Mario Kart: Super Circuit was one of the first games that got people really excited for the Game Boy Advance platform. It used the same mode 7 graphic engine that the original on the SNES incorporated, but full screen and with much better looking sprites. Unfortunately that was not a launch title. Konami, fully realizing fans were thirsty for a kart racer to tide them over, That’s where Konami Krazy Racers came in. This title was actually based on the Konami Wai Wai World series that originated on the Famicom. These games were side scrolling action platformers that were a kind of parody on all of the company’s franchises. Reviews were pretty good at the time of release, but it’s tough to take critics at launches without a grain of salt. So how does Konami Krazy Racers stack up against others of it’s kind in 2023? Let’s check it out.
There’s no story I can surmise here. Honestly the Konami Wai Wai franchise, and it’s parody format, never had much in the way of narrative. It was always about throwing the characters in together with the franchise themes and basking in the company’s sheer variety. Unfortunately Konami Krazy Racers misses some marks in that regard. I’m referring to the selection of characters. You have Goemon (which is good because he’s the star of one of my favorite Konami franchises), the octopus from Parodius, Dracula from Castlevania, Gray Fox from Metal Gear Solid, the star of Twinbee, a Power Pro player, and the Easter Island statue from Gradius. What? No, seriously. Where is Simon Belmont, Harry Mason, or heck even Tir McDohl? The roster is weird, and besides Goemon I didn’t like the characters they included here.
I was given more hope upon discovering that there were four hidden characters. Ebisumaru (again a great choice from the Goemon franchise), and Vic Viper (which should have been available from the start). Unfortunately the last two are terrible choices; Beartank (from RakugaKids, did anyone even play that one?) and King from the Pop’n Music series. Konami had so many active franchises at the time this title was released it’s a shame they didn’t include characters from most of them. Simon Belmont is one of their defining classic characters. There’s absolutely no reason Dracula should have made the cut when the vampire slayer did not. Sheesh, I’m already shaking my head already. At least each has their own specific handling characteristics. This includes top speed, acceleration, and grip. This is another feature borrowed from Mario kart, and many of the characters traits are copied over.
Let’s forget the below average roster and move on to gameplay. Konami Krazy Racers uses the classic mode 7 graphics style. This means the backgrounds are flat with scaling character sprites. Honestly the engine was very impressive for a game released on portable hardware at the time. The illusion of 3D is convincing, and gameplay is all the better for it. In the Grand Prix mode you’re up against eight total racers in a series of matches where you get points based on your placement. The racer with the highest point value at the end wins. Simple enough, right? Like in Mario Kart you can find items which have different effects during each race. These are obtained by collecting bells (like those from the Twinbee series). They come in two varieties; blue and red. The former always grants a speed boost while the latter gives you a random offensive item.
There are a few advantages to this system. For one thing you can always choose to get a speed boost should you so choose. I can’t begin to describe how useful this is. When you’re in first place a burst of acceleration can be helpful as opposed to front firing weapons. Another aspect that I like is that your placement has no bearing on the items you’ll receive. This is one advantage Konami Krazy Racers has against Mario Kart. At least the first place racer won’t get stuck with someone as useless as banana peels or coins. This does also mean that you won’t have any advantages when you’re in the back of the pack. While that is a disadvantage the trade off is worth it in my opinion. Each character also has one unique item apiece which thematically fits with the franchise they’re from. It’s a really neat idea.
Now for the bad stuff. For one thing the items just aren’t that interesting. They’re either derivative of Mario Kart or boring. You have two kinds of missiles; one that fires three shots and the other that is a homing attack. There’s also an item that transforms all of the other racers into pigs for a short while. Then we have dropped items that serve as hazards to slow down opponents. The most unique of the bunch is the barrier which protects you for a short while. They’re all pretty boring and Konami Krazy Racers didn’t really take any chances. Some experimentation would have been nice but instead they stuck with the classic conventions here.
The biggest issue I have with Konami Krazy Racers is the course design. Everything feels really phoned in. These arenas are based on classic Konami franchises but they did a poor job of conveying it. You have simple flat areas that you wouldn’t know belonged to any series. Sure you have jumps, and random obstacles but they’re just that. Random. There’s no rhyme or reason behind most of them. They aren’t placed in ways that make you better at the game, rather, there’s some random element to how they’re set up. There are turns that are hard unless you brake, but that’s about all the strategy you’ll have to use here besides jumping. The latter is more useful than in Mario Kart because it can be used to avoid actual hazards in this game which is nice. There’s also a power slide but few tracks let you take advantage.
Konami Krazy Racers is however a really nice looking game. The full-screen mode 7 effects were a real showcase at the Game Boy Advance launch. It’s a very colorful game with nice amounts of detail and pleasant animations. My only issue is that the mode 7 scaling doesn’t come close to matching that found in later titles on the platform, but I’m willing to give it a pass because it was such an early release. The characters are all easy to recognize (except Dracula… honestly I don’t know what happened there). My complaint is that the stages are not. Were it not for the music I wouldn’t even be able to tell that the Ganbare Goemon courses belonged to that franchise. The music is weak. A lot of it is classic renditions from the games on which Konami Krazy Racers is based on, but the hardware sounds archaic.
