Everything was better in the old days – why kart racers urgently need to bring back story mode

Cassie Mammone

7.10.2025

Translation: Katherine Martin

Kart racing games should bring back story modes. When I was a kid, I’d spend so much time working through a game’s story that I could utterly thrash my friends in multiplayer races.

Why do we enjoy playing kart racers? Well, clearly because we get to compete in action-packed, chaotic races against friends or strangers online.

And when are these races most fun? If you ask me, it’s when your knowledge of a track gives you an edge that leaves your competition trailing behind in a cloud of dust.

Knowledge that you obviously acquire by driving tracks regularly, either in Grand Prix races or time trials. Now this might be efficient, but it’s also dull.

Which is why I’d love to see the return of a much more entertaining option from games made 20 years ago: story mode.

I’m thinking specifically of Crash Team Racing and Diddy Kong Racing – two gaming gems whose story modes and classic races enthralled me back in the day.

Crash Team Racing’s adventure mode

Adventure mode is a real treat in Crash Team Racing and the Nitro-Fueled remake of the PS1 racer. It actually comes with a story – even if it is complete nonsense.

Evil alien Nitros Oxide lands on Earth one day and issues an ultimatum: the best driver on the planet needs to challenge him to a race. If no one comes forward or if the challenger loses the race, Nitros Oxide will take over the planet and turn it into a massive car park.

This is where you come in. First, you have to hold your own against numerous racers from the Crash universe. Once you’ve done that, you can put a stop to Nitros Oxide.

Like I said, complete nonsense. But this makes the story races and the overworld they’re connected to all the more impressive.

In said overworld, you’re free to drive around smaller areas, each with four regular race tracks and a boss level. Once you win all four race tracks, you get to face that area’s boss. As well as being faster than other racers, these bosses have an item advantage. The first boss, Ripper Roo, spends the entire race throwing TNT boxes your way.

It’s a well-executed change from the same old Grand Prix races.

Things get even better in Crash Team Racing once you’ve defeated an area boss. At this point, you get to hit the tracks again, facing new CTR challenges and entering relic races. The goal there is to collect specially placed coins or item boxes that’ll help you get to know the tracks better.

All the locations in the linked overworld are charming, and have etched themselves into my long-term memory. More recent kart racers haven’t offered an alternative to this, as everything works via menus.

Even the new Mario Kart World’s open game world doesn’t really float my boat. The developers have missed an opportunity to fill the world with interesting missions, leaving just one large area with the same old challenges. There are no charming cutscenes to make you smile, no rewards encouraging exploration.

I guess open world just isn’t the same as adventure mode.

Diddy Kong Racing’s adventure mode

While Timber’s parents are on holiday, an intergalactic pig wizard named Wizpig tries to take over the island. After he transforms the island’s four guardian animals into his henchmen, it’s your job to confront them in adventure mode in a bid to force Wizpig to return to his home planet.

Like in Crash Team Racing, you enter Diddy Kong Racing’s adventure mode levels from a separate overworld. It’s different from my previous example in the sense that the areas are more compact. However, there are secrets in store for you there. For instance, if you win all the Grand Prix trophies, a frog with a rooster comb appears in the overworld. If you drive over him, he turns into the driver Drumstick – a speedy chicken cursed by Wizpig.

Discoveries like these are fun – and they don’t happen in menus.

The race tracks also ignite your urge to explore. Although they don’t have as many collectibles as the ones in Crash Team Racing, there are four special keys located off the main track. When you find them, you unlock special challenges, which you can play against your friends in multiplayer later.

Even though it’s been more than 10 years since I completed the game, I still remember where to find the keys.

I also enjoy taking on super tough challenges. If you’ve played Diddy Kong Racing yourself, you might remember the first race against final boss Wizpig. Although the race only goes in circles, Wizpig is incredibly fast and doesn’t give an inch if you make a mistake. To win, you have to drive almost flawlessly, taking every turbo boost you can. Well, unless you use a trick involving the «special» turbo boost.

If you take your finger off the gas when crossing a boost field, the resulting turbo boost is significantly stronger than usual. If only I had known that when I was a kid. Fun fact: this tricky race against Wizpig is the reason why some players never managed to complete the game.

Bring back story mode

I love it when games awaken my urge to explore. While this is part of the concept behind adventure games such as The Legend of Zelda, other genres, including kart racers, can also make use of it. There’s just something about looking at tracks from a different perspective.

The recently released Sonic Racing: Crossworlds scratches this particular itch, albeit to a much lesser extent than a dedicated story mode, by including five red coins on each track. In any case, I find this approach more focused and better executed than the empty world of Mario Kart World.

Still, I’m grateful that development studios are experimenting with ideas like this in kart racers again. They just have to build on them a little more, and we’ll be ready to rumble!

Cassie Mammone

Freelance Editor

cassie.mammone.freelance@gmail.com

I wrote my first text about video games when I was eight years old. I haven't been able to stop since. The rest of my time is spent on my love for 2D husbandos, monsters, my cats and sport.

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