Wave Race 64 is a jet-ski racing game. The goal is to beat the other participants in the race by successfully navigating the jet-ski through courses marked by colored buoys. Red and yellow buoys must be passed on right and left side, respectively, in order to gain speed and ensure advantage in the race. Failure to pass the buoys, on the other hand, leads to decrease in speed and eventually disqualification.
Game modes include Warm Up (basically a training session in a course known as Dolphin Park); Time Trials, in which players race against time; Championship, in which players compete in a tournament, choosing one of the four available difficulty levels; and Stunt Mode, where performing various stunts awards players with point. A two-player split-screen versus mode is available as well. Players can customize their racers, modifying their parameters, which include grip, handling, acceleration, top speed and collision stability.
In the Virtual Console release, Nintendo has slipped in advertisements for the Wii and Nintendo DS along the racing wall sidelines to replace the Kawasaki ads. This is due to the Kawasaki license no longer existing for the game.
