Crash Nitro Kart

Banicoots and bad guys… start your engines.

NA release: 11th November 2003
EU release: 28th November 2003
JP release: 8th July 2004
Developer: Vicarious Visions
Publisher: Universal (NA/EU), Konami (JP)
NGC Magazine Score: 53%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

The Crash Bandicoot racing games actually have a xecent reception, and Crash Nitro Kart has a lot of elements from other kart games – from both before it came out and much later. The Mario Kart style of item racing is obvious here, but the single player lets you roam around to start the different races like Diddy Kong Racing, complete with boss encounters (although all a character in a kart).

But the features that I recognised from future kart racers are more interesting. This has an anti-grav mechanic complete with wheels turning sideways (from Mario Kart 8) and hopping at the end of a ramp will cause a boost (MK7). From Sonic Team Racing is the ability to get more items, in here it’s from driving close together with your teammate (although they’re also an obstacle your lock-on items won’t target, if they win, you’ll lose). It even has a rather strange a quirk from Mario Kart World: if you ignore the power slide boosts, the game will be easier.

With some interesting features that were ahead of its time, it must be a great game? Unfortunately, I really couldn’t get on with the handling. The weapons also all feel useless and the boosts overly complicated. The game is still telling you important mechanics up until the end of the game, which is just strange. The tracks themselves also aren’t all that exciting or memorable. Some great ideas, but the core racing isn’t good enough to go alongside them.

Fun

As for the racing itself, it’s painfully slow and there’s little in the way of genuine excitement. In fact, the most fun we had with the game initially came from placing ‘bets’ on the themes of the tracks that appeared, and lo and behalf the predictions of ‘green’, ‘lava’, ‘desert’ and ‘ice’ all rang true within the first half-an-hour of play.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magaizne #89

Remake or remaster?

A collection of Crash racing games would be neat.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Crash Nitro Kart.