For your worst Mario Kart clones, is Star Wars Episode 1 Podracers a finalist? It should be. That game was a bucket of yuck.
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13Jan 13
Ok sorry this took a while, I just got busy with a lot of things and my poor husband came down with the flu so I was being a good wife and taking care of him but thanks for all of those who offered input. Here we go mine and your picks for the Best Mario Kart clones.
#5 Diddy Kong Racing
Possibly the first or at least the most remembered MK clone, back when they made great N64 games, Rare would often take a Nintendo game and find a way to give it their own flare just like Banjo Kazooie built upon the Mario 64 formula and in some ways improved on it. DKR expanded on the MK64 formula by giving you the option to drive a watercraft or plane and more notably the Adventure mode which gave solo players more to do outside the usual grand prix races. The reason I put it so low though is that same Adventure mode gets really repetitive after a while. First you have to get first in all races, race the boss, then repeat them all AGAIN this time getting all silver coins and getting first, race the boss a 2nd time, then do the trophy race. But as an MK alternative at the time, it was still fun.
#4 Blur
There's some debate where this one is a true "MK Clone" though it does have that more arcade racer feel and you do attack with items and there was it's ad campaing pushing it as a "big boy kart racer." http://www.youtube.com/watch? TAdv=08dbXQFyOLI The whole "play this because it's not a kiddy looking game" marketing ploy always annoys me because it underminds hardcore gamers that hardcore isn't how you play but an asthetic choice. That aside, going by what a few users said, it's still a solid arcade racer full of the crazy crashes and powerups for a good old time.
#3 Modnation Racers
The PS3's answer to MK was a strong attempt with a heavy focus on user generated content. The real fun of this one, for me at least was going online and having a race that featured Sonic, Mario, Uncle Pennybags, Optimus Prime and Pinkie Pie. For me it was often more fun just to look at the interesting things people made. If it has a downside is that load times are horribly long thanks to the heavy user generated content and honestly I found the story mode lame. It felt like a series of bad pop culture references and two announcers, one who was too mean and the other was too much of a wuss. It's just a shame LBP Karting didn't have the same flair that this did. (yes I played LBP Karting)
#2. Crash Team Racing
When Mario Kart 64 was tearing up living rooms with 4 player action, Playstation owners wondered what they could do to get a kart racing fix. Enter Naughty Dog and their PSone mascot, Crash Bandicoot. After a successful triliogy of platformers, he was given a kart racer of his own and while I myself haven't played it, everyone I talked to who played say this was awesome, maybe better than Mario Kart 64 doing enough of it's own thing to not feel like just MK with Crash copy/pasted on it. Some say unmatched in the MK Clone catergory until.....
#1. Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed
Who knew that Sonic driving a car would actually be fun, let alone be the first game in a while that could hold a candle to Mario Kart? The first Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing was a pleasant surprise. The game had a nice roster of characters, great control and a bit more emphasis on winning through skill rather than luck. Thankfully the sequel took everything about the first and made it better as well as fixing some issues of the first game. More variety in the tracks. A great World Tour mode, more characters to choose from, and the use of the car/boat/plane transistion mechanic puts Diddy Kong Racing and Mario Kart 7 to shame. Honestly if Nintendo's working on Mario Kart U or whatever they're going to call it, if I were them I'd give Sumo a call for some pointers. Why is Sonic driving a car? Who the hell cares!?
Ok so that's my top five Best MK Clones. Stay tuned for the worst list. Feel free to still contribute to that one.
31 comments
I've played them all and for me, Modnation Racers earns the top spot.
Mario Kart should take a cue with Modnation's defensive properties (being able to change the weapon to a different defensive measure from behind and the shield) Using a part of your boost meter for a shield was genius. sideswiping other players was also a great function.
Personally I liked the story mode and the announcers, but that's not a fair comparison since the Mario Kart series didn't even have a story mode. But sadly, I agree about LBP Karting. very disappointing.
Crash Team Racing was also a great game... in its day.
@00LiteYear Hey my previous blog asked for suggestions so if your favorite wasn't included, tough.
@00LiteYear about half and half. Still looking for suggestions for the Worst Mario Kart clone.
@kbaily @00LiteYear So you take peoples suggestions? How much of this is your own opinion?
"Who knew that Sonic driving a car would actually be fun...?" I dunno... I actually enjoyed the Sonic Drift games on the GameGear a decent amount, and Sonic Riders, while not exactly a kart racer, had some nice qualities, too. Sonic R, on the other hand...
Out of the games here, I've only played Diddy Kong Racing and the Demo of Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed, so my experience on the matter isn't very extensive. DKR is a game I could still play to this day, though. Out of all of Rare's games that followed Nintendo's established formula in the 16/64 bit days, this game is probably the most memorable and unique to me. It certainly offered more from a single player perspective than Mario Kart 64, while still be a pretty fun mulitplayer game that my friends and family would gather around all the time back in the day.
Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed, however, wasn't as enjoyable as I had hoped. Sure it was just a demo, where I could only play as Sonic on a couple of tracks, but I really didn't feel that 'pure fun' vibe that Mario Kart games are well-known for providing. It seemed like a game that was stuck trying to be an arcade-y racer, while still holding on to a more simulated racer feel, with neither element feeling as exciting or polished as they could have been.
Just one person's opinion, though. If I had to make a choice as to what I would play, though, I'd probably settle with Mario Kart Wii at the moment. :P
Diddy Kong and CTR were both brilliant. Blur is ok but gets old real fast. Haven't tried Sonic yet but it's on my list... The only Mario Kart I've ever played is Double Dash on Gamecube, which I thought was ok, but not as good as CTR. I reckon you either 'get' the whole Mario/Nintendo thing or you don't - I was never that swayed by it.
Crash Team Racing for PS1 is my all time favourite kart-racer, and the only kart-racer I have ever played the hell out of.
I remember Crash Bandicoot Racing, that was (for me at least) the best Mario Kart clone I ever played. If the new Sonic racing games are as good as people say, then I'm willing to try them out.
Diddy Kong Racing was the first N64 game I got and I was surprised that Donkey, Dixie, and Kiddy were not in it lol. Of coarse now I know why, but as a kid I always wondered why it only included Diddy Kong lol.
I would say Blur is more like Wipeout with tires, so I can't see it being included in a list of kart racers. The thing about kart racers is that they do in fact have cartoony aesthetics; it's what defines the genre. That and...well, karts. I think you really should have put something else in slot 4.
Why do people go crazy over the Sega/Sonic Kart series? They just feel so uninspired to me.
Glad to see Crash Team Racing still gets some love.
I had a feeling you would choose SASRT as number one. The only one on your list I have played was Diddy Kong Racing, and I did not like it for similar reasons.
1 Like I can't help but notice that Sonic Team likes to copy Mario Kart. I'm not saying it's necessarily bad to do so, but it makes me think ST is being lazy when it comes to items and gameplay when you compare the two games. There's a handful of items that are very similar in All-Stars that are in MK, which is to be expected, lots of kart racers do that, but then Transformed comes out and it smells like copy again. The whole transformed concept from car to boat to plane is coincidentally similar to the gameplay of Mario Kart 7, where you have propellers and gliders in specific areas. MK7 came out almost a year earlier than Transformed, so I can't help but think Sonic Team is not trying hard enough to come up with original ideas for this franchise.
Not trying to bash on Sonic Team, as I really enjoyed the first All-Stars title. I guess I'm just wanting Sonic Team to be more original. Or, I might be completely wrong in my assumption and Sonic Team did in fact design their two games without any intention of copying elements and gameplay from Mario Kart...but I doubt it.
I'm definitely interested in Sonic All Star Racing Transformed. I really like how the cars can change to suit the situation.
In the same vein of racing and shooting stuff there is Wipeout from the PSOne to the PS3. Not really carting game but you included Blur so ! I don't know if I'll put it in the good or bad game but I remember vividly playing it on the PSOne.
There is also LittleBigPlanet Karting with the same idea of ModNation
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