GDC '08: Wacky Races: Crash & Dash Hands-On

SAN FRANCISCO--Earlier today we stopped by the Nintendo Booth at GDC to check out the demos available on their DS download station. Included in the selection was Wacky Races: Crash & Dash, a Mario Kart-style racer based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon.

While the source material might be getting a little old (the show debuted in 1968), the game explores some relatively new ground with its stylus-driven control scheme. You keep the stylus pressed against the screen at all times, moving it around in the direction you want your vehicle to go. That sounds simple enough, but what makes it interesting is that the perspective is constantly changing; at one moment, you're given a top-down view of the action, while an upcoming bend in the road could move the camera toward a side view, and so on. It's a unique twist that results in some very mind-bending moments.

The Mario Kart comparison is based on the game's scattered power-ups. You'll need to drive over these "wacky widgets" to pick them up, two of which you can store at one time. You can choose which one to use by pressing either left or right on the D pad, which allows you to keep using your stylus as a directional guide. The widgets found in the demo include a pterodactyl swooping in to carry you forward, your kart turning into a rolling boulder that crushes everything in its way, and the ability to briefly lob stones at the other racers.

At certain checkpoints along the track you'll see the show's villain, Dick Dastardly, pop onto your screen to pull you into a quick minigame. The two included in this demo have you dodging boulders raining from the sky and tracing a path through winding cliffs. These bite-size distractions will affect your placing in the race depending on your success. Though brief, they occur quite often. A Mario Kart-meets-Wario Ware style of racing looks to be the direction the game is aiming toward, so hopefully they can work to bolster the latter half of that formula with a good range of minigames.

The demo is fairly limited in terms of selection; you can choose only one racer, the Slag Brothers in their Boulder Mobile, and one plain, outdoorsy track called Mish Mash Missouri Dash. The cartoon characters you're competing against look pretty nice for the DS, with a cel-shaded graphical style similar to the console versions of Wacky Races. On the other hand, the one included track is a bit bland in comparison. Part of what made the Dreamcast version an enjoyable experience was the fact that courses dripped with a uniquely charming style. We'll see if they can achieve that same level of character when the game is released this June.