Since the advent of Super Mario Kart in 1992, kart racing games (also known as mascot racers) have become one of the definitive genres of local and online multiplayer gaming.
WhileMario Kartmaintains its first-place position over the kart racing scene, though, the rest of the industry has never been willing to let dominance go unchallenged.
All kinds of publishers and licenses have taken cracks at the kart racing paradigm over the years.
10 Racing Game Hidden Gems You Need to Play
Leave your AAA racers in the pit lane.
Many of these games end up rather cheap and uninteresting, but a few have managed to stand out. While they couldn’t quite dethrone the plumber, they certainly gave him a run for his money.
10Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
Wacky, Referential Fun
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
Much like Nintendo, SEGA has a massive back catalog of IPs and characters that it doesn’t always have something to use for. In 2010, it decided, “why not put ‘em in some karts?”
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing takes a variety of characters from Sonic and SEGA’s various franchises and sends them around various tracks themed after SEGA games.
You’ve got the usual suspects like Ulala and AiAi, plus some deeper cuts like Zobio & Zobiko and the Bonanza Brothers.
Gameplay is the usual mix of items and drifting, though every character also has a unique All-Star.
The precise effect varies, but generally, these moves allow you to rocket up multiple places while knocking opponents out of your way.
9Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Less Wacky, More Mechanical
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Two years after the previous game, SEGA took another, bolder swing at the kart racing framework withSonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. No, we don’t know why they dropped “SEGA” from the title.
While similar on the surface to its predecessor, this game’s big gimmick is the addition of transforming vehicles.
Based on the conditions of the track, your car could transform into a boat or plane with slightly different controls.
There’s also a greater degree of mechanical control, with characters having more fine-tuned stats and mods changing how your vehicle works.
Speaking of characters, besides the SEGA all-stars, there’s a myriad of guest characters, including real-life NASCAR racer Danica Patrick for some reason.
8Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled
Multiple Crash Racers In One
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled
Throughout the late ’90s and mid-2000s, Crash Bandicoot got a fairly consistent lineup of kart racing games, though it eventually petered out as the franchise went dormant.
As things started to pick up in the late 2010s, though, Activision and Beenox decided to completely rebuild the original game asCrash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled.
Not only does this game have all the characters and tracks from the PS1 original, but it also incorporates characters and tracks from all subsequent Crash racers, plus a lot of new stuff likeunderused side characters.
Of course, most of the characters are locked behind a rotating in-game store, which is kind of lame, but you can get a good amount of stuff from playing the game’s hefty single-player adventure.
7Diddy Kong Racing
The Original Racing Adventure
Diddy Kong Racing
Speaking of single-player adventures, the kart racing game that first brought that concept to life was 1997’sDiddy Kong Racing. It was the racer you played if you weren’t in the mood for Mario Kart 64.
Diddy Kong Racing actuallypioneered a lot of the concepts we see in modern racing games, including the aforementioned adventure and multiple drivable vehicles.
Fun fact, this game also featured the first appearances of two of Rare’s mascots, Banjo and Conker.
While the gameplay had slightly less emphasis on drifting and high-speed maneuvers, there were still plenty of item shenanigans to be had, especially since grabbing more of the same item upgraded it.
6LEGO Racers
Create-A-Kart
LEGO Racers
You can name just about any genre of video game, and odds are good there’s been at least one attempt tomake a LEGO take on it. For kart racing, that take was 1999’sLEGO Racers.
As you’d expect from a LEGO game, customization takes a big role here.
You can build your own racer and kart from composite LEGO bricks, with victories in the Grand Prix unlocking additional customization kits.
This game also had a nifty item system, dividing its pickups into several color-coded categories. By grabbing an item brick and then layering on a white power-up brick, you could upgrade your item up to three stages.
5Mickey’s Speedway USA
Mouse On The Move
Mickey’s Speedway USA
Following Diddy Kong Racing, Rare took another swing at the racing scene, this timewith Disney on its side.
The result was 2000’s Mickey’s Speedway USA, bringing your favorite mouse and his friends on a cross-country road trip.
This game was more or less identical to Mario Kart 64, gameplay-wise, with the usual emphasis on items and drifting. The tracks were set in a variety of famous cities around the United States.
One interesting thing is the inclusion of coins as a mechanic, which would speed you up as you collect them.
Super Mario Kart used this, but then the series abandoned it until Mario Kart 7. Perhaps you could say Mickey was keeping it warm for them.
4Nightmare Kart
It Could’ve Been Yours, Sony
Nightmare Kart is a downright bizarre game in the best way.
It originally started as “Bloodborne Kart,” a fan game from the makers of the Bloodborne PSX demake, but Sony issued a C&D right before it came out. After sometinkering from the solo dev, the game was reborn in a legally-distinct fashion.
Nightmare Kart utilizes a combination of classic kart racing mechanics and Soulslike trappings.
There are weapons and items you can pick up on the track, but you also have health and stamina meters, plus collectible souls you drop upon death.
Nightmare Kart Dev Talks About How Its Racing Design Blends With Soulslike Bosses
Nightmare Kart’s developer, Lilith Walther, explains how its in-game bosses intertwine with the Kart Racing design formula.
Besides traditional races, the game also has an arcade-style single-player adventure, including boss fights against some suspiciously familiar beasts and baddies.
3Kirby Air Ride
Rule The Track, Cruise The City
Kirby Air Ride
Kirbydoesn’t do a lot of racing in his franchise, but his signature Warp Star does serve as a good vehicular jumping-off point for it. That’s how we got Kirby Air Ride in 2003.
Kirby Air Ride has three primary gameplay modes. First is Air Ride, which is most similar to a traditional kart racer, substituting Copy Abilities for items.
Second is City Trial, where four players cruise around a large map for power-ups. Third is Top Ride, a compact, top-down racing mode.
Besides the sheer breadth of available content, this game also had a novel control scheme. Your Warp Star of choice moves forward automatically, while holding A allows you to brake, drift, and charge up for a boost.
2Snowboard Kids 2
No Karts, All Mischief
Snowboard Kids 2
It’s important to remember that you don’t necessarily need karts to make a kart racer.
That’s probably why the alternate name of “mascot racer” exists, which is still a perfectly fitting title for 1999’s Snowboard Kids 2.
While you lack the power of a motor on a snowboard, you’re able to build up speed by jumping and performing tricks. Landing tricks also earns you money, which you need to receive items from the boxes along the tracks.
Given the lack of manual acceleration, you need to be even more vigilant against attacks in this game. It only takes one shot to knock you over and completely arrest your momentum after all.
1Team Sonic Racing
If You’re Gonna Drift, Do It With Friends
Team Sonic Racing
SEGA had a long lull in the racing department after Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, but finally came back to the track in 2019 withTeam Sonic Racing. The loss of additional SEGA characters is tragic, but not altogether surprising.
What differentiates this game from its contemporaries is right in the title: teams.
Rather than being by your lonesome, you race in a team of three, with teammates able to share items and leave drift lines for each other.
Even if you win the race, if your teammates get left behind, you’ll still lose out on point averages, so everyone needs to work together.
Good teamwork also fills your Ultimate meter if you need to bail your teammates out of dead last with a burst of speed.
10 Best Driving Games With No Racing
No checkered flags in sight, but still plenty of fun to be had!
