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The Kart Craze
In 1992 Nintnedo launched the first in their mammoth franchise: Super Mario Kart. This took everyone's favourite characters from the last decade and pitted them against each other in a rubber burning, fast paced racing game. The Mario Kart series exploded in popularity and later saw characters like Pacman, a Tamogotchi, Link and characters from Animal Crossing try their luck at Rainbow Road. But what about those characters not invited to the party? Many of them had their own go, and some flopped hard!
The first kart-like racing game I ever played was Cartoon Network Racing (I wouldn't really count Sonic R as a kart racer, to me it's more of just a racer). Cartoon Network Racing took much inspiration from the Mario Kart series and was fun to play, it is one of the oldest games on my PS2 and probably (I can't quite remember) but the first game I played for the system! Another kart racer which I've had a crack at was Angry Birds Go, only because it was free! Angry Birds Go was weird, it seemed more like a cash in by Rovio on their franchises success and less a quality game. While we're in the realms of mobile let's talk Rayman. In 2007 Gameloft made Rayman Kart, which according to the one line on Wikipedia (I know, Wikipedia, but it's been a tiring day!) was very similar to Mario Kart.
Most kart games toom much inspiration from Mario Kart, even the giant that is Konami. In 2001 they released Krazy Kart Racing on the Gameboy Advanced which pulled together their biggest franchises. Each franchise had its own courses and character from classics like Castlevania and metal Gear Solid! This game harkens most to Mario Kart Super Circuit, this was the Mario Kart on the Gameboy Advance. The N64 saw South Park have its go at the kart racer, however, from what I've heard the game was atrocious! On the PlayStation Pacman received his own kart game in the form of Pacman World Rally which finally saw playable ghosts!
More recently we can find ModNation of the PS3, the game featured alternative routes on the tracks, secret switches and traps littered throughout the game, the end result was a busy race! Sonic received a kart racer which drew much inspiration from Mario Kart in the SEGA game: Sonic and SEGA All-Star Racing. This game is also quite fun and the Mario Kart inspiration can be clearly seen! This game went on to have a sequel which saw more than just SEGA titles as the PC port had characters from Team Fortress 2 and Youtuber Simon Lane from the Yogscast! Sonic found huge success behind the wheel, as did everyone's favourite 90s icon: Crash Bandicoot! On the Gameboy Advance I have one of the Nitro Kart series and, as with the time, the portable console port is substandard compared to the home console games of the time!
What about our dear friend, the Crazy Frog? He got a kart game! Garfield? Of course! Shrek? Oh yeah! Even minor characters on the Atari 2600 hit the tracks in Atari Karts on the Atari Jaguar! Final Fantasy saw the Chocobo Racing series, which was less karts and more, well, Chocobos, but still! Even the Muppets had a go on the racing tracks! It seems this genre, or rather sub genre, is perfect for companies to pull their franchises together, or to make a quick buck by more or less copying the Mario Kart series! Games like the South Park racing game and M&M Kart are hailed as terrible games and a disgrace to the sub genre! Even Atari Karts, the first 64-bit kart racer had little to offer compared to Super Mario Kart on the SNES! People may think Nintendo keep rehashing their own formulas but if you look at the industry as a whole the entire industry seems to be using the kart racing formula made by Nintendo as a life-line! It certainly saved Sonic!
