Nintendo Puts Mini Racers on Track

Mini Racers reminds me a lot of Nintendo/Rare's NES title RC Pro-Am, mainly in the fact that the game is done in a top-down view, with controls like that of a real RC car. Graphically, Mini Racers is very impressive, with varied and interesting environments, ranging from deserts to asphalt, seaside to dockside and everything in between. There are races in various indoor environments, such as a toy-strewn room and basketball court, to ones that look like they'd make the RC cars into full-scale automobiles. Tracks feature both on-and-off-road racing, sometimes with tracks that double back on themselves or cross over (which could lead to some excellent crashes, but I didn't see any of those).

You can tune-up your own care and even create your own tracks—a big plus—in the game. Or, if you prefer, a randomizer will generate a track for you.

I was a fan of RC Pro-Am, and it'll be nice to have a game that uses a similar viewpoint as that one. Recent RC racing games on consoles have mainly been from a behind the car view, pulling you out of the true experience of RC racing.

Mini Racers is set for an October release in Japan (currently it's 90% complete), and let's hope a U.S. release isn't too far away!