Wahoo or mama mia? The best and worst Mario Kart rip-offs to ever copy the legendary racer

There’s no two ways about it: the Mario Kart series is one of the greatest ever in the history of video games. It’s brought us endless competitive fun, as well as plenty of intense blue-shell-induced rage and banana-skin-fueled feuds.

But as Nintendo learned the hard way, you can’t release a game as good as Mario Kart and be surprised when someone (or in this case pretty much everyone) wants to copy it. And that’s exactly what happened. There comes a time in the life of most game series when they feel the sudden urge to add a racing game to their portfolio, and today we’ll be looking at the resulting admirable homages, as well as the abominable stinkers.

Almost as interesting as the games themselves are the many creative ways developers have named their “kart” games to avoid being quite so obvious with their flagrant plagiarism. So, without further ado, start your engines, grab a red shell or two, and let’s dive right in.

Contents:

Best

1. Crash Team Racing/Crash Nitro Kart
2. Jak X
3. ModNation Racers
4. Diddy Kong Racing
5. Sonic & All Star Racing Transformed

Worst 

1. Sonic Drift
2. South Park Rally
3. M&M’s Kart Racing
4. F1 Race Stars
5. Nickelodeon Kart Racers

Best

1. Crash Team Racing/Crash Nitro Kart

This pair of premium products released for the PS1 and PS2, respectively, were created for a single purpose: to compete with Mario Kart (and copy everything about it). Both games had plenty of fun game modes, well designed tracks in the series’ signature style, and were faster than their Nintendo competitor.

2. Jak X

This high-octane entry in the Jak and Daxter series is the least obvious Mario Kart clone in this list, but all the key elements are there: item boxes, speed boosts, and the possibility of the tables turning sharply at any moment. 

You also get machine guns and a great story supporting all the edge-of-your-seat action.

3. ModNation Racers

It should be pretty obvious from the title of this PlayStation 3 exclusive what it’s USP was… modification! You could create your own cars, drivers and tracks, and then share them online with other players.

In its heyday, the ModNation community was churning out amazing circuits with all kinds of special features, although sadly the online aspect of this game has since been relegated to the dustbin of history.

4. Diddy Kong Racing

Diddy Kong Racing went toe-to-toe with Mario Kart 64 and in some fans’ minds… it won! It added planes and hovercrafts to the mix, a story mode with boss battles, and even the first appearance of the legend that is Banjo the bear (no Kazooie, though).

5. Sonic & All Star Racing Transformed

This snappily named entry from the boys and girls at Sega is a great modern addition to the endless pool of Mario Kart copies. 

Featuring all your favorite characters from Sega’s classics (including Wreck-It Ralph) and with some slick graphics, awesome tracks, and flying and water sections, SASRT put up an admirable fight against Mario Kart 7.

Worst

1. Sonic Drift

Not every Sonic outing into the kart world has been successful, however, as this 1994 offering from Sega proves. The game offered nothing new that the Mario Kart games hadn’t already done better, but it did lack character, the driving left much to be desired, and judging the right time to turn a corner was made incredibly difficult as the game didn’t seem to be sure when you had actually reached them. 

2. South Park Rally

This game really is a shameful, lazy attempt to cash in on the kart game craze from the team behind South Park. Featuring the voices of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park Rally is almost entirely devoid of pretty much anything else. 

The karts move painfully slowly, the tracks are mind-numbingly dull, and the AI is punishing. All in all, there’s essentially nothing about this game that justifies its existence.

3. M&M’s Kart Racing

Another lazy entry into the fray, this time based around no one’s favorite candy – M&Ms! M&M’s Kart Racing for the Nintendo Wii is dull. It’s definitely a Mario Kart clone, as you can tell from the title; however, the developers decided not to include anything that made those games fun.

There are no items, no attractive tracks, no interactions, etc. It’s also astonishing that this game was released in 2007, as it would have looked dated back in 1997.

4. F1 Race Stars

This 2012 release is actually pretty creative as copies of other games go, based around making famous Formula One drivers into cute cartoony kart racers.

However, beyond this interesting aesthetic, the game was about as exciting as this season’s race to be crowned Driver’s Champion.

5. Nickelodeon Kart Racers

This entry into the fray by the kid’s cartoon conglomeration Nickelodeon has earned its place on the wall of shame not because the gameplay is particularly bad, but because of its pathetic roster of characters.

Despite a huge pool of potential wacky personages the developers had to draw from, they ended up including a measly 12, four of which are just the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.