It’s time for an old fashioned racing game that’s finally back on the NES titles within the Switch Online. It’s definitely extra nostalgic to be back here but I would not say that this is a game which has aged all that well. There just isn’t a lot to do here at all. The content runs out fast and I wasn’t a big fan of the controls.

Now of course you do have to be a little lenient with how old the game is. I probably would have had a much higher view of the game back in the day but now I’ve played things like M&M Kart Racing. I’m going to be expecting a higher bar of stuff in any game. So for this one, you have 32 tracks where you race in order to be the best. One unique thing here is that you keep going as long as you place in the top 3. The spots above that only matter so much as you get better trophies when you win but you can actually play the whole game as a third place finisher and there will be no issues.

Don’t let that fool you into thinking that the game is easy or anything like that though. Put it this way, the A.I. know that top 3 is what you need and so all of the cars are really racing their hearts out. It’s really hard to stay in front of the pack because the turns are so tricky. Turn too hard and you lose all momentum but if you don’t turn enough then you will crash. It’s incredibly difficult to get the turns just right. On the straight roads you can easily overtake the computers but once the turns get involved, that is really game over.

Now you do have items in this game which can help to even things out. I was passing them by for a while but didn’t actually start using them until later on. I kind of assumed they were boosters or something but there’s actually a good variety like rockets and bombs. The rockets in my opinion are easily the best weapons. You can store up over 30 of them and pepper your opponents. The roads aren’t very wide so it is easy to blast them. In the levels I played they would never use the items back at you but I’m guessing the deeper you go, the more they would start busting these things out. Just a guess of course but it makes sense.

The graphics aren’t bad but the soundtrack isn’t memorable. So really my only issue with the game is the lack of content as the 32 level main mode is the only thing but also the gameplay. I just didn’t think it was really smooth. It’s way too hard to make the turns and since you have to do this numerous times in each level, it felt like you could never go at full speed. That really ends up limiting things in the end.

Overall, This is a car game that won’t be able to hold its own with the big shots. The controls need to be ironed out first and then the rest will come into place. I would still recommend checking it out when you have time just since it’s free with the Switch Online. If nothing else, it will give you a greater appreciation for the modern racing titles. I’ve always considered this to be one of the easiest genres to do well but that really just applies to the modern era and I get how an older title would work a bit differently there.

Overall 4/10