Kart racing fans have a ton to look forward to in 2022.Chocobo GPandDisney Speedstormare two newcomers to the genre, though excitement came to a head during Februrary’s Nintendo Direct broadcast. During it, Nintendo announcedDLC forMario Kart 8 Deluxe,a whopping 48 remade tracks coming by the end of 2023. In the wake of all the news, one orange kart racing giant seems to be missing out.
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueledis the 2019 remake of 1999’sCrash Team Racing.Nitro-Fueleddid receive continued support for about a year after the game’s release, giving players new tracks, characters, and costumes, as well as tournaments to compete in. Developer Beenox has been silent on any mentions of new content since, however, leaving fans craving more. It stands to reason that, if the eight-year-oldMario Kart 8 Deluxeis receiving new tracks,Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueledis more than deserving of the same treatment.
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Crash Bandicoot’s History of Kart Racing
Crash Bandicootfirst released in 1996as PlayStation’s main platforming mascot. After three games, the original developer Naughty Dog tried making a kart racer, and the originalCrash Team Racingwas born. The success of the original quickly turned into a series, consisting ofCrash Nitro Kart, Crash Tag Team Racing,andNitro Kart 2, all receiving some varying degrees of success, but none as popular as the original. As a result, fans were absolutely floored when the remake,Nitro-Fueled,was first announced to release in 2019.
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-FueledandMario Kart 8 Deluxeare the two kart racing giants of the current era. ThoughMario Kart 8 Deluxeis the best-selling in its franchise,Nitro-Fueleddoes plenty to stand on its own four wheels. Looking at just the gameplay,Nitro-Fueledhas a much higher skill ceiling— it’s harder, but all the more satisfying to master. This is because drifts are harder to achieve and require rhythmically tapping the button to go faster. Drifts can then be chained together to reach much higher speeds than what is possible inMario Kart.
On top of this,Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueledhas a fully designated single-player campaign, complete with a massive hub world and optional objectives and races for every single course. This gives the single-player experience more depth, as opposed to just finishing every race in a row.Mario Kart DS’mission modecomes close to this, so hopefully, Nintendo will take a modern stab at a robust single-player campaign in the next main entry.
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The Kart Racers Zooming Into 2022
The biggest kart racing news of the year is theMario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC, but the reaction to this news has been mixed, though, as somefans wantMario Kart 9instead.Mario Kart 8is eight years old after all, andDeluxeis just the Switch version of the Wii U original that comes bundled with all its DLC. That being said,Mario Kart 8is hard to top in terms of gameplay, so essentially doubling the game’s content makes perfect sense.
Aside fromMario Kart’s DLC, two other major kart racers are releasing or have released this year. These areDisney Speedstorm, a Disney crossover racer, andChocobo GP, one that is based on the world ofFinal Fantasy. Both of these games are taking an interesting stance when it comes to kart racers, as both are free to play, but contain in-game purchases and/or premium versions in order to unlock more content. This trend is becoming more and more popular in modern gaming, seen in games such asFortniteandApex Legends.This take has never been seen on a console kart racer, so it is interesting to think how this will possibly affect the likes ofCrash Team RacingorMario Kartin the future.
Crash Team Racing’s Future
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueledis already almost three years old— the franchise is due for something new. All the news this year shows that the hype for kart racing is as large as ever, andCrashcan learn a thing or two from it. While a sequel would be preferred, updates toNitro-Fueledakin toMario Kart 8’sDLC could also work. The game includes all the tracks from the originalCrash Team Racing,as well asNitro Kart,meaning there are two other games worth of tracks that can be ported over and added as additional content forNitro-Fueled.Beenox did releasebrand newNitro-FueledDLC tracksat one point, but asking for more is a long shot at this point in the game’s lifespan.
MoreCrash Team Racinggoodness can also take the form of something likeDisney SpeedstormorChocobo GP. Nitro-Fueledalready contains tons of collectibles and microtransactions in the form of characters, skins, and vehicle parts, with some even coming from other series, likeSpyro the Dragon.A free-to-playCrash Racercan crank up the number of collectibles even further, and even throw in some characters from other Activision IPs. Whatever the case may be, 2022 is clearly the year of the kart racer, andCrash Team Racingdeserves some of that spotlight.
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueledis available now on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.
