Status: Active
Tag: #PMDKart
Currently working on: Characters
PMD Kart (placeholder name) is a hack of Mario Kart 64 that changes gameplay and characters (plus possibly tracks and audio in the future).
Characters in the game are replaced by Pokémon, with a total of 81 planned Pokémon, though it's subject to change.
As of writing this (April 5th, 2025), there are 39 Pokémon in the roster with 23 of them still needing slight tweaks to their sprites as well as some additions, such as hurt sprites.
Because of how the game works and my limited knowledge with hacking games, only 8 of these Pokémon may be in the game at a time, at least for now. I would like to include as many of them as possible in the game itself to avoid swapping out manually, but I can't dedicate all my time to learn how to work around that limitation at the moment, and would rather not waste my time and energy on it for now.
For more in depth information about this (such as how stats work, gameplay changes, item changes and other things), click read more:
General gameplay changes
CPU racers are all considered rivals, allowing them all to go as fast as a player. They can also use most items a human can, and will do so much more often; this aims to help them keep up and makes good item play and strategy from human players more common and useful to counter the CPU racers.
Driving in general has received some changes as your movement can no longer hinder you by simply trying to realign; flicking the stick from one side to the other no longer spins you out if you do it too fast. Miniturbos also come out quicker, only needing one flick back and forth to charge one to go up one stage (up to yellow smoke).
When a race finishes, the game will continue on to the next race regardless of placement. Points have been changed to 4 for first, 3 for second, 2 for third, and 1 for fourth.
Max Speed depends on your stats, affecting both your start boost and items that speed you up (Mushrooms and Stars).
Stats
Stats work similarly to Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart or Ring Racers, where Speed and Acceleration are tied together, as well as Handling and Weight, meaning one stat going up makes the other go down.
All four stats go from 1 to 9, low to high.
Track Changes
Moo Moo Farm skybox changed to beta.
Kalimari Desert train is always full length.
Toad's Turnpike traffic always goes towards the player.
Choco Mountain guardrails always present.
Wario Stadium and Rainbow Road are 2 laps ().
Big Donut item box placements are fixed.
Item Changes
All items (except the Fake Item Box) have been changed to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon items visually, though some were slightly altered.
Green Shells > Gravelrocks
Red Shells > Geo Pebbles (Better pathfinding after snapping to path)
Blue Shell > One-Shot Orb
Bananas > Chestnuts
Mushrooms > Quick Orbs (Gives more speed, speed depends on Max Speed)
Golden Mushroom > Rainbow Gummi (Same as Mushrooms)
Boo > Helper Orb
Star > All-Protect Orb (Speed depends on Max Speed)
Lightning > Trapburst Orb
Other stats
Radius (Kart hitbox size) depends on Weight, high Weight means you get hit easier and hit easier.
Jump Height depends on Handling, high Handling means you jump higher.
Jump Fall Speed depends on Acceleration, high Acceleration means you fall faster.
Max Speed depends on both Speed and Weight, higher Speed and Weight means your top speed is higher, both in miniturbos and with speed items.
Triple Tap A (Fast acceleration by tapping A multiple times) depends on both Acceleration and Handling, higher Acceleration and Handling means you accelerate faster with Triple Tap A.
Grip (Drift angle and traction) depends on Handling, high Handling means you drift tighter and have more control on terrain.
Steering Power Loss depends on Weight, high Weight means you lose less speed while turning.
Steering Power Loss Recovery depends on Acceleration, high Acceleration means you gain back speed faster after turning.
Other changes
Players can choose the same character.
Music fixed on 3 and 4 player modes.
All karts are shown on minimap.
Result screen music loop happens correctly.
Shells don't despawn, allowing more items in play at once.
Max Draw Distance increased.
Lag fixed.
Mirror Mode available from the start.
50cc removed, lowest speed is now 100cc, highest is 200cc (Mirror is also 150cc instead of 100cc).
This hack takes Mario Kart 64 and puts Pokémon in the driver seat. As of writing, there are 39 Pokémon in the roster, with 2 more on the way. The goal is to fill the roster of 81 slots, so there's still plenty of space left for more.
Because this is Mario Kart 64, this means that only 8 of these 81 will be playable in any one version of the game, but that's why I've been working on a tool to help speed up the process of just swapping between Pokémon in a short amount of time. More on that later.
You may be wondering why 81 Pokémon, and that's because each one fills a stat slot of sorts. This hack also changes how the characters are given their stats.
There are 4 main stats: Speed, Acceleration, Weight, and Handling. These stats are tied to each other, the more Speed you have, the less Acceleration, and the more Weight you have, the less Handling. This may be a familiar system if you've played Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart/Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers, but in case it's not, you can have a maximum of 9 points on each stat, so if you have 9 on Speed, then you have 1 on Acceleration. So, for the sake of brevity, characters are referred to as (Speed, Weight), for example Pikachu (8, 5) which would mean Pikachu's Acceleration and Handling are 2 and 5 respectively.
Speed determines your Top Speed (Max Speed you can get to without items or other speed boosts), and Front Grip (How much grip the front wheels have).
Weight determines your Weight (How easy you push and get pushed), Radius (How big your hitbox is), Jump Height, Jump Fall Speed, Steering Control (How easy you move, Handling), Steering Power Loss (How much speed you lose for steering), Steering Power Loss Recovery (How quickly you recover the lost speed from steering), and Rear Grip (How much grip the rear wheels have).
Some stats are controlled by both Speed and Weight, so they change for each combination of stats. The stats that use both are Max Speed (Max Speed you can go above your top speed with items or other speed boosts), Mini Turbo, Triple Tap A (How fast you accelerate by tapping A repeatedly), and Acceleration Curve (How fast you accelerate normally and how it changes as you gain speed).
Because of how the 4 main stats work, that means there are 81 unique combinations of them, hence the Pokémon goal.
The tool I'm working on will help me to just get all the necessary codes needed for a character's stats (the ones mentioned above) by just inputting the Speed and Weight stats. This should be good enough to speed up the process for requests on specific characters people want to play around with. Still a work in progress.
All items (except the Fake Item Box) have also been changed to Pokémon equivalents, and all track textures are planned to be changed as well.
The items:
Gravelrocks can be thrown forward to hit other racers, making them bounce. Replaces Green Shells.
Geo Pebbles can be thrown forward and will follow the track's path until they reach and hit the next racer. Homing ability is increased. Replaces Red Shells.
One-Shot Orb can be thrown forward and will follow the track's path until it reaches the racer in first place and hitting them. Replaces Blue Shell.
Chestnuts can be left on the ground behind you or thrown forward. Racers that hit one will spin out forward. Replaces Bananas.
Quick Orbs can be used to speed up briefly. It can be used for shortcuts, ramming into other racers to spin them out or simply to go faster. Boost strength has been increased. Replaces Mushrooms.
Rainbow Gummi can be used to speed up as long as you keep using it. It will last for a few seconds after first used. Replaces Golden Mushroom.
Helper Orb can be used to steal an item from another racer and becoming invulnerable for a few seconds. Replaces Boo.
All-Protect Orb can be used to become invulnerable for a few seconds. While the effect lasts, you can hit other racers by running into them. The effect is lost if you're knocked off a slope or wall. Replaces Super Star.
Trapbust Orb can be used to hit all other racers and shrink them for a few seconds, slowing them down and making them vulnerable to being squished. Replaces Lightning.
The current Pokémon in various stages of completion:
There are also some other gameplay changes from vanilla Mario Kart 64:
CPU Racers all drive to win, instead of only 2 of them staying near you while the rest stay behind, and will use a bigger item selection, and use their items more often
You always advance to the next race regardless of your placement
Mushrooms and Start Boosts are faster
Points awarded in GP mode are changed to 4 for first, 3 for second, 2 for third, and 1 for fourth
Players in multiplayer may choose the same character
Hidden item boxes on Big Donut are obtainable
Music is enabled on 3/4 Player modes
Mini Turbos charge inputs are halved
Players cannot spin out from steering too fast (This was a really stupid mechanic in vanilla)
Toad's Turnpike traffic goes towards the player in all modes instead of just in Mirror
All karts are shown on the map as karts instead of dots
Result Screen music now loops correctly
Kalimari Desert train is now full length on all modes instead of just 150cc and Mirror
Shells (Gravelrock/Geo Pebble) don't despawn (helps CPU racers using them)
Max Draw Distance increased
Lag fix
Mirror mode is always available
Red shells (Geo Pebble) go through track paths if the target is too far away regardless of player placement
Choco Mountain guardrails spawn in all modes
Returning to stats, here's some more info on what exactly each hidden stat does:
Front and Rear Grip change how tight your turns are, and how much you slide outwards before going in while drifting.
The higher your Speed stat is, the lower your Front Grip will be. The higher your Weight stat, the lower your Rear Grip will be.
Radius changes how big your hitbox and hurtbox are, meaning you can ram other racers more easily at the cost of being hit by items and hazards easier.
The higher your Weight stat is, the higher your Radius will be.
Jump Height changes how high you can jump by pressing R, and Jump Fall Speed changes how fast you fall from a jump after pressing R.
The higher your Weight stat is, the lower your Jump Height will be, and the higher your Jump Fall Speed will be.
Steering Power Loss changes how much speed you lose by steering.
The higher your Weight stat is, the more speed you lose.
Steering Power Loss Recovery changes how fast you recover lost speed after steering.
The higher your Speed stat is, the less speed you recover.
Max Speed changes how fast you can go in a boost of any kind (Mini Turbo, Start Boost, Item Boosts). Higher Max Speed means you go faster during the boost than others while using Items like Quick Orbs.
The higher your Speed and Weight stats are, the higher your Max Speed will be.
Mini Turbo changes how fast you go in a Mini Turbo.
The higher your Speed stat is, the lower your Mini Turbo will be. The higher your Weight stat is, the higher your Mini Turbo will be.
Triple Tap A changes how fast you can accelerate by tapping A repeatedly.
The higher your Speed and Weight stats are, the lower your Triple Tap A will be.
Acceleration Curve changes how fast you accelerate. There are 10 points on the curve, the first 5 are the Initial Acceleration, the last 5 are the Stable Acceleration.
The higher your Speed stat is, the lower your Initial Acceleration will be. The higher your Weight stat is, the lower your Stable Acceleration will be.
Acceleration Curves typically look like this:
(Different colors mean different characters)
As a final point for now, speeds have been modified. 50cc does not exist in this game. The speeds available are 100cc as the lowest speed, 150cc as the second lowest, 200cc, and Mirror 150cc.
