What is the best Mario Kart clone?

[Leon Retro]

Wacky Wheels looks like Street Racer - but.. with cute animal racers. I've never played it - but.. I can see it was probably fun for its time.

[randombs]

No it's really like Mario Kart, like, really:



LAVA!



I played Street Racer on the SNES, I remember when it came out for the MD I was a bit happy because we had something Mario Kart-like but I never got round to picking it up

[Roddie]

Diddy Kong Racing was like the true 64-bit sequel to Super Mario Kart. Mario Kart 64 was such a letdown.

[samanosuke]

I fully agree with you with regards to Super Mario Kart still being the best in the series. It's an experience far more focused on racing - and therefore delivers a tighter, more satisfying experience.

If I were going to make an illegal remake - I'd make a hi-def copy of Super Mario Kart in pure polygon 3D. If Nintendo did it - that would be even better. The game is still great to play - but with a lick of paint and a proper 3D engine, it would inspire me to really get into it again. Online racing would be the cherry on the cake. I can only dream.

I completely agree on your first point; at 150cc and using the (as my mate and I always called them) fat c*nts, the power ups become almost superficial as it's all about hop-sliding sideways and hurtling round a ninety degree angled turn.

I laughed at the SMK article in Retro Gamer for its remark about using the feather on Ghost Valley in the Mushroom Cup. Us hardcore karters know that by hopping over the gaps instead of touching the ramps you can maintain top speed, and with a fat c*nt their top speed is enough at 150cc to hop the short cut. Timing the next hop to come back onto the main course is another thing altogether though, as hopping the gap instead of using the feather and then getting round that tight corner at such a speed is a bugger. Pure racing, as you put it.

I have to disagree on wanting a fully 3D version of SKM though, as I feel it's the flat tracks and ninety degree turns that make it the unique experience it is. Kind of like a 3D Sonic will never be as good as a 2D Sonic, I believe that a 3D Mario Kart will never have the same effect as the 'flat' mode 7 version.

I played Street Racer on the SNES, I remember when it came out for the MD I was a bit happy because we had something Mario Kart-like but I never got round to picking it up

It was a good job you didn't, mate. As a fellow MD owner way back when I hopped for joy when I saw Street Racer for the Meggy in Woolies. I blew half my McDonald's wages (?3.16 p/h: hooray for minimum wage!) on the bastard cart and was sorely disappointed when I got home. It's nothing like the SNES version

[Leon Retro]

I have to disagree on wanting a fully 3D version of SKM though, as I feel it's the flat tracks and ninety degree turns that make it the unique experience it is. Kind of like a 3D Sonic will never be as good as a 2D Sonic, I believe that a 3D Mario Kart will never have the same effect as the 'flat' mode 7 version.

I blew half my McDonald's wages (?3.16 p/h: hooray for minimum wage!) on the bastard cart and was sorely disappointed when I got home. It's nothing like the SNES version

I simply mean.. take SuperMarioKart - make an exact replica with polygons. The same narrow tracks etc.. but in hi-def. It would work - I'm sure it would.

Street Racer on the SNES is good. I haven't played the MD version much - but.. I think it's basically the same; just slightly more grungy looking. Why do you say it's nothing like the snes version?

[samanosuke]

Street Racer on the SNES is good. I haven't played the MD version much - but.. I think it's basically the same; just slightly more grungy looking. Why do you say it's nothing like the snes version?

The lack of Mode 7 on the Megadrive makes it quite different to play; the tracks aren't as tight, and the relationship between the car and the road is a bit 'floaty'. I know that the developers had to work within the constraints of the console, but I had just hoped when I bought Street Racer for the Megadrive that they'd somehow managed to replicate the SNES version.

[JazzFunk]

I have to agree that Konami Krazy Racers is probably the best SMK clone I've ever played. It is actually *fun*, it is engaging, well was (I last played it in 2002). Its memory lasts, however.

Street Racer, well, I never got on with it. The SNES version was so uber-slick, smoother than SMK, but felt so soulless, lacked atmosphere, and was devoid of the touch of genius that makes these types of games actual fun. It felt like a really cool tech-demo, and the catchy Eurodisco-type music was heavily reminiscent of a German porn compilation trailer, circa 1993. I bought the Saturn version in a '2 for £15' deal in GAME, back in 1998, alongside Marvel Vs. Capcom (cos I only wanted the latter and nothing else on offer was half-decent) and it was very slick, very impressive, but still shat.

I seem to be one of the few who absolutely loved Mario Kart 64, the way the transition to full 3D meant more chances to f*ck up when playing in 2P mode, even the washed-out graphics. It definitely lost out in slickness terms, compared with the SNES original, which was almost perfect, though Mode 7 is an infuriating beast to behold these days, given its almost flat limitations.

Diddy Kong Racing, heeuch, bleh (gets rid of vom from chin and upper chest), what an abortion. Rare can't do 'cute', and should never have tried. It's hard to explain what is wrong, but Rare's version of cute is like a black and white photocopy of Nintendo's genius, but then it realises what it is (a blurred facsimile) and proceeds to add more modes and 'explorations' to its games, hoping no-one will notice. What is Diddy Kong Racing? Is it an exploration, Mario64-type game, or is it a cutesy racer (like Mario Kart64). Rare says "We can't be as good as either, let's just combine the two, stick in lots of furry apes with hunchbacks and green frog-hobbits, yellow balls with cute eyes, and they'll just laaaaap it up".

Why am I writing this???

Sorry, it's my evening off and I am massively drunk. I love you all.

[Leon Retro]

Diddy Kong Racing, heeuch, bleh (gets rid of vom from chin and upper chest), what an abortion. Rare can't do 'cute', and should never have tried. It's hard to explain what is wrong

I'm a hard to please gamer - and I really liked DKR. Fantastic visuals, great game engine, and the racing( in karts, hovercrafts, planes ) ... was slick and fun. I even liked the characters.

I agree with certain things you have against it. RARE should have made it a straight racer. I hated the Mario64esque portal bits - and collecting things etc... That side of things was a poor choice. RARE do try to make things bigger and more difficult than they should be.

RARE should have delivered more streamlined games. BlastCorps was just a pure game - and better for it.

Racing the Winter Xmas Level - with that happy tune it had; that was a beautiful moment in my gaming life.

[danrich316]

never rated donkey kong that highly i always found it to slow and the n64 stick a little unresponsive, i liked Street Racer, also like wacky races on dreamcast.

[noobish hat]

Got Konami Krazy Racers in the post, after hearing such good things about it. At the time I dismissed it immediately as a pointless Mario Kart knock-off, but with my famicom (and ever more castlevania games) I have recently got into Konami quite heavily, so I should enjoy this quite a bit. Do the racers have that beautiful flat, pixelated look a la Super Mario Kart, or have they gone with the crappier 3Dish Super Circuit-style graphics? The box artwork makes it look like the former, and thus sold it for me.

[markpsych]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM89osLE6ho&feature=related

[Cauterize]

Ive just thought...

This is a clone and its of Mario Kart, does it count?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pElbKiczACk

[noobish hat]

been playing Krazy Racers. It is very similar to Mario Kart Super Circuit, just a bit less polished. Problem is, it's crying out for a power slide. Is there no way of doing it? I can't seem to pull anything off, and the time time trials seem impossible without one.