Krazy Kart Racing

Start your engines – the most extensive iPhone Kart Racing game of all times is now available!

NA release: 31st August 2009
EU release: 31st August 2009
JP release: 31st August 2009
Developer: Polarbit
Publisher: Konami
Pocket Gamer Review: 3.5/5
Platforms: Android, iOS
Version Played: Android

Did you know that the fantastic Konami Krazy Racers on the GBA got a sequel? It was probably quite easy to miss as it was an unsuccessful mobile phone game in a very busy marketplace. At the very least, it was released in an era when mobile games were full games that didn’t require internet access

The bad thing about it being an early mobile game is that there’s no controller support, steering is done via an on screen slider or tilt controls. You can use other software to map these functions to a controller, but being designed for these inputs in the first place really affects the game: the game auto accelerates, you have a brake button and an item button. There’s no nuance to the racing, and it’s all very basic.

On top of that, a lot of the tracks are quite wide and basic, with the Castlevania tracks being the only ones difficult due to the track design, and even then, they’re really annoying to play on due to the unresponsive controls. The items are also a pain to deal with, with most of them affecting you without any chance to avoid them – one will make you stop, another slows you down and, worst of all, the bat item reverses your steering for a random amount of time. Castlevania really has the most annoying parts of the game.

Luckily, while Dracula was a “slow acceleration heavy” style racer in the first, he’s not here. I’m not entirely sure if there is any noticeable difference between the racers. This time he’s joined by a couple of returning racers like Goemon and a Power Pros kid, and joined by Pyramid Head and Robbie Rabbit from Silent Hill, the penguin and octopus from Parodius, Dewy (I forgot Dewy’s Adventure existed), Sparksrer form Rocket Knight, a random athlete from New International Track & Field and Frogger (I’m surprised he wasn’t in more of these crossovers).

There’s four cups with four tracks, a couple of challenges between each one and the chicken and bomb chance minigames form the original (although with one level each), so there’s a decent amount to do, but it’s just not that much fun. On top of that, you would have needed to convince someone else to buy the game to play multiplayer, so it’s likely just going to be a singleplayer experience.

Poor

It’s a shame that the inconsistent course design and frustrating difficulty spikes detract from what the game does right. Based on what we’ve seen, Krazy Kart Racing has the potential to be the champion iPhone kart racer, and hopefully future updates will make it just that.
Jon Mundy, Pocket Gamer

Remake or remaster?

Even with good controls, the game is still bad design.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Krazy Kart Racing.