Warning this is going to be a lengthy blog entry. Please take as many breaks as humanly possible. Make sure to hit the breaks just right or you'll be sorry!!!
Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, within a week I'll be away seeing family for a few weeks. I been considering a rather fun yet interesting video game rant for a little while. Obviously you got popular games that everyone talks about. Eventually other companies attempt to cash in on it's success. In this case I will be looking at licensed Mario Kart clones you may not know about.
I personally haven't played many of them myself. I have played two Crash racing games as well as some Sonic games to a degree. This felt like something I could have fun with discussing. Majority of them aren't great racing games. Along with Mario Party series among the most copy cats of the Mario franchise. By their logic anyone could be in a kart racing game.
To clarify a few things before I get started. Don't expect either NASCAR or Hot Wheels. Everyone knows those gotten racing games. There's virtually no point directly focusing on em. Especially when I wanted to focus on franchises you possibly didn't know done this. It sorta ruins the entire point of this blog entry altogether had I included them.
South Park Rally
It's hard to believe South Park gotten it's own Mario Kart rip off game. The end of the Acclaim South Park trilogy. The game was on a few platforms as usual for Acclaim Entertainment back in the day. The creators were quite busy focusing on the show which was still quite new on television. They mostly approved the game as well as done voice acting.
They later stated to regret allowing those South Park games to get released. What's crazier is this was more meant for adults on a game console. At the target majority of gamers playing it being kids. Not only this barely felt like the show. They somehow made an Mario Kart style game this bad. I grew up with PS1 version myself.
Looney Tunes: Space Race
Considering Death Battle: Tom Cat vs Wile. E. Coyote coming soon. I had to fix in an racing Looney Tunes game. Obviously this makes a lot of sense to make into a game. You got the right cartoon characters fighting against each other during races. Originally released on Dreamcast then a few years later on PlayStation 2.
This also was a brief period where any game on Dreamcast ported to PS2 didn't do well. I would've love to try this Looney Tunes game out. I felt this simply too fun of a idea. Obviously it has potential among these licensed Mario Kart clones. A lot of games came out in recent years. I can only hope this Looney Tunes game returns one day.
Star Wars: Bombad Racing
Yes even Star Wars one of the most popular movie franchises had to do their own rip off of Mario Kart. Let's be honest you got a lot of rememberable characters. You also have some rather cool vehicles as well as weapons. I do see the appeal of this Star Wars game. Then as soon as you see the game all of that suddenly drops.
I won't sugar coat it I know parts of the franchise lends towards children. But maybe they should've went closer to teens instead. At least there it would've gotten more people's attention. A lot of older Star Wars fans simply going to overlook the game. For me this is a hard pass. Not because I'm not a Star Wars fan either.
Burger King PocketBike Racer
Yes even the famous fast food restaurant Burger King got in on the fun. Obviously they are using bikes instead of karts. But you still notice the similarities in the game play. There's a few sports games similar to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series that's not skateboarding. I won't excuse a game simply changing out the vehicles.
This game was given out to kids at their restaurants. It's no surprise the internet eventually learned this Burger King game existed. Also you play as Burger King whose creepy as hell. You can tell simply looking up pictures or videos it's a cheap knock off of Mario Kart series. You sorta tell how rushed out this licensed game is too.
Super Indie Karts
Hard to believe there exists a crossover indie Mario Kart style game. I'm happy about to see the indie developers support each other like this. There's a few franchises with Toejam & Earl among the most famous. Personally I'm more of a Earl person if anyone asked. This is heavily inspired by Super Mario Kart on SNES.
I personally loved when indie developed attempt to recreate retro like this. I actually wanna play this myself. It's currently an Early Access game. You may expect some technical difficulties if any shows up. Otherwise they usually listen to people testing out their games. This gotten onto Steam in 2015 a long time now.
Just pointing out more recently there's an indie Toejam & Earl game. It's directly inspired by the original game that actor Macaulay Culkin supported.
Nicktoon racing games
I easily could've done a handful of their franchises doing this concept. Why not give you all of them at once? This is a licensed Mario Kart clone series. Nickelodeon also done this towards Super Smash Brothers series as well. So many of their shows including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are featured. I know that's a lot to take in right?
Who doesn't love the idea racing as some of your favorite cartoon characters? I don't know how well any of them has done off hand. It's a good way for older Nickelodeon fans to notice. I grew up with a lot of these cartoon shows myself. Obviously this has potential to be a game series. Maybe I wish they would've made it more of their own thing instead of ripping off Mario Kart series.
Disney racing games
There's a few Mickey Mouse racing games by Rare. You know the famous company responsible for some of the greatest Nintendo games in existence. There's also Disney Speedstorm a free to play kart racing game on multiple platforms. Yes even Disney the famous animation company got in on this too.
I should also point out Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour as well. Once again you get to race as some of your favorite cartoon characters. They pulled from a lot of their franchises making it a little overwhelming. Even Pirates of the Caribbean an live action movie series got in. I guess Disney will do anything for money!!!
Cartoon Network racing games
This is getting old by now another cartoon network making a few licensed Mario Kart style racing games. I also grew up heavily around a lot of these cartoon shows. Cartoon Network Racing directly ripped off Mario Kart Double Dash. For those that doesn't know this Mario Kart game allows two people in a kart.
They work together to win races. It's more of a team racing game than Team Sonic Racing. Oddly not as many franchises as Disney or Nickelodeon presented. I guess they couldn't put in the money to get more characters. Why kinda explains their current situation lol. Regardless I would play either of these racing games if given the chance.
DreamWorks racing games
Even the famous animation company got in on the fun. This is a more recent Mario Kart style racing game on most platforms. I could've just given you a Shrek racing game. Obviously I had to go much bigger here. Some of your favorite franchises are presented here. This already has a lot of potential to be a fun racing game.
Sadly stuff like this is often rushed a bit resulting in not favorable reviews. Considering this is among the more recent games I'm talking about today that's sad. DreamWorks has a few racing games. I can't say if any are worth checking out since I never played em. They sure don't look great though. To me they easily scream rip off!!!
Charinko Hero
This was exclusive to Japan like many great things. You play as a lot of characters from a few franchises. Mostly Kamen Rider series and Ultra series respectively. This was on GameCube by the same company responsible for the first Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers game on Sega Genesis. This by itself already screams the obvious.
Two franchises widely known for heroes fighting monsters with some destruction involve. Why do this is beyond me? I rather have a different style crossover game you fight against each other. More like War of the Monsters or King of the Monsters series or Godzilla series for that matter. This is for sure among the weirdest licensed Mario Kart clones that I know of.
Crazy Frog Arcade Racer
Somehow this even gotten it's own Mario Kart clone game. I'm not familiar with Crazy Frog myself. I just looked it up to find out it's a weird music style animation character. Often used in songs that goes viral perfect for Tik Tok. This seems like the most random among all the Mario Kart clones I'm covering.
It's almost they had kids that couldn't stop talking about Crazy Frog. They simply had to make an racing game based on em. How do you transform something like this into a racing game? I even seen characters that normally don't work in fighting games somehow do before. I am almost at a loss of words.
The Smurfs racing games
OMG even The Smurfs had to get in on this too. I recalled watching returns of this classic cartoon in the early days of Cartoon Network. They are tiny blue people that's often terrorized by a human man and his dog. This also bags a huge question how exactly could this work as a racing game let alone a few of them?
The Smurfs wasn't like many classic cartoon series that had a lot of stuff to work with. Let's be Inspector Gadget I wouldn't even need to ask questions how that could work here. Somehow more Smurfs racing games kept showing up when at least don't expect em. I rather have a lot of coal in my socking.
LEGO racing games
There's a few racing LEGO games. This is excluding sections within their other games including licensed ones with racing sections. I simply wanna focus directly on racing focus licensed LEGO games. Even one of the biggest toy brands in the world done this as well. It's more than bricks for those not familiar with other stuff you get with em.
I am directly focusing on their racing games not directly based on any licensed franchises. I felt this helps it stand out more. It's not difficult to see how this could work in a game or two. The insane level of creativity with the simple Mario Kart style game play. It simply appeals to people of all ages. It's more normal than Crazy Frog Arcade Racer lol.
M&M's Kart Racing
Yes even the famous candy brand done this too. It really sucks places stopped selling white chocolate M&M's especially the peanut ones. Obviously we are using the commercial characters. Which by itself limits what could be done with em. It just seems like a weird licensed game idea to do. Even going by some classic commercials it's doomed to fail.
Why would you wanna play as candy racing in a game? Then again why any of this for that matter? I also notice barely any of these M&M's games does anything with M&M's Minis!!! Obviously this was another famous cheap knock off. There was no real way this was going to work. It's such an insult to a popular candy brand.
Hello Kitty racing games
Yes even Hello Kitty done this as well. It's a popular brand of cute stuff aimed towards the female audience. You would be surprise how all over the place this franchise is now. It shouldn't even be a surprise they got a few Mario Kart style racing games. In a weird way I do see why they made these. I'm not that familiar with the brand myself.
Thus I don't know if it had enough to justify doing these licensed racing games or not. To me it just seems weird they jumped on that track ripping off Mario Kart series. Especially when they're making enough money not needing to do that. Even as a cat person to a degree this is weird. Somehow Garfield getting racing games making more sense.
Warped Kart Racers
Here's a rather unexpected licensed Mario Kart clone. This is actually a mobile game likely discontinued. You have Family Guy, American Dad!, King of the Hill and Solar Opposites respectively. Four popular cartoon shows that has plenty of stuff to work with. It's just weird something like this gotten release in a rather unexpected way.
Especially considering those cartoon shows. I know some people that would love to play this. Even for a mobile game I mean come on why not? I'm just surprised The Simpsons didn't get in. My favorite out of these shows is American Dad! by far. It's almost like they were too scared to go bigger with the concept.
Digimon Racing
Yes even the famous toy brand gotten it's turn at the wheel. I recalled watching the first three seasons of Digimon a long time ago. I could never expect this Digimon game to exist!!! In a weird way I do see why they had to do this. You got plenty of rememberable creatures. Not to mention some iconic locations.
Bandai now Namco Bandai haven't been kind with the franchise though. I know people quickly jump on calling this an Pokemon rip off. I strongly felt Digimon differs itself enough from that. I would've enjoyed this back in the day too. They even threw in their own twist to the concept. Just weird it's only on Game Boy Advance.
Angry Birds Racing
Angry Birds in what used to be a hit mobile game series before company became selfish pricks. They even jumped in on the fun. Personally this bags too many questions with not enough answers. In majority of Angry Birds games you slingshot birds to take out the pigs. Despite the variety of what birds can do.
It doesn't give enough to work for a kart racing game. This also gotten discontinued I'm glad I didn't play this. By default this sounds like a horrible idea. I rather play a vastly different game altogether. There's virtually no possible way this could work. This simply doomed to fail even before released. I hate to say this franchise going to die out soon due to greed.
Conclusion
Difficult to believe all of this possibly more exists right? Somehow Mario Kart franchise became such an easy cash grab opportunity for many franchises. Obviously I do recommend playing actual Mario Kart games. I also recommend playing Sonic & Sega All-Stas Racing series as well as two versions of Crash Team Racing.
All of those are simply way better than majority of these licensed crap. I don't even wanna entertain the idea what else could possibly do this. It's ridiculous there's already more of these than the actual Mario Kart series. Maybe it's a good thing to be a bit selective which games to play. Why torture yourself playing some of these?
I know YouTubers kept focusing on variations of this topic. Sometimes including original games that's ripping off Mario Kart series as well. I guess time is money for some of these games. Some of these were a bit tough to swallow. It's much easier to not care at all I'll even support that. It's just sad success of a particular Mario spin off series led to this!!!
A lot of them aren't even on Nintendo consoles either. At times there's on as many platforms as possible. Which makes it harder to avoid em. Especially you're about to buy a game or two. Let's go with the digital buying route for this. All of a sudden, one of those clone games shows up. You suddenly get turn off by it.
In all honestly that's how some of these licensed games making me feel. I'm better off with Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled through Game Pass. Which I been playing a lot of recently. Some of them are even harder to accept they exist over those ripping off Mario Party series. Obviously parts of both is worst than you could possibly imagine!!!
You could buy enough of them to kick off starting a new console. Assuming you have the money to do so. A lot of them aren't cheap either. By now you see why I been wanting to do this particular video game rant. It just writes itself at this point. I simply choose a few games. Then looking for more online quickly led to such a long lineup of games to rant on.
At the same time, I don't really gain much by doing this either. I'm just glad I get to vent out how I felt about all of this. The current direction of games is going to possibly led to it's end. They are focusing on too many wrong things to fix it in time. Indirectly licensed games play somewhat into that. End of the day simply living under a rock not knowing any of these is a life worth living!!!