The Nintendo 64 had some incredible games that will live on in the minds and hearts of gamers across the world forever. Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye 007, the list goes on. When it comes to racing games, the N64 didn't shy away either, giving players an excellent Mario Kart title, along with F-Zero X and even the surprisingly complex Star Wars Episode 1: Racer. However, there's one N64 racing game that isn't as widely beloved as the others: LEGO Racers.
It may have some pretty rough graphics, even for the time, but LEGO Racers has some pretty interesting ideas, and is full to the brim with that unique LEGO charm that just oozes nostalgia. With a new Mario Kart still not being officially announced, despite a number of rumors pointing to its existence, a fresh LEGO Racers game could absolutely fill this gap in the market, providing a cart racer that has both solid mechanics and a whole lot of charm.
That Unique LEGO Charm
LEGO has an indescribable charm to it. Whether it's the actual sets themselves, or the series of video games based on popular IPs, LEGO products just give off a definitive feeling of nostalgia and fun. There's something incredibly charming about seeing iconic characters portrayed as cutesy, simplistic LEGO minifigures, and seeing beloved environments and settings remade from the ground up, brick-by-brick.
When revisiting LEGO Racers today, that same charm can be felt throughout the game. Players are able to choose from a decent selection of characters, each representing one of LEGO's main themes of the time, such as Captain Redbeard for the Pirates theme and the fan-favorite Johnny Thunder for the Adventurers theme. Each of these characters manages to convey a unique personality, both through LEGO's trademark mumbles and gestures and each character's own unique cart.
Each track in LEGO Racers also manages to convey this unique sense of charm, with most of the stage's environment being made from LEGO bricks. Though LEGO Racers doesn't have a lot of tracks, the ones it does have are all varied, offering drastically different locales, ranging from an Egyptian desert to an English forest, and even an Ice Planet. With no Mario Kart 9 in sight, a new LEGO Racers game could certainly provide the same level of bright, cheerful fun and charm that's present in those games.
LEGO Racers Had Some Interesting Ideas
Aside from its immediately apparent charm, LEGO Racers also had some pretty interesting and unique gameplay ideas. One of these was the ability for players to create their own cart.
LEGO Racers allowed the player to build their own cart out of LEGO bricks, with the placement of bricks determining certain gameplay factors such as the cart's speed or weight. Though the number and variety of bricks was fairly limited, players were still able to make some truly impressive carts. While modern cart racers, like Mario Kart 8, allow the player to swap out certain aspects of their cart like the chassis and wheels, LEGO Racers' cart builder offers much more freedom and would certainly be a welcome feature in a new game.
LEGO Racers also had an interesting approach to power-ups. Players could drive through various pick-ups on the track, each one appearing as a different colored brick. These bricks gave the player a special ability, such as a cannon ball projectile weapon or a turbo boost. The interesting twist, however, is that these abilities could be leveled up if the player drove into a white brick. Each ability had three tiers, being leveled with each new white brick pick-up. These turned the cannon ball into guided rockets and the turbo boost into a powerful Warp turbo boost.
The ability to level up these pick-ups added quite a bit of strategy to the game, as the player was encouraged to choose the right moment to use their power-up and had to balance their immediate needs with their possible needs later on in the race. While Mario Kart has a relatively detailed power-up system, most abilities are best used straight away, requiring little strategy on the player's part. LEGO Racers' surprisingly complex mechanics make it a great series to revive.
LEGO Racers is available on Nintendo 64, PC, PlayStation, and Game Boy Color.
