Games Database
GBA
Racing: Car
| Also for: | PlayStation | ||
| Viewed: | 3D Third person, into the screen | Genre: | Racing: Car |
| Arcade origin: | No | ||
| Developer: | Takara | Soft. Co.: | Xicat |
| Publishers: | Xicat
(GB) |
Released: | 26 Apr 2002
(GB) |
| Ratings: | 3+ | ||
| Connectivity: | Link Cable | ||
Screens
Summary
Though Nintendo’s pocket wonder known as Game Boy Advance is effectively a shrunken SNES on steroids, the range of games available differs greatly. Mario Kart for the SNES stands as one of best-loved games in history, yet it spawned surprisingly few clones.
The blessing of retrospect mixed with a healthy amount of nostalgia has seen this trend completely reversed for the GBA. Every company worth its dev-kit has been beavering away at some form of mini-cutesy-character-medley racer and this one, from Takara, is Penny Racers.
The stats on this game are really impressive. For a start you, are given 50 vehicles to choose from, an unparalleled figure in a portable racer. Then you are gifted with 130 interchangeable parts with which you can fully customise your machine. These parts combined endow Penny Racers with a portable tune shop of epic proportions, including engines, brakes, tyres and weapons, all available for advantageous racing action.
The stats continue to impress as you learn that Penny Racers has an unbelievable 40 unique courses: another huge leap forward in portable racing depth.
Presented in the GBA’s lovable Mode 7 pseudo3D environment, Penny Racers offers good game speed and manages to cope with a lot with a lot of action on the screen at any one time. There is no slow-down, even when the whole screen is engulfed in sprites. The control is as you would expect for such a game, with the shoulder buttons being used for drift action when cornering.
Also on offer is a wealth of multiplayer options, all of which bear an uncanny resemblance to the multiplayer mode in Mario Kart. Battle mode, race mode, with up to four simultaneous players, are on offer.
As far as Mario Kart clones go, this is undoubtedly one of the best. It has also tried to bring a bit of innovation to the genre, much more than anyone could have possibly expected, along with completely new features, such as the tune shop. Highly recommended.
The blessing of retrospect mixed with a healthy amount of nostalgia has seen this trend completely reversed for the GBA. Every company worth its dev-kit has been beavering away at some form of mini-cutesy-character-medley racer and this one, from Takara, is Penny Racers.
The stats on this game are really impressive. For a start you, are given 50 vehicles to choose from, an unparalleled figure in a portable racer. Then you are gifted with 130 interchangeable parts with which you can fully customise your machine. These parts combined endow Penny Racers with a portable tune shop of epic proportions, including engines, brakes, tyres and weapons, all available for advantageous racing action.
The stats continue to impress as you learn that Penny Racers has an unbelievable 40 unique courses: another huge leap forward in portable racing depth.
Presented in the GBA’s lovable Mode 7 pseudo3D environment, Penny Racers offers good game speed and manages to cope with a lot with a lot of action on the screen at any one time. There is no slow-down, even when the whole screen is engulfed in sprites. The control is as you would expect for such a game, with the shoulder buttons being used for drift action when cornering.
Also on offer is a wealth of multiplayer options, all of which bear an uncanny resemblance to the multiplayer mode in Mario Kart. Battle mode, race mode, with up to four simultaneous players, are on offer.
As far as Mario Kart clones go, this is undoubtedly one of the best. It has also tried to bring a bit of innovation to the genre, much more than anyone could have possibly expected, along with completely new features, such as the tune shop. Highly recommended.
