Super Yooka-Laylee Kart Revives Classic Arcade Racing Spirit

Last year's Mario Kart World didn't quite hit the mark for a lot of folks. But during the Summer Game Fest edition of Day of the Devs, one game popped up that looks set to take arcade racing fans back in time. With Super Yooka-Laylee Kart, developer Playtonic Games is smushing together the characters from its Yooka-Laylee platformer series with the original Super Mario Kart. It's immediately obvious that Playtonic was inspired by Nintendo's 1992 kart racer here, because of both the title and the game's aesthetic. It looks like a modern spin on Super Mario Kart with pixel-art characters racing on a course that has coins and boxes containing power-ups laid flat on the track. Those drifts around corners look mighty familiar too. Still, there are lots of other differences between Super Yooka-Laylee Kart and Super Mario Kart beyond the characters, track layouts and power-ups. The new game features a Rage system that builds up as you jostle for position during a race and perhaps get hit by the equivalent of a blue shell a little too often. This eventually allows you to use "devastating revenge abilities capable of changing the outcome in an instant," Playtonic says, allowing for "tactical comebacks." The studio envisions Super Yooka-Laylee Kart as a skill-based, pixel-perfect arcade racer in which mastering the mechanics and items will stand you in good stead. There's a "deep story campaign" that includes tournaments, time trials, endurance events and skill challenges. You can spend the coins you collect during races on upgrades. There are also online modes as well as local splitscreen multiplayer support for up to eight people. Races are highly customizable too. You can, for instance, make all the competitors invisible or modify the boost pads so they slow players down instead. I haven't played any Yooka-Laylee games (the series is a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie), so I have no connection to any of the characters. However, I grew up on Super Mario Kart, so I definitely want to give this a spin. Super Yooka-Laylee Kart is in development for Steam. There's no word on whether it's coming to consoles as yet, but it's bound to end up on Nintendo Switch 2 at some point, right? In any case, beta tests for the online multiplayer modes will take place soon.