#kart games

[ericmicael]

And the whole crowd gathered to pose for a photo, including the Unredeemable Monster.

[ericmicael]

The arrival of Queen Anna.

[ericmicael]

[ericmicael]

And the trailer for dumb sociopath has been released.

[ericmicael]

In urgent need of one of Olaf's hugs, it's seriously hot in my country.

[alln64games]

S.C.A.R.S.

NA release: 5th December 1998

PAL release: January 1999

JP release: N/A

Developer: Vivid Image

Publisher: Ubi Soft

N64 Magazine Score: 79%

SCARS stands for Super Computer Animal Racing Simulator. While it does seem like a random assortment of words to spell a “cool” word, the game is built around the concept of a computer simulation (the tracks load in a wireframe before loading textures) and the cars are all based on animals. It’s a silly concept, but it captures what the game is about: fun.

As a kart-like racing game, SCARS has really good handling, drifting is simple to pull off, letting you slide around corners with ease. Driving in SCARS is a ton of fun, as is zipping around all of the levels.

The levels themselves have some neat ideas, such as an island with a volcano, a level that takes place during UFOs attacking in the 1950s and an underwater level. Due to the “simulation” nature, they were free with picking odd and wonderful designs.

The weapons are quite interesting, too. You can send weapons forwards or backwards, and hold down the fire button to apply extra power. They mainly hinder people for a short time, however the cars can jump to dodge them. The icons are also quite clear, so you can plan what to collect from the upcoming set to get ahead or to defend your position.

This is a game I vaguely saw in N64 magazine and haven’t heard people talked about, so I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed it. It’s good, clean fun.

SCARS is a game with a dual personality. On the one hand it’s a brash, arrogant power, the coolest guy in town, cruising around in a convertible Marc with the stereo pumping, gold medallions gleaming in the son. On the other hand, if you look a little closer, you’ll see that those gold medallions are just chocolate coins, tied on with tinsel. Listen harder, and beneath the thumping beats of Fatboy Slim and the Propellerheads, you might just be able to make out the faint strains of Barbie Girl.

- Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #23

Remake or remaster?

A remaster – with some enhancements and widescreen support – would be great.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get SCARS

[alln64games]

Diddy Kong Racing

PAL release: 21st November 1997

JP release: 21st November 1997

NA release: 24th November 1997

Developer: Rare

Publisher: Nintendo

N64 Magazine Score: 90%

Pretty much all racing games on the N64 so far have the same problem: there’s not a lot of progression for a single player, and you can do everything in a couple of hours. Some of them focused on being great in multiplayer (like Mario Kart 64) but there wasn’t a lot of choice for singleplayer.

Which is where Diddy Kong Racing comes in, as it has a very meaty singleplayer campaign with an adventure mode where you find tracks within its hub world.

It’s a neat area to explore, although a lot smaller than I remember it being. You’ll find four doors with balloon requirements (which you get from winning races or finding them in the world), with a fifth world hidden until you defeat five bosses. They start out simple at first: you have to win each race individually then defeat the boss in a race. Do that, and it gets much more challenging.

You’ll be tasked with finding 8 coins in each race. However, finding them isn’t enough as you still have to win, and then defeat a harder version of the boss. Diddy Kong Racing is a difficult and brutal game and you’ll need to learn its tricks (such as letting go of the accelerator just before boosting) to have a chance of winning. Once you defeat a boss a second time, you then complete in a tournament across the four tracks. There’s also a key hidden in one level of each world to unlock a battle mode challenge. Oh, and also time trail challenges.

Once you’ve done all that and defeated the evil Wizpig, it’s time for Adventure Two. This is a mirror mode version of the game, although the silver coins are now in more difficult places. Of course, this amount of content wouldn’t be anything if the game wasn’t fun to play.

And thankfully, it is fun. Levels use three vehicles: car, hovercraft and plane. The car and plane are very easy to use, while the hovercraft is more difficult. When you repeat tracks (or choose to play outside Adventure mode), some levels let you pick your vehicle – with some restrictions on a per-level basis – and it’s great having multiple types of vehicles racing alongside each other.

One let-down in DKR are the characters. None of them are bad in terms of a design perspective – and this is the first appearance of Banjo (without Kazooie, although some of his voice clips sound like her) and Conker, but they’re a bit too varied in terms of ability, so the game’s difficulty will very a lot based on who you pick, with Pipsy being the best for hitting boosts (plus the silver coins).

The weapon system sets itself apart from other kart racers. Instead of giving you random items, the balloons providing items are colour coded for specific items. Collecting one of the same type you already have will also upgrade the item.

Diddy Kong Racing is still a great game, and the only kart game that’s come close to it for single-player is Sonic Racing Transformed (which also had three vehicle types, but it was specific to the part of the track you were on). It set itself apart from Mario Kart 64 and I actually prefer this one.

And if re-thinking the whole racing game ‘thing’ wasn’t enough, Rare have set a whole new standard for in-game graphics. Even the simplest tracks positively bulge with background extras, from lumbering dinosaurs to beautiful timber-framed houses to wallowing whales.

- James Ashton, N64 Magazine #10

Remake or Remaster?

If not a sequel, then Diddy Kong Racing deserves a remake. It would look gorgeous with a Mario Kart 8 style sheen to it and some updates to the control and balance would be great, with some additional options. While it would be nice for all characters to return, I’d still be very happy with the game even if they had to replace most of them. The Switch seemed perfect due to the system’s potability and how it doesn’t have its own Mario Kart.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Diddy Kong Racing

Re-releases

2007: Diddy Kong Racing DS (Banjo and Conker replaced with Dixie Kong and a tall, teenage Tiny Kong, coin challenges replaced with tapping balloons).

[ericmicael]

Now the Disney VS DreamWorks battle will be in kart games. The DreamWorks game is launching paid, the Disney game only sold early access and then became free, I don't know if the same will happen with the DreamWorks game.

In this fight I'm going to stay with Disney, especially with just a few weeks to go until Team Frozen is added.