# Super Yooka-Laylee Kart looks like an old-school Mario Kart for the modern age ✨🏎️
I've been following Playtonic Games since they brought Banjo-Kazooie to new generations through their spiritual successor series (Yooka-Laylee being my favorite), and today's reveal at Summer Game Fest Day of Devs had me genuinely excited! Kris Holt over on Engadget covered it, but I have to say — while Mario Kart World missed the mark for a lot of us this past year, Super Yooka-Laylee Kart might be exactly what arcade racing fans were craving as we head toward that sequel. Playtonic is shifting their beloved characters away from platforming and into something immediately nostalgic because they're directly smushing everything about the series with Nintendo's 1992 original. And honestly? The visual connection is jaw-dropping — same title vibe, similar aesthetic structure, pixel-art characters racing across courses where coins and power-up boxes sit flat on the track instead of being floating orbs like in modern kart racers, plus those drifts around corners that look so wonderfully familiar it makes my inner 1994 me do a happy dance.
But here's what actually sets this apart from "just Mario Kart but with Yooka-Laylee characters": Playtonic has designed an entire skill-based system built on top of the arcade foundation they're honoring, which I think is exactly right for keeping things fresh after 34 years in racing game territory. Their Rage mechanic builds up as you jostle position during races and especially when — heaven forbid! — a blue-shell equivalent hits too many times from behind; once it's filled, devastating revenge abilities fire off that can absolutely change the outcome of an entire race instantly through tactical comebacks rather than pure luck like some competitors' shells do. For campaign folks though (and I'm definitely one), they've built out what Playtonic calls a "deep story campaign" encompassing full tournaments for championship-style competition, time trials when you want to push your racing record, endurance events where the real challenge lives in pacing over longer distances rather than single-lap sprints, and skill challenges that test specific mastery of mechanics.
If competitive play's more your thing or you just love a good race night with friends around (or on) one screen — oh boy! This has it all: online multiplayer modes where beta tests are coming up soon to nail down those connections, plus splitscreen local support for eight people simultaneously crammed into your living room like we were back in the '90s playing over at a friend's place with controllers tangled everywhere. The coin economy works across races as collectibles that you spend on upgrades to keep progression meaningful rather than cosmetic, and their customization system is surprisingly deep — making every competitor invisible turns it into a ghost-racing experience I didn't know I needed until now; boosting pads slow players down instead of propelling them forward creates genuinely different track dynamics; the list goes on. Playtonic envisions this as pixel-perfect in its approach, and honestly that philosophy shows across everything from character animations to item timing windows.
I'm a little conflicted about diving into something I don't know any Yooka-Laylee lore for but still want — Mario Kart fans should absolutely give this one their eye (and possibly their credit card!). It's currently in development for Steam with no confirmed console release yet, though everyone at Evil Source is betting serious coin on it landing somewhere Nintendo-adjacent sooner rather than later. Beta tests will be hitting soon to see how online multiplayer holds up under real-world pressure.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2186860/super-yooka-laylee-kart-looks-like-an-old-school-mario-kart-for-the-modern-age/
I've been following Playtonic Games since they brought Banjo-Kazooie to new generations through their spiritual successor series (Yooka-Laylee being my favorite), and today's reveal at Summer Game Fest Day of Devs had me genuinely excited! Kris Holt over on Engadget covered it, but I have to say — while Mario Kart World missed the mark for a lot of us this past year, Super Yooka-Laylee Kart might be exactly what arcade racing fans were craving as we head toward that sequel. Playtonic is shifting their beloved characters away from platforming and into something immediately nostalgic because they're directly smushing everything about the series with Nintendo's 1992 original. And honestly? The visual connection is jaw-dropping — same title vibe, similar aesthetic structure, pixel-art characters racing across courses where coins and power-up boxes sit flat on the track instead of being floating orbs like in modern kart racers, plus those drifts around corners that look so wonderfully familiar it makes my inner 1994 me do a happy dance.
But here's what actually sets this apart from "just Mario Kart but with Yooka-Laylee characters": Playtonic has designed an entire skill-based system built on top of the arcade foundation they're honoring, which I think is exactly right for keeping things fresh after 34 years in racing game territory. Their Rage mechanic builds up as you jostle position during races and especially when — heaven forbid! — a blue-shell equivalent hits too many times from behind; once it's filled, devastating revenge abilities fire off that can absolutely change the outcome of an entire race instantly through tactical comebacks rather than pure luck like some competitors' shells do. For campaign folks though (and I'm definitely one), they've built out what Playtonic calls a "deep story campaign" encompassing full tournaments for championship-style competition, time trials when you want to push your racing record, endurance events where the real challenge lives in pacing over longer distances rather than single-lap sprints, and skill challenges that test specific mastery of mechanics.
If competitive play's more your thing or you just love a good race night with friends around (or on) one screen — oh boy! This has it all: online multiplayer modes where beta tests are coming up soon to nail down those connections, plus splitscreen local support for eight people simultaneously crammed into your living room like we were back in the '90s playing over at a friend's place with controllers tangled everywhere. The coin economy works across races as collectibles that you spend on upgrades to keep progression meaningful rather than cosmetic, and their customization system is surprisingly deep — making every competitor invisible turns it into a ghost-racing experience I didn't know I needed until now; boosting pads slow players down instead of propelling them forward creates genuinely different track dynamics; the list goes on. Playtonic envisions this as pixel-perfect in its approach, and honestly that philosophy shows across everything from character animations to item timing windows.
I'm a little conflicted about diving into something I don't know any Yooka-Laylee lore for but still want — Mario Kart fans should absolutely give this one their eye (and possibly their credit card!). It's currently in development for Steam with no confirmed console release yet, though everyone at Evil Source is betting serious coin on it landing somewhere Nintendo-adjacent sooner rather than later. Beta tests will be hitting soon to see how online multiplayer holds up under real-world pressure.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2186860/super-yooka-laylee-kart-looks-like-an-old-school-mario-kart-for-the-modern-age/