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The 8 Strangest Kart Racing Games
Some games are so ripe with potential and innovation that it's inevitable that they lead to a neverending chain of clones. You know the ones. Doom. Civilization. Zork. Grand Theft Auto III. Final Fantasy. Mario Kart. Wait what?
I mean, I know Mario Kart is a great, classic series but it just doesn't seem like the kind of game that developers everywhere would be attempting to shamelessly copy, but there have been a lot of Mario Kart clones, y'all. And some of them are really, really weird (but not Crash Team Racing because Crash Team Racing is sacred). Let's check out the strangest ones, shall we?
Woody Woodpecker Racing
Oh hey yeah! A kart racing game based around Woody the Woodpecker. Everybody knows that guy! And the memorable supporting cast of characters. Chilly Willy! And Buzz...uh....Buzzard (I'm sensing a pattern here). Woody Woodpecker Racing debuted in 2000 to lukewarm reviews, probably because it was more of a churned out marketing product than an enjoyable racing game, which is sadly the case with a lot of kart racing games.
Muppet RaceMania
The Muppets never had much luck with their video games, but one of the more enjoyable outings was this kart racing game. It doesn't do anything radically different from Mario Kart, but it's fun zooming around as Kermit or Miss Piggy. Still weird though.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
The All-Stars Racing series isn't bad at all. In fact, Racing Transformed is pretty great. Still, for those who grew up playing Sonic (hi, me) both seeing and playing the blue hedgehog as he drives a car is a bit odd considering he's freakin' Sonic.
Inspector Gadget Racing
Released in 2002 for the Gameboy Advance, Inspector Gadget Racing wasn't half bad! It played well and looked nice and colorful on the GBA's screen. Definitely an odd property to turn into a kart racing game though. But the best games often come from the strangest places, I guess.
Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing
You knew this was going to be on here, didn't you? How could it not? After the genuinely great Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer, Bombad Racing turned out to be a goofy disaster that wasn't enjoyable in the slightest. Also, Big Head Amidala is scariest thing to ever appear in the Star Wars universe.
Smurf Racer
Yep. The Smurfs had a kart racing game. Like most of the stuff on here, it wasn't very good. Oh well. One day we'll get our interactive masterpiece about little blue people. It'll probably be a MOBA.
Konami Krazy Racers
Ever wanted to race around a track as a small version of Gray Fox from Metal Gear Solid or Dracula from Castlevania? Krazy Racers is the game for you then. Released for Gameboy Advance in 2001, this is actually one of the better portable racing games out there. If you've got a Wii-U and you missed out on this back when it was released, you can grab the game off the Virtual Console now.
Garfield Kart
As if poor Garfield hadn't had enough merchandise-related woes fall upon his furry head in recent years, here comes this odd, mediocre-at-best iOS game released in 2013 that was, for whatever reason, ported to both 3DS and PC in 2015. That's nearly a decade since the last Garfield movie! Who is this game even for!?
Did I leave any weirdddd contenders off? Let me know in the coments!
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