Mario Kart Meets Super Smash Bros In Thrilling Racer You Can Try For Free Soon

Since the dawn of man, humans have been obsessed with getting from A to B as quickly as possible, so much so that there are countless video games driven by the need for speed.

For the longest time, Nintendo’s beloved mascot, Super Mario, has been the king of kart racers. The Mario Kart series has dominated the genre for years, but I’m by no means exaggerating when I say Super Yooka-Laylee Kart is the best racer I’ve played in years.

Inspired by the Super Nintendo era of racing games, Super Yooka-Laylee Kart boasts pixel-art visuals but modernised gameplay.

Each racer comes with their own stats and for my hands-on demo, I played as Vendi, a character who’s incredibly slow and sluggish off the mark but blitzes past the competition once she picks up momentum.

As a standard kart racer, it’d work fine, but Super Yooka-Laylee Kart goes the extra mile by making items actually matter and each course feel unique.

Starting with the items, each one has three potential uses. The best example is the speed boost, which you’d probably want to keep for yourself when you need to overtake the racer in front of you. However, it can also be used as a throwable item, so if you see your rival about to take a bend, you can lob it in front of them so they go careening off the track.

Every item has alternative uses, which is brilliant, because something that’s always vexed me about Mario Kart is when you’ve got a semi-comfortable lead and only get coins from the item boxes, or if you’re slightly behind first place and keep getting defensive items.

Playtonic Friends

The developer I was paired with for the demo said the aim was to make each race feel like a battle in Super Smash Bros for peak competitiveness.

Where Super Yooka-Laylee Kart really shines though, is the modifiers. The first course plays as normal, but the second will introduce wacky gimmicks to make the next race more challenging for all players.

In one of my races, speed boosts were more common but all participants were invisible. You had to look for the drift sparks to keep track of your character.

These were randomised for the Grand Prix mode, but players will be able to pick their own when setting up races with friends. I did ask if there’s a limit to how many can be switched on at once, as there were several pages worth, and was told in theory it’s possible but it could impact performance. In the name of science, I’d implore someone to try.

With any luck, you’ll be able to play this one for yourself relatively soon, as the game’s Steam page is currently accepting requests to join an upcoming playtest.

At the time of writing, Super Yooka-Laylee Kart doesn’t have a release date, but Mario Kart’s days are numbered regardless.

READ NEXT: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 8K 'Remaster' Has Us Hyped For Franchise's Future