always go to a certain developer named Shigeru Miyamoto and get help.

When I think of problems with Wave Race 64, two things come to mind. One, the game only supported two-players, and even then it didn’t have a two-player GP mode. While the specifics are still sketchy, we do know that Wave Race 2 will support 4 players at once. The second problem with the original Wave Race was that the tracks were too small and few in number. Once again, we can’t provide any specifics, but we are told that the tracks will be considerably more complex due to the fact that the water physics have already been worked out, so there will be more time for track development.