Mickey's Speedway Hands-On

Nintendo gave us a chance to sit down and take Mickey's Speedway USA for a test spin this past week to see how it's incorporated all of the best multiplayer and kart-racing elements from Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing into Mickey's Speedway USA.

The game features a total of five grand prix circuits, each with four races. Many of the tracks are loosely based on real-world locales such as San Francisco and Las Vegas. Almost all of the classic Walt Disney characters - including Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Donald Duck - are playable in the game. The game features a standard single-player tournament-style race mode in which you compete against computer opponents. The game also allows for four-player multiplay in both the standard race mode and a Mario Kart-style battle mode.

The game is extremely fast paced, thanks in part to wonderfully designed tracks and tons of items that you can use to boost your speed and hinder your opponents' progress. One of the objects that you can pick up on the track is a little red airplane, which seeks out the nearest competitor in front of you and causes his or her vehicle to spin out. Other items are simple projectiles like baseballs or slime, which you have to aim carefully.

Visually, the game looks fantastic. The car and character models are extremely detailed and faithfully represent their cartoon counterparts. The tracks and surrounding environments are also intricately detailed and have many elements such as slight shortcuts and little scenery animations in the background.

So, while the game certainly looks extremely well put together in its current form, we'll have to wait and see how the final version of the game comes together this November.