Strapping On a VR Headset and Racing Mario Kart 64 Like Never Before

RayRod TV has released a free VR mod that drops Mario Kart 64 into modern headsets with full head tracking and stereo 3-D. Built on HarbourMasters’ SpaghettiKart PC port, the project runs the original 1997 racing game natively on Windows while adding an OpenXR layer so any compatible headset can take over the view. You supply your own US .z64 ROM, point the executable at it once, and the rest is ready to go.

Head tracking is at the center of this experience. In first-person mode, you’re essentially right in the driver’s seat, with the camera focusing on every movement of your head. Lean in on a curve on Rainbow Road, give the left side a quick glimpse for an upcoming item box, or look up and forward to see the track fly into the distance, since it’s all in your head. The developer took pity on us and provided some ease-back and flip options to prevent the camera from going too far in on drifts. Otherwise, you’d be feeling quite green around the gills after only one lap. Even with those softening settings in place, the impression of speed remains extremely acute. Take a traditional shortcut, such as the tunnel on Koopa Troopa Beach, where the rock ceiling is right on top of your helmet, making it feel like a real life close call.

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If you need some extra options to get settled in, there are four camera modes to pick from. You’re literally in the kart, so first-person is straight in your face. Third-person mode returns to the usual chase camera, although you can still lean about to see your surroundings. Then there’s Theater mode, which just displays the original flat game on a large virtual screen floating in the empty area. If you want to go all out, Diorama mode reduces the entire course to a little tabletop model, so Rainbow Road simply hangs in the air like a kid’s toy set that you can walk around. Each mode is readily switchable; simply pull out the floating menu when paused and push the appropriate trigger.

That same option allows you a lot of fine control over how the entire experience feels to you. There are separate sliders for world scale and stereo depth, allowing you to adjust the track size and 3-D effect separately if desired. You may change the eye height, camera distance, HUD opacity, and whether the HUD is locked to the world or fixed to your head. If you want to go fully minimalist, you can disable the interface and only see the road before of you. Motion controllers receive all of the rumbling feel on hits, but regular gamepads are also supported, so if you’re a purist, stick with what you know.


Aside from the VR excitement, the update also allows you to customize the racing choices. You have a custom menu where you can stack new rules on top of existing classes. Item behavior can be completely random, or frantic and inverted if you wish. There are also optional high-resolution texture packs that can be dropped in, such as the MK64 Reloaded pack, which sharpens up existing objects without affecting the overall appearance and feel. Everything runs on Windows, but internet multiplayer has yet to be resolved, thus local multiplayer is still the only option for the time being.