Krazy Kart Racing

Review by Mike Finkelstein

It’s arguable whether Konami Krazy RacersKonami's foray into the mascot kart racing genre, starring many of Konami's heroes and villains, all matching up in a very Super Mario Kart kind of game. was a huge success or not. Review wise it did reasonably well, getting above average scores from most publications of the era (NextGen, EGM, Famitsu, etc.) and even made a few top 10 lists (even above Mario Kart: Super Circuit, its rival on the Gameboy Advance). But, at the same time, a sequel wasn’t immediately greenlit and put into development. Nintendo has done brisk business with the Mario Kart series, making sure some iteration of the game has appeared on nearly every console since the SNES (the Gameboy Color being too weak to handle it, and the Virtual Boy dying in its infancy before a game could be put into production). And yet, after the release of Konami Krazy Racing, nothing for years.

It’s hard to judge sales figures for the game since a lot of that reporting is lost online at this point, or simply isn’t available at all. One would have to assume, though, that if the game had met Konami’s expectations a sequel would have been released a couple of years later. Follow ups every few years to keep the brand alive. The Gameboy Advance saw three Castlevania games, after all. Where did the follow-ups to Konami’s kart racing franchise go?

Mobile phones, as it turns out. While no direct follow up to Konami Krazy Racers came for the Gameboy Advance, or even Nintendo DS after, one sequel did eventually arrive. Released first in 2009 for iOS phones, and then later in 2011 for Android, Krazy Kart Racing was the direct follow-up to the game that fans were looking for… assuming there were any fans at all. It is, frankly, a weird fit for the game because while mobile gaming is a division of the industry that has only grown and grown as phones have become the ubiquitous device everyone now has, playing a kart racer on a phone sounds like a horrible experience. Some genres work better than others, and the tight, twitch gameplay of kart racing doesn’t seem like it would lend itself well to the mobile experience.

And, in fact, that does bear true to a certain extent. Krazy Kart Racing is, essentially, a clone of the kind of game play and design that Nintendo experimented with over in Mario Kart 64. It’s a kart racing game featuring more dynamic stages (not just flat tracks) and some variety of layout and bonus box placement. This means as a player you have to learn more about the tracks, vertical as well as horizontal placement, and adjust to what these track layouts will do to your kart on the fly. It’s interesting, in a way, but it’s also gameplay that already felt long outdated in 2009 (since Mario Kart 64 came out all the way back in 1996, 13 years earlier).

Like Konami Krazy Racers, sequel Krazy Kart Racing features a selection of Konami’s mascot characters (12 total, from Dracula to Goemon, Frogger and Tako, and more) racing around tracks to earn the cup in each division. While moving around the tracks, racers can collect two different types of bells. Red bells give characters attacks (Dracula can summon bats to attack other racers, for example) while blue bells give the character a usable speed boost. Speed around the track (for a varying number of laps depending on the course), score points for your finish, and try to win the cup. It’s that simple.

And, honestly, the game doesn’t get much more interesting than that. As a Mario Kart clone a player should already know what to expect from the basics of the game. Krazy Kart Racing is a pretty simple copy of the formula, and it really doesn’t have any new ideas to add to the experience. Hell, even in comparison to Mario Kart 64, which featured four cups where each had individual, new courses, Krazy Kart Racing lags behind. By the time you load into the second cup you’ll start revisiting courses you’ve seen before. Yes, the layouts are varied and changed up, but all the assets and artwork are reused. It gives the game a very repetitive, same-y feel even early on into the experience.

Now, sure, it’s worth pointing out that the first Nintendo kart racing game did that as well. Super Mario Kart featured a number of repeated course locations, from Mario Circuit to Bowser’s Castle and Ghost House tracks. But this is a sequel game and you expect the sequels to do more and add more. Nintendo didn’t repeat course locations past their first kart title, and you’d hope that Konami would take the same tack. They did not. That may be down to the limits of mobile phone storage at the time, sure, but it doesn’t help the overall play experience.

But then, what really hurts the game is the mobile controls. Played on a phone, this is a miserable experience. The controls feel loose, sloppy, like you’re struggling to get the phone to understand your inputs at times. There were times where it felt like I couldn’t get my kart to turn fast enough, leaving me careening towards walls when I knew I should be able to turn better. While mobile games can control well, there are certain types of inputs that are better than others. Touch controls for a puzzle game are fine. These same kinds of controls on a kart racer, though, just don’t work as well. I want to say it’s respectable that Konami (through internal developer KCEK) tried, but I just don’t feel like they hit the mark.

With that said, Krazy Kart Racing does fix one thing that I hated about the Mario Kart series: the rubber band physics seem to be missing. I could get a lead in the game and maintain it so long as I stayed off the walls and judiciously used my blue bells. I felt far more comfortable with a lead in this game than I ever do in any Mario Kart title. Additionally, while there were times that an enemy kart could get ahead of me, they never put such a huge distance away that I found it impossible to catch up, which is also a massive change from the Mario Kart formula, which I appreciated.

There’s nothing inherently bad about Krazy Kart Racing. I think Konami knew how to take Nintendo’s formula and do something fun with it (even if that meant, “just do the same thing,” for the most part). Konami has a diverse selection of characters in their portfolio and enough games of their own that a mashup title like this does work. I think what holds this game back from being a truly good game is that it came out on mobile platforms instead of a dedicated portable or console. With more power, more storage, and a good controller this game could have shined. Instead it’s just a half-forgotten also-ran on devices overloaded with better games tuned to their hardware.

And it’s pretty obvious most people felt the same way. Reviews weren’t favorable, sales were worse, and Konami has yet to revisit the series again. A pity since I think there could have been something here if Konami had just given it the right platform and care needed.