Mario Kart Worldis great. I’ve played so much now that I’m afraid to check in on the vague hour count Nintendo has carried over to theSwitch 2. However, no matter how much I love the new entry in the series, its success, coupled with the other kart racers coming our way this year, has me pining for a newCrash Team Racing.
Even thoughSonic Racing: CrossWorldswill attempt to compete with Mario Kart World - andKirby Air Riderswill be here too, I guess - there is nothing on the same level as Mario Kart. Nintendo perfected the kart racing genre a long time ago and has been cashing in on its success with subtle iterations ever since. However, if there was ever something that came close to snatching Mario Kart’s crown, it’s Crash Team Racing.
Nothing Has Come Closer To Beating Mario Kart At Its Own Game Than Crash Team Racing
Between Crash Team Racing and its remake,Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, there’s a real chance I’ve spent more time on Crash’s race tracks than Mario’s. Not just because I was a PlayStation kid who didn’t discover Nintendo until later in life, either. The Crash Team Racing games aregood, and after the success of Nitro-Fueled, I’m a little surprised there hasn’t been a follow-up.
When I say Crash Team Racing games are good, I mean the original and its remake. Not the so-so attempts to make something more of CTR that came between them.
That’s not me waxing lyrical about the good old days and claiming everyone loved Crash when in reality it was just me and the same seven people in every online lobby. There are literally millions of us.
Activision recently celebrated Nitro Fueled hitting ten million players via the Crash Bandicoot Twitter account. So even the publishing giant that holds the keys to the Crash gates is aware of how popular the Bandicoot kart racer is, and how much of a money spinner the first new entry in the series since 2005’s Crash Tag Team Racing could be.
Okay, I guess I did just reference one of those other CTR games, but that’s it now, I’m done.
Perhaps Activision Is Waiting For The Mario Kart Hype To Die Down
Maybe there is a grand plan to revive Crash Team Racing, and the celebration of ten million copies sold is the first, very vague indicator of that. I mean, even at its best, Crash Bandicoot’s racing game is always going to be overshadowed by Mario’s. That’s why I fear the worst for CrossWorlds.Despite the glowing previewsand launching three months after Mario Kart World, it’s still going to struggle.
Activision and Xbox might have a secret Crash Team Racing game waiting in the wings, and as soon as Nintendo confirmed a new Mario Kart was on the way, it put the new Crash kart racer on the back burner until things die down. Unfortunately, the treatment of the Crash Bandicoot IP as a whole lately makes me doubt that. Despite selling north of five million copies, Activision was reportedly unhappy withCrash Bandicoot 4’s performance, and the less said aboutCrash Team Rumble, the better.
I’m not holding out much hope either since we’ve already lived throughreports of a canceled Crash 5 game that would have broken our heartsif we knew what we could have had, and evena Crash and Spyro team-up gamethat was also canned. All pretty bleak, but there is hope. Toys For Bob, the studio responsible for most of Crash’s modern-day victories,is working on something with Activisionafter going independent. It’s probably not a Crash Team Racing game, but hey, give me anything with the world’s most famous marsupial in it at this point, I’m starving.
As long as it’s not more Crash Team Rumble
The Longer We Go Without More Crash, The Less People Are Going To Care
My biggest fear is that we’re already in a vicious spiral, and the longer we continue to spiral without more Crash, the worse it will get. The longer we go without a good new Crash game, the less people are going to care. That will result in poor sales, and then Activision will become even less likely to devote time to the Bandicoot in the future. Worst of all, if there isn’t a super secret Crash Team Racing game ready to go once everyone’s done playing Mario Kart World, then that means the next game in the series, if there even is one, is still years away.
There were fresh rumors recentlysuggesting Nitro Fueled will be getting an updatethat adds more characters and a new track to the game. That sounds great, and I look forward to it if it’s the real deal.
If Mario Kart is so much better than anything other platforming mascots can muster in the kart racing scene, then so be it. Nintendo isn’t the kind of studio that will cheap out on a project because it doesn’t have competition. Mario Kart games will always be fantastic. It’s just a shame that Crash Team Racing, the series that came the closest to doing what Mario Kart does best, is currently showing no signs of life, particularly in a year when we’re getting more kart racers from platforming’s biggest names than ever before.
