A kart racing game, also known as cart racing game or go-kart racing game, is a

subgenre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

racing games Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic raci ...

. Kart racing games have simplified driving mechanics while including unusual racetrack designs, obstacles, and vehicular combat. Though the genre has its roots in the 1980s, '' Super Mario Kart'' (1992) popularized the genre, with its subsequent series still being considered the foremost kart racing franchise.

Mechanics and traits

Kart racing games are known to have simplified driving mechanics while adding obstacles, over-the-top racetrack designs, a wide range of

background music Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...

and various action elements. Kart racers are also known to cast fictional characters, particularly from animated media franchises, as the drivers of vehicles with unusual designs, often reflecting the distinct trait or personality of the character. Vehicle design in kart racing games range from simplistic

go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of small sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performanc ...

s to unique, more complex designs such as monster trucks or

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

s, depending on the game. Kart racing games are a more arcade-like experience than other racing games and usually offer over-the-top gameplay in which

player characters A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

can utilize weapons and projectiles against one another, collect

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...

s to gain advantage, or perform special techniques to gain a speed boost. Typically, in such games, vehicles move more like go-karts and

motor scooter A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, a transmission that shifts without the operator having to operate a clutch lever, a platform for their feet, and with a method of operation that emph ...

s, lacking anything along the lines of a

gear stick A gear stick (rarely spelled ''gearstick''), gear lever (both UK English), gearshift or shifter (both U.S. English), more formally known as a transmission lever, is a metal lever attached to the transmission of an automobile. The term ''gear s ...

and

clutch pedal A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

. Kart racing games are distinct from and not to be confused with kart simulators, which is a minor subgenre of racing simulator games that simulates actual

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

without over-the-top gameplay elements.

History

The precursor of kart racing video games was

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

's ''

Wacky Races ''Wacky Races'' is a media franchise containing five animated series, several video games, and a comic book, with most centered on the theme of various Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters primarily engaged in auto racing (although occasionally employ ...

'' franchise, featuring the concept of odd and unusual vehicles assigned to each of the characters, and the use of over-the-top vehicular combat elements. '' Power Drift'' featured go-kart racing in 1988, but '' Super Mario Kart'' (1992) is cited to have popularised the kart racing genre, being the first kart racing game to implement combat elements within races. The game was also slower than other racing games of the time due to hardware limitations, prompting its developers to use a go-kart theme. Since then, many kart racing games have been released, with franchises such as ''

Nicktoons Nicktoons is the brand name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Paramount Global) in their copyright bylines. Since ...

'' and ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' featuring such games. The ''

Crash Bandicoot ''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series c ...

'' franchise in particular (starting with '' Crash Team Racing'' in 1999) consists of numerous kart racing video games. The ''Mario Kart'' series is often considered as the pioneer of kart racing series, and is the most successful in the genre, topping other popular games such as ''

Diddy Kong Racing ''Diddy Kong Racing'' is a 1997 kart racing game developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The game revolves around Diddy Kong and his friends' attempt to defeat the intergalactic antagonist, a wizard pig named Wizpig, through win ...

''. Though the genre seems to have been the most popular among developers during the 1990s, '' Mario Kart DS'' (2005), and ''

Mario Kart Wii is a 2008 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It is the sixth installment in the ''Mario Kart'' series, and was released in April 2008. In ''Mario Kart Wii,'' the player takes control of one of 24 ''Mario'' series c ...

'' (2008) became two of the best-selling kart racing games. In the late 2010s, '' Mario Kart 8'' and its ''Deluxe'' port became the best-selling racing video game of all time. The kart racing

mobile game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any Mobile device, portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, table ...

''GKART''/''QQ Speed'' (2010), which was heavily inspired by ''Mario Kart'', became one of the highest-grossing mobile games.

References

Video game genres {{DEFAULTSORT:Kart racing game