Mario Kart 64 (N64) — Price Guide & Live Deals

What this Mario Kart 64 page covers

Live eBay listings for Mario Kart 64 on Nintendo 64: the US-NTSC release, which Nintendo developed and published in early 1997. It was the second Mario Kart and the first in 3D. It shipped with four-player split-screen racing and Battle mode, and it's the multiplayer cart most N64 owners still keep plugged in. Nintendo sold it in very large numbers, so a lot of copies trade on eBay. Loose carts are easy to find. CIB copies are harder, and clean graded copies are a small, pricey niche.

Use the condition chips above the deal grid to split the feed:

• Loose: cartridge only (sometimes with a manual). This is by far the biggest bucket.
• CIB: complete in box, meaning the cartridge, outer box, inner cardboard tray and instruction manual.
• Sealed: factory-sealed copies. In practice these are almost always graded and slabbed.

The price table uses current asking prices from active US listings. They're what sellers are asking, not what copies actually sold for. Use them as a starting point for negotiating, not as an appraisal.

Mario Kart 64 variants and what to look for

• Original US print. The launch release, with the cart-label code NUS-NKTE-USA that shows up in many listing titles. Copyright dates on the packaging and in seller titles say 1996 or 1997; both describe the same US game.
• Player's Choice reprint. Nintendo's later budget reprint, sold with Player's Choice branding on the box. The game is the same. Collectors who care about packaging usually pay more for the original print's box. The feed shows both and the chips don't separate them.
• "Not For Resale" copies. Nintendo sent a small number of carts marked "Not For Resale" to retailers. They're real Nintendo carts and ask a lot more than a standard loose copy because they're scarce, not because anything about the game is different. The feed shows listings that spell out "Not For Resale". Titles that only use the shorthand "NFR" are filtered out, because on most titles that abbreviation marks junk rather than a real promo cart.

Not to be confused with: Super Mario Kart on SNES (the 1992 original) or later Mario Kart games on other hardware. A few sellers write "Super Mario Kart" in an N64 listing title. The feed requires "Mario", "Kart" and "64" in every title, and the "64" nearly always comes from "Nintendo 64" or "N64". That keeps SNES and GameCube-era listings out without dropping mistitled N64 copies.

Mario Kart 64: loose vs CIB vs sealed

Loose copies make up most of this page. Because Mario Kart 64 sold so widely, a typical tested, authentic loose cart sits in a narrow asking-price band. Within that band, price moves with label condition (torn, faded or scuffed labels are common on a cart that got heavy party use), how clearly the seller describes their testing, and whether a manual is included. A cart plus manual with no box still counts as loose here.

CIB copies are much scarcer than loose ones, and they ask several times the loose price. A Mario Kart 64 CIB should include the outer cardboard box, the cardboard tray that holds the cartridge, the instruction manual, and the standard Nintendo paperwork inserts of the era. Cardboard boxes from this era crush, tear and fade easily, so box condition drives most of the CIB price spread. "Box, manual and inserts only" listings with no cart are filtered out.

Sealed copies are rare and nearly always graded (WATA, VGA, CGC or PSA). Asking prices rise steeply with grade. The page's Sealed cap allows mid-grade slabs, but the top-grade tier is priced far beyond it and won't show up. The Sealed chip will often be empty. That means there are few listings, not that the page is broken.

Graded CIB copies also appear, in PSA or WATA slabs but not sealed. They count toward the CIB bucket and can pull the top of the CIB price range well above a raw complete copy. Compare a slab against other slabs, not against a raw CIB.

Spotting Mario Kart 64 reproductions

Mario Kart 64 is a popular, recognisable title with steady loose-cart demand, which makes it a target for reproduction carts. The feed drops listings that call themselves repro, reproduction or aftermarket (plus the whole-word shorthand repo). A seller who lists a bootleg as "authentic" will still get through, so the physical check is up to you:

• Screw on the back of the cart. Authentic N64 carts use a Nintendo security screw, not a standard Phillips head. A Phillips screw means the cart has been opened: maybe for honest cleaning, maybe because it's a reshell or bootleg. Ask the seller why before treating it as factory original.
• Label print quality. Compare the label against a high-resolution photo of a known-authentic Mario Kart 64 cart. Watch for blurry or oversaturated artwork, off-centre placement, a label that looks much newer than the shell, or paper that's the wrong glossiness.
• Shell colour and fit. The US retail cart uses Nintendo's standard grey N64 shell. An odd shade, a translucent shell or seams that don't sit flush point to aftermarket parts.
• Price. A "Brand New" Mario Kart 64 far below the going loose rate is almost never an authentic cart (see the gotchas below).

Mario Kart 64 verification checklist by condition

Loose

• Check that the back screw is a Nintendo security screw, not a Phillips head.
• Look at the label for tears, water damage, sticker residue or signs it was replaced, and compare it against a known-authentic photo.
• Ask what "tested" means. Booting to the title screen is the minimum. Starting a race and checking that saved records persist after a power cycle is better.
• Clean contacts matter on a cart that's been swapped in and out for decades. "Contacts cleaned" or "serviced" in a listing is a useful detail.

CIB

• Make sure the box is original Nintendo packaging, not a reproduction box. Titles containing "replacement box only" are filtered out, but a reproduction box sold with a real cart can still get through.
• Check that the cardboard tray is present. It goes missing more often than any other CIB component.
• Check that the manual is an original, not a photocopy or reprint.
• If the box says Player's Choice, the cart and manual should match that print. Resellers sometimes mix original-print and Player's Choice parts.
• Ask for photos of the bare box if it's in an acrylic protector, because the plastic can hide crushed corners and edge wear.

Sealed

• Buy graded where you can. Check the certificate number with the grading company's online lookup before spending four figures.
• Treat raw "sealed" copies with suspicion. Resealing is the main forgery risk at this price level, and an ungraded seal is hard to verify from photos.

Mario Kart 64 buying gotchas

• Too-cheap "Brand New" dropship listings. A recurring pattern: listings titled like "Mario Kart 64 For Nintendo 64 US Version Fast Shipping" at prices well under a real loose cart, often from sellers with little or no feedback. The feed requires seller feedback of at least 50 ratings at 99% or better, which removes most of them. If you shop elsewhere, treat them as reproductions.
• Japanese carts are the cheapest Mario Kart 64 on eBay, and they won't fit a US console without an adapter. Japanese N64 carts use a different cart shape, and the US console's cartridge slot physically blocks them. They're filtered out of this feed (by title keywords and seller location), but if you compare prices elsewhere, don't anchor on the much cheaper Japanese copies.
• Multi-game lots and console bundles. Mario Kart 64 is one of the most common N64 lot and bundle carts, often grouped with Super Mario 64, Mario Party, Smash Bros. and GoldenEye 007, or packed with a console and controllers. Those listings are filtered out so the per-game prices stay accurate. A bundle is a different purchase with its own pricing.
• Partial-CIB parts. Manuals, insert cards and "box, manual and inserts only" listings get sold separately for people assembling a complete copy. The feed filters most of them out by keyword and by its minimum price. A title that only says "box" without mentioning a cart can still get through, so check the photos before assuming the cart is included.
• Strategy guides. The official Nintendo Power player's guide for Mario Kart 64 trades as its own collectible, sometimes graded. It's filtered out unless the listing is a boxed game that includes the guide as a bonus.
• Time-trial ghosts. Mario Kart 64 keeps its main records on the cart, but saving time-trial ghost data is widely reported to need a separate Controller Pak. A listing that says "saves work" is describing the cart's own saves. Don't expect ghost data to come with it.