Konami Krazy Racers Review
At the height of Nintendo’s dominance in the SNES era, came a innovative little racing game that would spark an absolute multitude of clones. Super Mario Kart took Nintendo’s most popular icons away at the time away from their endearing adventures for a day to enjoy some go-kart racing. Little did they know that the ultimate success of this Mode 7 masterpiece would pave the way for every popular gaming character to have his or her’s own piece of the racing pie, ranging from Muppets, to Crash Bandicoot.
Although the forementioned characters are as well known in the west as Mario and Co., another company thought it was time they jumped on the racing bandwagon with their own gaming icons, and while Goemen, Pastle, Nyami or Drac may not be that known to us, the Japanese gaming community has grown up with these guys for years. So who are they? Well I think judging from the name of this game, they’re Konami’s most famous franchise characters coming from games like Mystical Ninja and Power Pro-Kun Basketball to the more widely known Castlevania. Each character comes to life in this enjoyable Mario Kart offshoot, that stands slightly higher in the ‘clone wars’ of the kart-racing genre.’
Reviewing games of this nature generally ensures the game is going to be compared to Mario Kart, while the difference in this game is that although the comparison is there, there’s also enough to make sure that it delivers a varied and innovative experience in this tried and tested formula. You begin the game by receiving an invite to race from the ever-popular Konami Man. From here your GBA screen basically becomes a computer desktop where you can choose particular options. Initially, before you can go anywhere, you really need to of completed the Krazy Cup.
Once you’ve come first overall in this cup, you can go for your B class license. License testing primarily involves race objectives, be it beating one other CPU character or completing a particular track in a set time. Once you’ve obtained your B class licence, you can compete in B class tracks which sounds quite simple to understand and really it is. Each class is more difficult, and this adds a replay value to the game. Lack of a ‘power-slide’ button can really become frustrating, as well as the touchy collision detection when falling off bridges or narrow paths. Aside from that, the game offers a different twist on a tried and tested formula.
Visuals: 7
Sound: 5
Originality: 5
Replay: 7
Overall: 6