10 Video Games That Had No Right Being This Good

10. Crash Team Racing

Around the time of Crash Team Racing’s release in 1999, one thing was certain about the kart racer genre: Nintendo’s moustachioed maestro Mario essentially owned it. He and his Mushroom Kingdom friends essentially invented (and certainly popularized) it with 1992’s Super Mario Kart.

As with any revolutionary title, Mario’s effort has inspired all manner of pretenders, back then and to this day. Even the Crazy Frog had a kart racer in the early 2000s.

Few of these can claim to have the same sort of quality as Mario Kart, though as PlayStation fans will know, Naughty Dog had a string of beloved platformers to their name at this point, in the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy.

Their first effort at a kart racer was a triumph too.

The roster of characters may not be particularly inspiring, but the racing action, track design, powerful-feeling weapons, Wumpa Fruit boosts and powerslide mechanics all felt extremely polished. A fully-featured title that even boasts a story mode, Crash Team Racing remains beloved.

The release of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled in 2019 is testament to the original game’s enduring appeal.