Penny Racers (1998)

Developer: Locomotive Corporation
Publisher: Takara, THQ
Platforms: Nintendo 64
Genres: Racing
Rating: 3.0 of 5, 5 player ratings

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Zany toy-car racing where you dodge missiles and pull barrel rolls to reach the finish line.

arcade-stylelightheartedfast-pacedcompetitivecasualcolorful

About

The premise of PENNY RACERS for N64 is simple: race your car the best you can and be among the top three to reach the checkered flag. To achieve this objective, you must avoid missiles launched by your competitors, among other things. One way to counter this is the barrel roll maneuver, which is a quick and effective way to avoid unexpected hurdles on the tracks. In the beginning, you drive a pretty unimpressive racer. However, if you beat the competition and place in the top three, your reward is the chance to upgrade your car. Be merciless and steal the losing racers' special features, such as engine and armor upgrades, special attack abilities, and enhancing cosmetic features for the car. You have 13 different racer body styles and nine tracks to choose from. The cartoony racers zip through city streets, ice caves, and a volcano, and with the Track Create mode, you can design the wildest track you can imagine. When you toss four-player racing into the fray, the fun quadruples as the action intensifies and the losers are utterly humiliated.

Screenshots

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More by Locomotive Corporation

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.